The decade of the 1990s was not just a defining moment for the Indian economy. It also brought new challenges for Indian administration. Economic liberalisation and computerisation rendered a large number of functions and departments irrelevant. A market-driven society requires the administration to be nimble and flexible, something the present system is just not geared to. People's aspirations have increased. Thanks to rising literacy and education levels, work done by voluntary organisations and, yes, judicial activism, people are becoming more aware of their rights and less tolerant of governance failures. This trend can only accelerate. And it will call for a whole new system of governance.

So, if in 1948, the ICS had to be dispensed with because it was not found to be tuned in to the requirements of a welfare state, does it follow, then, that the IAS should be scrapped because it is not in step with the new order? But merely dumping the IAS will not help if it is not accompanied by a complete ideological shift. As the irrepressible Congressman Mani Shankar Aiyar had once said: ''We've reached a stage where you have to throw the old machine out. You can't have a model T engine to run a Jaguar.''

What could be the likely contours of change?

A leaner and meaner government is definitely on the cards, as the state's role will be drastically redefined. But even as it ceases to deliver goods and services, its role as a regulator and facilitator will increase. As Principal of the Administrative Staff College, E.A.S Sarma says: ''The role of the civil servant will gradually shift from regulation-cum-development to change administration.'' The primary responsibility of the civil service, he points out, will be to facilitate decentralisation and devolution with greater community accountability and transparency in government.

It may not be a mere pipe dream on his part. A growing breed of younger bureaucrats keen on providing effective governance, realising the limitations of the system and willing to forge links with the private sector, will perform this task extremely well. Right now, they are working in isolated pockets, not aware of innovative solutions being tried out elsewhere. Their efforts will be supplemented and encouraged by a similar trend among their political masters.

But it won't be a cakewalk. A reduced role for the state and greater transparency in government functioning will mean lesser avenues for corruption. And, as Sarma points out, ''this could be another reason for the civil service to resist change.'' He's certain that the movement towards deregulation will proceed slowly.

Those lording it over in the villages today will not give up power easily. When the Madhya Pradesh government legislated a right to recall elected representatives of local bodies, the first two cases in which it was exercised related to women presidents of nagar panchayats.

But effective grassroots democracy will happen. The 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendments have laid the ground for that. People have already experienced the heady taste of power and will not allow the process to be reversed. Change is definitely in the air.

A Pointer To The Future

Fed up with corruption, Rajasthanis forced the right to information out of a reluctant government. There is no other way

What works in government? That's difficult to answer unless you try it. Unfortunately, most states don't bother to try, until pressured by the people. Yet, those who've tried to break the mould had significant success-and that's a pointer to the future. There is one truism about administrative reform: nothing is reformed unless the people demand it.

Here's on example that provides pointers on how to go about it. In May 2001, Rajasthan became the first state to pass the Right to Information Act, six years after then chief minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat had promised on the floor of the assembly that the government would allow photocopying of all records of development expenditure at the panchayat level for a fee. This came after public hearings in 1994 organised by the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan (MKSS), an organisation of agricultural labourers and marginal farmers who highlighted corruption in developmental projects. Nothing happened for a year after Shekhawat's proclamation.

The government changed, and after relentless pressure from the MKSS, the the Right to Information and Transparency was passed. Using the Act, the first thing the people of Janawad panchayat in Rajsamand district did was to obtain a copy of an inquiry report into misappropriation of money for developmental works. It was that easy to expose corruption. Today Magsaysay Award-winner and MKSS activist Aruna Roy is far from satisfied with the implementation of the Act. Government, as she well knows, has to be dragged kicking and screaming to the altar of transparency. Still, the fact remains that Rajasthan is the only state where you can legally force the government to open up.

The key is to demand. No government in the world does this voluntarily. The sunshine laws in the US, as the Freedom of Information Act is called, came into being only after there was a demand for it. Today, it's a right that's taken for granted. Moral: if you don't want to protest, don't complain.
-Seetha

THE NEXT LEVEL OF REFORMS

It's really about implementing the recommendations of all earlier reports on administrative reforms. Much of this formed the crux of the Agenda for Effective and Responsive Administration drawn up when T.S.R. Subramanian was Cabinet Secretary and P.S.A. Sundaram was Additional Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms

• Review each level of government on the basis of three questions asked by the Expenditure Reforms Commission:

Does this need to be done?
Does this need to be done by the government?
Does this need to be done by this level of government?

• Downsizing of government and restructuring of departments
• Increasing involvement of the community and non-government groups
• Drawing up citizen's charters and strengthening the grievance redressal machinery
• Toning up the vigilance machinery
• Passing the Freedom of Information Act
• Repealing all outdated laws
• Reforming the judiciary
• Setting up a Civil Services Board to ensure stability of tenures and guard against frequent and vindictive transfers
• Computerise government offices