The Hindu Business Line : Insensitivity of India's officialdom

Will India's officialdom ever learn to identify itself with the sufferings and hardships of the people whom it is meant to serve? Leave aside the aam aadmi whose lot is to patiently bear the ill-treatment meted out to him in government offices.

Persons well-placed in life fare no better, it seems, if one goes by the shocking experiences narrated to me by a top executive of a reputed company, who, in the course of his business, has to keep in touch with a number of senior officials in almost all the States. He is balanced in his views which, therefore, command credibility and respect.

Uncaring mindset

According to him, about 80 per cent of those in the higher echelons of the governments at the Centre and in the States lack a public-spirited approach to their duties, and are rude and inconsiderate to visitors.

My friend gives any number of examples of his undertaking long trips to State Capitals or Delhi on being given an appointment, but being told on reaching there that the official is otherwise busy and has no time to see him.

People like him have to put up with harassment at the hands of the members of the personal staff of Ministers and officials, who demand undue favours in cash and in kind in return for arranging an interview.

Is it not preposterous that 60 years into Independence, and with all the citizens' charters and bulky tomes on citizen-friendly governance, India's officialdom should still be rooted in the authoritarian and uncaring mindset of the colonial era?

Why is it that successive efforts at instilling the democratic values in officials have not borne fruit?

The answer is straight and simple: The security of tenure enjoyed by employees as a class. Constitutional protection for the higher civil services and the elaborate set of procedures for disciplinary action make it near-impossible to get rid of any employee for inefficiency and lapse from accountability.

The stringent criteria for evaluating performance and productivity that used to be in vogue during the British days have been diluted. It is a measure of how far and how fast we have slipped from those standards that the terms of reference of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission set up by the Government do not require it to lay down norms of productivity and review the existing procedures coming in the way of prompt and effective remedial action against default.

Promotions in subordinate cadres have become automatic. At the bottom of the hierarchy, performance reports and efficiency grading have been dispensed with.

Political interference and trade union pressures have had put paid to the authority of official superiors, with the result they shy away from taking their subordinates to task.

Hire-and-fire

Some quarters have been advocating hire-and-fire as part of the economic liberalisation. It has for long been the practice in the US, and even China has opted for it as a means of stimulating economic growth. It may be tried out in India also, but in carefully graded stages:

The top levels of administration can first be brought within its scope, to be extended to other categories later on. In the context of the deep-rooted malignancy of insensitive officialdom, the people will whole-heartedly welcome such an initiative.

B. S. Raghavan