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Policy Snippets of the Freedom Team This draft document is work-in-progress
This is a set of high level ideas on policy that members of Freedom Team of India believe in. This is work in progress, hence a draft document only.
A) Policy snippets
General principle As a general rule the policies implemented will either be proven best practice from around the world, or best practice as advocated by outstanding thinkers. These will be enabling policies which increase freedoms of the people, give them more choice, and generally provide them with a stable framework of rules, security, and equality of opportunity within which they can succeed in proportion to their talent and effort. There will be an intermediate phase for policies (where necessary), to ensure a smooth transition.
Reform of governance
Political system reform The reason why good people do not enter politics as a vocation is because MPs and MLAs are paid very poorly and they are guaranteed to lose money in contesting elections. State funding of elections (about Rs.15 per valid vote polled) will be introduced. In addition, election expenditure limits will be abolished even as accountability for funds spent is increased. Finally, MPs and MLAs will be paid significantly more than they get today, while abolishing their hidden perquisites.
Administrative system reform The civil service will be completely reformed in three key ways: (a) senior positions will be made contractual, and paid significantly more (b) existing tenured civil services will be abolished and (c) the number of government departments will be reduced to 10.
Distinction between state and religion The vestiges of interference by the government into religious affairs will be abolished. The government will not manage or fund religious institutions or occasions. For instance, the subsidy to travel to Haj will be abolished equally as Hindu and Muslim laws will be repealed, and no government functionary appointed to the Tirupati Temple.
Reforming public finance Only a little over 1/6th of our GDP is spent on services provided by government, with at least a quarter of this being sucked out by corruption; so Indian governance runs on 1/8th of our GDP. It is important to increase the tax base, through broadening it, to a level of roughly 1/4th of our GDP, to allow the government to provide high-quality services.
Increasing transparency India’s defence and security has been compromised infinitely more by politicisation and corruption by socialist governments than by leaks of information. Almost the entire information handled by the Government will be made directly accessible to citizens through the internet. The obvious exceptions to this will be: content that identifies individuals and thus impinges on their privacy, and matters generally dealt with by the defence and external affairs departments.
Local government The centralised management of cities by bureaucrats appointed by state governments will be scrapped. Instead, an incentives-based governance model will be adopted, giving full control to elected representatives over the employment of bureaucrats working in local government bodies. Local councils will be given complete flexibility in raising rates from their residents.
A new Constitution for India A much shorter Constitution and social contract, of around 10-15 pages, to be agreed through a referendum, and to sunset every 30 years, will be prepared. It will focus on the delivery of freedom and security to the people of India, with details of the management of the democracy left to the Parliament to determine through its laws.
First order core functions
Defence The ramifications for increased professionalismin the defence forces and providing it focused capability will be extended and explored.
Police The new recruitment practices for senior public servants will also apply to senior officials in the police forces, including significant salary increases and removal of tenure. These positions will be recruited through open competition, including internationally. Complete modernisation of our policing systems will be quickly implemented. Unskilled policemen who, after being given opportunities for training, do not meet international standards of competency would be let go. Vigorous surveys of the public on their perceptions of corruption in the police would also be introduced and senior managers held personally to account for maintaining a zero corruption public image.
Justice Justice is the most basic of all concepts underpinning freedom. Processes will be set in place to appoint as many judges, each on five-year contracts, to the Supreme and High Court as needed, who will prioritise and systematically dispose the entire judicial backlog. The salaries of judges would be brought on par with the 90th percentile of lawyer earnings at that level of court. Cases pending for more than 1 year will be allocated clear timelines for disposal and the list of such cases published on the internet once a year. So-called ‘criminals’ who have been imprisoned for significant periods of time without trial will be released subject to their having behaved well while in jail, and pending the completion of their trial.
Second order core functions: Infrastructure, equality of opportunity
Poverty elimination A direct mechanism to transfer funds to millions of poor people in India will be put in place, based on annual income tax returns to be filed by each family. Instead of one thousand government programmes that deploy forty lakh bureaucrats in the name of helping the poor, we will only have one programme, called the negative income tax. Under this project, each individual (family) in India will lodge an income tax return, and those who fall below the poverty line will be paid an income subsidy (hence the term ‘negative’) rather than taxed like others. India’s largest IT companies will be invited to propose methodologies to implement this system. After an year of implementation and evaluation of the programme, all subsidies will be scrapped and the public distribution system shut down.
School education Everyone till age 18 or year 12 will be provided access to high quality education. The government will ensure this education, but will not directly run or operate any school. All schools will be fully privatised and left free to compete in the market, and funded through parental choice thorough scholarships for each child, the quantum dependent on parental income. This will ensure equality of opportunity (Affirmative action: As soon as a system of high quality universal school education is put in place, reservations and quotas of all sorts will be abolished.)
University education Every student who gains entry into university will be provided with a loan (if he or she wishes) to pursue studies. The government will not directly run or operate any university. All universities will be fully privatised and left free to compete in the market.
Health The government will not directly deliver the service, but get it delivered. In the manner we pay for roads, defence, and police, ie, in proportion to our incomes, hospitalisation and emergency care will be provided by the government to every citizen by charging taxes which will form a compulsory insurance premium. People will be free to take private insurance at levels beyond this coverage for ambulance services, designer spectacles, a private hospital room, treatment at a hospital of choice or by a doctor of choice, use of experimental medicines or medical techniques not available for general use, early booking of elective surgery, or cosmetic surgery.
Third order functions
Environment The transition to freedom is always a time of great pollution. Given our large population, things are therefore likely to get very bad before they start getting better. We have to brace ourselves for environmental disasters as the economy opens up. To avert such disasters, mechanisms of accountability and justice will be put in place to ensure a clean environment. Awareness building and enforcement of accountability will be the main pillars to protect the environment. We shall also rapidly phase in, through regulation, the world’s highest standards in the use of non-polluting technology wherever such technology exists.
Economic policy The government will allow markets to be as free as possible with minimal regulation. Regulation will be based on best practice. Prudential standards will be established and monitored to protect consumers.
Safety policy Safety in the workplace, in public travel such as air, rail or road, and product safety including drugs and food will be regulated firmly for accountability. Severe punishments will be imposed on people who trifle with the life and safety of others.
Work hours and holidays The work culture of India is being adversely impacted by a series of endless holidays. Instead of giving holidays for all and sundry reasons, the work hours will be streamlined, so that people can get more rest to recuperate during a week. In brief, with about 3 national holidays (and no state holidays), it should be possible to bring the work week down to 38 hours, which is the standard in most Western countries.
B) Policy detail (to be included in the detailed policy brochures)
Political system reform Political representatives will be required to reveal the sources and extent of their wealth including shares, land and other "assets". They will also be required to reveal their involvement with public or private companies and put their interest in such companies in a blind trust on which they have no control
Property rights The stable framework of rules and security includes strong property rights.
Tools for eliminating corruption The reforms to the political system and bureaucracy will directly
reduce corruption. The package will constitute the tools for eliminating
corruption. [more details later] C) Parking lot (including issues for 2nd/ later terms) – for further discusion
Jammu and Kashmir The special status accorded to the state of Jammu and Kashmir will be reviewed. - suggested that this is related to a whole of J&K policy, the key focus of which should be the welfare of the people of J&K. Suggested that this policy be considered only for the 2nd term of the government, after key reforms of governance have been firmly embedded in the first term.
Entry permits in border areas (North East) Restrictions on freedom of movement of Indian citizens in certain border areas will be reviewed. - suggested that this review be held over for the 2nd term of the government, after key reforms of governance have been embedded.
Administrative system reform - suggested that the proposed reform will abolish IPS, IAS, etc. All senior positions will be open to competition, hence this is redundant.
Distinction between state and religion - suggested that there are other means to achieve this end in a free society – eg. uniform minimum standards, etc. Uniformity in personal law (apart from minimum standards) is violative of individual freedom – details in BFN.
Minority rights - suggested that everyone is a minority of one, so everyone must have the same 'rights'. Mentioning any one (or group) by name is discriminatory. Property is the only one which is particularly weak in India. Second, it is suggested that the language of ‘rights’ is best avoided. We need freedom with agreed frameworks of justice and accountability.
Political system reform Finally, MPs and MLAs will be paid significantly more than they get today, while abolishing their hidden perquisites. - discussed below in the disputes policies section
D) Things on which the Freedom Team will not comment as a group.
The role of religion in life.
Religious laws (except that we will abolish all parliamentary laws which relate to religion).
Reasons Some members on the Team believe that we must acknowledge the positive contributions of religious bodies. Other members believe that most religious groups have, on balance, harmed mankind, and that it is only science and reason (unrelated to any religious activity; and in fact often in opposition to relentless and violent religious intolerance) that have helped mankind to progress whatever little it has done so far.
It is not the job of a policy/ political group to talk about the role of religion. That discussion must remain a purely personal matter for each of us. There the team will neither promote any religious activity nor oppose it. Everyone’s right to hold a view on religion is fully respected, but there will be no ‘Group’ view. We are assembling to advance good governance and freedom. No more.
An individual should remain free to believe or not believe in the role of religion (or even God) so long as that individual does not destroy property or kill others. That's all a free society asks for. That is the essence of freedom of thought (which includes the freedom of belief and the freedom of expression.). The membership of the Freedom Team is fully compatible with any belief such as atheism, agnosticism, and religious fervour. That is why even members from existing political parties are most welcome so long as they remain, like Rajaji was, focused on their personal belief system; not involved in demolishing property. We all come together to create a society where everyone can think their own thing so long as we don't injure others.
The essence is that a government must not either create religious laws, nor support religious activity of any sort, nor allow anyone to use religious activity to interfere with the 'common space' of the society. Religion can flourish if it wishes to, but within its own private spaces, and without disturbing the public order. The business of religion is the individual's soul; it must provide its services privately, like any other business. For instance, no one has the right to wake up people at 6 am in the morning through a loudspeaker blaring religious bhajans, kirtan, or the call of a muezzin. One solution for that could be for the relevant local governments to impose a noise curfew between 10 pm and 8 am, as found in most Western societies.
The government is a law maker - of laws which must apply uniformly to everyone in every way, irrespective of their personal beliefs or relationship with God. A government's job is to stick to the delivery of security and justice, not to dabble in religious matters. Second, the government has nothing to do with morality. It is each individual's task to maintain his or her morals. The government is concerned only with the law. The laws can, of course, be based on morality, if that is what the people think these laws will do. But the only real morality we want is of accountability: that people remain free so long as they are accountable. Freedom = justice = morality, for the most part.
About ‘minority’ rights. A government does not have any business to recognise any 'minority' based on religious classifications. The government must be 'religion-blind', 'caste-blind', 'tribe-blind', 'language-blind'. It must only implement the law. In the end, each of us is a minority of one, and each of us needs the same protection from the government.
This policy completely de-links the roles of the government and the church/ temple/ mosque, while acknowledging that individuals can choose their own beliefs to deal with the future of their own soul, but only within their own private spaces.
For instance, a religion can buy land and build a great huge temple, church, or mosque, or whatever else, but it can't build a temple in the middle of a public road. Such encroachments must be respectfully removed and handed over - through consultation - to a private temple or society that is able to take charge of them.
Some nuances for the Indian context In the context of India, religion is a bit more diffused than commonly understood. The construct of "religion" applies very well to Judeo-Christian traditions and less well to eastern traditions such as Hinduism or Buddhism (dharmas). Even Namaste can be said to have a spiritual meaning, though it is used in many non-religious setting as well. In principle, religion should be left to the people and the community and the state will not advocate or support any specific religion, nor comment on religious matters as a government. The difference between religious and non-religious markers is best left to good judgement. The key is respect.
Some implications: • The government can follow local customs like lighting a lamp, applying tika or welcoming guests with garlands on purely secular occasions or functions.
• Not only can individuals (including members of the Freedom Team) continue to uphold their own beliefs, but they are at liberty to preach them and persuade others to join their belief system as well.
• When proselytisations result in conversions then the government, in the interest of consumer protection, should perhaps require a cooling off period of 1 year or so to allow other contenders for a person’s soul to chip in with their arguments as well.
• A government representative (eg. a Minister in the capacity of Minister) cannot attend any religious function or speak on behalf of government. The same individual can of course attend such a function and speak as a private individual without in any way using the title of Minister.
• The Tourism department cannot subsidize Durga Puja in the belief that it will increase tourism. Two reasons: (1) tourism is a business best left to the private sector, and (2) Durga Puja is a purely religious festival. No government subsidy of any sort can apply to it.
E) Issues with vehement disagreements
1. Special protection for the views of minorities. Some members of FTI argue for special protection for the views of minorities. Others are vehemently opposed to even the mention of the word ‘minority’.
Argument for: “I consider my religious right to believe and propagate my belief as a fundamental right guaranteed by the Indian constitution. The same rights should exist for people who belong to other religions and for irreligious people .No majority should be allowed to stampede those rights and hence the need for special protection for the views of minority.”
Argument against: “the ‘rights’ of individuals are all the same, whether they are minorities or not. I don't think there is any minority in the eyes of a government. The moment such a word is used, hell will break loose, since 1000 interpretations will be formed of this word, and everyone will start looking for special privileges under the law. FTI will have to be religion-blind, else this organisation will collapse in a few days. If we are not focused on good governance, and start commenting on religion, we are going to be finished, for that space is already 'taken' by rabid religion based parties. The membership of the Freedom Team is fully compatible with any belief such as atheism, agnosticism, and religious fervour. We all come together to create a society where everyone can think their own thing so long as we don't injure others. I do not believe a government has any business to recognise any 'minority' based on religious classifications. The government must be 'religion-blind', 'caste-blind', 'tribe-blind', 'language-blind'. It must only implement the law. In the end, each of us is a minority of one, and each of us needs the same protection from the government. I advocate that a government has no business to ask people about their 'religion' etc., in the Census. That is the job of universities who may conduct social research. It is none of the business of a government.”
2. “FTI must admit the positive contributions made by various religious groups”
Argument against: It is not the business of FTI as a group, or the government, to comment on the activities of entire groups of people engaged in the private pursuit of their soul's liberation.
3. Proportional representation: Word | HTML
4. Political system reform Finally, MPs and MLAs will be paid significantly more than they get today, while abolishing their hidden perquisites.
Arguments for: “Let me be a little but blunt and use myself as an example. I earn Rs. 40 lakhs today (in exchange rate terms, including my superannuation contributions) even as a relatively junior officer in Australia. An average MP earns a little bit more. Senior politicians earn Rs. 1.5 crores. Senior bureaucrats earn Rs. 1.8 crores. I have not one paisa of dishonest earnings in my life and no intention to earn such money. So why will I (or anyone who earns significantly more than this in India or elsewhere) sacrifice his family and personal earnings simply for the joy of 'serving' India?
“I suggest that India needs me (or more precisely, people like me) and my skills more than I need India. This is not arrogance but a mere statement of fact. People like me can create billions, even trillions of dollars (for convenience let's use dollars) in wealth for India, but not for free. I believe in speaking the blunt truth. Today Indian politicians make crores of rupees in black money; they appear to 'sacrifice' but then loot the country clean. I promise to not do that, nor will anyone on FTI do that. A house in India costs Rs. 1 crore rupees; good education costs in lakhs of rupees. FTI members need to earn sufficiently so they can live and not have their families haunted by poverty. So why should any FTI member offer to work for India for less than Rs.20 lakhs? Are we wanting only the corrupt people to enter politics?
“I would urge you to read my book which talks at length about this problem. In Australia th e politicians speak honestly about this: everyone agrees that you get the politicians you pay for. They therefore insist on paying their representatives well. In my view this is a core policy of FTI. It is core reform India needs. It doesn't matter if as a result more 'goons' will enter politics. Today not ONE really good and competent person enters politics. Not more than a handful of good people have entered politics in India for 60 years. At least in the future SOME good people will enter politics, and give the voters a chance?!
“In my book I've outlined a detailed plan by which MPs will get more, but only if they deliver results. Bonuses will be payable on exceptional delivery of GDP growth and sustained reductions in levels of corruption and poverty. I want a virtuous cycle to be set up in India, and to get rid of this vicious cycle of corruption and poverty.
“We are the owners of the company called India and our MPs our employees who manage the company. Therefore the standard incentives of agency theory applied to private sector companies should be adopted to reward the efforts of MPs. Let us treat them like employees and reward and punish them suitably. For instance, once India becomes the least corrupt country in the world, these MPs can be given a one-off increase and a pat on their back.” - Sanjeev
Arguments against: "cannot buy the argument that once good emoluments are offered all the good people will jump in to the election fray and bad elements chased out. There is every possibility of goons coming in to the fray with added vigour and chase the good people out"
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