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.
_________________________________________________________________________________

हार्दिक शुभकामनाओं सहित:

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

How is this scam going unnoticed?

We all keep reading about massive recruitment of teachers by the government.  Then they hire Shiksha-Mitras (SMs) to assist them.  Though the SMs are not but the teachers are very handsomely paid.  Apart from their salaries a lot of money must be getting spent on school infrastructure and the fraud-ridden midday meal scheme.

While billions are getting spent on this presumably noble mission, what is the picture at the ground level?  I find from my personal interactions that even those at the lowest economic rung, like household help, rickshaw pullers, and street vendors do not want to send their children to such government schools.  They pay through their nose for schooling their children in private schools of dubious quality.

Sting operations by TV channels have exposed the astonishingly reprehensible quality of education given in these schools and the extremely poor caliber of teachers hired at high salaries.  I know teachers who visit the school only once or twice a month and pay protection money to functionaries in education department.

The billions going down the drain into the pockets of the corrupt could be much better utilized by providing a direct cash transfer to deserving people who could use it to pay the fees of private schools which are seen to be far superior to the government ones.

The hordes of teachers and SMs could be trained as plumbers, electricians and carpenters.  There is a real dearth of such professionals in the society.

In case it is not found feasible to dismantle this hoax of government schools, it must be made mandatory for all those whose draw salaries from the central or state government to school their children only in a government school at their place of posting.

Another sector suffering from similar massive corruption is health.  Here too it will help to make it mandatory for all government employees and legislators to avail services only at a government hospital in their area.  The government instead has chosen to fly its officers and ministers overseas for treatment!!!  Will they ever get ashamed of themselves?