In Defence of the IndefensibleTransformational Leaders Inside Government

Srivatsa Krishna, IASTwitter: @srivatsakrishna

Thinkers 50August 30, 2013

The Majority Can Do Wrong

“James the 1st and Louis XIV taught that the King could do no wrong, and their successors lost their heads;

Hegel and his disciples taught that the State could do no wrong, and plunged the world into war;

Our doctrinaire democrats teach that the majority can do no wrong, and bid fare to wreck civilization”.

W.N.Inge, Outspoken Essays

Dream or a Nightmare? Challenges Inside Government Direct reporting to a political executive with a very different ethos

and values including very often, reporting to criminals.

IAS is often a shield between the rapacious politician and an illiterate citizenry. E.g. Durga Shakti’s case.

Expect to deliver market-like efficiency, market-like performance, with a non-market like pay and other ecosystems.

Always under a ‘microscope” of judicial and media scrutiny.

Unionized subordinate staff, hard to discipline.

The Distribution of honesty and dishonesty is not very different across professions.

Government’s DNA:Why Private Sector CEOs Often Fail Inside Government:

The Fable of Tenali Raman & the Poet

• Krishnadeva Raya’s Court Tenali Raman poet who came and sublime poetry. Impressed, he appointed him as a Minister in his Cabinet.

• Tenali Raman invites the King and his Cabinet for a banquet at his house and has the best carpenter for two tasks.

• Prepare the most beautiful dining table ever made by man! And prepare dinner to be laid on it.

• Dinner is Served and the King spits it out.• Tenali Raman falls at his feet and apologizes and

reminds the king of his action of appointing a poet as a Minister and that he merely followed suit!!

• MORAL: One who is good in one field, need not always be the best in another field also

1. Robert McNamara- Ford Motor Company to Defence Secy. USA.

2. Paul O’ Neil – From Alcoa to US Treasury Secretary

CORPORATE TITANS WHO FAILED INSIDE

GOVERNMENT1. Rusi Mody

2. Yogi Deveshwar

3. TTK

4. Robert McNamara- Ford Motor Company to Defence Secretary of USA.

5. Paul O’ Neil – From Alcoa to US Treasury Secretary

R.Chandrashekhar, J.Satyanarayana, Ajay Sawhney, Srivatsa Krishna

Creating the AP Software Cluster & E-Governance• Under Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s leadership

AP became one of Asia’s foremost investment clusters, yet it is intellectually fashionable to talk of the IT Sector having grown because there’s no govt!

• Creating Brand AP and invited private investments• Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon, Google, GE, HSBC, JP

Morgan etc have development or analytics centers.

• Exports: Rs. 35,000 crores (’10)- (Rs.65 crores in ‘96).• Employment: 64000 (‘00) to 2.5 million (2010)• Companies: 31 (‘95) to 1100 (2010)• Goldman Sachs: Value of Hyderabad Cluster is $5b

• Egovernance: Point of Decision of a Government vs. Point of Delivery of a Government Service

V.V.Lakshminarayana, IPS & Dr.U.V.Singh, IFS, Bishwajit Mishra, IFS

Enforcing the Law• Enormous threat to life while bringing

down G.Janardhana Reddy’s empire.• Rs.12228 crores loss to the exchequer

as per Lokayukta report.• Dr.U.V.Singh and Mishra went through

40 lakh entries!• In 10 working days Bishwajit Mishra

recovered Rs.20 crores past dues from the miners!

• CBI under VV Lakshminarayana’s leadership is now going after the politicians, IFS/IAS/IPS officers who colluded in the crime.

R.K.Raghavan, IPSSpecial Investigation Team

• Heading the SIT on Gujarat riots, Karnataka court violence & national anti-ragging committee.

• Guarded late Rajiv Gandhi’s body and the crime scene unarmed in Sriperumbudur even as mobs attacked him.

• Routinely gets threats to his life from almost every group who has an axe to grind.

• Former Director, CBI and member of international advisory groups at Cambridge University and Mexican government

• Handled many sensitive cases at CBI, including Bombay Blast (1993), match fixing scandal & Indian Bank Fraud

N.Rangachary, IRSShaping the Insurance Sector

• IRDA set up in 2000: Broad based, publically accountable insurance sector with infrastructure to be developed for channelizing long term savings.

• Penetration Levels: Premium as % of GDP has grown from 2.3% (‘01) to 6.7% (‘10).

• Premium grew at a CAGR of 21.45% (‘01-’10)• Total FDI in Insurance Sector is > INR 50b today• Ownership separated from regulation. • Industry has grown 50 fold in the last 10 years. • Gross Premium of LIC grew from Rs.16000

crores to Rs.120,000 crores and we have 44 companies in all in the industry today.

S.V.Ranganath, Vandita Sharma ( and Team GAIL)The Karnataka Gas Pipeline

• 1000 km of which 800 km in Karnataka crossing the Western Ghats and 17 rivers.

• 4000 government clearances: GOK, Environment, Forests, GOI, Railways, NHAI

• MOU signed May 2010. Construction begun November 2010.• 4000 approvals in record time between May 2010- Oct 2010.• Toyota became the first customer to buy gas on February 19, 2013.

Manjula Subramaniam24 x 7 Power in Gujarat

• Gujarat Power Sector: Only state to have 24x7 3-phase power in all 18000 villages, completed in 1000 days flat.

• In 2001: (2246) crores, In 2011: + 2114 crores; T& D losses down to 20% now

• Feeder Separation of agricultural and household feeders.

• Set up Power Theft Police stations and filed over 100,000 FIRs.

• Smart metering

Padma Shri S.R.RaoSaving Surat• 1994 outbreak of Plague in Surat, 300

year old city; 2.5m threatened to be infected, 130 sq km, 56 people died.

• Water supply coverage up from 60 to 98% , Sewerage up from 30% to 88%; Storm water drains from 0% to 100%

• 40% slum population provided basic facilities.

• Disease burden fell dramatically from and doctors migrated to other professions!

• Disease surveillance program picked up by World Bank as a global best practice.

• Self-Demolition of temples, mosques, illegal buildings belong to the rich and powerful.

Dr. I.V.Subba Rao Serving the Lord

• The richest temple and one of the busiest in the world: Between 25,000 to 1 lakh per day; Rs. 1 crore a day collections.

• Queues would last for 1 to 2 days in the past inside inhuman cages.

• “Sudarshanam” or bar-coded wristbands, with an algorithm, which ensured entry in an hour or so. Rs.1 per wristband cost!

• The quality of the waiting time reduced not the waiting time per se.

• Despite huge obstacles from employees and other vested interested it was implemented successfully.

• Change that is Desirable, Do-able and Durable

Pradeep KharolaE-Sugam: Computerizing Commercial Taxes

• It is an indirect tax and each sale transaction needs to be captured. The traders act as agents of government for tax collection.

• 4.5 lakh returns per month, Rs.32000 crores/ annum collection in ‘12-’13 (up from Rs.18000 crores in ‘09-’10).

• 100 lakh visits by traders every single day and attendant corruption eliminated.

• PM’s Award for Public Administration in 2013

N.SivasailamCreating Bangalore Metro

• In May 2008 Less than < 0.1% Rs.400 crores of Rs.11609 crores total project cost.

• Bangalore: 2.5 million vehicles + 1000 being added every single day

• As of December 2010 Rs.4000 crores spent and Line 1 (37%) 7.5 kms complete.

• Line 2 ready on 12.12.12.• Ridership: Designed for carrying 1m

passengers a day.• In sharp contrast, private metros in

Mumbai and the Airport line in Delhi, both delayed and over budget

V.J.KurienIndia’s First PPP Commercial Airport-Kochi

• Rs.300 crores including cost of land. 4.5 million passengers in 2011. Rs.100 crores profit every year!

• No user fee at all. Landing low is minimum 10-20% lower.

• Rs.250 crores total revenue of which Non aeronautical is about 52%

• From Concept to First Landing: 6 years including 1300 acres of land and 822 houses were demolished and rehabilitated.

• Most functions are outsourced. 500 employees in all. Total 5500 employees in all.

• No concession agreement or MCA!• Tenure : 1993-1999 and 2003-2006, 2011-

Pratyay AmritBuilding Roads & Bridges in Bihar’s Badlands

• MD, BRPNN From 2006-07 till date has built 13,322 kms of roads.

• Outsourced DPRs to IITs.• BRPNN, which had completed 314 bridges during

the first 30 years of its inception, successfully executed 336 bridge projects in just three years.

• PM’s Award for Public Administration in 2011

A Fundamental Tenet: Every Society gets the

Leader that it deserves!

IT IS ALL ABOUT LEADERSHIP

IT ALL SEEMS SO CHAOTIC FROM OUTSIDE...

But Somehow it all works!!

LORD GANESHA DRINKS MILK ONLY IN INDIA &INDIA is @66 and the Rupee is also @66 too!

(or is that 75 now?)

MY BIG DREAM:Transformational Leaders Inside Government

Creating a Transformed IndiaTHANK YOU