Good signs, bad signs for Singh's reform agenda

Before Manmohan Singh's new government has even been formed, there are some good signs, and some bad ones, for his reform agenda, writes the Indian Express. Already, the wrangling with allies from the DMK and Trinamool Congress — which each contributed about 20 parliamentary seats to help Singh's Congress Party surpass the 272 figure needed for a majority — has proven that no matter how close you are to a majority, unless you can achieve it alone you're bound to be caught up in dithering over who gets what ministry.  

It's sad that elected officials are essentially looking for patronage, and therefore keen to grab ministries that get big budgets and execute large, unwieldy projects with plenty of scope for skimming off the top. But that's the way it is.

On the other hand, writes the Express, Singh managed to dump some key obstacles to change — the former education minister and law minister.  

Former education minister Arjun Singh was obsessed with the political nature of his job, micromanaging everything from appointments to textbooks to "detoxify" an education system that had been infused with Hindu nationalism by his BJP predecessor. Getting the poison out was necessary, but it meant that he didn't do anything else, except by accident: He increased the number of university places available, but only as a consequence of his drive to expand quotas for lower-caste students.

Though initially the former law minister made all the right noises about the need to address the backlog of hundreds of thousands of cases that paralyzes India's courts, and prevents progress on hundreds of vital areas. (e.g. How can you address discrimination, if lawsuits are virtually impossible to prosecute?  How can you stop riots if perpetrators remain free for 20 years before coming to trial?) But in the end, he accomplished little, if anything.  

"The law ministry has come to be associated with just fixing case outcomes and appointments," writes the Express. "Among the avenues for reform is increasing the number of judges and courtrooms to tackle the backlog of cases. There needs to be an audit of existing laws and legal procedures to see which of them should be reconfigured to minimise pointless litigation. Digitisation of cases is a low-hanging fruit the next incumbent must pluck. And given the controversies that have engulfed the ministry, debate must be begun on the possible separation of prosecution services."

The first step, perhaps, is sending the message that when nothing happens, heads will roll.

http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/india/090526/good-signs-bad-signs-singhs-reform-agenda