Corruption forms...

Raghunandan Tr: Little interesting thing to share: Yashavantha Tumakuru's father Sannamuddhaiya, works for the Revenue department in Tumkur. He is currently the Hon president of the state employees association. I learnt much from him and i respect him a lot. Ten years back, he was the president of the Tumkur employee association, and i was Assistant commissioner there.

Once we both had a heated argument on corruption when i was to take extremely severe action on village accountant on a corruption case, which was not proved. During the conversation we ended up classifying corruption into three categories.

One: the 'Demand corruption'; the most visible form of corruption, and called as retail corruption, where the official 'demands' a favor/money, for doing his ‘duty’ Eg. Asking for bribe for giving ration card.

Second: ‘Risk corruption’; where the official and the citizen ‘agree’ to exchange favors, for giving ‘illegal benefit’ to the citizen. Eg: allowing set-back violations.

Third: ‘Safe corruption’; where the official does extra legal work for the citizen, and takes money in exchange. E.g. Getting driving license out of the way, in single day!

We tried to tackle it starting from the first to third category. But, then first itself proved so difficult, and still I am struggling to work with systems that would free us from the ‘demand corruption’.

I can say with some surety that first category can be eliminated. I am not sure about second and third category, though I would like to work hard to remove those too.

We have a very long way to go…

Will Aam Aadmi Party do this? (Part 16)

Last week we saw why it is not so easy to dismiss any government official from service, and how the official appears to have nine lives! Now, the next logical question will be, why can’t we amend the rules so that dismissal or punishment can be made easier, like it’s done in most of the private sector? And can citizens do anything in this regard?

The above questions of Raju assumes significance, as citizens' movements are getting stronger day by day, and political parties are promising strict action against corrupt government officials.

Let’s see what Vani aunt has to say about this!

“Raju, let’s first understand why these nine lives for officials. In the private sector, the decision to dismiss a staff may be taken at two levels, a proposal and an acceptor. But, in government, it takes almost 5-6 levels to take the final call. And at each level there is a delay due to inefficiency in the system. This can be reduced to just 2 levels by governments.

But, the government seem to hesitate, as it will obviously upset employee associations. The associations may go on strike, disrupting public work. Hence the popularly elected governments don’t want to take a chance! Now, we have to wait and see, if parties like AAP catch the bull by the horn and amend the rules!

Citizens too, have a role to play by complaining about those officials who are corrupt or inefficient, rather than putting up with them or turning a blind eye, for whatsoever reasons. If every lapse of officials are taken seriously and brought to the public forum, it will act as a deterrent. It’s much easier and effective to do that with social media all around! However will we start doing it?”

“Aunty, why can’t the government recruit good people, to start with?”

“Good question! For just that purpose, we have the Public Service Commissions, who are mandated with recruiting the best for government service. UPSC for union government and State PSCs for state government. But, then it’s unfortunate that most of the state PSCs have lost their credibility. It’s high time that the governments ensures complete independence and professionalism in these agencies. Sadly, the government want to retain control over these agencies. Here too, again, I am waiting for new age governments like AAP to amend rules to make public service commissions 100% independent.”

“Hmm. I understand. Aunty, what percentage of the government officials,do you think, are bad?”

“Ah, that’s a difficult question to answer. But, going by the normal curve, and giving some bias for inherent problems in the selection process and working environment, one can say that 30% of them are quite bad, 50% of them are fence sitters who will be good or bad depending on the environment, and another 20% who are really good irrespective of the environment.”

“What is this environment thing you are referring to, Aunty?”

“Oh, that is the system in which they work Raju. It includes the incentive-disincentive system. It is very critical that, we should have a fair and strong incentive and disincentive system for employees in any organisation.

But, it’s extremely unfortunate that in the government, where one would expect top class incentive-disincentive system, this system is practically non-functional! Incentives are almost non-existent, and disincentives are hard to impose, as we saw just now!

There are no monetary incentives! Other incentives like promotions are given periodically to all, irrespective of their performance. So, the motivational levels are quite low in the government. It is a mystery as to why the government is not able to copy best practices in this aspect from the market! I guess no government wants to touch issues concerned with employee associations! Ah, I don’t want to pull the AAP again into this, although I am tempted to!

Environment also includes the culture that is maintained by the top boss. If the top is clean, than people at the bottom think twice before getting involved in brazen acts. At the same time, a clean person at the top does not automatically ensure stoppage of corruption, as the top boss in government has less control over his subordinates, compared to his counterpart in the private sector!”

“Can’t we discuss with employee associations Aunty? They too must have good people in it?! ”

You are right Raju! No organization or association is entirely good or bad! It is as good or bad as its members are! Now, the members also have their set of grievances. The working conditions are quite bad in government! Now, do you see this office?! Would any private company work in such a bad office?! In most offices, the furniture are old, and even the toilets are non-existent! There is a severe shortages of officials in departments! No recruitment has happened since decades!

So, there is a need for dialogue. The government needs to listen to the associations and improve the working conditions of the employees. while the government spends a large proportion of the available funds towards the public capital works, it spends inadequately on its own employees! While the capital expenditure on the public is increasing every year, the revenue expenditure moves at snail’s pace, or a fixed raise of 5%, which hardly suffices to take care of inflation! So, if we do not take care of the employees, then how can we expect them to work and take care of the public?”

Before Raju could ask his next question, the Shanbhag came out of his room. He was surprised to see both of them still sitting there. “Manju, why are they still sitting here? What happened?”

Before his man-Friday Manju could say anything, Aunty intervened. “Shanbhag sir, I am Mrs. Murthy. You may remember Mr. Murthy, who recently retired as Additional Regional Commissioner. He said he knows you.”

“What??! ARC Murthy sir?!! Madam, why didn't you tell me this earlier?!! Oh please sit down! Goodness!” The Shanbhag's face glowed, and he was clearly overwhelmed!

“Madam, please come inside and sit! Please!!! Manju, will you please get some thing to drink and some samosa? Oh Madam, Murthy sir has been so good! Such a nice officer! You know, when I was implicated in a false case, it was Murthy sir, who closed the file, when the earlier officials demanded money from me to close it! He cleared so many pending cases for others too! He is a gem of a person. Now, please tell me what can I do for you?”

Raju was so shocked even to respond!
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(To be continued on a relaxed Sunday!)

The weapon in your hand... Empowerment in Independent India

I don’t give much importance to assigned events like the New Year day. But, then, the starting of 2014 marks the coincidence of a new starting, the culmination of what I call as the ‘first phase of empowerment’ in independent India, that started in 1995.

1995? So late? Nothing before?

The political manifestation of the undercurrent of unity in diversity, in our country occurred overwhelmingly only once, in 1977 with Janata alliance getting whopping 47% of the votes polled, which is the highest till date, against the tide of congress since independence. It was hailed as the upsurge against the emergency imposed in 1976.

The experiment on a new type of democracy, the coalition, appeared to be short lived, with the congress coming back to power in 1980, with a 43% vote share, as if the voters recoiled back from their adventure!

With literacy rate of less than 3/4, and with a larger share of voting from the rural less-literate population, combined with the substantial influence of money and muscle power in the elections, the correlation between the election results and the political understanding & empowerment of the citizens of India was questioned by many till the late 90s.

In 1995, both internet and mobile phones came to India, heralding the information and communication revolution, both being the pillars of empowerment. The revolution would come of age in the next decade, thus giving the average Indian a sense of empowerment in the new millennium.

The new-found empowerment was explicit in the choice of our food, lifestyle and even movies. It had to reveal itself in the politics too, and thus it emerged as a movement (IAC), riding on the urban populace, empowered by the internet and mobile phone.

Unlike the anti-emergency plank that died soon, IAC would refuse to die, morphing into AAP in November 2012.

Close on its heels, the horror of 16th December would come as the tipping point. It was not just another barbaric crime. It was more than that. It was the culmination of years of misgovernance by the state, and apathy of the public.

I remember writing, “It was neither an isolated incident involving a psychopath, nor it happened for a vengeance. It happened so casually, with an audacity which still doesn't allow me to sleep. It is a slap on the face of all of us, who are privileged to have a voice in this society.”

This fueled the empowerment movement of the citizens. The angered citizens are no more sporadic and disconnected. They are now strong; informed and connected, thanks to the internet and mobile phones. From Rajpath to the innocuous TV rooms, they waited for the moment of expression.

And it came in December, thru the elections. Wherever there was an option to vote against the old order and give life to the new order, the people did. Delhi gave that option clearly. With the coronation of Arvind Kejriwal, the ‘first phase of empowerment’ in India came to a head.

The second phase starts from 2014, which is going to be more noisy, difficult and prolonged, where individual expressions and ideas will clash with each other for space and primacy.

Being a heterogeneous country, divided by language, caste and creed, we will settle for local equilibrium and coalitions. The final benefit will go to the citizen, who will emerge stronger, with the most powerful weapon of our times, the mobile phone.

With this in our hand, let’s welcome 2014! I am sure most of us are already doing so! Now, let the smile in your lips be there for the whole year!