How Do We Tame The Overlords?

Many of the issues agitating large groups in India can be traced to the absurdly plum pay and perquisites offered to government employees (GE) and the ridiculous levels of protection granted to them against non-performance and malpractices.  To make the picture complete you must also firmly keep in mind that GE do not view themselves as public servants but as overlords to whom the public must pay obeisances and who collect personal fees for every service that they are supposed to render as part of their duty.  IAS are an outstanding and dramatic sample of this rotten GE class.

This group (GEs) provoke two kinds of reaction amongst the non-GE public.  One is that of intense anger and the other an intense desire to become one of them.  The massive support that Anna received for his Jan Lokpal movement is a manifestation of the first reaction.  The current competitive backwardness (CB) for landing a government job is a manifestation of the second reaction: the current agitation in Gujarat brings out the gravity of the situation.

Another example of the second reaction is current agitation by army men.  Our defense veterans are very upset about the delay in One Rank One Pension (OROP.)  Another group to which I belong, namely, bankers, also wanted this.  They call it pension updation.  However I understand that this group has lowered its already weak voice after its treacherous leaders signed an agreement which lowered the pensions while granting a meager increase in salaries.

What is hurting these groups is that OROP has been granted to the mammoth non-performing and parasitic bureaucracy long back. (And if bureaucracy has it, I presume that politicians must be having it too.)  It hurts the pride of a soldier to think that a group of rotten pen-pushers and obstacle creators has it while it is denied to those who lay down their lives as part of their duty to the country!

Here are some suggestions that may partly remedy the situation:

1. A salary that is 20 times the current poverty line should be the ceiling for salaries paid to government servants at any level.
2. Salaries of PSUs should be decided on the basis of their capacity to pay and have no relation to those of government servants.
3. Government servants must compulsorily avail of government run services in every sector where it is available, the foremost being education and health.
4. If the budgetary deficit is not zero or below the agreed limit, no increases in staff expenses on any count should be admissible.
5. Top positions in each ministry must be filled only through lateral recruitment of those who have qualification and expertise in the area.  Such lateral recruits may be offered market based salaries to draw in the right talent.
6. Citizen's charter and Lokpal must be set up immediately and have offices down to district level.
7. The need to obtain government permissions for prosecuting government servants must be done away with.
8. Punishment for corruption as also inefficiency must be exemplary.

Additions and reactions to these suggestions are welcome.
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हार्दिक शुभकामनाओं सहित:

सर्वोत्तम सरकारी नौकरी, हम को हो गया ज्ञान,
बन पिछड़ा हड़पो इसे, इसमें ही कल्याण.