Shiv Kumar Padha
There is an old proverb ‘Handsome is he who handsome does’. There is no dearth of sermons available in the scriptures of all the religions where work is given more importance than pretence. Our elders are always heard saying ‘where words fail the work speaks’, but hats-off to the present social media which, many times, impress the viewers with the fabricated information and concocted stories, instead of the factual one. These days the social media has become an instrument for portraying a corrupt as an honest person, a truant as a regular person, a shirker as a worker, an atheist as a theist, a miser as a philanthropist, a communal as a secular, a pretender as a committed and a true member of the organizations and the department one works. Any how one cannot deny about the multifaceted uses and importance of the social media which has converged the knowledge and information about the whole world on a small screen which can retrieved within the twinkling of an eye. Though performance and the development appear two different words literally yet both are supplementary and complementary to each other in term of their goals and objectives in the long run. Where performance goals enable employees, public representatives and the members of various organizations contribute to their teams, companies and organizations success, the development goals focus on the achieving of the aspirations of the people and often align with the organization’s and governments ultimate goals. The onset of NDA 1 and 2 under the capable leadership of Narendra Modi brought with it a new work culture in the country known as e- governance. The ultimate aim of this type of governance was to take the governance to the portals of the masses living in different parts of the country. The basic purpose of the e – governance is to simplify processes for all, i.e. government, citizen, Businesses at national, state and local level. Also, the purpose of e-governance is to bring SMART governance implying; simple, moral, accountable, responsive and transparent governance. For the successful and flawless functioning of the e-governance in the country, it has been made obligatory for all the government functionaries to keep their respective departments updated and well informed regarding their daily performances, qualitative and time bound execution of the developmental schemes and projects, about their individual achievements, regularities and truancy in their offices and regarding the completion of their daily assignments and pendency, if any, through, uploading their photos, videos and progress on face book, instagram or e-mails.
Prior to the introduction of system of e-governance in the country the common man was bearing the brunt of corruption, pendency, redtapeism, injustice, adamant and non cooperative behavior of the government functionaries, but after the introduction of e-governance in the country the people have a sigh of relief because the complicated system of governance was made easy and accessible to an ordinary man in the country. It is reality that the schemes and the development projects of the nation can’t be executed or implemented without the joint, cooperative and concerted efforts of the entire governmental machinery. Dereliction carelessness and lack of sense of duty on the part of the implementing agencies can prove a great hindrance and impediment in the process of making the life of the masses comfortable and easy in respect of deliverance of social justice, education, health, employment and life amenities.
It is a matter of great satisfaction that the entire governmental machinery, enforcing agencies are following the norms of the e-governance to the letter and spirit. Now the people seem have got rid of the bureaucrats who used to get on their nerves always. But as in India and anywhere in the world there are certain black sheeps and hard skinned public functionaries who are expert hands in inventing alternate ways to dodge the government and their task masters through the social media considered as the fool proof instrument of monitoring. As already explained the social media is, now, being used as a double edged sword which can assure and misinform their task masters sitting in higher offices simultaneously by feigning their performance on the Facebook. There is one folk tale where an ox (a plodder) yoked in an oil mill (kohlu) used to pretend as working by shaking its neck in order to keep the bells, around its neck, ringing. Similarly in many cases it is noticed that many departments instead of working on ground dramatize the occasions by managing big school children rallies with placards indicating the purpose of the rally and uploading it to their higher authorities. It is every day practice in majority of the departments where the officers are shown planting saplings on the Van Mahotsav, cleaning of the surroundings of their offices with the brooms, kick-starting the developmental projects, which are never completed, laying of the foundation stones, distributing the relief or other material to the beneficiaries and taking pledge for the honesty, cleanliness and deliverance of good governance before the lens of the camera. It is, therefore , requested to condemn and discourage such practices developing among the bureaucrats and their subordinates where they portray themselves as the most capable and dedicated organs of the government in order to remain in the good books of their superiors for the loaves and fishes of the offices.
(The author is a social activist from Basohli).
