Gati Shakti can spur behavioural changes for superior governance

Synopsis: Information sharing could reform our bureaucracy and raise efficiency in infrastructure creation through use of Gati Shakti plan.

Introduction

Gati Shakti besides being a master plan for infrastructure creation, is also the solution to the problem of information-sharing between ministries and government departments at the Centre.

It is a software element in the government’s infrastructure projects implementation.

How Gati Shakti is going to aid other projects?

Gati Shakti should be seen as a cog in India’s wheel of infrastructure creation that is important for the other three: the 10-year infrastructure development programme announced last year, National Monetisation Pipeline and privatization of public sector enterprises.

Governments in the world over operate on the basis of information being power. Therefore, a dashboard that allows all government stakeholders to access information pertaining to infrastructure projects can become a potential game-changer.

Given time, it could catalyse behavioural changes in the bureaucracy. That will constitute a big difference to governance.

It would facilitate citizen-monitoring and accountability

What more is needed to be done?

There are two other levels of software upgradation that need to be attained for infrastructure creation to be seamless and faster.

The extension of the information dashboard to state and local governments. They constitute the important last-mile elements of projects. That will also advance cooperative federalism.

The second aspect is the negotiation of contracts with the private sector for the monetization, creation and/or operation of existing assets. Simplicity of language and transparency of mutual obligations and expectations will help in avoiding costly re-negotiations, needless litigation and costly delays.

Source: This post is based on the article “Gati Shakti can spur behavioural changes for superior governance” published in “Livemint” on 25th Oct 2021.