Raise accountability, not pay

Dr Bharat Jhunjhunwala
Large numbers of persons were recruited in Government service after Independence in order to serve the people. The conditions of the common man were abysmal at that time. People did not have access to education or health facilities. The Government established a web of government schools across the length and breadth of the country. Education reached even the remotest corners of the states. Primary Health Centers were opened. The sixties saw the establishment of the Fair Price Shops. Initially these were opened to distribute the wheat received from the United States as aid. Later this was modified so that the Food Corporation of India procured grains from surplus states and sold at fair prices in deficit states. In due course programs like Indira Awas Yojana and MNREGA were started. Large numbers of persons were given job in the government to implement these programs.
That was then. The situation has changed dramatically since then. The conditions of the common man have improved. The daily wage of an unskilled labourer today is about Rs 200 to Rs 300 today. This is adequate to take care of the needs of food and clothing of a family. The need for running programs to alleviate extreme poverty and hunger is much less today. Number of private schools and doctors have been established even in remote villages. Thus people of the country are no longer dependent on the largesse of the government to gain access to these facilities. On the other hand, the salaries of Government servants have increased disproportionally. World Bank data tells us that the average salary of government employees in most countries is one to two times the average income of the people. In India, on the other hand, the government employees are earning more than ten times the incomes of the common man.
The starting salary inclusive of DA of a Government Employee today is Rs 13,300 per month. Other perks such as HRA, Medical, Provident Fund, Pension and LTC add about Rs 10,000 per month making a total of about Rs 23k per month. Prof R Vaidyanathan of IIM Bengaluru has estimated that government servants collected bribes of Rs 153k crores per year when the salary bill of the Government was Rs 37k crores. Thus the non-official income of Government Employees is about 4 times their official salary. The total income of an entry level Government Employee may be reckoned at Rs 115k per month. This is the starting salary. Average income of a government servant may be around Rs 150k per month. Government Employees claim this is not sufficient to meet the needs of a family of three. The Government of India agrees; hence it has decided to establish the Seventh Pay Commission so that further increase in their salaries can be made.
I reckon the income of an unskilled labourer is about Rs 8,000 per month. Government servants are earning about twenty times this amount. The situation is not much different if we compare with the average income of the people. Note that the income of both the rich and poor are included in average income. The per capita income of India was Rs 61k per year in 2012. This works out to Rs 15k per month for a family of three. The average income of Government servants is, therefore, about 20 times that of the common man and 10 times that of the average income of people of the country. There is no gainsaying that there is no case for an increase in this.
Officials of the Confederation of Central Government Employees & Workers seek parity with salaries paid by Public Sector Undertakings and the private sector. The Fifth and Sixth Pay Commissions both rightly rejected this argument. Employees of these for-profit entities are accountable to the Balance Sheet. Government Employees are recruited to serve the people hence their salaries should be fixed in accordance with the incomes of the ordinary citizen only.
The Fifth Pay Commission had recommended that there should be a reduction of 30 percent in the strength of Government Employees within the next 10 years. It had recommended higher salaries, in part, under the assumption that the remaining employees will have increased workload. However the strength of Central- and State Government employees has reduced by a mere 10 percent in the last 16 years. It had also recommended that quinquennial assessment of Group A officers should be done. “Remarks about integrity would be allowed in such periodical reviews by a knowledgeable group and could lead to compulsory premature retirement of the officer,” it had said. Tone of the report was this ‘knowledgeable group’ should include external persons. To the best of my knowledge this has not been implemented. Result is that Government Employees get paid more for their same inefficient ways.
Need is to implement measures for improving the accountability of Government Employees. Suggestion is that a confidential survey of people served by Group A and B officers should be done. I was once evaluating a large NGO. I sent confidential letters to all the members of the Society. The replies were startling. It came out that the officials were running the NGO as their personal fiefdom and undertook no consultation with the members. Similar surveys can be done either through direct interviews or by post. A thousand letters can be sent randomly to people of a District seeking their views on the performance of the District Magistrate.
Second suggestion is that an external review of performance of all Group A officers should be done every five- or ten years. Kautilya says in Arthashastra: “Householders must be appointed to independently assess the number of families, level of production and tax collected.” A review of NGOs is usually got done by donors every five or ten years. This evaluation system should be implemented.
Third suggestion is that an independent agency under the President, Chief Justice of India or the Lokpal should be established to proactively trap corrupt Government Employees. The main problem today is that most corruption is done with mutual consent. There is no complainant, therefore, and the corrupt make merry. Kautilya writes: “Spies must be asked to offer bribes to Government Officers as decoys and to trap them.” The Terms of Reference of the Seventh Pay Commission should be restricted to improvement of efficiency. This is need of the hour.
Large number of Government servants were recruited in departments of education, health, rural development, panchayati raj etc. to serve the poor people of the country. This huge army of Government Servants has now acquired the form of a welfare mafia. The Government is imposing taxes on the people of the country to feed these Government servants. The need is to dismantle this welfare bureaucracy and reduce the burden of tax on the people. That would fulfill the mandate of the Constitution that the state should work for welfare of its peoples.

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