The governance of Delhi has always intrigued me. When I was Union cabinet secretary in Delhi, the untiring Sheila Dikshit was the chief minister. I always wondered how Delhi CMs worked with lieutenant governors breathing down their necks. Dikshit was, in a sense, lucky that the Congress also ran the central government.
However, the Congress is not a cohesive party; there are groups and subgroups for and against elected leaders in the states, led by party henchmen who spend their time carrying tales to the mighty high command. Yet, she and I worked well together, particularly in organising the Commonwealth Games, which would probably never have taken off but for her steely determination and never-say-die spirit. I felt then, and I think now, that Delhi must have a full government run by legislators elected by the people in complete control over the bureaucracy.
Arvind Kejriwal had more problems. He and his Aam Aadmi Party rode to power on the crest of a popular wave. This wave had its genesis in the dying days of the Manmohan Singh government, when rumours of unbridled corruption were set afloat that the government did not know how to defend, and went into a shell that brought governance to a standstill.
Jasmine Shah’s first book, The Delhi Model, tells the story of how the AAP pulled off an incredible coup in the nation’s capital, the change of direction it effected in several key areas of concern to the commoner, how it struggled against lieutenant governors and the Centre, and yet won two elections with huge majorities.
Shah is obviously Kejriwal’s admirer, and hence his book is a paean. There is nary a critical remark. But, for me, familiar with the ways of Delhi both before and after I retired, the book gives fascinating glimpses into how the city’s governance was re-invented and how changes were made in critical areas that caught the imagination of the people.
In the section titled ‘Trickle-down to trickle-up economics’, Jasmine emphasises a view that I endorse entirely—that the rise in GDP or per capita income in an economy does not signify growing prosperity for its citizens in the face of steep inequalities in income distribution. What is the point of our GDP going up to $5 trillion if the vast bulk of it is cornered by a few wealthy billionaires who indulge in conspicuous consumption?
He refers to economists Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo and the view expressed by welfare economists that development must necessarily mean better living conditions for all. I will not dwell on this aspect too much because I think it needs better ways of measuring well-being by economists and statisticians.
The book explains what the AAP government did and the tribulations they faced. The enormous makeover that was brought about in the education sector is impressive. Government schools were given a facelift with world-class infrastructure—tiled flooring, clean and functional toilets, modern libraries, science laboratories, well-lit classrooms with designer desks and, in some cases, swimming pools and hockey turf grounds, too.
Through teacher training and curriculum reforms, a new image was created for education in the state. One major innovation was the ‘Business blasters” scheme in which students in the 11th and 12th standards were given a seed capital of Rs 2,000 for small startups. Another significant innovation was the introduction of a ‘happiness curriculum’ by exposing students to mindfulness and socio-emotional learning.
Significant changes took place in the health sector, too. The innovation that impressed me the most was the mohalla clinic. When I was a child in Delhi and staying in Lajpat Nagar, our access to medical care at the primary level was mainly through one Dr Ved Prakash, who had a little clinic with a makeshift pharmacy attached. The good doctor would examine the patient and his compounders in the pharmacy would powder pills and mix syrups, and give them to us with instructions on how and when to take them. When the patient was too ill to come to the clinic, Dr Prakash would set out on his bicycle to the patient’s house.
This principle of the neighbourhood doctor was extended on a broad scale to develop the mohalla clinics. They were set up as air-conditioned port-a-cabins, each of 600 square metres, in low-income neighbourhoods. Each cost barely `20 lakhs and could be quickly set up. They were manned by a doctor, a nurse, a pharmacist and a helper. Like Dr Prakash, the mohalla clinic doctors would come to personally know the patients in his area and their lingering problems. These clinics were the first tier; but significant change was made in the secondary and tertiary sectors too.
Even though Delhi is one of the most polluted cities in the world today, Shah says that the Kejriwal government brought forward a range of measures to reduce vehicular pollution, curb industrial emissions, and “green” Delhi by planting two crore trees a year. In consultation with experts, the government used the ‘Pusa decomposer’ developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, which converts crop stubble into manure. This is one area in which much more needs to be done as the people of Delhi will not agree that there has been an acceptable reduction in pollution levels.
Shah also talks of lowering electricity charges through government subsidies. However, this has come at a cost, since the discoms in Delhi have run up huge deficits, called “regulatory assets” in their accounts.
In 2020, the people were obviously impressed by his performance and voted Kejriwal back to power with a resounding majority. Since then, the central government, the lieutenant governor and various central agencies have come down on him and his ministers like a tonne of bricks.
The Supreme Court has been inactive in finding a solution to the administrative problems of the state brought about by legislative action. The forthcoming election will tell us what the people, the ultimate rulers of every government in a democracy, think of the measures initiated by the Delhi government.
K M Chandrasekhar
Former Cabinet Secretary and author of As Good as My Word: A Memoir
(Views are personal)
(kmchandrasekhar@gmail.com)