How many cockroaches is an acceptable number of cockroaches in a commercial kitchen? Readers of this column, by definition a discerning lot, would no doubt set the limit at zero. The Bombay High Court, however, took the view that the “solitary finding” of two bugs was insufficient reason for the food-safety regulator to shut down a kitchen. “We are in India, we have to take a realistic stand,” the court’s acting chief justice cautioned officials in July.
Tukaram Mundhe disagrees. “These laws are Indian, not foreign,” says the man who, six months ago, was put in charge of enforcing them. The laws are meant for Indian conditions, he adds. They are drafted by Indian experts. And it is Indian people who implement them. The problem is “we have a very low estimate about ourselves,” he says. “Our thought process is ‘chalta hai’,” a phrase that means “it’ll do” or “good enough” and that is seen by many, including Narendra Modi, as an attitude that holds India back. That is what Mr. Mundhe wants to change.
Until a few months ago few people in Maharashtra, a prosperous western state with Mumbai as its capital, had heard of its Food and Drug Administration (fda). That changed with the appointment of Mr Mundhe in May. Suddenly the fda’s people were everywhere. They turned up stomach-churning violations ranging from vermin infestations and fungal growth on walls to expired food and poor handling in the kitchens of some of Mumbai’s best-known eateries and poshest private clubs. Even two canteens at the Bombay High Court were shut down for lacking licences. Tall, strapping and suitably mustachioed, Mr Mundhe quickly became a folk hero.
This is a familiar story. Every now and then a competent civil servant surfaces in a position that directly affects the public and actually does his job. The media duly elevate the official to something between a saint and an action hero. For a while citizens look on in stupefied wonder as they are reminded that the Indian state can work for their benefit. Then that official moves on to another posting and everything goes back to normal.
Mr Mundhe, whose incorruptibility ensures he does not keep any posting for long, hopes his impact will last longer. He has proposed an ambitious restructuring of the fda to the state government. He wants to add hundreds of food-safety officers as well as many more laboratories and technicians to bolster the state’s ability to test food, drugs and cosmetics. He also wants to automate some of the fda’s surveillance. One example is to use data streams the government already receives from several sources to track milk supplies from cow to glass. The goal is to create a robust institution rather than one that relies on an energetic individual.
Such ideas are not uncommon among India’s better bureaucrats, many of whom strive for excellence. Some even make progress at the margins. But they are the exceptions in a culture of chalta hai. As Niti Aayog, the government’s think-tank, put it in a report last year about the poor quality of official data, once a chalta hai mindset takes root it “shapes everything: how platforms are designed, how staff are trained, and how performance is judged. Slowly, quietly, quality becomes optional.” The Indian state has many weaknesses but perfectionism is not among them.
Mr Mundhe’s answer is to involve the public. Among the first things he did upon taking over at the fda was to build a modern website for citizens to lodge complaints. It is surprisingly slick, especially relative to most other official websites, which seem designed to induce seizures. The backend is more impressive still: an ai co-pilot helps his officers see which specific rules apply to which violations, points them to possible next steps and even drafts any notices that are to be served. It also automatically escalates complaints if junior officers ignore them. The fda says it has been receiving more than six times as many complaints as it did last year.
“It doesn’t matter which government or party [is in power]. We, the people, have to take ownership,” says Mr Mundhe. The complaint portal, the high-profile inspections and the media interviews are all aimed at reminding citizens that the state is not irredeemable. Indians, he says, should stop tolerating bad institutions. They should demand more from the state. Most important, they should have higher standards. “When the public itself says chalta hai, of course the system will work as chalta hai.”
