The Council-Manager form is the system of local government that combines the strong political leadership of elected officials with the strong managerial experience of an appointed local government manager. This arrangement establishes a representative system where all power is concentrated in the elected council and where the council employs a professionally trained manager to oversee the delivery of public services. But how popular is this model ? Check out the following :
In Council-Manager government, the council members are leaders and policy makers elected to represent various segments of the community and to concentrate on policy issues that are responsive to citizens’ needs. The manager is appointed by the council to carry out policy and ensure that the entire community is being served. If the manager is not responsive to the council’s wishes, the council has the authority to terminate the manager at nay point of time. In that sense, a manager’s responsiveness is tested daily!
The duties of the manager include preparing a budget for the council’s consideration; recruiting, hiring and supervising the government staff; serving as the council’s chief adviser; and carrying out the council’s policies. The council members and citizens count on the manager to provide complete and objective information, pros and cons of alternatives, and long term consequences.
A very positive observation on Council Manager communities has been that they facilitate a high level of citizen participation in local public service delivery processes by encouraging open communication between the citizens and their government. Examples range from visioning, in which citizens play a major role in determining the future of their community, to neighbourhood service delivery, which involves residents through the development of citizen-government partnerships, to community oriented local government services. Further, local governments have found that overall costs have been reduced with competent management; savings come in the form of reduced operating costs, increased efficiency and productivity, improved revenue collection and effective use of technology.
BACK FROM THE EDGE : THE INCREDIBLE TRANSFORMATION OF SURAT.
It was like the proverbial rise of the Phoenix. Within a span of a year, one of the dirtiest city in India was transformed into the cleanest. All it took was one determined Municipal Commissioner, a core of dedicated officials, a highly proactive media and minimal additional investments. The success story of Surat in Gujarat, India provides many inspiring lessons to city administrators struggling to maintain the urban lifeline.
How it all started....
The young male patient admitted to a municipal hospital in Surat on September 21, 1994 did not evince much interest. He had come in complaining of fever and weakness. However, within hours he was dead. And before the perplexed medical authorities could react, 17 more residents of the city had succumbed to what by then was identified as pneumonic plague. And as the Surat Municipal Corporation declared Surat city as a plague epidemic zone, there was widespread pandemonium as more than 70% of the city’s 2.2 million people fled to safer havens. By the end of September, over 58 people in the city had died and over 800 contracted the infection. The social and physical costs incurred were phenomenal. Over 300,000 power looms and 1000 diamond polishing units shut down temporarily, resulting in a colossal loss of over Rs. 12000 crore. Most of the international flights refused to touch down in India and several countries imposed a ban on air traffic into and out of India. It is estimated that the country lost over Rs. 15000 crores. And thousands who fled the city to their native lands were forced out of their homes like ostracised outcasts.
In retrospect, it is not surprising that such an epidemic has rocked Surat. Often designated as India’s dirtiest city, Surat portrayed a picture of filth and squalor. Over 40% of the residents lived in slums along the river Tapti, adding excrement and refuse to its already polluted waters. Population densities of over 20,000 people per square kilometre in the slums were among the highest in the world. The city generated around 1100 tonnes of garbage every day of which only 450 tonnes ( less than 50% !) were cleared daily, leading to massive accumulation of uncleared filth.
The Clean up Act
The metamorphosis of the city started with the coming of the new Municipal Commissioner, Mr. S.R. Rao in May 1995. The first task the new Commissioner did was to clear up the garbage in the city. Private contractors were hired to assist the Corporation in this task; the contract entailed a payment of Rs. 130 per ton of garbage removed. Strict conditionalities were applied. Each load of garbage had to be verified by a municipal official, and every load had to meet weight stipulations. All trucks had to be covered to prevent collected garbage from spilling over to the streets. Further, all senior officials were mandatorily required to undertake field visits every day to monitor and supervise the removal operations. The results were stunning. By early 1996, almost 94% of the garbage generated in Surat was being collected every day, making the city the second cleanest one in India after Chandigarh.
The next part of the agenda was to prevent littering. Months of gentle persuasion mixed with punitive actions like on the spot fining have resulted in making the public aware of the need to dump garbage only in the designated collection points. A major area of concern was the public places like food markets, main thoroughfares of the city and slums. A different strategy was adopted to clean up these places. The city harboured thousands of illegal food and food carts and past experiences have proved that removing them is not an easy job. The Commissioner made a deal with them : Keep the immediate surroundings spotlessly clean in exchange for a tacit permission for carrying on their respective trades. This approach worked extremely well. Every vendor got a waste bin, collected the litter in the surroundings and later delivered the same to a collection centre. Hotels and restaurants were forced to install special garbage bins, pack garbage and dispose it in designated collection centres. Within six months, Surat was free of litter and garbage and 95% of its streets were swept every day.
Efficient Grievance Redressal Systems
A new system of grievance redressal was designed to build credibility and trust among the people. Any citizen lodging a complaint with a municipal office was immediately issued a red card or a white card, depending on the nature of the complaint - Red for minor complaints and White for major ones. The card assured the complainant of an answer and a solution within a specified time period- 24 hours for a minor complaint and 7 hours for major ones. The whole system was centrally monitored by the Commissioner. By late 1996, 98% of all complaints were being resolved within a week.
Building Critical Infrastructure
Immediate steps were taken to improve availability of safe drinking water and sanitary services. Forty one new pay and use toilets were constructed in slum areas and safe chlorinated water was supplied to all slum areas through tankers. The budgets for the city’s 277 municipal health centres were raised and a daily reporting system on reported incidences of infectious diseases were enforced in all these centres. These combined efforts soon produced very dramatic results. Reported cases of enteric fevers dropped by 70%, gastro-enteritis fell by 50% and pneumonia declined by 50% in a period of six months. Efforts are also underway to resettle a significant number of slum dwellers from flood prone low lying areas to alternative sites across the city are also underway. To reduce the acute congestion in the city, the Commissioner sought popular support for demolishing hundreds of illegal structures in the city. The response was overwhelming. Residents voluntarily offered to demolish their own illegal buildings to facilitate road widening and paving; over 48 km of roads have already been widened and upto 42 km of new paved roads have been added to connect the newly built colonies.
Reflections and Lessons
The Surat experience serves a grim reminder to all smaller cities where urban solid waste management continues to be a neglected area. Studies conducted by the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Calcutta, reveal that in many smaller Indian cities the level of garbage removal is abysmally low, with a significant number exhibiting less than 50% efficiency levels. It has been amply documented that poor collection and disposal of solid waste can trigger off severe epidemics of water borne and food borne infections. It is high time that authorities and citizen bodies wake up to this fact. And as the Surat story shows, the act of cleaning up is neither expensive nor difficult. The total annual cost of removing an additional 400 tones of garbage per day from Surat worked out to Rs. 30 crores or a mere 37 paise per capita per day. A probable answer is in privatising the collection of garbage and implementation of effective control and monitoring systems. An awareness building campaign coupled with punitive measures would drastically reduce the tendency to litter. Above all this the responsive, sensitive and citizen friendly approach adopted by the City Municipal officers ensured that public participation is forthcoming in sustaining the initiatives.
Effective Decentralisation & Community Empowerment
The Experience of Joint Forest Management in Andhra Pradesh
Centralised schemes/projects are often perceived to be ineffective in finding sustainable solutions to micro level problems. The accent has to be on creating effective community based linkages where the State plays more of a more facilitatory role than an interventionist one. The ongoing Joint Forest Management Programme in Andhra Pradesh is a good case in point which illustrates how effective decentralisation leads to empowerment of the community and triggers off new and innovative forums.
The Backdrop
The National Forest Policy of India (NFP), 1988 represents a major transitional phase in the management of state forests, as it is for the first time when the rights of the people, living in and around the forests, were recognised as an essential requirement in the governance of forests. It was also considered necessary for the first time to make local communities as partner of the Forest Department in the protection and development of the forests. In support of this landmark shift in policy, number of Non Governmental Organisations have come to the forefront to support the Forest Department in this new arrangement and to form a bridge between the community and the Department. Alongside, the World Bank and other donor agencies also made it a point to put a condition, to provide for people’s participation or Joint Forest Management (JFM), while sanctioning loans/grants for forest development.
JFM : An Overview
JFM, designed in 1993, places particular emphasis on providing decision making power to the people and reduce the discretionary powers of officials. The most innovative mechanism in the whole process is the Vana Samrakshana Samithi (VSS), a community based micro organisation, which is primarily vested with the authority to manage the forests. The VSS which has significant representation from women, is managed by an elected committee. Micro level plans are generated at the VSS level based on which management and development strategies are evolved by the forest Department in consultation with the community, who decide what type of treatment to be given to the degraded forests and identify the species to be planted. Major attention is paid to natural regeneration through strict control on fire, grazing, hacking and smuggling through the VSS.
To make the VSS economically sustainable in the future, the members are allowed certain incentives like the right to collect non timber forest produces and 50 % of the timber obtained from working the forests. A joint account is opened between the president of the VSS and the local section officer of the Forest Department. NGOs are drawn in to assist the process in various ways like preparing the micro plans, assisting the VSS and interfacing with the state at higher levels to ensure the smooth running of the scheme.
The Impact
This innovative programme has brought in significant improvements. Cases of illegal encroachments and smuggling have drastically come down. Strict protection against indiscriminate felling, fire, grazing, mining and poaching has shown that with very little investment it is possible to regenerate the degraded forests and improve productivity. Moreover, it has also been proved that forestry efforts involving the community stand a higher chance of survival compared to solely departmental efforts. JFM has also enthused the local community for two reasons - (I) generating employment in forestry operations close to the homesteads and (ii) facilitating village development because of more active interest and participation from the district administration.
Major Learnings
Making Municipal Budgets Participatory : The Experience of Porto Alegre, Brazil.
unicipal budgets are usually equated with lop sided power concentration, resource waste and corruption. Seven years ago, the City Hall of Porto Alegre in Brazil evolved a system that is fast emerging as a popular and efficient model of preparing municipal budgets. The system, connoted to as Participative Budget, involves an open debate and consultative process to decide on the amounts of income and expenditure as well as where and when the investments will be made, the priorities for the government and the actions and plans to be followed up.
The experience has proved that democratic and transparent administration of the resources is the only way to avoid corruption and mishandling of public funds. Further, popular participation has resulted in efficient spending and also has led to public works and actions that are of high priority to the population. Since it’s inception, projects decided by the participative budgets represent investments over $700 million, mainly in urban infrastructure build up and enhancing the quality of life.
The Partcipative Budget is known by 60% of the population, according to a public opinion research and millions of people participate actively in the process. Presently all over Brazil, there are atleast 70 cities following this system.
Combating Corruption : Strategies and Mechanisms
The propensity for corruption in any society can be controlled only by systematically reducing the incentives and opportunities to engage in corrupt practices. An agenda for action to combat corruption must identify the strategic interventions necessary to minimise such incentives and opportunities in the Indian society. In this context, four action areas are identified as the essential building blocks for a national agenda for corruption control: (a) reform of the political process, (b) restructuring and reorienting government machinery, (c) empowerment of citizens, and (d) creating sustained public pressure for change. Specific recommendations pertaining to each of these themes are given below :
A. The Political Process: Strategic Interventions for Reform
B. Restructuring and Reorienting Government Machinery
C. Empowering Citizens
D. Creating Sustained Public Pressure for Change
(Adapted from: Corruption in India - Agenda for Action. Edited by S. Guhan & Samuel Paul.Vision Books, New Delhi, 1997. ©Public Affairs Centre, 1997)
PROTECTING THE `WHISTLE BLOWER’
A NEW APPROACH TO COMBAT CORRUPTION
All governments in power have so far operated with the maxim " little knowledge is a dangerous thing". Hence the list of efforts to withhold information clearly overwhelms initiatives to provide the same. Right to Information is today pitched in as a powerful tool to bring erring government functionaries to the book and make the administration more transparent and responsive. In India, the theme got a major fillip after the success of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan’s (MKSS) epic victory over the government of Rajasthan by forcing the government to concede the right of the people to have information on various development schemes.
Taking on from this platform, NGOs, public interest groups, consumer organisations and a host of other civil society players are today mounting pressure on the incumbent government at the centre to enforce a national legislation to guarantee a `Right to Information’. The central point of all these initiatives is the Freedom of Information Bill, 1997, which inspite of many disturbing exceptions is generally perceived to provide a good draft framework to work on. The proposed bill as well as the ongoing debates has a sharp focus on the demand side of the issue i.e. stimulating and voicing a wide concern for a need to have access to information which is entitled to any ordinary citizen of the land. However, there exist another powerful source - the supplier of `classified’ information, who often puts his/her life and career at stake to expose corruption in high places. The present article focuses on this informant - the `whistle blower’.
Whistle Blowing : a. Bringing an activity to a sharp conclusion ( Oxford English Dictionary) b. Raising concerns about mis-conduct within an organisation or within an independent structure associated with it ( Nolan Committee, UK) c. Giving information ( usually to the authorities) about illegal and undisclosed practices (Chambers)
The above three definitions capture the very essence of the term `whistle blowing’ and also indicate the risks facing a whistle blower. One could also argue, historically, that whistle blowing often had bad connotations attached to it. As Peter Drucker, the apostle of modern management, says, whistle blowing is simply another word for informing and societies which encouraged informers were infamous tyrannies - to quote a few, Tiberius and Nero in Rome, the Spanish Inquisition and the French Terror. Even today, whistle blowers are generally perceived as traitors and betrayers.
Inquiries relating to scandals, scams and corruption have always pointed to the disturbing fact that many people in the organisation or the agency concerned were in the know-how of what has been going on, but nevertheless chose to remain silent. Those who mustered enough courage to speak out were invariably victimised and or tormented. But what then are the options available to a whistle blower? Three recourses exist : voice the concerns to the higher ups; leak information to the media and; blow the whistle outside ( i.e. getting across to public interest groups etc.,). Unfortunately, in the South Asian context, none of these options provides for the safety of the informer. Punishing the messenger seems to be the popular reaction. Hence, the dominant response from concerned public officials has been to suffer in silence rather than take on the administrative Goliaths and political dons.
The issue of the whistle blower has been taken up quite strongly in many countries. The US Civil Service Reform Act, 1978, commonly known as the Whistle Blowers Act, protects a civil servant from any form of retaliation, legal action or demotion if he discloses to the Congress or the Press any evidence of violation of law, mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority or any substantial danger to public health or safety. The State of Queensland in Australia has enacted the Whistle Blower’s Protection Act, 1994 in its effort to curb public corruption. The Nolan Committee appointed for making the public services more efficient and accountable in UK has strongly argued for a Right to Disclosure and protection to Whistle Blowers. Independent organisations like the Public Concern at Work in UK and the National Whistle Blowers Center in the US offer legal and technical support to encourage the practice of whistle blowing and also to provide protection to whistle blowers.
Given the magnitude of public corruption in India, there is a need to frame a comprehensive strategy which among other inputs like legal and political measures should also incorporate innovative tracts like whistle blowing and enact suitable legislation to that effect to protect the rights and the life of honest functionaries. What should be the broad parameters of a Whistle Blowers Protection Act ? First and foremost, the clauses should apply only to those who has no vested interest in disclosing the information, but does have the interests of the public. The Act should apply to both public and private sectors, including all government departments, local bodies and statutory agencies. It should protect the person giving information from any civil or criminal action or any form of victimisation in relation to the information they disclose.
The major impediment to the design of such creative mechanisms in the present Indian context is the archaic Official Secrets Act of 1923. The most obnoxious provision relates to the notorious Section 5 of the Act, under which disclosure of any kind of secret information will attract prosecution, irrespective of the purpose. The punishment extends up to three years imprisonment or fine, or both. And to further complicate matters, the Act fails to define the words `secret’ or `official secrets’. A suggestion in this regard would be to include `public interest’ as a good defence in making official `secrets’ public. Or better, do away with the Act itself !
It is totally wrong to assume that all efforts to fight public corruption is championed by civil society initiatives. There are honest, upright and conscientious functionaries in government who due to lack of protective and support mechanisms choose to remain silent. They may be small in number. But the information they possess may eventually turn out to be vital and critical to the livelihoods of millions. Not to mention the enormous savings to the exchequer. And for the many `wronged’ public functionaries who waits for an honourable retirement to come clean on sensitive issues (apropos, the never ending stream of memoirs, personal sketches etc., of former civil servants, political advisors and intelligence bureau chiefs) an armour against any vendetta and witch hunting will go a long way in empowering initiatives to curb corruption.
COMMUNITY BUILDING THROUGH SOCIAL CAPITAL
It is not uncommon today to find social scientists and community activists referring to the concept of `Social Capital’ in trying to analyse or explain social-connectedness and community networking. Though the concept has been defined variously, a simple way of explaining it would be: Social Capital refers to the features of social organisation such as networks, norms and social trust that facilitate co-ordination and co-operation for mutual benefit. As an example, one could cite networks of civic engagement like neighbourhood associations, sports clubs, and co-operatives. There is also a strong view that even caste based associations can be categorised as a form of Social Capital.
Features...
THE ORIGINS....
Although the origin of the concept of `Social Capital’ could be traced to the 19th century classics of sociology, the present connotations owe currency to the works of two sociologists - Pierre Bourdieu and James Coleman. Bourdieu first used the term in the 70s to refer to the advantages and opportunities accruing to people through membership in certain communities. Coleman used it describe a resource of individuals that emerges from their social ties. It must also be mentioned that these developments followed the ideas and observations made by the French Industrialist, Alexis de Tocqueville in his classic work Democracy in America. When de Tocqueville visited the United States in the 1830s, it was the American’s propensity for civic association that most impressed him as their key to their unprecedented ability to make democracy work.
SOCIAL CAPITAL IN PRACTICE
However, it was with Robert Putnam’s pioneering works that attention became focused on this concept. Writing in his path-breaking work `Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (1993)’, Putnam noted that the high levels of social capital in northern Italy in the 1970s and 1980s were associated with strong economic growth and effective local and regional institutions, while relatively lower levels in Southern Italy were linked to weak performance. He followed this with a pivotal paper titled `Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital’ in 1995. His central thesis was that the vibrancy of American civil society has notably declined during the past several decades. Bowling Alone caught the nations attention with its quantitative evidence of the steady decline in social capital since the 1960s, as measured by participation in many different kinds of activities like voter turnout, church attendance and membership in Parent Teacher Associations and Unions.
Following this, there has been wide ranging efforts to locate, mobilise and facilitate various forms of Social Capital in the US. Some of the examples unearthed in this regard are: Congregation based community organising, Civic Environmentalism, Participatory School reforms and County Extension Systems.
MANAGING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
A MODEL FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
The possibility of conflict between public duty and private interest has always been a subject of much attention. The generally accepted rule is that where such conflict exists, matters must be resolved in the public interest. Conflicts of interest may occur in various forms:
Tendering & Purchasing
A council has advertised for a firm to supply and fit office equipment. A councillor who is a representative on the council’s panel assessing the tender bids, has a close friend who is a senior executive in a firm submitting a bid. This may affect, or may be suspected to affect, the councillors ability to make an unbiased decision.
Staff Recruitment
A member of a selection panel has a close personal relationship with an applicant for the job. This conflict of interest could bias, or could reasonably be expected to bias the decision of the panel member concerned and could affect the decision of the panel.
Gifts, Benefits & Hospitality
A regular supplier offered the council’s purchasing officer a free weekend for two at a beach resort. The officer’s impartiality when dealing with the supplier could be compromised if he or she accepts the offer. Councillors are also offered alcohol, food, tickets to major sporting events and free lunches by developers, builders and project managers. Again, it could be perceived that the impartiality of the staff concerned may be compromised.
Elected Officials - Business Interests
Many councillors have business and professional interests in the local government area they represent. Conflicts can arise if their public positions allow them access to information and opportunities that could be used to advance their personal and business interests.
Election Support
A conflict can arise for a councillor when a campaign donor who contributed financially to the councillor’s election campaign, or a campaign supporter who worked on the election of the councillor has a matter before the council for determination.
MANAGING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
1. A Conflicts of Interest Policy
A written policy for dealing with conflicts of interest is essential. It should cover the following matters.
2. How to Decide What is a Conflict of Interest
The following questions will help staff and councillors decide, in the first instance, whether a conflict of interest exists, or whether their behaviour could create the impression that it does, and so undermine the confidence in the council.
3. Objective Advice
Council may wish to nominate a senior officer or engage the services of a suitably qualified person to provide objective advice to staff and councillors on conflict of interest matters. Where the matter involves a potential pecuniary interest, legal advice may be needed. This person would provide advice only and not be involved in decision making on how the matter should be handled.
4. Objective Assessment and Decision Making
The criteria for assessment should include:
5. Detailed Record Keeping
Full and accurate records need to be kept by councils of interest that arise. Records should include:
Each record need to show:
Registers of interests can be useful tools to simplify disclosure, keep track of interests, and monitor when conflicts arise. For example, a gifts and benefits register can establish whether accepting a benefit may make it inappropriate to be involved in decision making.
6. Options for dealing with conflicts of interest
Possible options can include:
7. Training and Education
The effective management of conflicts of interest depends on all concerned being aware of their responsibilities, procedures to be followed and where to go for advice. A session on conflicts of interest should be part of council’s induction programmes and ongoing training. Case studies, real life examples and discussion groups can be useful to get the message across.
8. Reporting Others’ Conflicts of Interest
Procedures for dealing with conflicts of interest should allow for staff and councillors to report if they think that a colleague has a conflict of interest. Council’s internal complaints handling process or its internal reporting system for protected disclosures may be adapted for this purpose. The aim is not to get staff and councillors to make complaints based on political motivations, but to ensure that the public interest is paramount and that all necessary steps are taken to maintain the integrity of decision making.
9. Sanctions
In the case of the staff, sanctions can include counselling, disciplinary proceedings or dismissal, depending on the severity, scale and importance of the matter. The more severe sanctions may apply only when there is repeated and deliberate concealment or failure to disclose.
In the case of councillors, practical sanctions could include:
10. Keeping the Community Informed
The community has a right to know that the council is ware of and takes seriously its obligation to perform its functions impartially and in the public interest. Informing the community that council has a detailed policy and procedures on conflicts of interest, that complaints concerning conflicts will be taken seriously, and how the policy and procedure have taken effect, is a useful accountability mechanism
Source: Under Careful Consideration: Key Issues for Local Government. Department of Local Government, New South Wales, Australia & The Independent Commission Against Corruption, 1997. © Independent Commission Against Corruption, Sydney.