The Hindu Business Line : Sixth Pay Commission

No one knows what the consequences of the Sixth Pay Commission will be. But its questionnaire seeking public opinion shows that it is fighting shy of making radical recommendations that would be accepted by the government employees.

The recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission came as a pleasant surprise even to government servants. The bonanza was unexpected. Many had wondered whether the government would accept the recommendations and if the benefits were commensurate with the increase in the number of working hours and reduction in holidays and so on. The Union Cabinet accepted the recommendations of increasing the salaries and perks, and rejected, those aimed at improving performance.

Once the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations were implemented for Central government servants, they were followed through for employees of public sector undertakings, State government and semi-government and the municipal organisations. It is acknowledged that the implementation of the recommendations was the single largest blow to the fisc of the State governments and local bodies. No one was enthusiastic about appointing a successor pay commission.

The six pay commission

The UPA Government waiving the aam aadmi and depending on the Left for survival could not have avoided the appointment of a Sixth Pay Commission for too long. Finally, it succumbed. No one knows what the consequences of this Commission will be.

The panel has put on its web site an elaborate questionnaire and invited inputs. That marks a refreshing change from the old practice where the commissions listened almost exclusively to presentations by employee unions and associations, and government experts.

The terms of reference of this Commission include an item that belongs normally to an administrative reform commission. It is mandated to make recommendations that would "transform the Central government organisations into modern, professional and citizen-friendly entities." That is indeed a charter for a thorough overhauling of the government administration to make it efficient, clean and transparent.

But the Commission's questionnaire shows its reluctance to make radical recommendations that would be accepted by the government.

The remuneration dilemma

The commission is considering whether the remuneration of the government officials should be fixed with reference to those in the private sector. Alternatively, it asks: Should it be fixed in relation to the situation of the poorer classes? Should the remuneration in the field be higher than that in the secretariat? How many pay scales should there be? What should be their structure? Should all vestiges of federalism in the perks go?

It would still appear that the Sixth Pay Commission is hovering around the fundamental problem. The administrative services structure is a legacy of the colonial practices and the Hindu caste system.

The bureaucracy is generally inefficient, arrogant and indifferent to the common man. Its symbol is the proverbial babu who doesn't like to budge from his seat and expects people to line up to give applications in multiple copies, on which he can deliberate and decide at his leisure.

Job security

Government employment has always been looked at as the symbol of security and social standing. All administrative offices are overstaffed. It is indeed difficult to formulate recommendations about remuneration unless one knows the existing and the desirable number of employees. Those who have worked in the government agree that administrative offices are considerably overstaffed.

Second, for the administrative offices, the expenditure, on a rough scale, should not exceed 10 per cent of the value of the business handled. The annual remuneration should be fixed for the establishment as a whole and the head allowed to decide how best to use the allocation to maximise quality and quantity of the turnover. That should obviate the need for having a large number of pay scales and complex fundamental and supplementary rules.

Bureaucratic superstructure

The socialistic regime resulted in the creation of several layers of bureaucratic superstructure. The Planning Commission has no basis in the constitutional structure. It is, nevertheless, the largest bureaucratic empire in the Central government. The Prime Minister's Office used to be a small wing but it now, more or less, duplicates the entire work done in each Ministry.

The administrative expenditure of the government has increased beyond all proportions. Officials draw comfortable salaries, perquisites, and additional income and make little or no contribution to the social product; on the contrary, they create roadblocks to the smooth running of the private sector.

The outsourcing of non-essential services is becoming increasingly common and the practice should be encouraged to reduce to minimum the personnel needed to be engaged for a lifetime.

The four categories of governmental jobs — A, B, C and D — a replica of the Hindu caste system providing for division of labour and stand for abstract thinking/decision-making, rudimentary verbal skills, clerical skills of lower order, and menial work.

The chances of being sent out, even in case of the gross inefficiency or dereliction, are slim.

Once a government servant, he is unlikely to face the prospect of losing the job. He, therefore, tends to behave with arrogance and impunity.

Suggestions

It would be a good idea to appoint all categories of staff for a period of not more than five years, extendable at the most for one more term.

In all service categories, there should be a system of fresh recruitment for which not only the within-service but also outsiders can apply.

Category "B" staff must necessarily be a graduate and computer savvy. There should be a move towards a paperless administration. With a computer-based administrative system, there would be hardly any movement of the files.

On appointment of this Sixth Pay Commission, I sought clarification from the Government as to why the recommendations of the previous commission calculated to improve the productivity and the performance were scrapped.

Even now, it can submit, as interim recommendations, only such measures as would improve services to the people. This is, of course, wishful thinking.

Neither the commission nor the government is likely to take unpopular decisions vis-à-vis the staff. The Sixth Pay Commission is more likely to be a Fifth Pay Commission Part II.

(The author is Founder, Shetkari Sanghatana, and Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. He can be reached at sharad.mah@nic.in)

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