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POLITICAL DIARY
Babudom Gets A Hike
WHAT ABOUT EXIT POLICY?
By Poonam I Kaushish
New Delhi, April 08, 2008
It is raining big bucks in New Delhi’s political Wonderland. A
cursory glance would have Alice exclaim, “Who needs rabbits.
Bureaucrats will do!” And over the last fortnight we have been
witness to a grand show. The farmer loan waiver razzmatazz has
made way for the Babu bonanza. Working on a perfect give and
take. Pay hike in return for vote.
How else should one react to the Sixth Pay Commission’s report
earmarking an over three-fold increase in the salaries and
allowances for Government employees across the board for both
civilian and defence personnel. All with retrospective affect
beginning January 2006. No matter that when implemented, this
is expected to cause an additional annual encumbrance of Rs
20,000 crore, Rs 12,500 crore this year alone. All in the aam
aadmi’s khaata.
There is no gainsaying that there is a genuine case to
increase the salaries of Government employees, but shouldn’t
it be linked to better performance and productivity? The
present hike doesn't seem to be have any realistic link to
performance. Is it justifiable? Honestly speaking, absolutely
not. Specially against the backdrop that the bureaucracy today
works on Andrew Jackson's famous dictum "let the victors have
the spoils." Bluntly, they have become a law onto themselves.
Resulting in no accountability, no fear of being fired, and
hence it’s the biggest pay packet for non-productive work,
coupled with the arrogance that they are indispensable.
Most civil servants, according to popular belief, neither take
initiative nor have any commitment to the service of the
people. They are more than happy to be on the right side of
their political masters. This helps, at least some of them, to
get promoted more rapidly than their performance and seniority
justify. Some even succeed in bagging political offices by
obliging the right politician through thick and thin. Top
slots in the administration are now filled in accordance with
the whims and fancies of the political master, contrary to the
established norms in regard to appointments and tenure in
leading civil services.
Large-scale shuffles and reshuffles of the bureaucracy with
every change of the political master have become overtly
common. Feelings are gaining ground that political closeness
and personal loyalty to powerful political superiors is more
rewarding than mere seniority or merit. Instead of the right
man for the right job being the criteria, there is invariably
a wrong man for the right job for wrong reasons! Bringing it
to such a pass that caste, corruption, political connections
and administrative lacunae are the factors that count when it
comes to promotions. Consequently, most babus have little
interest in taking any initiatives and are willing to make
self and boss-serving compromises with the fundamentals of
administration.
Remember, some time back the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
abjectly confessed: “I am disgusted with the system”, when it
was discovered that even Cabinet decisions had remained where
they were taken --- on paper. Perhaps, the file-pushers had to
apply their heads to arrive at an agreed conclusion as to who
should push the file. And on who’s orders? The Cabinet, their
Minister or the political mai baap?
That apart, corruption is synonymous with babudom. Be it when
applying for a telephone connection, ration card, driver’s
license, passport et al. Nothing moves till palms have been
greased for an average Indian. If one doesn’t have the paisa
then one must be thick skinned and have no self respect.
Babudom thrives on holding one to ransom and at the mercy of
their whims and fancies. From the TC in the railways, to the
Traffic cop, there’s no questioning them.
One recent study by the Center for Media Studies, New Delhi,
on corruption in urban services reveals that "nearly half of
those who avail the services of the most frequently-visited
public departments of Government in the country have had first
hand experience of greasing palms at least once". It is this
pervasiveness that has forced many to charge that bureaucrats
have "created such a steel frame around them that even the
might of the State can't dismantle it".
Between 1996 and 2000, the CBI and the Central Vigilance
Commission investigated 13,265 individuals for corruption.
And, between 1998 and 2001, the CBI registered 2,256 cases
under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Of these 41 were from
administrative departments, four were from the police and 23
from the revenue department.
Think. Although India has more than 19 million State and
federal Government employees, about 20,000-odd federal
officers control the collection and disbursement of over $71
billion of federal revenues every year. Of these, 6,000 senior
administrative officers and an equal number of revenue
officers dictate the flow of funds throughout the country.
Even if a handful of these officials were to allow 10 percent
leakage in revenue, it would cost the Government $7 billion.
And, assuming corrupt officials get a cut of just 10 per cent,
the Indian bureaucracy gets over $700 million a year - the
amount of money that the Central Bureau of Investigation
estimates is spent towards greasing the palms of Indian
bureaucrats. Asserted an “honest corrupt babu,” “If greedy
Indian businessmen can evade taxes, influence policies and
make money through devious means, why should not the
Government officer who moves their files get a share of the
booty?”
Tragically today corruption has become a low risk, high-profit
area. Wherein the bureaucracy is the third angle of the
triangular neta-babu-business axis which has perpetuated a
vulturistic culture of the winner takes all. The modus
operandi has been perfected to the last, deliberate scarcity
of goods and services, red tapeism and delay, lack of
transparency (no matter Right To Information Act), the cushion
of a babu is innocent till proven guilty and last but not
least the bhaichara and biradari which bind the corrupt
together.
What kind of a system of governance then lies ahead of us? A
clue can be found in a survey of probationers at the National
Academy of Administration. It states that only 32 per cent of
the new recruits condemn corruption in the civil services.
Only five per cent believe in harsh measures to reduce
corruption. Another 45 per cent believe that they are above
the law.
What next? Clearly, the Government must downsize. From the
Secretary down to the chaprasi. Non-performing government
officers would be forcibly retired at the end of 20 years
service. Alternatively, if need be, ruthlessly dump the
deadwood and irrelevant baggage. Besides, organizational
competence and productivity should be commensurate with a pay
hike in salaries, perks and promotions as in the private
sector. An exit policy of hire and fire is paramount if we
desire an accountable, trustworthy and honest bureaucracy.
Most important, they should be made more accountable. The
private sector is less corrupt because it has more
accountability. We need is a law, which will provide for
confiscation of all ill-gotten wealth without any delays and
hesitations. Once the message goes down the rank and file that
all ill-gotten wealth will be confiscated, then the burden of
proof will be on the bureaucrat to prove that he got it
legitimately. Ditto with the politician and the industrialist.
Will the bureaucracy have the courage to correct itself and
overcome red tape? One way is to internalize the zero
tolerance principle and the "sunset principle" as in the US.
Under this method, justification for any governmental activity
is all the time under scrutiny so that no acts of misdemeanour
take place.
True, the country can boast of a Government of the people and
a Government by the people. The moot point is: Can India look
forward to a Government for the people? Will our steel frame
continue to rot and rust and revel in mediocrity?
The writing is on the wall. We are reaching a point of no
return. If the Indian bureaucracy does not change its sense of
values, it will become increasingly irrelevant. It may exist
by the sheer force of Newton's First Law of inertia but it
will not be playing a role which would make it a meaningful
part of the governance. It is the responsibility of the
bureaucracy to see that the government functions for the
people Will babudom rise to the occasion? Or will it be
remembered as the conversion of human energy into solid waste!
---- INFA
(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)
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