DeMo: How May We Have Done It Better

Dr M Muneer

The visionary CEO, known for his BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals), has called for an emergency meeting of his most trusted lieutenants. The call from the corner office was mired in secrecy and urgency. The issue was serious enough: The employee special coupons (used for meals, shopping and travels) are being misused. The issue was manifold: Employees are using the coupons for favours from bosses, asking suppliers to provide these coupons in exchange for favourable decisions, and above all, there have been some instances of fake coupons especially in the higher denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1000.

As the meeting gets underway, the CEO is adamant that a decision be taken then and there to annul the current higher denomination coupons, effective immediately. The CFO plays Devil’s Advocate: 86% of the coupons used are in the higher denomination of 500 and 1000, and a sudden withdrawal can cause serious backlash as the canteen, supermarket and travel desk will not function. Planning Head suggests it will take at least two months to print new coupons (to replace old) that are counterfeit-proof. Marketing Head, known to be a Quick-Gun Murugan, fires a quick salvo: Not if we print say Rs 2000 coupons! That way, the same value of the coupons can be back in circulation. Everyone around the table makes the appreciative noises on this wonderful idea. Head of Coupons (Read: Motivation) has some concerns but shakes his head in approval with a rider that there be some rationing in distribution. HR Head’s worries of demoralized workforce and the absurdity of a Rs 2000 coupon when most spends are in the range of 300-600, never gets raised at the overall enthusiasm around the table for the CEO’s brilliant idea that presumably will kill several birds at one stroke: Counterfeit, corruption and blatant misuse.

Sounds familiar? This could well have been a scenario at the meeting prior to DeMo. There is nothing wrong with the PM discussing the policy change with a closed group of trusted people. What should have been followed was a balanced execution agenda, a somewhat similar framework that we had presented to Niti Aayog CEO and various CMs, in the recent past. As a non-profit organisation we are focused on driving mission-focused governments and help better the dismal rate of government failures in delivering poll promises. The framework comprises of mapping of strategic agenda derived from the manifesto, and a system of linked objectives, measures, targets and initiatives with an aim to align ministries, departments, people, and other stakeholders. With it, the Cabinet will have a better governance system in place with a clear line of sight from top to bottom.

The framework will have assessed fundamentally what a strategic initiative such as the DeMo aims to do. As per PM’s speech of Nov 8, black money and the counterfeit menace appeared at large with a view to making India corrupt-free. Perhaps the real issue is of rooting out tax evasion since corruption needs treatment at much deeper levels and may need more initiatives. Money is not the only form of corruption. Bureaucrats and politicians benefit from jobs to their kin, assets in foreign lands and so on. For instance, it is so easy for companies rather than individuals to take out money from the system by showing them as expenses under various heads.

At the highest level, the framework will comprise of the following, and if done right, it will have thrown up in advance all the issues that have come up till now (The forgotten fact of India’s huge cash economy (95%) and the complexity of distribution, the size difference of 2000 and the ATM recalibration, the underestimation of our innovation capability to launder money, the changing colours of the finance ministry on deposits, withdrawal and taxation rules, the fact that bankers are as much Indian as the black money holder, and so on):

·     Notwithstanding the need for secrecy, a core team comprising of senior bureaucrats with deep knowledge of Indian systems, RBI governor, an economist, a behavioural scientist, and above all, an “ethical” black money crook to plug all loopholes will have been formed.

·     Strategic benefits of the initiative and the gap this initiative will be closing will have been defined. Whether it is revenue from black money, elimination of counterfeit, reduced cost of capital, or the ultimate, building a cleaner India.

·     A cost/benefit analysis in terms of tasks and social/economic value will have been done. Chaos theory effects will have been looked at, including the hit on GDP, loss of jobs, citizen troubles, etc.

·     The right processes to excel in terms of executing the DeMo seamlessly will have been identified, scenarios planned, contingency measures identified. This will include printing notes, planning the distribution to banks based on a set criteria of including the 95% who do not have any card (could be based on number of small accounts and branches per State or District), formal action plan for bank branches clearly defined, predictive data analysis or big data for identifying crooks, and so on. Current RBI plans look so vague or not transparent.

·     Measurements derived from the top objectives of DeMo for each of these tasks with clear targets on a weekly basis will have been done.

·     And finally, a daily and weekly review process with responsibility assigned to the members of the core team.

Such an execution would have avoided the inconveniences, 150-odd deaths, job losses and business losses. But then, balanced execution or not, the opposition would have found issues one way, or the other. And, may be, just may be, Groucho Marx is right: “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.”

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Dr M Muneer is the Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist of Medici Institute, a non-profit organisation committed to driving mission-focused governments in India. He may be contacted at [email protected]