CUTTING REAMS OF RED TAPE

Government offices in the state see a spring breeze of new ideas as self-reform kicks in

- By Jumana Shah

YOU CAN'T MOVE MOUNTAINS BY WHISPERING AT THEM,” says a senior bureaucrat in Gujarat, glancing at four bulky volumes on his desk—all reports submitted by the Gujarat Administrative Reforms Commission (GARC) in the first six months of its two-year tenure. Headed by retired IAS officer Hasmukh Adhia, who serves as advisor to chief minister Bhupendra Patel, the commission has the unenviable mandate of taking a hard look at the functioning of the entire state government and its various arms. Judging by its first four reports, it isn’t short of enthusiasm.