How Less Can Be More!

         A child expects that her parents are omnipotent. She expects and demands everything from them and at times, parents surprise with what they can do for the child. In a democracy, citizens like petulant child expect the same from the government. Unfortunately, this time the consequences are not that good for both.

           We always want perfect solutions and Government comes across as the Santa Clause that fulfils all wishes. For e.g. when we want to control crime against women, Government is expected to come out with the harshest laws that gives severest punishment to the perpetrator of the crime. So far, so good; but then comes the issue of capability. Do we have enough policemen to file a perfect charge sheet in the court and scientifically collect and preserve the evidence? A cursory glance at number of policemen per one lakh population and the images of any court Maal khana would tell world is far from perfect. Harshest punishment also means guilt is established beyond doubt and ultimately, we end up finding most accused not guilty.
           My premise is that citizen expect everything from the government and in a competitive electoral polity, the government promises; without considering if it has the capability to deliver it. Let us take our labor laws as an example. Their formulation must be best in the world, which may even put developed countries to shame. There are penalties for paying less than mandated wage, daily and weekly limits for hours of work and compensation/punishment for accidents due to employers’ negligence. What we fail to put in place before is a perfect measure that can enforce it. The end result is arbitrary power in the hand of labor inspector for rent seeking. The labor laws end up hurting both the workers and the industry.
           A policy is as good as its implementation mechanism. Government systems have their limitations and passing a law in the parliament may not change it. We need properly trained people on the ground implementing polices, technical support to assist it and grievance redressal mechanism to address problems if any. If a scheme is simple and its outcome is easily measurable, it can be enforced on ground. A best scheme that promises everything has more change of failing on ground that a good enough scheme with limited objectives.
           The premise is that less can be more in such circumstances. If we have reasonable expectations from the Government, we may end up getting more. Responsible Governments may also estimate implementing capability and resist from promising the moon to the citizenry!