When Mallikarjun, the Shanbhag of Kyathsandra, questioned Vani aunty, Raju was little taken aback. This was his first experience seeing a public servant behave with a public, and he expected it to much more polite and sincere conversation. After all, the Shanbhag is a public servant, there to serve the public!
Raju has seen even the private company officials talking quite professionally, if not so politely, but seldom rude. He wondered why this Shanbhag is sounding rude and authoritative.
By that time, he heard Vani aunty speaking to the Shanbhag.
“I am Vani, from Bangalore. I am working as professor in a science college. This is Raju, my nephew. He is doing a project on delivery of government services. In that regard we have come to interview you.”
Raju saw a sudden shine in the eyes of the Shanbhag, as if he got some importance after a long time. But, in a moment, he withdrew with suspicion.
“Which interview? I can’t give any interview. Are you from press?”
“No! We are not from press. We are doing a project. We want to know how you are delivering services to the people.”
“I think i can't do that. Please meet the Tahsildar or the Deputy Commissioner. And I have lots of work to do. You can come after you get such permissions.”
He disappeared into his room again.
“What next aunty?”
“I knew he will say this! It's ok. We will sit here and observe what’s happening here. We learn a lot by observation. And i hope to catch him while he is leaving the office. Anyway, we have lot of time at our disposal!”
“Ah that’s a good idea.”
Raju looked around. It is typical old government office. There was these charts hanging on the wall. Tour programme of the Regional commissioner, tour programme of the Deputy Commissioner, tour programme of the Assistant commissioner, tour programme of the Tahsildar etc. There was also a poster on registration of births and deaths. Another poster on pulse polio immunization.
Raju looked for any chart giving details about this Shanbhag's office and the services provided. There were no such charts. Even the time-table is not displayed.
Raju was little surprised and started discussing about it with Aunty.
“Raju, as I was telling you, we are still carrying the legacy of the British administration, which was not at all people centric. As you know, in those days, the British administration was there for the purpose of collecting tax, and to maintain law and order. Engaging public was unknown!
Indeed if any official was engaging himself with the public, he was viewed with suspicion by the government, and his loyalty to the government was questioned. Reason? The public were generally against the British government.
So, the then British government took no attempt to interact with the public. The system was top-down and hierarchical, without any scope for reaching out to the public. The same system continuous till date, with some minor changes here and there.
Thus, public engagement is almost absent in government system. The system is only bothered about their senior officers and how to keep them happy. Thus you have tour programmes of the Deputy commissioner etc, but no information on the services provided in the office, like a citizen charter!"
“But, aunty, 60 years was not enough to change?”
“I wish we changed Raju. But, we did not. Because of two reasons: Firstly, we did not educate the public. Had we educated our people, then they would have become aware of their rights and demanded the government to provide them with information and services. The government also would have been forced to listen to the public, as it is happening today.
But, somehow we did not invest in education. While other countries like Singapore, Korea etc invested hugely on education, we did not. Thus, our literacy rate is just 74% after 66 years of Independence, which is much below the world average of 84%. We come at 120th place of 192 countries in the world! It’s almost a shame!
The absence of education and awareness means, the government was left unquestioned. Thus the status-quo was maintained and the old systems continued.”
“Ok aunty, I understand what you are saying. People did not demand a change after independence. But, the government, headed by such good leaders did not think about this? Why it did not change in itself?”
“That’s a very good question Raju! That brings me to the second point. The government did not change it itself because, nothing changes in itself! It's like Newton's first law! You need a force to act upon something to change it's course! You must have read about 'inertia' and the resistance to change! Change from within is the toughest to happen Raju, whether it's individual or an entity. All of us resist change.
In government nobody wants to upset the apple-cart! After-all the leadership stays for five years, and it wants to do short-term things that will fetch them vote again. So, any long term activity is generally not undertaken by any government. That involves huge amount of risk, and hence most of the leaders do not go for that, unless they have brutal majority and unprecedented support from the public.
So, few changes happened and it happened in bits and pieces. In-fact, to my knowledge, there are only two important pro-people and revolutionary initiatives taken up in our country, since independence.
One is the 73/74th amendment of the Constitution of India, which devolved the power to from a centralized government system to the decentralized local organizations having common man in it. We call them as Zilla panchayat, Taluka Panchayat and Gram Panchayat in Rural regions, and as City Municipality, Town panchayat in the urban regions. Indeed they are the third tier of the government, like we have the first two tiers, central and state.
The second important enactment was that of the Right to Information Act. In one go, it allowed the people to peep inside the government offices and know what the government does. It brought in the wave of transparency and empowered the people.
Empowerment of the public is the first step to good governance in a democracy. What we missed to do by educating all, we tried to do by empowering all.
It was a long journey for the government, albeit unexpected, from the days of the Official Secrets Act in 1923, to Right to information Act in 2005! But, we still have to go a long way, before empowering people with information. The next ideal step is to go for voluntary public disclosure of information about all the activities of the government to the people.
The revolutionary improvements in Information and Technology (IT), gives wide scope for the government to do that at almost no cost. The government should grab this opportunity to pass the disclosure law. It will go a long way in engaging the public. Open governance will lead to good governance."
“Hmm. I get it now. Information is the key. The government needs to function in a transparent and open manner. Gone are the days of official secrets!
Aunty, doesn't it look odd, that when we talk of openness, the Shanbhag says that he cant talk to us without permission from the deputy commissioner?Indeed, first I thought that he is happy to give an interview, but in a moment he withdrew and gave excuse of Deputy Commissioner! Why is that Aunty?”
“Oh, that is because, government discourages the officials from talking to public or media, as they fear, if something wrong is told, then it will embarrasses the government. They don't want to risk the credibility of the government in the hands of individual officers. May be this is acceptable, as even private companies talk thru spokespersons. Secondly, government officers generally are uncomfortable in talking to the public or media, as they are not used to it!"
“Then how do we understand how they do their work?!”
“Lol! By sitting here and observing people like this! Don't worry, tomorrow we will meet the Deputy Commissioner, and take his permission to interview the Shanbhag, Revenue inspector and the Tahsildar! Then we will also go around meeting people and checking whatever they claim to be doing is being actually done or not! BTW, when they do things transparently, they need not go to press or talk to people!
Now, let’s watch quietly what’s happening and let’s see how the Shanbhag responds when he sees us sitting in his office!”
“That’s fine aunty! But, one more question. Why was he sounding rude and little arrogant? I have heard this complaint from my friends too, that government officers are arrogant and rude. Why so Aunty?”
--------------------------------------------------------
Raju has seen even the private company officials talking quite professionally, if not so politely, but seldom rude. He wondered why this Shanbhag is sounding rude and authoritative.
By that time, he heard Vani aunty speaking to the Shanbhag.
“I am Vani, from Bangalore. I am working as professor in a science college. This is Raju, my nephew. He is doing a project on delivery of government services. In that regard we have come to interview you.”
Raju saw a sudden shine in the eyes of the Shanbhag, as if he got some importance after a long time. But, in a moment, he withdrew with suspicion.
“Which interview? I can’t give any interview. Are you from press?”
“No! We are not from press. We are doing a project. We want to know how you are delivering services to the people.”
“I think i can't do that. Please meet the Tahsildar or the Deputy Commissioner. And I have lots of work to do. You can come after you get such permissions.”
He disappeared into his room again.
“What next aunty?”
“I knew he will say this! It's ok. We will sit here and observe what’s happening here. We learn a lot by observation. And i hope to catch him while he is leaving the office. Anyway, we have lot of time at our disposal!”
“Ah that’s a good idea.”
Raju looked around. It is typical old government office. There was these charts hanging on the wall. Tour programme of the Regional commissioner, tour programme of the Deputy Commissioner, tour programme of the Assistant commissioner, tour programme of the Tahsildar etc. There was also a poster on registration of births and deaths. Another poster on pulse polio immunization.
Raju looked for any chart giving details about this Shanbhag's office and the services provided. There were no such charts. Even the time-table is not displayed.
Raju was little surprised and started discussing about it with Aunty.
“Raju, as I was telling you, we are still carrying the legacy of the British administration, which was not at all people centric. As you know, in those days, the British administration was there for the purpose of collecting tax, and to maintain law and order. Engaging public was unknown!
Indeed if any official was engaging himself with the public, he was viewed with suspicion by the government, and his loyalty to the government was questioned. Reason? The public were generally against the British government.
So, the then British government took no attempt to interact with the public. The system was top-down and hierarchical, without any scope for reaching out to the public. The same system continuous till date, with some minor changes here and there.
Thus, public engagement is almost absent in government system. The system is only bothered about their senior officers and how to keep them happy. Thus you have tour programmes of the Deputy commissioner etc, but no information on the services provided in the office, like a citizen charter!"
“But, aunty, 60 years was not enough to change?”
“I wish we changed Raju. But, we did not. Because of two reasons: Firstly, we did not educate the public. Had we educated our people, then they would have become aware of their rights and demanded the government to provide them with information and services. The government also would have been forced to listen to the public, as it is happening today.
But, somehow we did not invest in education. While other countries like Singapore, Korea etc invested hugely on education, we did not. Thus, our literacy rate is just 74% after 66 years of Independence, which is much below the world average of 84%. We come at 120th place of 192 countries in the world! It’s almost a shame!
The absence of education and awareness means, the government was left unquestioned. Thus the status-quo was maintained and the old systems continued.”
“Ok aunty, I understand what you are saying. People did not demand a change after independence. But, the government, headed by such good leaders did not think about this? Why it did not change in itself?”
“That’s a very good question Raju! That brings me to the second point. The government did not change it itself because, nothing changes in itself! It's like Newton's first law! You need a force to act upon something to change it's course! You must have read about 'inertia' and the resistance to change! Change from within is the toughest to happen Raju, whether it's individual or an entity. All of us resist change.
In government nobody wants to upset the apple-cart! After-all the leadership stays for five years, and it wants to do short-term things that will fetch them vote again. So, any long term activity is generally not undertaken by any government. That involves huge amount of risk, and hence most of the leaders do not go for that, unless they have brutal majority and unprecedented support from the public.
So, few changes happened and it happened in bits and pieces. In-fact, to my knowledge, there are only two important pro-people and revolutionary initiatives taken up in our country, since independence.
One is the 73/74th amendment of the Constitution of India, which devolved the power to from a centralized government system to the decentralized local organizations having common man in it. We call them as Zilla panchayat, Taluka Panchayat and Gram Panchayat in Rural regions, and as City Municipality, Town panchayat in the urban regions. Indeed they are the third tier of the government, like we have the first two tiers, central and state.
The second important enactment was that of the Right to Information Act. In one go, it allowed the people to peep inside the government offices and know what the government does. It brought in the wave of transparency and empowered the people.
Empowerment of the public is the first step to good governance in a democracy. What we missed to do by educating all, we tried to do by empowering all.
It was a long journey for the government, albeit unexpected, from the days of the Official Secrets Act in 1923, to Right to information Act in 2005! But, we still have to go a long way, before empowering people with information. The next ideal step is to go for voluntary public disclosure of information about all the activities of the government to the people.
The revolutionary improvements in Information and Technology (IT), gives wide scope for the government to do that at almost no cost. The government should grab this opportunity to pass the disclosure law. It will go a long way in engaging the public. Open governance will lead to good governance."
“Hmm. I get it now. Information is the key. The government needs to function in a transparent and open manner. Gone are the days of official secrets!
Aunty, doesn't it look odd, that when we talk of openness, the Shanbhag says that he cant talk to us without permission from the deputy commissioner?Indeed, first I thought that he is happy to give an interview, but in a moment he withdrew and gave excuse of Deputy Commissioner! Why is that Aunty?”
“Oh, that is because, government discourages the officials from talking to public or media, as they fear, if something wrong is told, then it will embarrasses the government. They don't want to risk the credibility of the government in the hands of individual officers. May be this is acceptable, as even private companies talk thru spokespersons. Secondly, government officers generally are uncomfortable in talking to the public or media, as they are not used to it!"
“Then how do we understand how they do their work?!”
“Lol! By sitting here and observing people like this! Don't worry, tomorrow we will meet the Deputy Commissioner, and take his permission to interview the Shanbhag, Revenue inspector and the Tahsildar! Then we will also go around meeting people and checking whatever they claim to be doing is being actually done or not! BTW, when they do things transparently, they need not go to press or talk to people!
Now, let’s watch quietly what’s happening and let’s see how the Shanbhag responds when he sees us sitting in his office!”
“That’s fine aunty! But, one more question. Why was he sounding rude and little arrogant? I have heard this complaint from my friends too, that government officers are arrogant and rude. Why so Aunty?”
--------------------------------------------------------
(To be
continued next Sunday)
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