For the first time after independence, we have heard the government bringing the bureaucracy under scanner. Bureaucracy is called the steel jacket of administration. Actually, the bureaucratic structure first originated with the British rule over India. The British cared much for efficiency and aptitude of the bureaucrats, Maybe, they were very meticulous that only aspirants with merit and aptitude should be there in the bureaucracy to make the British Raj a success for supplementing the revenues of Great Britain. It is true that after independence, the Indian bureaucracy could not maintain that high level of discipline, efficiency and competence that was there during the British rule. However, it has to be noted that in response to the need of the emerging Indian society, bureaucratic structure had to re-oriented inch by inch to meet the requirements of a developing India. Fortunately, for first few decades of independence, the hangover of the British bureaucratic dispensation lingered on in one or the other way. But when Indian politicians and top level administrative functionaries succumbed to human weaknesses very easily, it had its adverse impact on the bureaucratic structure. Lethargy, jealousy, irresponsibility and lack of patriotic impulse made inroads into our bureaucratic structure. This is true not only of central administration but of states as well.
Our State bureaucracy, too, has its share of various aberrations mentioned above. Now that the Central government has found over 120 functionaries in the category of non-performers and is considering removing the deadwood, it is pertinent that our State also takes the issue of non performing babus for review. If efficiency is to be the criterion of performance, then of course, this test must be applied to the non-performing functionaries. There are rules in the CSR suggesting how the non-performers would be treated. For example premature retirement is one of the options available. There are other methods also but first of all a framework is to be drawn for evaluating the performance of the functionary. What are the conditions that would make functionary liable to be reviewed and evaluated? First of all this question needs to be solved and the second step would be to identify the functionaries by applying the rules to them. What we mean to say is that a functionary should not be harassed nor done injustice just because the higher ups want to show that they are seriously conducting their job of evaluating the performance of a functionary. If the matter of screening and reviewing the performance of many officers and juniors at sensitive position will be conducted fairly and without prejudice, many functionaries can fall in the net. This is also one of the necessary measures to have good governance.
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