Bring Parliament to the aid of resolving intractable problems facing the country

Problem-solving in a country as large and diverse as India can be a real challenge.
Bring Parliament to the aid of resolving intractable problems facing the country

Problem-solving in a country as large and diverse as India can be a real challenge. There appear just too many interest groups, too many political agendas and not enough commitment towards seriously looking at problems in hand. Hardly a field exists, which does not require a serious review.
Just take the case of Delhi’s toxic air. Many reasons are being forwarded for the current state of air quality index (AQI)—from high pressure areas over Kuwait to the burning of paddy stubble in the farmlands of Punjab and Haryana. Whatever it is, the latter action is definitely a contributing factor which is causing mayhem in north India’s ecology. Yet, we do not seem to be having a strong enough legislation which can ensure that the government of the day can fearlessly take action against offenders without the issue getting overly politicised and hyped in television debates.

A layman can perceive that the rules of business don’t seem to exist when life-threatening and existential challenges are faced. There are extant laws against stubble burning but seemingly unimplementable or at least that is what appears to be when respective chief ministers rush to protect their political fiefdoms.

Unrelated to this is the example of a legislative initiative that I am aware of; I never tire from quoting this. It is in the US that the Goldwater Nichols (GN) Act was enacted in 1986, which restructured the entire holy edifice of the US armed forces. Till then the four services —Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy—had always treated their weapons, equipment and manpower as fiefdoms, unwilling to part with them to partner other services where the need for joint operations arose. It started from the monumental blunders in Vietnam, went on to the failed operations for the rescue of the hostages at the US embassy in Tehran in 1980 and then the botched operations in Grenada in 1983. All the failures were placed at the altar of lack of ‘jointmanship’ between the forces.These forces had their hierarchical control under their own respective Chiefs who were always chary of parting with their resources or even placing their resources under command and control of another force. It invariably led to unnecessary inter-service rivalry. The GN Act created the theatre command system with components of the order of battle placed under one commander with the theatre commander reporting to the Secretary of Defence. It led to better procedures for operations, procurement and personnel management.

The changes of 1986, which were forced upon the reluctant US armed forces, resulted in smoother induction and conduct of operations in the First Gulf War. They assisted in the inception of the Revolution in Military Affairs the precursor to Transformation.If the US Congress could do it, there is no reason why in identified failings in different spheres of our system the Indian Parliament cannot do the same. There is another example to look at, one which is demanding a full review by the Parliament—the Defence Procurement Procedure, which has reportedly been examined and revamped by a high-level committee. Yet, speak to any officer from the armed forces and he will tell you that procedures yet remain cumbersome.

The possibility of vendors not granted a contract placing legal obstacles in the way is so prevalent that not much may change. The current government has made honest efforts in this field. Yet, so intractable is the problem that it appears that there may be a need for revamp of the basics of the bidding process itself. Protection of contracts once allotted would speed up execution. The security of India cannot be held ransom to bureaucratic procedures, which result in three to four years in actualisation of finances for commencing pay-outs.

Recently, the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs came out with an outstanding paper on the state of India-Pakistan relations after deep consultation with experts in the subject. I also had the honour of making a presentation to the Committee and my contributions are even quoted in the report. The immensely high quality of parliamentary reports in general and the experience of appearing before the above committee encourage me to actually make a suggestion.

The defence procurement procedure should be further reviewed perhaps by a special parliamentary committee and given a fair duration to do so. It should have the freedom to suggest the makings of a draft legislation under which the system can be revamped in a transformative way. It should leave little scope for failed bidders to place obstacles before implementation of procurement projects and speed up the system of actualisation of finances where issues of national security are concerned. Government financial managers are hostage to fixations, play-safe rules and indecisiveness. Although all kinds of revamps have been attempted, ultimately it is only the Parliament which can achieve this.
It is time perhaps for the Parliament to examine the US Goldwater Nichols Act, 1986, not just for the legislative detail in the management of change but for the inspiration of bringing change where it is felt most. It is with national security that this should begin.

Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain

Former Commander, Srinagar-based 15 Corps

atahasnain@gmail.com

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