Nothing provokes more scepticism among ordinary Indians than the formation of a new commission. Whatever the nature of the critical intelligence brought to bear upon the polity, government-appointed commissions have, almost universally, come to stand for the ineffectual and the anodyne. The fact that Mr Manmohan Singh?s government is going to form a single big commission instead of two smaller ones is not going to make a difference to this. There is going to be just one more of those things, instead of two. And there is already an absurdly large number. What is the new one going to do? Its mandate seems to be quite unlimited ? nothing less than the legislative, executive and judicial aspects of governance. This would include Centre-state relations, administrative reforms from the Centre to the talukas, and suggesting ways of using modern methods of coordination, communication and documentation to make governance ?responsible, efficient and futuristic?. Descending from the level of these stupendous generalities, this seemingly all-encompassing commission will advise the Centre on signing international agreements and on how to deal with some of the items in the Constitution?s concurrent list.

But does not such a body already exist, and is it not called the Government of India? Everything that this mega-commission is supposed to be doing is the essential stuff of governance, for which the Indian democracy has elected its state and Central governments. So, it will mystify most thinking Indians as to why a parallel body of important people has to be formed in order to advise another set of important people on matters which the latter have already been elected to deal with. What then is the point of forming a meta-government, as it were, but without the executive powers of the government? Commissions for human rights, minorities, women and children, for instance, all have notionally important roles to play in a democracy. But what were they able to ?do? in times of actual crises like the Gujarat pogrom? Remaining watchful and making recommendations cannot change laws, expedite their implementation and neutralize political interests. To create a body that would tell the government how to govern might show the latter up as unable or unwilling to work, think and take responsibility for itself.