Maharashtra has made a farsighted attempt in trying to rate government departments on their financial prudence and clean record. By tightening the loose nuts and bolts of its administrative machinery, the government will not only improve governance but at the same time create a contented and disciplined bureaucracy, which is at the moment wary of taking any decisions post a slew of scams in the recent past.

This better-be-safe-than-sorry approach of the bureaucracy has not only pulled back Maharashtra’s relative growth, but left the state at the mercy of a bloated public debt of over R3 lakh crore, and inviting constant criticism from the judiciary over cases of financial mismanagement in various departments. The state Public Works Department (PWD) is under the court’s lens for a R119-crore scam in repairing of the chief minister and deputy chief minister’s bungalows at Nagpur, while the tribal department, too, is facing court heat over an alleged R6,000-crore scam in welfare schemes meant for the poor.