Another Pay Hike

                    There is this buzz that the Babus are getting another pay hike. This happens once in ten years. According to well informed Babus (hmmm...well informed only on the subject of pay and allowances to themselves!!)  that this hike is the lowest ever in history. Meanwhile pink journalists have gone to town comparing the pay of Govt drivers viz a viz private ones, Govt clerks vs private ones, Govt blue collar workers vs private ones (with the Govt ones trumping the private ones). At the other end of the spectrum are comparisons PSU Bank chief executives (who are, incidentally, not covered by Pay Commissions...  our journalists are really as lazy as Govt Babus) vs Private ones. At the higher end, the private sector executives are paid indecently high amounts while senior Babus have to make do with a couple of lakh Rupees per month. (the equivalent of about 2500 dollars)

                      This blogger has been maintaining that Government Officials are not in need of periodic pay hikes which blow a huge hole in the Govt exchequer. What they need is a total overhaul of their terms of employment, working environment and several other things. The theories that I propound in casual conversations enrage my fellow bureaucrats. I am often castigated, branded a maverick and a traitor to the cause. The cause being the lofty one of enriching ourselves with more pay and more allowances with minimal work. If you are a masochist, you can read other posts of mine in this blog.(The Great Indian Oversight system &  Awards and rewards)The basic strands of my alternate thinking go as follows
           For one, Government has long forgotten to empower its' executives to apply discretion. At the same time Babus have been made accountable to more and more rigorous standards with every passing year. If a Babu fails to achieve his target but follows every rule in the book, he can get away with it. Conversely, if there is someone follows the rule in paper, but violates the spirit of the rule (and maybe lines his pockets in the process), he may also get away with it. Hence Govt works more on the principle of appearing to be right rather than being right. In short, the Government has built a huge oversight and justice system that it lost sight of its' primary objective- that executives ought to be empowered to get things moving on the ground.  It is not easy to remove anyone from service without bracing up for a huge battle in courts/media etc. Most of us do not have to stomach for it. So we have a system where we work with what we have.

            In most developed countries, Govt Offices with public dealings are well laid out, bright, well-lit with instructions displayed everywhere. Walk into an RTO Office or Govt Hospital in India. You will be shocked at the pitiful condition in which it is maintained and the lack of signages and guidance to unsuspecting visitors. There are a few touts who hang around and offer to facilitate your business for a small consideration. We have created a complex maze of rules to spend govt money that the focus is not on the effectiveness of our spending but on plugging the possibility of misuse. As a result, even well meaning Babus avoid the trouble of expenditure for fear that they might be wading into controversy. Babus in lower rungs are paid well enough to afford air conditioners at home, whereas their workplace is dinghy, smelly, hot and dirty. We need to give ourselves a decent working atmosphere, and not just limit it to changing curtains and carpets of senior Officers every six months.

       Thirdly, we need to be empowered to work fearlessly and effectively. Life time employment in Govt service doesn't facilitate that. Contractual employment for five years at every level, temporary appointments of domain specialists for duration of specific projects etc can speed up results considerably. We seem to be content to do minimal recruitment in Govt and outsource services to private sector. Most of our senior Babus have no domain knowledge and know only enough skills to contract-hire consultants, service providers etc. A poor reflection of state of affairs in Government
             Lastly and most importantly, we need to build capacity in Government services to provide services. We need to build institutions that function well, enhance domain knowledge, institutional memory and training of personnel. We have a huge success story in the Indian passport office modernization. I renewed my passport some time back. The application was submitted online and an appointment received. The passport Office was bright and well lit with a decent waiting area. The staff handling capture of biometrics and scanning of documents were from a private sector software major. The second and third stage verification was by MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) staff. The entire process of capturing biometrics and verification took 40 minutes. When I left the passport Office, I received a SMS in my phone that my new passport is being despatched !! Phew!! It really blew my mind. Can't we replicate this model in say, public distribution? Government Hospitals? RTO Offices?           

Lit Fest

      I was, for the first time in life, in the midst of a literary festival. The Hindu Lit for Life 2016 coincided with my non- holidays - days when the rest of the world enjoy holidays and I will be ...ahem...(loosely described as) on duty; ie., I am on call and expected to attend any impending crisis in Office).  Anyway, here I was with the Missus and a bottle of water, setting out in an Ola cab (since the personal car had submerged in the floods).

       We listened to Omar Abdullah first. He spoke brilliantly. He is good with words, has a great sense of humour and doesn't sound like a politician. Then came a panel discussion on the floods in Chennai. What the panelists had to say was the worst kept secret in Chennai; that the floods were man made, created by a confluence of factors like real estate greed, apathy to town planning and waste management practices which clogged the sewer lines. We were none the wiser and we knew that the story will be recounted; until the next floods......

      Then came Sanjay Subramanyan, the man who kindled my interest in Carnatic music, by his passionate and lively performances. He too spoke brilliantly; a man whose success sits lightly on his shoulders and looked like the boy next door. He exuded honesty and sounded very down to earth and practical.

   The next day we saw Lionel Shriver and Anuja Chauhan in two separate sessions. The lady who interviewed Shriver (Nilanjana Roy, whose book "The girl who ate Books" I am reading right now) sounded a bit stilted. But Shriver is one author I am going to read.She had several interesting insights into the human condition. Anuja Chauhan, an author I love for the sheer lighthearted romantic comedies she writes, came next. The interviewer was better this time and got her to open up.

     I saw some Pazham poris being sold outside the venue. The stall was awaiting fresh stocks. The discerning pazham pori lover will testify that there is nothing like a hot steaming pazham pori as against a cold and limp one. (Call it banana fritters with a coating of flour with a dash of sugar fried in loads of oil...) As a result we missed the first part of a session which had Shiv Kunal Verma, who has written a book on India's China War. A book that I have already ordered on Amazon but am yet to read. Anyway, listening to him, I felt I would have to re-read from the many books that I possess on the subject, especially on events relating to the battlefield  in the 1962 war. Then came the charming politician Shashi Tharoor, which saw some crowds. Suddenly there were people, young and old , filling up the chairs and even sitting on the aisle, on the floor. Shashi Tharoor uses a lot of visual imagery and captures the attention of the listener. Typical debating club tactics, but he surely knows how to engage an audience.

                   It felt nice to be in the midst of a reading generation; and not among devious Babus, caught up in their struggle for power, pelf and petty animosities. There were many youngsters milling about the place, which gave me some hope that there are still readers among the youth.

The deluge

  On the 2nd of December 2015,  I woke up rather early to the screaming alarms of cars parked in our colony. I noticed that power had gone off. It was very dark at 330 AM and I couldn't figure out what happened. I peered into the darkness outside my window. I noticed that the streetlights had gone off and knee deep water had entered everywhere. I went down the stairs from my second floor home. I could see families being evacuated from the ground floor apartments. Residents in the first floor and above were opening their homes to perfect strangers and families. Children, pets, old and infirm moved into all houses.
           What followed was a mixed bag. Firstly the floods didn't spare the rich in their tony homes in upscale neighbourhoods. Secondly every citizen rose up to be a volunteer,  working to mitigate the sufferings of fellow citizens. Thirdly, the entire relief operation was being coordinated by social media like twitter and facebook. (Yours truly was also relying on it in spite of belonging to the Government, Central, although). A disaster so vast in scope ought to have been coordinated by the State Govt. authorities. One would expect the Mayor of Chennai to come before media and give inputs on where relief is needed in terms of food, drinking water, medicines, clothes, blankets etc. Instead social media kept bouncing off these messages through day and night.
     We were cooped up without electricity or water for 2 days. Phones had stopped working, food supply was running low.At last we made an exit and moved into the house of my sister who lives in a relatively unaffected area. Neighbors with whom I shared barely a nodding acquaintance had turned solicitous and friendly in those days. I lost a car to the floods.  On a working day, I and the Missus are ferried to and back from Office in Govt issued cars. Nevertheless, a small personal car was handy to drop Chathu at the Bus stop, take a drive to my sister's house or just to drive around in an emergency. And now, the bridge near my home is broken, which makes it a longer drive to get to the Bus stop.
            Life is limping back to normal. Rebuilding what's lost, picking up the pieces and moving on...But a disaster opens your eyes to the frailty of human existence. There was a time during the solitary confinement that I started wondering if this is the end. Was it all going to end in water ? There are families which have lost their homes, their belongings, documents everything. A ground floor resident in my apartment block, an old widower, I see him stand everyday before the ruins that was his home.  He had lost almost everything.
    In the aftermath of the floods, there have been recriminations and mudslinging galore amongst politicians, bureaucrats, media and others. There have been reports of how lakes have been usurped by real estate mafia and further regularized by politicians. How waterways have been encroached by the homeless, who could not be evicted since they constitute vote banks. How trees have been cut to accommodate concrete monstrosities. How sewage lines have been left in a mess. All in all, it is not a pretty picture. The ordinary citizen is hoping that this disaster will open our eyes to tighten public management. But the cynics know that this too shall pass..... And things will be as before.

Aadhaar for the rich

          The longer you stay on in bureaucracy, you are convinced that no matter how well meaning your actions or thoughts, you are always under a cloud of suspicion. 5 years back the Chief of my organization was arrested for bribery and corruption. In the intervening years, I have seen ordinary, earnest Babus being implicated for taking perfectly legitimate decisions under given circumstances. The Coal sector had become the cynosure of attention. My friends in the bureaucracy swear by the integrity of some of the Officers who were implicated in the Coal affair. It has become fashionable to point fingers at everyone without an iota of proof. Mainstream media and social networks have compartmentalized public perceptions on governance and public administration into black and white boxes. You are either good or bad. There is no earnest attempt to plug loopholes in our traditional processes of public management.

      But what happens when perfectly sensible people clamour against the implementation of one of the greatest administrative reforms ? I hold no brief to any political party. Having seen how Delhi functions from very close quarters, I am sure that the substitution of one political party with another can't make any great difference.

   The Aadhaar project was rolled out for the poor. When the project was launched , this blogger was excited at the promises it held for transformation of our management of public programs. As a public servant who doesn't normally come across the Aam Admi on a daily basis, I believe that many administrative reforms do not make an impact to daily life. Let me talk of the problems we face. Occasionally one is involved in the process of large scale induction of manpower. We get to see a large number of educated youngsters queuing up for jobs. The latest scam goes like this. Specialists from certain parts of the country will come and write exams on your behalf. For Group C posts in the Government, there are no interviews. So selections are based on written exams. Once the exams are cleared, the real candidate comes to take up the job. Money changes hands for appearing for exams. Nowadays we insist on producing identity proof in the exam hall. But there are ingenious methods of overcoming this problem with smart editing of documents and photographs. If the identity of the person taking the exam could be vetted through Aadhaar, then this fraud could be easily curbed. (Believe me it is a serious problem- there are people in this country who would do anything for government jobs).  

                      Even the financial inclusion project could have been linked to Aadhaar so as to ensure that the figures that are being touted are genuine. Bankers are known for their sense of caution and prudence when it comes to opening bank accounts to low income customers. (Kingfisher Airlines could have faced less rigorous scrutiny). It is quite possible that a large number of bank accounts were opened in the names of individuals who already have a Bank account. A mechanism for incorporating or seeding Aadhaar No:s into all existing PAN No:s, Passports and Bank accounts could de-duplicate the whole process. In a populous country such as India, identifying true beneficiaries and weeding out ghost beneficiaries is a big challenge.  The academicians and Civil liberties activists can never understand these challenges. When Aadhaar was linked to Gas subsidies in one state, the demand came down drastically.What if public distribution system is linked to Aadhaar so that the PDS rice or kerosene doesn't find its' way to the black market ? Instead of routing fertilizer subsidies to inefficient firms who gold plate their accounts, we could probably spend a portion of it by granting it directly to the farmer with Aadhaar.
            If credit cards can be vetted online by a ubiquitous small machine, what prevents us from inventing/ rolling out a machine which can read a thumbprint/ scan iris and confirm that the person is who he claims to be ? This instrument could then be made available in large numbers at immigration check points, Banks, ration shops, registration Offices, treasury and Post Offices. If we can incorporate sufficient safeguards to prevent misuse, why can't we roll it out for effective management of subsidies, entitlements (including rural Job guarantee schemes), pensions, scholarships etc ?

                   Unfortunately, politics often takes precedence over perfectly legitimate decisions. The Parliamentary committee that studied the Aadhaar project has given it a damning report. The ex-Chief Minister of Kerala has attacked the project as a conspiracy of global multinationals to sell their wares in India. (When it is headed by a person figuring in the Fortune's richest list- what is he going to do with bribes from MNCs when he has made enough for three generations and also contributes a lot to charity?) Strangely enough, the clamour grows louder from privacy advocates, academicians and  liberals etc. They claim that the identity project could lead to a gruesome weapon in the hands of the government, which in turn can use it for electoral alchemy, telemarketing, snooping and myriad other sins. (only those working in the government know the extent of our incompetence to carry out any of the aforesaid crimes)  And the government wrings its hands with  contradictions in parliament over questions on cooking gas subsidy. Luckily the new Government has endorsed the Aadhaar project (after promising to close it down during the campaign stage)

               Nilekani's book outlines the need for identity for the poor. But why are we ignoring the elephant in the room? What if Aadhaar is linked to property holdings and securities transactions. While we talk of the benefits it can bring to the poor, why are we ignoring the potential to curb the frauds perpetrated by the rich ? Benami holding of property, fraudulent property/ shares transactions, skimming of benefits meant for the poor, under-declared income everything could be managed more effectively. What if property can be registered or sold in the country only if it is linked to Aadhaar number of the buyer/seller ? If the scheme is rolled out with earnestness, it can become the greatest administrative reform of the century. Just like the Electronic Voting Machine is unique which has caught the fancy of the world. By infusing a good dose of technology into the process, we can not only do away with the need for large number of public servants to manage the country, but also manage it more effectively.

 

 

CSAT or not- a case for abolishing the CSE

Finally the agitation that was brewing for banning the CSAT (Civil Service Aptitude Test)  as part of the Civil Services Examinations (CSE) exam has died down. The street protestors say that CSAT is loaded in favour of the English speaking urban class and it spoils the chances of the rural folk who have not had the privilege of a convent education. While the Government tried many tactics- some of them were (a) announcing that the marks of CSAT will not be counted for merit; it will be only be qualifying in nature (b) the test will be administered in Hindi also. And finally, the Government bowed down to all interested parties and decided to conduct the test in all 22 languages in Schedule 8 of the Constitution of India.

 Now just imagine what a nightmare it could be for UPSC which administers the test ! It would be difficult to maintain secrecy and integrity of the exam process if a question paper has to be translated into 22 languages. Large number of translators/printers etc could be privy to the questions and might constitute a potential source of leakage of questions. Secondly it is not clear how many of the Civil Services aspirants will be utilizing the translated papers. That is democracy for you in the Indian republic. We have no choice but to implement an illogical, mass-driven solution. Many ex-bureaucrats have criticized the Government's decision to marginalize English. They believe that English is the language of the future and we could be driving ourselves into a corner if we choose bureaucrats who do not possess communication capabilities in English. One could argue that these critics were all benefited by the St Stephens/IIT brand of education and are being elitist. Others argue that European countries have bureaucrats who are ignorant in English- aren't they proud of their language and heritage ? Aren't they running their countries well? Some others argue that the Chinese are on a mission mode to make their large population learn English. Aren't they the next super power ?

I complete 24 years in the Government. The first few years were traumatic. I always felt I didn't bargain for this and I certainly deserved more. That had to do with my job (which hardly counts as part of the bureaucracy)- it is not like any other regular government job. However I got lucky as far as the kind of assignments I handled. Two long term courses,(one abroad), several difficult tasks, foreign trips, a stint in the Ministry etc; for someone who didn't go to St Stephens or IIT, I think I got more than what I deserved.  I still can't help feeling that the Indian Civil Service is the most poorly organized and shabbily planned administrative mechanism one could think of.

 The Civil Service as it exists today is probably one of the original legacies of the British which we chose not to tinker with because it suited the goals of the elite in it. The steel frame of bureaucracy is a cosy club of the elite of Civil Service, who manage to corner top posts in every conceivable Ministry and finally retire to become Governors and Information Commissioners. Some time back there was an interesting debate on television on civil service reforms.There were academicians, journalists, Officers from the Armed Forces and IPS and some IAS Officers. Some eminent panelists pointed out that the Indian Civil service as it exists today is not equipped to deal with the highly complex public policy aspects of governance. In the 1940s, a generalist might have been able to run Telecom, Railway, Defence or Power Ministry. Today's challenges are diverse, complex and requires experience and domain knowledge. Almost immediately a young IAS Officer piped up to object. He said Alan Mulally moved from Boeing to Ford and turned around the company. He said that emphasis on domain knowledge and specialization would often result in tunnel vision. He said that he could use the advice of the specialists but a wide range of administrative experience of a generalist service like the IAS is required to run Central Ministries.

    However running Ford can hardly be compared to running a diverse country like India. The bureaucracy in every developed nation have moved far from its' colonial/imperialist strait jacket and have started placing a lot of emphasis on lateral entry, short term contracts for public policy tasks, domain knowledge and skills that one brings to the job. None of the above seem to apply to Indian Bureaucracy.

       

    An umbrella exam for all sorts of services appear to be the most illogical thing in a multidimensional public policy domain. While a technocrat migrating from Aircraft manufacturing to cars might strike us as logical, the same is not true of a migration from Food and Civil Supplies to Telecom. There are Police, revenue, diplomatic and Accounts services which are inducted from the same examination and allotted ranks according to their merit cum choice. Each of these services require different skill sets and domain knowledge. Depending on the public perception of these services, promotion prospects and power one wields, each service is pegged into an uneven hierarchical slot. However since all aspirants are recruited from a common exam, we have Computer Engineers metamorphosing into Finance and Accounts experts, doctors working as Police Officers and veterinary doctors as diplomats. While all these categories can indeed work as IAS (for which what skills are required stumps me even now, considering the wide range of jobs they are allotted to during their service)

          Anyway while the debate rages on as to how to induct Civil Servants, this blogger has an alternate point of view. Has anyone thought why are we recruiting Officers into 28 plus different services through one common examination ? Why are Finance, Personnel, diplomatic services staffed through a single examination ?  Isn't it better to have different staffing pattern for various services.   What is probably required is to breakup the Civil Services into several examinations instead of one. The Police and para military forces can have a two stage recruitment process wherein physical fitness is an important element. They could then be allotted to State Police Services and Para-military organizations with a proviso that they specialize in one function and move to other areas for a limited period to acquire perspective. Presently almost every para military organization is headed by IPS Officers on deputation  from State Governments, which largely serves to spoil the chances of internal Officers who have grown with the organization. This leaves a largely disgruntled force with very little stakes in the Organization. Except for a handful of services which allot Secretary level posts to specialized services, almost all Departments are headed by Generalists from the All India Services. This has spawned the culture of elitism of the All India services in cornering posts outside their domain.
        The diplomats may take an examination with emphasis on International relations. To get into the Finance, Accounts or Revenue services, a CA or ICWA may be prescribed as a minimum requirement. Limited mobility across different domains may be permitted so as to prevent tunnel vision. What about the IAS ? This service may be reinvented to manage Districts in States and Development Ministries in the Centre.  The IAS alone may be recruited through the present Civil Service examination. Streamlining of revenue and land records, town planning, public distribution, garbage treatment etc are important skills that need to be imparted to these bureaucrats. Their postings into Central Ministries may be restricted to Development Ministries at the Centre and not Ministries like Defence, Home, Finance and Telecom, which require specialized knowledge and skill sets.  More importantly, at least 25% posts in all Central Ministries may be reserved for lateral entrants to be recruited by UPSC purely on domain specialization. This lateral entry can be open to Academicians, Journalists, Private sector technocrats and such like. Anyway this theory might not find a resonance with the Brahmins of Indian Civil Service since it demolishes their citadel. The cadre system is such a rigid exclusive club into which promotees, lateral entrants etc are not welcome. It is important to break the elitism of these services to generate emphasis on tasks and not individuals. The system as it exists adds value to generalist Officers by exposing them to different domains, while we need specialist Officers with some multidimensional exposure to add value to the system.

     And the next theory of reform might strike my handful of readers as apostasy. In these days of vigilante justice and corruption allegations against prominent Babus, probably what is required is more autonomy and not too many oversight agencies. Every oversight agency inter alia creates an elite which specializes in asking questions without really knowing anything about the subject. Every oversight agency is the resting place of the lazy bureaucrat who raises objections/ observations on government time. This humble Babu holds the view that incompetence and not corruption is what plagues the bureaucracy. And incompetence stems primarily from a lack of experience for specialised tasks and in turn spawns corruption. If building permits are issued without specific zoning of areas, if garbage is handled unscientifically, if clean drinking water is still a rare commodity and if environment is brutally plundered to build SEZs, somewhere behind lurks deep incompetence of the generalist Babus fed by the colour of money flashed by unscrupulous businessmen. Indians are unique in the belief that more policing is the answer to the ills of corruption. Hence the cries for death penalty, hanging without trial and the creation of strong institutions with powers to police and punish swiftly. The right to Information Act has acted as a more effective barrier to misuse of power than any amount of policing.

       Lastly, the utilization of technology. To manage a country of gargantuan proportions, it would either take too many Babus or the aggressive use of technology. It is nobody's case to appoint too many Babus since it can always lead to corruption and other ills. Seeding existing processes with technology would be the most revolutionary change waiting to happen.These changes cannot happen with the existing bureaucracy which has a vested interest in maintaining status quo. Well that would be the subject of another blog...

PS: I didn't go to the foundation course at National Police academy in 1989 since my employer (A nationalized Bank) refused to relieve me at short notice. I never bonded with probationer civil servants from other services. Although I married a batch mate from the Railways, I hardly feel any sense of belonging to the Civil services. Recently reunion of 1988 and 1989 batches in NPA/ NADT etc were held. When I saw photographs of such reunions I thought -may be I missed something. But then I realize that I never belonged here. Now I have even stopped claiming that I am from the Civil Services examination !!