A common minimum programme for the nation

Suresh Prabhu

Experts from various political parties should come to a consensus on solutions to some basic issues of interest to the nation, which could then be implemented without much difficulty.

THE LAST time a single party got an absolute majority in Parliament was in 1984. The governments formed in 1989 and in 1991 were minority ones. Since 1996, four different Prime Ministers have led six different governments and all these have been coalition arrangements. All political parties prepare a manifesto before the elections to seek popular support for their respective agenda. However, in the case of the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Lok Sabhas, the governments post-1996 had to design a Common Minimum Programme (CMP), as the coalition partners were not able to share a common manifesto before going to the polls.

Interestingly, some parties did not join such governments but gave their support from the outside, necessitating the need for some programmes to justify to their own constituents a rationale for such an odd arrangement, as their real agenda was at variance with the parties they were now supporting.

The CMP is for the parties that are part of the arrangement to form the governments and not for the entire political system. Then again, this CMP is not endorsed by the people in an election as it is created after the election. Can we not develop a CMP for the entire nation endorsed by all political parties? Is it a utopian idea? Or is it something that is the need of the hour?

On the one hand, India is really the flavour of the moment the world over. There is hardly a global event complete without a mention of the country.

We are growing at more than 8 per cent and are likely to maintain this growth rate in the future. What is more, with proper planning, India Inc. may even be able to accelerate this growth rate.

Key challenges

However, we should also be conscious of some of the challenges before the country:

We have 800 million people living below the poverty line if we go by the World Bank definition of people earning less than $2 a day;

The United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Index (HDI) ranks India 127th: it is one of the least performing countries where improving quality of life is concerned;

More than 1/4th of our districts are affected by some social disturbance or the other and alarmingly the number is rising;

Our society is getting polarised in a manner never seen before;
Caste divisions are becoming more profound;

The rural economy is in crisis: farmers, facing the worst economic conditions, are committing suicide;

The economy has not created many new jobs despite the phenomenal growth rates;

Infrastructure is a shambles and needs huge investments. Funds are not forthcoming due to lack of commercial viability of some of the key sectors such as power, which for years have been crippled due to sub-optimal user charges that have been levied on consumers, who can afford to pay for these services;

The population is rising at a rate that will exert unbearable pressure on our natural capital;

Healthcare and the delivery and quality of primary education are deteriorating.

The challenge before the powers-that-be is how to harness the true potential of the country while addressing these issues. If we miss the bus now, the world community is not going to be singing India's praises with the same gusto as it is doing now.

If we can find solutions to all these problems on an apolitical basis with the full participation of all political parties, we may be able to move much faster. China has accomplished much more in a short period due to a clear policy coupled with its matchless ability to implement it. India, on the other hand, has always been constrained by political pulls and pressures that have inhibited its ability to deliver, triggering a debate in some quarters as a constraint to accomplish better delivery. We need to find a solution in a democratic set-up to accomplish this. If we can design a CMP to address at least some, if not all, of these issues, we will be able to find a solution to these problems. People vote a particular party to power to seek an alternative, hoping that it will deliver. Restlessness, impatience, and frustration should not lead them to seek an alternative to democracy itself. As the Power Minister of the country, I was of the opinion that generation of electricity was a technical and not an ideological issue — on which political parties are divided — and that as such we could have a CMP for power sector reforms. Experts from various political parties should come to a consensus on solutions to some basic issues of interest to the nation, which could then be implemented without much difficulty. Some of the issues of national priorities could be taken up first.

The Election Commission should then ensure that the CMP is arrived at and is agreed upon with proper deliberations and consultations among the political parties so that everyone is committed to following it in letter and in spirit. To avoid confusion, a detailed action plan could then be prepared. The EC, which monitors and ensures compliance of the Model Code of Conduct during elections, could also oversee the implementation of the CMP.

How should we initiate this? I think the lead has to come from the incumbent Prime Minister or from the President. The Prime Minister should call an all-party meeting as a first step and set up all-party groups, subject-wise, to prepare a draft programme for public debate.

This should be for a fixed period and should not be open-ended. The President should step in if the Prime Minister is not able to take up such an initiative for some reason.

This year we will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of our independence. We should strive to arrive at this CMP as a gift to our citizens from the political system. This will sustain the world interest in India and at the same time address our real problems.


The writer is a Lok Sabha member and former Union Minister