The Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) in South India was a public-private partnership (PPP) that ran from 1999 till 2004 at the direction of the Chief Minister of Karnataka. The purpose of the taskforce was to bring in business and civic leaders on a pro-bono basis to design a development agenda for the city and suggest ways in which the city's infrastructure and service delivery might be upgraded and improved according to best practice systems elsewhere. The purpose of the taskforce was to build government capacity through partnership between citizens, corporates and the city's main administrative agencies – the BMP, BDA, BMTC, BWSSB, BESCOM, BSNL, and Bangalore Police. The BATF was a particularly influential task force, transcending an 'advisory role' to mobilise private resources and catalyze significant changes in the agencies with which it engaged.
Background & History
The BATF was the brainchild of Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani who would invest Rs 2 crore ($300,000) into the project over five years. The motivation for the project was to maintain Bangalore's position as a leader in information technology in India against growing competition from other Indian cities such as Hyderabad.
Commencing in 1999, the BATF commissioned a survey by an independent organisation SOFRES - MODE to identify top citizen concerns. Following this, the first year focus was largely on short term works capable of yielding quick visible results for greater confidence besides generating experience for expanding and consolidating on long term infrastructure projects from year. The initial task, therefore, for the BATF and the stakeholders was to sit together and agree on an approach and formulate projects and programmes.
The BATF commenced strongly, but over the course of its operation ran into political difficulties that saw many of its more ambitious proposals sidelined or shelved.
Methodology
The philosophy behind the BATF was of working within government institutions to improve their performance. It did not seek to create parallel institutions to bypass government agencies or advocate for the contracting out of major government responsibilities to the private sector. It sought solutions that whilst perhaps considered imperfect, would improve service delivery in an immediate and practical sense.
- Successfully advocated for revenue generated by traffic fines to go back into the traffic police budget for expenditure on infrastructure to improve traffic management. Bangalore is the only city in India that uses traffic fines for investment in traffic management. and civic agencies such as Janaagraha, which includes the Jana Urban Space Foundation.
See also
- Kasturirangan Committee (2008 - ?)
- Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development Task Force (ABIDe) (2010 - ?)
- Karnataka Information Communication Technology Group (2013)
- Bangalore Vision Group (May 2016 - June 2018)
- Bengaluru Blueprint Action Group (April 28 2016 - June 2018)
- Bangalore Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC)