DAYA SAGAR
In brief India is a welfare state and governments have extended many special welfare schemes for the people of lower socio economic levels but still the position is such that in India even after 77 years of independence nearly 2/3rd population depends on the supply 5 kg per month per capita free ration by government for their survival. Questions are also raised over running of the infrastructure projects both in time &money . One would ask why the returns are not proportional to the inputs made by the government when we have such superior & comparatively adequately paid & with secured service conditions government servants on the overall when compared in general with those employed in private sector ? There could be no better an answer that reasons lie in lack of efficiency in delivery of services in one form or the other .So India too needs to establish a department of Government Efficiency , rather more than that what was the need in USA so as to make India also an economy per capita wise also atleast number 4th in the world like her being 4rth world economy on mass basis with a population estimated at around 1430 million.
Every new government on taking oath in India is found blaming the earlier government for having allowed corrupt practices on the state funds / resources to grow inspite of the anticorruption organisations remaining the same as were there in earlier days. The political government is elected for 5 years and is followed by another elected government . Those in government have to go to people after five years seek their mandate again and people can reject had they not worked properly in the earlier term. It is the bureaucracy that has not to go to the people seeking their confidence at any time and are the link chain for the affairs to continue. Political government changes but the bureaucrats remain for 25 to 35 years in service so much depends on the performance & efficiency of the bureaucrats. The political leadership is for policies and sanctions where as it is the bureaucracy that executes, delivers services, make assessments and constructs plans & programme drafts . Identification & valuation of needs on ground are made by the bureaucrats , feed backs & performance reports are drawn by the bureaucrats and all evaluations are done for politicians by the bureaucrats. So what happens on ground depends how the bureaucracy works. In a democracy like India one may find it easier to meet a politician / MLA/MP/Minister at his/ her residence or office but it may not be that easy / comfortable to meet a bureaucrat at his place. A politician cannot force to make a bureaucrat do some wrong action unless the bureaucrat also finds it of profit to go by what the politician says otherwise the civil service conditions are so secure that except transferring a government servant the politician cannot do any other harm. So blaming politicians for all bad is not fair. Hence there is need for keeping an eye on the efficiency of government machinery and public service delivery system. The need for that is more in India since inspite of so many government initiatives for building physical infrastructures &socio economic support system for the socio economically poor citizens of India the position is still discouraging even after nearly 8 decades of Independence. The government servant is comparatively very well secure part of the society these days but the service delivery system managed by same government servant does not carry the trust of common man adequately which well reflects from the reputation of government schools and hospitals even in major cities.
The elders who drafted the constitution of India had felt the need for providing special supports to the socially & educationally backwards citizens of India and hence provided provisions in the constitution of India in 1950 for reservation of seats in the Parliament ( Lok Sabha) and the Legislative Assemblies of states for SC and ST for 10 years from 1950 hoping that the those who would be holding to the affairs of independent India would work concernedly for the welfare of their socially & educationally backward fellow citizens for building their status but those who held the reins of governance in independent India could not deliver fairly and the reservations in legislature/ services/ educations are still continuing even after 7 decades since the benefits could not be made to adequately reach the real target beneficiary inspite of so many welfare schemes , every second leader in government and almost all the political parties in opposition too expressing apparently very serious concern for socially & educationally backward segments of the Indian society ( SC &ST) and a few more segments of other backward classes identified as needing special supports in addition to SC & ST after independence . It is not out of place to mention here that these days the open merit vacancies in government services & educational institutions have been reduced to maximum 40% and that has started nursing heart burning in some segments of society. So the need for establishing Department of Government Efficiency is sure need of the day in India today.
To be continued
(The writer is Sr Journalist & analyst of J&K affairs dayasagr45@yahoo.com 0419796096)