5. Education

We Indians like to think we are doing great on Education.

On the higher end, this might be true - our best are the best of the world.

On the lower end, we need to hide our heads in SHAME. Our lowest are similar, and sometimes lower to sub Saharan africa.

Various studies show that increase in literacy of the workforce has a very high positive correlation with the GDP.

We in India need to provide basic education to all our citizens, PERIOD. It can at least start with a system of free channels showing high quality teaching material for schools which is telecast nationally. Even a kid in a village from the lousiest school with the perennially absent teacher can at least learn something good.

Since government run Primary schools have not delivered, (apart from the Kendriya Vidyalayas etc), maybe we should look at the option of public-private partnership model in education sector.

For example, maybe it is time we explore a coupon based delivery model for welfare services.

1. Every kid from poor background gets a "education card" which can only be used to pay school fees, and towards other educational expenses. Government tops up some fixed amount on this card every year.

2. Trusts, companies or NGO's could be awarded the contract to run government schools. They can charge freely from the pupils who can afford, and the poorer kids pay via their cards.

This shall ensure their is an incentive for the schools to perform well, and attract more students, as they get paid more.

What we save from any administrative waste avoided, must be spent on education and healthcare for the citizens of India.

Spending on education also comes with other related reforms, of course. We need to make all our universities truly autonomous and free from political interference.

This does involve the question of merit and reservations, and in the long term, the task of social engineering should best be dealt by the government, not the academia. In an increasingly global market for skills and education, our universities cannot afford to debase their entry requirements.

4. e-Governance (in Indian Languages)

This is related to the administrative reforms. Lets say I need to travel,

A . I have to buy a train ticket, I go to the reservation centre, stand up in the queue for an hour, and buy the ticket.

OR,

B. I go to the Indian railways website, figure out the best journey option, and buy the ticket.

A involves wastage of my time, and a waste of time for the railways. Clearly, B is more efficient. However, despite our claims of being the "IT Superpower" of the world, we Indians actually have pathetic statistics when it comes to IT penetration within our own country. (Side-note: YES, I know that Indian Railways has a website where you can book tickets, but it is almost always too busy, we still have long queues outside the reservation centers)

It's al-right to earn money fixing the IT system for Canadian railways, or automating the system for Timbuktu railways, but our society will only change when IT becomes an agent of change inside India.
IT need not be an "export only" item. If we can help systems in South Africa and earn Dollars from that, maybe its time we also change systems in India, and earn rupees out of it.
Our expertise in English language has helped us develop IT based industry in India that serves the rest of the world.

To serve India, we need to talk in the Indian languages, and provide solutions in the languages the majority understands. Before our readers start dismissing this as impossible, I'd urge them to see various open-source translation efforts. (and maybe contribute to the ones ) For bulk of the work we need to to provide to the masses, we dont need expensive technology, this could be very inclusive open-source software based solution.

3. Adminstrative Reforms

Administrative procedures in India today are a legacy of the British Raj.

The British were not very trusting of the natives, and hence created procedures that tended to err towards the side of caution. A fair idea, but carried too far.

In UK today, you fill in a form, sign a declaration, and that is the end of it. If you lie, law will take its course and punish you. For a vast majority of law abiding citizens, this is fine.

In India today, when you fill in a form, (you have to submit it in triplicate, and not in red ink) you are treated with suspicion carried out from the colonial times. So, you have to submit 5 other signed and attested documents merely to support who you claim you are. Land records and other such things in India are hopelessly complicated due to the lack of the use of IT.

Pre 1947, A White British ICS officer did not trust the natives.
Post 1947, a Brown Indian IAS officer does not trust his own countrymen.

For a vast number of poorer people, independence of the country has made little difference, its just that Gora Sahibs have been replaced by the Brown Sahibs. The attitude of the police officers and bureaucrats in dealing with their own countrymen carry an attitude and an air of colonial arrogance, instead of public servants whose salaries are paid by the tax payer.

We cannot change attitudes of hardened bureaucrats overnight, what can be changed (and vastly simplified) are the procedures so that such arrogance and lethargy in dealing with citizen's concerns is punished.

So, here's the idea:
1. All citizens, who eventually are the customers here, paying the taxes that run the administration, have some ID.
2. All administrative staff have a workflow based system, each case they come across is registered on some central computer system. Any slippage is tracked and flagged.
3. The Administrative staff have a bonus based incentive to resolve more cases, and are punished in career progress for failing to resolve outstanding issues.

2. Citizen Database

This is linked to everything else, and a pre-requisite for everything else.

Currently, Identity and address of a person is difficult to establish and prove. This hampers distribution of welfare at the lowest levels, and access to credit at at the middle class levels.

We can spend more of education and social welfare without raising taxes only if we can reduce the wasteful expenditure on administration.

We can only reduce expense on administration if we can computerize it to a workflow based system. (See Administrative reforms)

And that, could only be achieved if we have some common way to identify a person electronically.

There needs to be a common ID which becomes the common citizen ID in India. (Yes, we do have voter ID, but not everyone votes; we do have PAN Card, but not everyone is a Tax Payer; We do have a passport ID, but not everyone is a passport holder)

This common ID can then be used to simplify the Judicial and Adminstrative tasks enormously.

(Added Aug 2009) I am very happy to note that Nandan Nilekani is now heading a Unique ID project for India, hope he reforms the way the babus in India treat the "natives".