Accountability in India

Having just spent two weeks in India, I wonder what public accountability for anything exists in Indian public services. Luce [1] in the chapter on the Indian babudom (bureaucracy) quotes Kautilya's Arthashastra:

"Just as it is impossible to know when a fish swimming in water is drinking water, so it is impossible to find out when a government servant is stealing money."

That might be comment on any current government - and what is 'stealing money'? It could be inefficient or ineffective spending, on management consultants, or even effective spending, but without explaning or justifying.

Kautilya's writing on management (Arthashastra translates as 'economics' or 'science of livelihood), written around 350 BC predates that other management classic, Machiavelli's 'The Prince'. It is apparently more broad-ranging than 'The Prince'.

The Arthashastra covers management fundamentals including:

• leadership skills,
  
• selection of employees,
  
• consultation,
  
• corporate govenance,
  
• information systems.

I'd like to find the chapter from which the above quote comes, to read what Kautilya had to say about public accountability.

On consultation he advises:

"All undertakings should be preceded by consultation. Holding a consultation with only one, he may not be able to reach a decision in difficult matters. With more counsellors it is difficult to reach decisions and maintain secrecy."

(1.15.2, 35, 40)

"Therefore sit and counsel with those who are mature in intellect."

(1.15.20-21)

Not only are UK public servants using external consultants, but I notice also that more bodies, such as county councils, are going to public consultation before making changes. Such an example is Buckinghamshire's need for a new waste recycling centre, which has been much in the local news.

---

[1] Luce, E., In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India,