Shiv Kumar Padha
The government servants, irrespective of their rank and cadre, take an oath of allegiance to the constitution of India in the prescribed form which read I, …, do swear/ solemnly affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the constitution of India as by law established, that I withhold the sovereignty and integrity of India, and that I will carry out the duties of my office loyally, honestly and with impartiality but in practice the attitude and behavior of majority of our public servants and bureaucrats is seen quite topsy-turvy of what they have pledged, especially when a complainer or the sufferer explains or unfolds his problems before them. Instead of listening to them patiently and addressing their problems, the complainer has to bear the wrath of these public servants. They feel quite comfortable so long as they are gossiping with their friends and colleagues or with some lactating political leaders in their retiring rooms but get infuriated the moment they find solicitant praying for justice or for the solution of his genuine problems. Scared of the wrath and harsh behavior of some administrators and that of the bureaucrats, the gullible people prefer suffering due to the injustice meted out to them than bear the wrath and inviting the trouble for them and their families later on.
A solicitant to these public servants is like a red rag to a bull. It is often experienced during the public administration meets and public durbars chaired by the officer of the nodal departments where only the pro establishment speakers from the Block and district development councils are given time for highlighting the hypothetical problems of the people, while the genuine, actual and the ground level problems are not touched at all. A person who dares highlight the collective problems of the people is either not allowed or authoritatively interrupted and snubbed while speaking.
These tendencies of our nodal officers negate the very purpose of these durbars and the Block divas aimed at taking the governance to the portals of the public.
These durbars are losing the importance and interest of the people day by day because these durbars and meets have become a formality to carry out and not a platform for addressing the public grievances. It is therefore suggested that the government should devise and conduct special orientation courses for our officers and the administrative agencies which can bring about decency, humility in their behavior and attitude towards the people and help developing skill of public dealing so that they can inculcate the habits which help make them smooth spoken and affable for the society.
Our administrators and the bureaucrats should always keep one thing in mind that they are the public servants from whose pocket they get handsome salaries every month otherwise Back to Village, Public Darbars and public administrative meets sans public care and co-operation is meaningless.
