Jul 22, 2026 14:12 pm IST

Opinion | A Rs 5,000 Fine Can't Fix India's 'Babu' Raj. But It's A Start

A new bill in Delhi imposes a fine of Rs 250 a day on bureaucrats, with a Rs 5,000 ceiling, if their service for citizens is delayed without a valid justification. Can this fix India's great 'Babu' bottleneck?

Madhavan Narayanan Madhavan Narayanan Columnist

Madhavan Narayanan Columnist

One small step for the government, and a giant leap for governance?

That's the question that popped up in my mind this week as I read about an interesting decision by the Delhi government's cabinet to fine officials a maximum of Rs 5,000 if their service for citizens is delayed without a valid justification. If it is approved as expected, the Delhi (Right of Citizen to Time Bound and Ease of Delivery of Service) Bill replaces/upgrades a similar 2011 Act. As the name suggests, it holds itself accountable to citizens with a proposal to impose a fine of Rs 250 a day, with a Rs 5,000 ceiling.

In principle, this is a great idea and also reflects an increasing democratisation of governance in which elected leaders pressure the bureaucracy to do what is expected of them. But there is a very long way to go, because in India, which the UK's The Economist magazine once described as "a natural habitat of the clerk," there is a lot to do to undo the process-driven bureaucratisation that the magazine's land of birth itself left in its imperial stamp on its colony.

The very same magazine recently ran a self-explanatory editorial titled, "Why can't India's government build a decent website?", and moaned about clunky online experiences among "failures of "Indian officialdom". Any casual watcher of the old........

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