The Hindu Business Line : A raise for bureaucrats

The revision in the salary structures of Central Government staff has to be seen in the context of significant changes in the economic environment and increasing public expectations on delivery of public goods and services. In the ten years since the wages were last revised, there has been a radical change, both in the profile of goods and services of common public consumption and their prices that the periodic upward revisions in the dearness allowance paid to the staff c ould not completely match. The civil servant today has to perform in situations vastly different from those prevailing in an earlier era. There is also the phenomenon of spiralling employee compensation for those in the private sector. True, the latter are subjected to far more stringent norms of accountability and performance than those in the public sector. Even so, the gap between the two has widened with wages in the private sector rising more rapidly. An overhaul, from time to time, of the civil service pay structure thus becomes inevitable and the Sixth Commission has done just that.

The Commission’s recommendation on additional rewards for meritorious performance or making jobs in Defence services more attractive, creating fiscal conditions for early separation and correspondingly for lateral recruitments are welcome initiatives that deserve to be supported by the Government. Even if the anticipated savings do not materialise, and history has shown that to be the case, the Centre can cope with the added financial burden. In the initial years, that may push up the quantum of revenue and fiscal deficits. But if the growth momentum in the economy is kept up, the hike is unlikely to cause any concern from a fiscal perspective.

No doubt, the general public has serious reservations, and with good reason too, on the service orientation of a larger majority of the staff engaged in public administration. Adding to the public disgust is the phenomenon of corruption across all layers of the administration that often makes people pay twice over for the goods and services these public servants deliver. Distressing as the situation undoubtedly is, poor ethical standards at the work-place are a problem that needs to be tackled separately. The principle of ‘fair reward for a day’s honest work’ cannot be denied just because there is a degenerate work culture in pockets of public administration. Doing so is not only harsh on those who are putting in their best effort in the cause of public welfare but also could trigger a mutually reinforcing cycle of poor pay leading to poorer performance.

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