Thaindian News

Lucknow, Nov 26 (IANS) Former chief secretary Atul Gupta Saturday compared Uttar Pradesh to the human body system, saying that the state’s “immune system has weakened”, thereby affecting the self-correction processes in the government.

Launching a book titled “Switching Tracks for a New Uttar Pradesh” by Saurabh Johri, program advisor of Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based public policy think-tank, Gupta said in order to put Uttar Pradesh back on track the auto-correction system has to be set right.

“Half the battle is done by putting the right person for the right job. However, the entire battle is lost by putting a wrong person for the right job. Jobs are increasingly assigned not on merits but by other extraneous considerations,” he said.

Praising the ORF book, Gupta said that not only areas and issues relating to governance, economic and social reforms have been identified but several strategies and solutions to resolve them have been suggested.

In his opening remarks, former union cabinet secretary Surendra Singh pointed out that the term of the next government also coincides with the 12th Five Year Plan period and this is a good time to lay out the agenda for development for the state.

He emphasised that over the last two decades Uttar Pradesh has figured in the bottom quartile of the most of the economic and social indicators and the quality of governance has declined.

Singh said, “We have to be forward looking as no purpose would be served if delved in to the past and that is why the ORF has suggested some doable and workable models which hopefully can create a public debate on development issues”.

Participating in the discussion on the book, Giri Institute of Development Studies director Prof. A.K. Singh said: “UP is suffering from policy inertia and needs radical policy reforms in agriculture and industry.”

He emphasised the need for a proactive policy to attract investment, streamline the regulatory mechanism, speed up sanctions and reform land and labour policies to make labour and land market flexible. He also suggested to set up a policy making mechanism in the form of a Economic and Social Development Council.

In his presidential remarks, veteran bureaucrat T.N. Dhar said there was a need for an Anna Hazare like movement in the state which can create public pressure to put the state on the development course. The ORF study has presented an excellent script for augmenting the development process but who will act on it, he added.

There is an institutional decline in the state and unless something is not done urgently, things would go from bad to worse. The state administrative system has become highly centralised which is undemocratic and that is why there is a need for decentralisation which is also accountable, he pointed out.

Prominent among others who participated in the discussion, were Prof. Yashvir Tyagi, Prof. Mohd Muzammil, Prof N.M.P. Verma, Arvind Mohan and Prof S.S.A. Jafri.