Will it be old wine in a new bottle or some altogether different combination in a novel package? Even as we near what looks set to be a nail-biting finish of the electoral process, it is clear that the end game is going to be the result of team play and that no individual (party) can aspire to be in the top place on the victory stand. The winner will be determined not so much by the voters, as by the negotiators. Magnetism -- whom can you attract? -- will be more important than compatibility; economics may well be more important than chemistry.

In any case, in just a few days we will have a new government. A young country is always an optimistic one, and so expectations will be high. The government -- irrespective of its composition -- will almost certainly announce a hundred-day plan, make bold policy pronouncements, and unveil numerous new schemes (some, most likely, old ones dressed in the newest finery) in the budget. Many problems and issues will vie for the government's attention, and different lobbies will try to drive their agenda. Amidst all this pushing and jostling, shouting and protesting, one hopes that the new government does find the will to tackle some long-standing issues that affect the proverbial common man; what follows touches on but a few.

Enthusiastic reformers are now unlikely to focus on the financial sector, as the global flavour-of-the-moment is not reform but regulation. Instead, they are likely to concentrate on that last frontier: labour-law reforms. Sadly, there is continued neglect of reforms in a vital and much needed area: the criminal justice system -- including both the police and the judiciary. Police reforms, recommended by eminent Commissions set up by the government itself, have been a non-starter, since most governments (both Centre and the states, and irrespective of political affiliation) have stone-walled such reforms. Meanwhile, political interference, corruption and incompetence are becoming endemic. In many states, enforcement of law is minimal, "investigation" is through inhuman third-degree methods, and corruption now borders on extortion. Getting rid of serious crime is often attempted by getting rid of criminals through fake encounters. The rich and powerful react only when one of their own is affected; then, of course, even the media suddenly discovers its conscience.

Judicial reform has been on the drawing board almost as long as a typical case in the courts. Quite apart from the inter-generational time-frame of the legal system, the very processes seem to be mainly geared to keeping lawyers employed and well-paid. Here is proof of India's superior intelligence: who else could have crafted a system of complexities, adjournments, delays and appeals -- not to mention vacations and strikes -- that can so profusely enrich lawyers on both sides of a case? What justice does such a system deliver to a poor illiterate villager, journeying many miles to go through endless days of postponements and adjournments of hearings that take decades to reach a final judgement? A government that brings meaningful reforms in the police-judiciary system will be truly blessed by tens of millions of citizens.

Source: Economic Times Issues for the new government