Political Diary
New Delhi, 9 March 2013
Perform Or Perish?
IAS: I AM SORRY SERVICE
By Poonam I Kaushish
Show me
the face I will show you the rule, a succinct maxim for bureaucrats. Which
translates into grease my palms else I will read you the riot act and how!
Clearly, the sheer force of Newton's
First Law of Inertia leaves ones pocket not only lighter but you a raging bull!
Not any
more if Parliament enacts the Right of Citizens for Time-Bound Delivery of
Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011,” passed by the
Union Cabinet Thursday last. Whereby failure in delivering services like passport
issue, birth-death certificates, pension payment, gas connection, ration card,
property registration et al. would invite a penalty of Rs.250
per day to a maximum of Rs.50,000 and non-performing officers
could face prosecution. Along-side every public authority would have to publish
a citizen’s charter, services offered and the corresponding time in which it
would be delivered.
Questionably, once the Bill turns into reality, will it
bring greater transparency in Administration? Especially in departments where
citizens have a direct inter-face with various Government agencies? Would it
prove more effective in tackling corruption than the proposed anti-graft Lokpal
Bill? Will the babus have the courage
to correct themselves and overcome red tape?
Yes and no. True, on the face of it the penalty will propel
the babu to act but having tasted
blood it would be difficult for him to shed ghooskhori. Given the state that almost everything – from
roads to schools to hospitals to sanitation to the power grid works on the
greasing palms principle. All it takes is showing an obscure rule or trying to
interpret a law by the placement of a ‘comma’.
Ulta Pradesh
today represents the ugly truism of India’s executive and
administrative system gone horribly wrong. Encapsulated by none other that
Public Works Minister Shivpal Yadav and Chief Ministet Akhilesh’s uncle, “Maine to usi din PWD walo se khule aam keh
diya tha agar mehnat karoge to thodi bahut chori kar sakte ho, dakaiti nahi
daloge.” (“I have told PWD people if you work hard, you can steal little,
but don’t behave like dacoits.)
Bringing us face to face with one revolting reality The neta-babu nexus is so wide and perfected
to the T that both working in tandem to mutual advantage. Wherein, every change
of political guard babudom goes
through an upheaval of transfers. Powerful and lucrative slots are given to the
chamchas who kow-tow their mai-baaps and get promoted speedily
without any regard to seniority or merit but also join the politician in
looting the country.
Rooted in the firm belief that, like their masters, they are
a law unto themselves. Over the years, they have become used to dispensing
patronage and many like the colour of money. Resulting in no accountability, no
fear of removal arrogantly earning big pay packets for non-productive work.
Consequently, most civil servants have little interest in taking any initiative
or have any commitment to serve the people.
Worse, instead of putting the right man in the right job,
the neta invariably ends up in
choosing a wrong man for the right job for the wrong reasons. Brining matters
to such a pass that caste, corruption, chamchagiri
pliability and political connections alone count when it comes to promotions.
The political identification of officials is becoming so
marked that the bureaucracy is able to predict as to who will occupy which top
post, if ‘X’, ‘Y’ or ‘Z’ Party or individual comes to power! This treacherous
nexus lucidly portrayed in the 1995 Vohra Committee report sadly continues to
gather dust.
More scandalous, bureaucrats cornered over Rs.92,122 crore
or 1.26% of the GDP, through corruption which is growing annually by over 100%.
Scathing in its comments the CAG’s 2010 report averred “India is a rich
country filled with poor people. With corrupt officials making them even
poorer."
Another 2009 survey of 10 leading Asian economies revealed
that Indian babudom is not only least
efficient but also working with them was a "slow and painful"
process. Thanks to deliberate scarcity of goods and services, red tapeism,
delay, lack of transparency, notwithstanding the Right to Information Act.
Clearly, a Bill can only do so much. The Government has to
break the neta-babu nexus. Each
transfer order should be justified on paper. If babus are constantly looking over their shoulders in fear of being
booted out to some backwater, they will turn into craven servants of netas, rather than working for public
purpose.
Also our leaders must introduce a system of lateral entry of
people from the private sector who wish to work for public good as in the US. One Nandan
Nikelani or Raghuram Rajan is not enough. Simultaneously, serious thought should
be given to ushering in a qualitative change in the bureaucracy. Till we have
better people, with good educational qualifications, wider exposure and sound
moral values, nothing can change at the ground level.
It is not for nothing that the West lays great emphasis on
background, upbringing, and education. Alternatively, one would need to take
recourse to a reportedly extreme Chinese measure. Every year an example is set
by “eliminating” the corrupt. All it takes is one single bullet.
What kind of a system of governance
then lies ahead? The Government needs to completely overhaul and revamp most of
the rules, regulations and laws governing the functioning of businesses and
economy. Many of which are archaic and opaque, based on suppression of economic
freedom and discourage entrepreneurship.
Also, instead of waiting for revelations through RTI
queries, our rulers must work towards making the Government more open,
transparent and voluntarily put out information about its functioning in the
public domain. This change could help bring a sea-change in the aam aadmi-babu inter-action. A fallout
would be less corruption.
This scourge can be curbed only when the powers-that-be
realize that inaction is not indivisible. In other words, to curb inertia
measures have to be taken that encompass the entire spectrum of the State ---
the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. Just as one swallow does not
make a summer, similarly focusing on babus
alone and enacting laws for them will not stop corrupt practices.
Cleaning-up has to start from the top, embrace the entire polity and percolate
down. Time to hark back to Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan’s wise emphasis on “total revolution” to combat
sleaze.
A young India,
with 50 per cent of its citizens aged below 35 years, can ill-afford to ignore
the suppressed restlessness and aspirations of its youth. The writing is on the
wall. It is time the bureaucracy shrugs off its apathy and restores its professionalism
based on absolute, not obsolete principles. Civil servants must give serious
thought to determining what action needs to be taken collectively to remove
administrative deficiencies, expose political malfunctioning and restore the
system. Or else it would debase itself to an I Am Sorry (IAS) service! --- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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