Page 100 - #letter to son

#SangamNiti TWILIGHT
service that assists policymakers. There is immense importance of the
civil service system in the administrative system that acts as a vital tool
for governance. However, there exists many instances of how ministers
and civil servants have conflicting views that result in tarnishing the
reputation of important financial and judiciary institutions of the
country.

Hence, ministers, policymakers and civil servants must have proper
KPIs and there must be a mechanism to monitor and assess the
performance of this set against the mandated indicators. Incentivisation
or dis-incentivisation must be anchored on the basis of this performance
audit conducted by an independent body that is free of political
encumbrances.

I’ve often felt that this level of accountability by public servants and
civil representatives will, by default, help create a reliable accounting
framework with a clear indication of income and expenditure and
transparent analysis of these statements, just like a private/public limited
company has to prepare as per law. These statements will help open up
granular assessments that will then drive unprecedented accountability
between the government and its citizens. Just like company promoters
and its senior management having a fiduciary responsibility to their
shareowners. Eventually, accountability and accounting will structurally
redefine and intrinsically complete the circle of government-citizen
relationship. This is fundamental to democracies building open societies
- that of sharing genuine information, opening up unprecedented
avenues to debate and seeking solutions for the welfare of the common
man, the community, the society and eventually the country.

Furthermore, this circular relationship, with its high levels of trust
between the electorate and its democratically-appointed representatives,
has the opportunity to address some of the major pain points that breeds
mistrust, principally among these comprising the issue of taxation.

Through the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax that was rolled-
out in India on 1st July 2017, the country has sought to reform its decades-old
tax system which has resulted in an expansion in the tax base no doubt,

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