Rajan Gandhi
Performance accountability is the buzz word in the present regime. Parameters under present Modi Government have changed. Minimum Government and maximum governance is the order of the day and PM has himself demonstrated that no relaxation on the work front will be tolerated; either you perform or perish. NDA deviated from the past precedent by not choosing the UPA-I option of firing all those perceived to be close to the Vajpayee NDA regime, PM Modi decided to give all a chance. This caused certain hindrances to the Government as more than three years into power; bureaucracy in some departments is more of a hurdle than facilitator to NDA-II schemes and programmes. Barring a few infrastructure sectors such as power, roads and highways, the Modi Government push for skill development or manufacturing through “Make in India” suffered as the bureaucracy chose to be on a different page from the political leadership. But PM is no longer willing to give a long rope to the babus, instead he wants to make them accountable. By telling the agriculture secretary to redo the presentation before the committee of secretaries, firing two senior IPS officers and one IAS officer on grounds of poor performance, PM has set the merit agenda. Gone are the days when two year tenure used to be the focus. Merit is the sole criterion for promotion. This was underlined when General Bipin Rawat superseded two of his colleagues to become the Indian Army Chief. Rather than play favorites as in the past regimes, PM Modi is trying to eject the sloth within the Indian civil service and ensure that government schemes are implemented in a time-bound manner. In fact, at a Pragati meeting, PM took on the roads and highways department over delays on the Delhi-Meerut six-lane highway project, which was inaugurated by him. PM made it clear that he would not inaugurate any highway project in future until he is sure about its completion within time. As PM is accountable to the people and don’t not want the media to show incomplete projects inaugurated by him in the next election campaign. The message worked and the Delhi-Meerut highway is now in full swing.
In our state recent news of reluctance of J & K cadre IAS officers on deputation to centre to come back to home state has raised many eyebrows; what are the specific reasons is a million dollar question to be answered. With already a depleted strength of IAS officers and some more to retire in 2018 , specific corrective actions have to be taken. Moreover, recent revelations made by another IAS officer in her book have further revealed the hidden truths of JandK bureaucracy. But that’s only one aspect of the story. Interestingly till mid-1960s, J&K had its own administrative machinery. No outside IAS or IPS officer could work in the state. But it all changed during GM Sadiq’s Government in mid-sixties when the union administrative services were extended to J&K otherwise protected with special status. In the name of Special Status IAS/IPS cadre was in the ratio of 50:50 , 50 % from central quota and 50% from state cadre administrative/police services, against the national rule of 67:33 in all other states , obviously reasons better known only to GoI. Our bureaucracy was given long enough rope. Recent events of the state where GoI is planning to send experts from centre to get 100 % electrification done by December 2018 or meeting called by Home Minister of administrative secretaries of our state who are associated with PMDP projects is a clear indicator that centre has decided enough is enough. There are too many adverse reports in the public domain , be it select committee report on Rural Development Department, revelation in High Court that R & B department sitting on land acquisition file of Janipur flyover project, flood channel clearance of Kashmir , Jammu sewerage project , wholesale flouting of Srinagar and Jammu Master Plans, artificial lake project, Central University Kashmir land acquisition, AIIMS Jammu land row, role of LAWDA in Dal Lake case, GMC Jammu problems and list goes on and on. Such is the situation right now that even CM has to intervene to form a grievance cell committee to visit various hospitals to get the things move in the right direction. Even Chief Secretary has to visit various sites of IIT, IIM and AIIMS to take first hand status report and remove bottlenecks to complete these prestigious projects within stipulated time frame. If deputation of a Chief Secretary to Central Government assignment is an indication, it seems roles of respective administrative secretaries are very much under scanner.
Our challenge is not about ideation; it is about the implementation. Countless recommendations of committees, innumerable amendments to the law, numerous proclamations of schemes and assurances of ‘investigations’ – belie our capability to stay on course till meaningful resolution of complex challenges we face. This has become our national DNA. When confronted with serious issues we continually resort to the ritualistic committees, composed of retired or serving eminences who table their reports which then lie unimplemented. There’s a perpetual lack of reality, obsession about due process to ensure propriety, long-drawn procedures and despite all that, what is achieved is too little and too late to make any consequential improvement. India has achieved quantum progress across fields of connectivity, digitization, access to information and informal education. But the full potential of our capabilities is still constricted by our governance structures and mindsets which have not kept pace with development in other fields or rest of the country. Our governance processes are complicated and cumbersome.
It is not that we don’t know the answers, but reforms are seldom implemented. Let alone recommendations of sovereign committees, even strictures of courts are not obeyed. Day after day our state courts are trying their best to wake up administration from slumber even issuing non bailable warrants for some. Why is that we seem helpless to achieve momentum that is imperative for survival in a hyper-competitive world? Problem is that decision-makers refuse to acknowledge gravity of the situation even when disasters stare them in the face. They order more inquiries, ask for more data, more studies as if refuting reality will make grave problems go away. Then procrastination or ‘not-during-my-watch’ syndrome sets in. Administration treads water hoping to pass their tenure and let successors deal with the efforts required to make significant orbit shifts. Finally when the crisis assumes a magnitude that cannot be swept under the carpet, the blame game tries to establish in whose watch the tipping point occurred. This has happened in 2014 floods and other disasters in the past as well so much so that CAG had to do full-fledged disaster management audit castigating all concerned departments but no punitive action has been taken till date. J&K’s policy of all carrots and no stick has made the state to pay heavy price, be it environment or social unrest. This winter only, non up gradation of power infrastructure has resulted in severe power crisis in Kashmir. Long lists of agitations throughout both the regions speak about volume of distrust in respective administration from time to time.
Every complex problem have multitude of variables. We need to realize that all our challenges, whether it is unemployment, security, deteriorating environment, terrorism, intolerances, social violence, self-reliance etc. are deeply interconnected. Just as a human body cannot live with some healthy parts while others are cancerous, we cannot address complex issues in discrete isolation. We need to address problems across a broad front instead of chasing chimeras of solving massive problems. Time has come to implement PM Modi’s idea of minimum Government and maximum governance, where layers of unnecessary bureaucracy should be done away by using technology. Recently only state IAS cadre strength has been recommended to get increased from present 137 to 145, 79 direct and 66 from KAS cadre. With 500 plus strength of KAS bureaucrats also on payroll, still it seems to get the things done is a herculean task. The files need to be tracked to ensure speedy decision-making and accountability with top mandarins encouraged to inject new ideas rather than get bogged in flagging A or B on never-ending files. Public should have a minimum interface with the bureaucracy. The mandarins should have targets for completion of projects within the allocated period like in the private sector.
To give outdated excuses in this age of technology will not work. Gone are the days when wrong doings could be concealed. With digital revolution public awareness has increased many folds and every Government is answerable to the public and if legislatures are accountable, bureaucracy cannot be far behind. Changing with the passage of time is the law of nature, rocks become sand and mountains soil .Similarly change of work culture is the need of hour in our state, the sooner we do it better it will for whole state.
“People who can’t be questioned often end up doing questionable things.”
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