The UP government?s decision to implement e-procurement schemes to prevent mafia and criminal elements from playing havoc with the official tender and contract-awarding processes of the PWD, irrigation, industry, medical and other departments, raises hope. With this initiative, UP could restore confidence in governance and rescue the state from the morass it has been sinking into. Though the project starts off only on a pilot basis, the larger implications of an electronic success could surpass anything else tried in large laggard states. Interestingly, UP?s Chief Minister Mayawati seems keen not to let the CM of Gujarat, another possible contender for the Prime Ministership after the next general elections, claim an advantage with media-led constituencies on the basis of his ?development? credentials.
If an operation ?cleanup? is UP?s aim, then this is the right place to begin. Almost all state-level corruption can be traced to work tenders. The current system has created a vast network of agents, sub-agents and influence peddlers who are not distinguished for their respect for the law. Properly implemented, electronic tendering has the advantage of being transparent, with links and decision points easy to trace at the touch of a keyboard. This can break the nexus between corruption nodes in the government and petty contractors who thrive on opaque procedures and stashed away files. This could result in efficiency. At the end, the ripple effect will not only do the state?s infrastructure a good turn, it will impact the quality and price of all goods and services, improving the state machinery?s delivery systems on the ground. In terms of satisfying electorates, this could go a long way. Local delivery systems and citizen interfaces have been so bad that minor improvements tend to yield plenty of popular approval. But ushering in such changes is no simple task that can be achieved through administrative fiat. Process design must include a system of checks and balances. Simple digitalisation of existing procedures, without scope for additional accountability, would leave the system open to sabotage by vested interests. The state, therefore, should study global best practices before the schemes? implementation. With other such reforms, UP might even be looking at an investment boom that has eluded it.
