Selling change reform’s tough govt must back promise with delivery

Selling change reform’s tough govt must back promise with delivery

Violent protests against Agnipath not only continued for the third day but also spread to more states. Nothing justifies the arson and other acts of violence. Protests that result in wilful destruction of property cannot be treated with kid gloves. But these protests also show the scale of challenge in initiating reforms in India, even when fronted by a prime minister with the strongest political mandate in almost 50 years. One reason is pushback by interest groups that benefit from the status quo. Equally, sloppy planning and execution that feed into a pre-existing credibility crisis governments face make it tough.

There can be no argument against military pension reforms. The fiscally reckless act of introducing OROP without a concomitant move to rationalise numbers made Agnipath inevitable. Military’s pension spend increased from 19% of total defence expenses in 2010-11 to 26% a decade later, thereby squeezing out expenses on armaments. India’s challenge is not unique. PLA’s modernisation exercise last decade included demobilising officers. However, as a commentary by Rand Corporation observed there were concurrent steps to ease the transition. Chinese government officials were explicitly tasked to help in the job search and matching process, and it was linked to their promotion. It’s in such crucial areas of execution that India’s reform efforts falter.

While GoI did well to offer a one-time waiver on age, it would have been better to have a credible pathway for lateral entry into paramilitary forces. Promises of “priority” at a future date will not cut it given the low trust in government promises. Another takeaway is that a reform that has a bearing on aspirations in an economy with limited job opportunities needs to be backed by direct messaging. The political executive has to take ownership before and during the process of implementing reforms.