The illusion of control in managing organizations and businesses, where true control may not exist, creating a false sense of security.

Governance is a tough task, and achieving efficient and effective governance is even tougher. While optics may be a temporary solution, it cannot replace actual results. However, in situations where governance fails to deliver desired outcomes, relying on optics may seem like a more convenient option than admitting failure.

For instance, when the airline industry comes to a standstill and airports in India are in chaos, the solution is to circulate photos of the airline CEO humbly pleading before the minister. Problem solved. Similarly, when a fire breaks out in a building that should not have even existed, the solution is to demolish the remnants of the structure. Sadly, there are still thousands of such hazardous structures standing in India.

Another common approach is to rename things. In the case of New India, MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) will now be known as Pujya Bapu Rural Employment Guarantee Act and will be expanded. This decision was made by Prime Minister Modi, who, ten years ago, had mocked the previous government's poor performance and stated that MNREGA would only be continued to showcase their failures. He had even proclaimed that under his government, better job opportunities would eliminate the need for such a scheme. However, this turned out to be a mere assumption, and the government had to increase its investment in MNREGA as unemployment rose and the economy weakened. This resulted in the scheme receiving three times more funds than it did under the previous government.

Unfortunately, this has been the trend in our history of governance - taking up projects that require careful planning and implementation and then abandoning them midway. This was also the case with the Namami Gange project, which aimed to clean and conserve the Ganges river. Initially, the project received a significant budget of Rs 20,000 crore, but as it became apparent that the task was not as easy as anticipated, enthusiasm for the project dwindled.

In 2017, the National Green Tribunal criticized the government for not making any progress in cleaning the Ganges and wasting public funds. The following year, a renowned environmentalist, G.D. Agarwal, passed away after a 111-day fast, demanding a law to protect the Ganges. The government claimed that they had met most of Agarwal's demands, but the budget for the Namami Gange project was significantly reduced in the following years. In 2020, the project was merged with a larger one called Jal Shakti, and the government declared that the Ganges was clean due to the temporary shutdown of polluting units during the lockdown.

However, the website for the National Mission for Clean Ganga revealed that the council overseeing the project had only held two meetings in the last ten years. This raises the question of whether the Ganges is truly clean after a decade of publicity and an expenditure of Rs 20,000 crore. The opposition party, Congress, has also questioned the government's claims and pointed out that the Ganges has only become dirtier despite the huge investment.

This is a common problem when a government has been in power for more than two terms - their track record is there for everyone to see. It becomes difficult to convince the public with mere optics. However, there are still some who choose to believe in the idea of good governance in New India. But the truth is, the reality of our governance continues to unfold every day.

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