This pain and misery is TOTALLY unnecessary

1. This pain and misery is TOTALLY unnecessary

2. National reform summit 5 to 8 April 2013, Haridwar

3. Welcome! Sanjeev Sabhlok

4. Welcome! Welcome to the lovely campus of Patanjali Phase 2 for the Sone Ki ChidiyaNational Reform Summit

6. Thank you for coming • You are uniquely interested in improving the governance of India • From all across India. • Significant time and cost. • Despite • Short notice for this Summit • Unknown entities running the Summit • Thank you for making the effort to come

7. You have the blessings of many • Many senior people from across India unable to make it due to short notice but send their blessings • They have sent their full support to deliver results • If after this Summit we can agree to work together we can expect significant support • India is looking for leadership. • Our challenge is to rise to the occasion

8. But first, some housekeeping • Accommodation: Block 4 • Not 5 star but good enough for reformers • Please wear ID card at Summit and for meals • Restrooms - location • Water • Tea • Served at 10:30 am and about 3 pm • We’ll get the tea and come back to our chairs • Lunch break around 12:30 pm for 45 minutes

9. Prohibitions in Patanjali campus • Smoking and alcohol are strictly prohibited in this campus. • Please respect this policy very stringently.

10. For any assistance please contact Freedom Team of India volunteers • KK Verma • Dipinder Sekhon • Sureshan P • Kamal Sharma • Anil Sharma • Suneeta Dhariwal • Abhijeet Sinha • Vardan Kabra • Arvind Illamaran • Vijay Anand, etc.

11. Please excuse any shortcomings • Both BST and FTI are voluntary organisations • We have tried our best within very limited resource and time constraints to organise this much needed Summit • Without Swamiji’s and Acharyaji’s support the logistics would have been impossible • I thank them for taking so much interest in creating a new India where we can all be proud of ourselves and our nation

12. Languages at the Summit • We’ll use both English and Hindi • Documents, once finalised will be translated into Hindi and other languages • Draft Vision is already available in Hindi

13. Why are we here? • We are sick of corruption, crime, injustice and misgovernance in India • We want to make India a Sone Ki Chidiya again. • It is time to fix things

14. But HOW do we fix thing? • We need to know what to do. • If you become Prime Minister what will you do? • “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Einstein”

15. Root cause of misgovernance: Policy/system design failure • Policies are badly designed • Policy frameworks are not used • System’s incentives are flawed • Inevitability of corruption • Modern thinking (including Arthashastra) not used • Politicians make policy on whimsy, not analysis • Bureaucrats are totally unaccountable • This Summit is about changing the system • व्यवस्था परिवर्तन

16. Immediate goals for this Summit A high quality platform for all reformers • Linking intelligentsia and grassroots reformers on a common platform for national reform Alignment • Without alignment we’ll get a total khichri • vision • agenda for change • organisation (SKC Federation); and • action plan including detailed Reform Board and policy and organisational committees

17. Summit is a beginning. Real work will start after Action Plan agreed • Real work will include • Policy and legislative work • detailed policies and bills • Grassroots work • to explain reforms to the people • Organisational work • fund raising, training of leaders etc. • The sooner we agree an action plan the sooner we can start work

18. What could working together look like? – this is to be decided • We’ll discuss in detail on Day 3 and Day 4:

19. Imagine India gets a government that will listen. What should it do? • Specify each step of what it should do in the first six months • Including detailed transition path • This is time to our homework • Then good results will be certain

20. We should not hesitate to adopt the best ideas • World best practice governance frameworks • Evidence based policy • Public administration framework • Take on board recommendations from other reform initiatives • Administrative/ Police reforms commissions, • Recommendations of Nation Building Meet in March in Delhi • Recommendations of Chintan Shivir

21. Structure of the Summit • Day 1: • Background and goals • Vision • Day 2: Agenda for change • Day 3: Organisation/structure (eg. Federation) • Day 4: Key decisions, resolutions and action plan

22. Suggested protocols for sharing your thoughts • How to indicate agreement: • Just nod. No need to speak up. • Some “voting” may be sought • How to indicate disagreement • Raise your hand to speak • When opportunity is provided, provide a summary • Let’s remember: perfect is the enemy of the good • Even 80 per cent agreement might be enough to move together in the same direction

23. Personal responsibility to implement suggestions We have a rule on FTI: • The one who makes a suggestion gets it done • Setting up project • Building project team • Raising resources Similar rule for this Summit: Only make suggestions that you are willing to lead – after the Summit • At the end of this Summit everyone will need to lead and coordinate various actions

24. How this Summit will be run • Moderators: Sanjeev and Shantanu • Kamal Sharma, Anil Sharma and others may be asked to help 1) We’ll go through key documents 2) We’ll seek agreement/ improvement • Let’s avoid raising non-critical issues • Where appropriate we’ll split into smaller groups • There will be a few presentations on specific topics • Judicial Reforms • Arthakranti

25. Access to documents to be discussed • Participants were requested to print and bring copies of relevant documents • If you don’t have a copy please request your neighbour to share with you • If absolutely necessary, an FTI volunteer may be able to provide a copy

26. A bit about me • IAS 1982 batch, PhD Economics from USA • Taught at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy • Political reform work • Preliminary political work, February 1998 • Resigned Jan. 2001to pursue reform through politics • Gave up in 2005 after three attempts, wrote book (2008) (Breaking Free of Nehru) • One last attempt, from December 2007 – started Freedom Team of India to find good leaders • After 15 years (1998-2013), some real hope now – with Swami Ramdev’s vision for India

27. Who are Freedom Team of India members? • About 50 active but another 100+ inactive members • Committed to liberty and prosperity in India • A key requirement for joining FTI is commitment to contest elections. • Members include former civil servants/ defence officers/ MBAs/ IITians/ Supreme Court lawyer/ school principal/ nuclear scientist/ social activists

28. Who is attending this Summit? • Grassroots reform movements • Bharat Swabhiman Trust, with tens of lakhs of members • Farmers movements and representatives with lakhs of members • New generation political parties • Lok Satta • Intellectuals and reformers • Senior defence, civilian officials and business executives • Senior academics and educational leaders • Young leaders from middle class India

29. Here’s wishing us all the best! Let’s put our best foot forward! • Let us realise the seriousness of India’s many problems and agree to work together AS A SINGLE TEAM • Next: ShantanuBhagwat, former Foreign Service officer

30. Welcome address #2 Shantanu Bhagwat

31. Welcome address #3 JaideepArya, BST

32. Condensed introduction Everyone to participate

33. Introductions – condensed version • ONE MINUTE MAXIMUM, PLEASE • Name • Organisation (if any) • City • Also please provide the above information each time you speak in front of larger group

34. Using what’s already there A bit of background

35. Nation Building Meet, 2,3 March 2013: Focus on systemic reform • 1. Systemic reform “Search for individual remedy has led us to ignore the system-wide issues. Focus on individual problems will leave us in a mess” Other recommendations • 2. Importance of values • 3. Need for citizen leadership • 4. Both non-political and political action

36. For systemic reform: Two main questions • What should a government do? • Are there limits to what a government can do? • How do we arrive at these limits (eg. net benefit test) • How should it do it? • How can a government comprising self-interested politicians and bureaucrats do what we want it to do? (public choice theory) Policy that doesn’t consider both these issues will be fundamentally flawed

37. Good policy considers implementation issues The “What” must be well thought out • “Bad administration, to be sure, can destroy good policy, but good administration can never save bad policy.” • Adlai E Stevenson Jr The “How” must also be well thought out • Policy that is unable to pierce the veil of incentives during implementation is bad policy

38. World best policy framework 10 questions to eliminate bad policy 1: What would happen without any role for government 2. Identify problem/s with the base case and explain why these are problems 3. First principles test (should government intervene at all) 4. What can government do about the problem/s? 5. Freedom test

39. 10 questions that eliminate bad policy, contd. 6. Strategic gaming test 7. Government failure test 8. Real experience test 9. Cost benefit test 10. Transition path Illustration: NREGA/ health and safety laws/ permissions to start a school or business

40. This is what we want government to do Goal

41. Bureaucrat’s goal This is what we get OurGoal Bureaucrat (black box) …. by failing to think about the politician’s and bureaucrat’s incentives

42. Chanakya wanted a strong, minimal state, with control over incentives

43. Two axes: liberty, incentives (Reminder: incentives include disincentives) Incentives Liberty

44. vision Everyone

45. I’ll highlight key aspects of the Vision • Then we’ll take a break to read • We’ll split into small groups to discuss • Then we’ll have a general discussion and improve it (we’ll make notes on whiteboard)

46. Vision is based on • Systemic focus on reform, not piecemeal • Individual liberty and accountability • Incentives and markets • Optimal regulation: neither too much nor too less • regulation that is based on evidence • Approach in the vision is proven to work well both in India and elsewhere

47. Proposed vision for New India #1 We want an India: • Where our governments fully respect us as masters of the nation. • Where we are free to pursue our happiness and spiritual goals so long as we don’t harm others. • Where our children are ambitious and know they will be rewarded on their merit, not because of whom they know.

48. Proposed vision for New India #2 • Where environment is created in which everyone is enabled to earn their own roti, kapda aur makaan. • Where prosperity is rightfully earned and not stolen or redistributed. • Where everyone, including the poorest, get an equal opportunity to achieve their potential: • everyone gets access to immediate emergency health care, with the poor also given access to basic care through social insurance.

49. Proposed vision for New India #3 • Where we are safe from criminals and from marauding politicians, policemen and bureaucrats. • Where there is quick and proportionate justice: • Where rogues and criminals cannot become MPs and MLAs: • Where government officials are fully accountable, corruption is totally eliminated and black money is declared and brought back to India.

50. Proposed vision for New India #4 • Where citizens are able to produce and trade without the nanny state’s control: • Where our property is safe: • Where the government facilitates clean water, sufficient roads, power, ports and railways, and other critically needed infrastructure. • Where the government operates within its means, taxes are low, debt is paid off, and our currency is not made worthless because of inflation.