Dear All,
An article from Business World for your
reading pleasure.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi is facing a formidable bureaucracy. Sutanu Guru wonders if this regime can succeed in reforming
India's rotten'steel frame'
Today happens to be Ganesh Chaturthi. It also
happens to be the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If you believe
gossip, many bureaucrats today are praying to Lord Ganesh and seeking a single
term for the Prime Minister. Last evening, the NDA regime dropped a bombshell
on bureaucrats. It has decided that bureaucrats who are either incompetent or
tainted, or both, will face compulsory retirement after they celebrate their
50th birthday. Like in many senior positions in the private sector, they will get
three months to pack their bags.
If this decision is actually implemented, it would
be a monumental achievement. Indian bureaucrats might think that they
constitute the steel frame that holds the country together. But the average
citizen loathes and detests Indian bureaucrats. For the aam aadmi, the
bureaucrat is inaccessible, arrogant, unaccountable and often corrupt to the
core. This is not a sweeping generalization or judgement. Many individual
bureaucrats are indeed inspirational role models. But as a group, they have
behaved like parasites who have done everything possible to prevent the innate
entrepreneurial energies of India from blossoming. Sure, politicians too have
done that. But many of them get kicked out by voters every five years or so. Not
so with Indian bureaucrats.
Let me give you two examples of the mischief (I
don't know if deliberate or not) that bureaucracy is capable of; and how that
can inflict irreparable damage. Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley keeps repeating ad nauseum that his government is
committed to simplifying tax rules and procedures for individuals as well as
companies. Last year, when he was out of India, the "babus" released
a new income tax form that horrified even diehard supporters of Modi. This
marvel of a form required tax payers to detail all expenses incurred in foreign
trips apart from many other infuriating requirements. Jaitley was forced to
"order" his babus to withdraw that "order". But his
reputation as a reformer was virtually shattered. The second example relates to the sensitive and
controversial issue of One Rank, One Pension (OROP). The Prime Minister had
made a solemn commitment to implement it during his election campaign. But
thanks to bureaucrats, the decision kept getting delayed. Matters reached a
stage where armed forces veterans started losing faith and trust in Modi. Even
when the decision was announced formally by the Defense Minister Manohar
Parrikar, the babus managed to create confusion and rift. The official
statement had the words "voluntary retirement". Instead of
celebrating the implementation of OROP, veterans were wondering what this
meant. It took a public clarification from Modi to clear the air. But the
damage had been done by then.
It is not as if no efforts have been made to reform
Indian bureaucracy and governance. An Administrative Reforms Commission was
first set up in 1966 to suggest reforms. It submitted about 20 reports before
being wound up in the 1970s. No recommendation made about bureaucrats being
made accountable and more responsive to citizens was implemented. The second
such Commission was formed in 2005 and has submitted about 15 reports. Any
implementation of accountability? Sorry. Three successive Pay Commissions since
the 1980s have strongly recommended basic steps like performance based
increments and promotions for bureaucrats. Nothing doing.
The problem is that the bureaucracy, like an army
of termites, has so deeply infiltrated every institution and organization of
governance that they have become de facto lords and masters. The telecom
regulator is usually a retired IAS officer. The Chief Information Commissioner
is usually a retired IAS officer; someone who has perhaps spent his entire
career thwarting transparency! The Competition Commission of India is headed by
an IAS officer. The Election Commission is inhabited by retired IAS officers.
The administrative tribunals are headed by retired IAS officers. The aviation
regulator is invariably a retired IAS officer. The UPSC chairman is usually a
retired IAS…. The list is endless. People in the know joke that it is a divine
blessing that the Delhi Metro was headed by a technocrat like E. Sreedharan. If
an IAS had headed it, the damn thing might still be under construction!
Very soon, the recommendations of the Seventh Pay
Commission (inhabited mostly by retired bureaucrats) will be submitted. There
will be strong recommendations about variable pay, transparent performance
appraisals and increments and promotions linked to performance. Perhaps Modi
might gather the political will to finally bite the bullet and implement
reforms in bureaucracy. The decision to compulsorily retire some after the age
of 50 looks like a promising first step. But make no mistake: the Empire will
strike back; and viciously. More than political opponents, it is this
entrenched mafia that will make every attempt to derail his governance agenda.
See more at: http://www.businessworld.in/economy-india/modis-most-powerful-enemy-bureaucracy#sthash.IQ0dVCmn.OfQHRe0d.dpuf
Brigadier V Mahalingam
Sir you are missing the wood for the trees.The directive is not aimed at the IAS guys.It is only to bring the others in line.Mark my words. Not a single IAS officer wil be affected , but others will be.
ReplyDeleteRamani
Things will change . The legacy of bureaucracy is difficult to fight . NT Rama Rao tried it and had to come to grief.
ReplyDeleteThey have an enormous power . . If Modi fails to correct no body else can