Monday, January 30, 2017
STATE OF OUR NATION : 26 JAN 2017 - DIL KI BAAT
By
(This is a sequel to article State of Our
Nation : 15
Aug 2016 by the author. )
Prelude
The
PM has been making his appeals through ‘Mann ki Baat’. It
is time that those in power must also listen to some ‘Dil ki Baat’
of a Common Citizen.
Where
I live, every fortnight or at least once a month, all roadside-thelas
(vendors) disappear; it is the day a mysterious Committee from the Authority
(NOIDA) comes visiting; possibly their mandate is surprise inspection to check
encroachment on the pavements, and submit a report thereafter. On the appointed
day an early warning comes to all the thelawalas, who hide their carts
in government buildings like Community Centres just before the ‘Committee
appointed by the Authority’ arrives. The early warning to the thelawalas
comes at a cost, the paanwala has to shell out 1500 rupees per month
while the guy who sells juice, doing better business than others, must shell
out more.
All
the vendors have reconciled with this exploitation to the point of being happy;
they are permitted to squat on the pavements unhindered to earn their
livelihood. The Committee members too are happy of having done their job and
submitted a report which was not a lie! Of course, they are happiest with the
extra income. A perfect win-win situation for both the parties!
I
wonder who the loser is? The Nation is the loser, the system is the loser! Who is the system and what is a Nation?
Introduction
The
evening is fast approaching when the President is going to deliver another
Address to the Nation on the eve of Republic Day. The event has become so
ritualistic and insipid that no one looks forward to the event. The best that our
President was capable of doing was done by him on 08 Dec, seething with
frustration seeing the parliamentary process hijacked by the opposition, making
an impassioned appeal to the MPs saying, “for God’s sake do your job!”
The Case
The
aim here is not to comment on the incidents of the past but to reflect on the
fundamentals, in other words, looking beyond the issues to focus on the systems
that make our Nation.
When
Pathankot happened at the beginning of New Year 2016, the nation did not react
the way it did when Uri happened on 18 Sep 2016 ; the nation rose as one, demanding punitive action
against the erring neighbour. Political will and military professionalism
(nation’s capability) came together to give citizens a fleeting moment of
pride.
It
is amazing that it has always taken a crisis to bind the citizens of our
country as a nation! It’s become almost like a national culture. At all other
times the citizens must remain busy doing their I, Me and Myself duty. Can
the polity or the leaders of the nation
not provide its citizens a sense of pride without a national crisis on the
horizon?
For
that to happen we must know holistically what is wrong and where. Thereafter
one must have the will to set the house in order. Political compulsions driving
the priorities must not come in the way of nation building.
The Work Ethos
Respect
and Regard are two distinct terms. Respect is earned, while Regard is a
due, failure to pay due regard is tantamount to an offence, at least in a court
of law (contempt) and under Army Act. Respect, on the other hand, has to be
earned.
The
simple question (arises) is - in the seven decades gone by, which
constitutional institutions – Executive, Legislative Bodies (the
Upper and Lower House), Defence Services, Judiciary, and Bureaucracy-
who commands respect today?
The
verdict of the citizen will be unanimously in favour of the soldier! All other
institutions are mistaking regard (or fear of repression, like the thelawalahs of NOIDA face) for
respect!
The Media
The
fast paced events during the last six months, since Independence Day 2016, the
tense situation along the LoC, the surgical strike, the demonetisation drive,
RBI Governor throwing in the towel, LG of Delhi resigning, and the appointment
of Gen Bipin Rawat superseding two senior Generals, have been well documented, debated
in media and opposed by the Opposition everywhere.
In
the last six months, the print media was dominated by news about the judiciary
and the military while the TV media was debating anything from the daal
of a BSF personnel, suicide by ex-Sub Ram Kishan Grewal over OROP, to the
strategic, operational and tactical options for the country against Pak, dominated
by the spokespersons of political parties and specialists from all fields.
No
debates were ironically held in the only forum provided by the Constitution –
the parliament!
The
simple fact is that nation-building is an intricate, fairly complex and a
sustained effort; for media everything is a one night stand! The only
thing media barons build is TRP rating for their channel, and their own credit
rating with the money-lenders to further expand their business empires.
Media
does not build a nation!
Dignity of Individual Citizens
The
citizen of India
The
real state of a citizen is that the individual has lost all sense of
honourable identity. Being an Indian citizen is not enough; an individual must
belong to some caste, creed, religion, organisation, service, or political
party. The proof of the same is on display – every second private vehicle
carries an individual status declared – Bharat Sarkaar, Uttar Pradesh Sarkaar,
Army, Press etc; the SUVs, in NCR specially, carry a side-penant displaying
affiliation to political parties so that they can flout all traffic rules with
impunity.
The
verdict is clear – you must be someone more than just a citizen to be treated
honourably by the government machinery.
The National Canvas
Legislature:
Another
session of the parliament (Winter Session 2016) was washed out as the
Opposition found themselves so isolated and helpless by the big-bang of
demonetisation that all that they could think of was non-cooperation in the
legislative activity. The debates, meant to be held on the floors of the
two houses, were restricted to the studios of TV channels. Democracy clearly
stands hijacked! The practice of
demoting the only constitutionally approved forum of the parliament to a
non-entity has been perfected over the years by all political parties, for whom
the Party has always been above the Nation.
Almost
three decades were wasted in discovering the futility of dynastic politics and coalition
governments. The democratic nation now needs to look at constitutional remedy that
must guarantee that if the people have elected even a Devil, then the Devil be
given freedom to perform, and others who have been voted out of power, must
simply shut-up; of course, there must be caveats for impeachment, should the
said person go beyond certain thresholds.
Judiciary:
The
status of guardian of the constitution is being slowly but surely being eroded,
both by external and internal forces.
- Centre’s
relationship with the judiciary has not been too cordial, forget peaceful
or harmonious. CJI TS Thakur was rattled over PM not making even a
mention of the issue of appointment of judges to the HC during his
Independence Day address, an issue on which he had even shed few tears
earlier in the year. The ministry missed the seriousness of the issue
altogether and played ball over procedural aspects like the Memorandum of
Procedures, old or new, whether to follow orders of the five-judge bench
or the three-judge bench???
- The Judiciary, besides
fighting the external threat (Law Ministry), has its own insurgency to tackle.
The Law Ministry’s proposal to establish NJAC was rejected by the
judiciary and Collegium system was to be restored; but even that has yet
to take off since a member, a Senior SC Judge (J Chelameshwar), broke
ranks with his colleagues of the collegium calling spade a spade – processes
of the collegium were termed ‘opaque’, while its constitution ‘an
unelected body, accountable to none’, basically implying that all is not
well within the system also. A system that has trust-deficit within
cannot be sending out waves of trust to the citizens!
- This
trust-deficit, both within and without, is exploited by the high and
mighty, or people with deep pockets. The live examples of such opportunism
and exploitation - the foremost offender was the BCCI; and thereafter Karnataka
government refusing to abide and release Cauvery waters.
- Another instance
that gets recalled is that recently the SC upheld HC verdict whereby
schools in
Two
things emerge from the above:
The
final frontier for justice available to a citizen, the court, is under threat
of being pushed into insignificance and irrelevance by the high and
mighty! The defiance of BCCI and Karanataka are pointers to the reduced
authority of the law.
Secondly,
every issue is being referred to the courts because of the decay of all other
systems. Trust has become a victim to nepotism, favouritism and money-power. Increasing
number of court cases clearly suggest that rather than being a society driven
by morals and ethics, in other words – a sense of responsibility is
being eclipsed by a sense of My-right!
Military:
As
mentioned earlier, the only institution that has earned “Respect” is the
Military. Given its role, apolitical
culture and ethos, the military must not be visible in the public domain.
Ironically, this institution was the most visible in last six months,
both in print as well as TV media. Some of the issues, besides the surgical
strike were:
- 7th
Central Pay Commission stand-off between government and military; for
the first time three Chiefs sent out a letter to RM stalling
implementation till ‘core pay anomalies’ were resolved.
- PMs ‘Sandesh
to Soldiers’ came with a corresponding sandesh from MoD of downgrading
the equivalence of uniformed personnel vis a vis bureaucrats; an issue
created by absence of political involvement and bureaucrat successfully having
their way. It has been resented by the Defence Services.
- Not covered by
any media are two events that are of importance - the OROP grievance of
ESM, against which they continue holding a protest at Jantar Mantar since
Jun 2015; the issue still remains unresolved - 582 days (as on 17 Jan
2017, when veterans met COAS). Since 15 Jan 17 there are three persons,
including one lady, on Fast Unto Death, sadly, no one knows outside
the defence fraternity. The tragedy for the nation is that The Longest
War in the History of Independent India, is not by soldiers, but
ex-soldiers, not against an external enemy, but against the enemy-within!
- The other event
that went unreported by the media was the NFU verdict pronounced by the
AFT (Principal Bench),
- The
discontentment in the services is at an all-time high. Given the potency
of the social media, the discontentment can grow in geometric proportions,
if neglected any further.
- May those in
power comprehend a simple truth - that which is detrimental to the
Services is detrimental to the Nation; that which is detrimental to the
judiciary is detrimental for the citizen of the nation.
Bureaucracy.
The
institution which lays down the policies and procedures have become monster of
a force over the years and has lost ways.
The
syndicated ways of IAS against all other cadres got highlighted when the IPS
community submitted a memo to DoPT seeking pay parity with IAS, as recommended
by the pay commission, stating that the IAS were the ones responsible for
blocking the same by advising the government against it. Defence Services
have been saying it since VI CPC! This seems to be standard operating procedure
for the bureaucracy.
The
insensitivity of the bureaucrats was again highlighted, though indirectly,
when, on 26 Oct 2016, the PM during a monthly PRAGATI review programme with the
Secretaries told that ‘in a democracy, workers should not have to struggle
to receive their legitimate dues…………while top bureaucrats showed greater
concern in completing paper work to avoid delay in getting post-retirement
benefits, junior employees run from pillar to post to get their dues.’
The
fact of the matter is that this small group of people, the IAS, just about
5000 in numbers, are really responsible for the abysmal health of the
nation. They are the reason why after 70 years of independence bijli – paani – gareebi remain as relevant as they were on the first day of
independence!
The
evil design of the bureaucracy as it has unfolded in the seven decades is
covered below.
More On Bureaucracy
The
reason for the current state of affairs being so pathetic is the politician
- bureaucracy nexus; they are wholly responsible (the details have been
covered in the previous article).
Politics
must be a once-in-five-year activity while providing good administration and
clean governance, a daily activity. Ironically,
it is the other way round! The politicians are forever indulging in their
vote-counting – an honourable term coined for the activity being vote-bank
politics! They are happy with one thing only – POWER; if that power is
through coalition, they work up a Common Minimum Programme! The indifference of
the politicians towards aspects of good governance has triggered the
decay.
Why
IAS is responsible for the decay is due to the fact that they have exploited
the situation, whereby political masters change every five year and are least
interested in good governance. In the absence of clear directions from the
political masters, the bureaucrats have usurped all decision-making; in doing
so their focus has been safeguarding the interests of their own cadre and of
their political masters; whatever they have done towards the nation is purely
incidental. IAS officers have mastered the art of sycophancy with their
political masters and have committed deceit with rest of the nation. The
bureaucrats have catalysed the decay!
IAS
are trying to compare themselves with Defence Services. Have they delivered? Have
they, through their deeds earned respect? On the other hand, a Fauji is trained
to Command Respect, be it as a Langar Commander, Section/ Platoon or
Company Commander. Or he may have transcended Command to next level, to be a
Commanding Officer, and then yet transcend to higher and higher levels – right
upto being a General Officer Commanding in Chief – a very humbling experience!
Does a Chief Secretary have a similar perspective?
Identifying the Fault Line
A
corporate house like Tata can efficiently administer a city (Tatanagar); the
military can administer its cantonments and Military Stations all over the
country standing proudly as Islands of Excellence. Why must the nation not
demand a similar level of commitment and delivery from the bureaucrats?
A
dispassionate and unbiased perspective forces one to compare with systems that
are working with greater efficiency, have commanded the respect from the Nation,
and ask a few questions:
- The first
opportunity for an IAS to leave an impact happens at around 8-years of
service when he/she is appointed a DM/DC; the equivalent opportunity for a
Services Officer occurs today at 16-18 years (earlier more than 20 years).
The legacy left behind by each must be scrutinised! Each CO has left a
rich legacy that the future generations are proud of; has every DM/DC left
legacy of equal proportions?
- If Cantonments,
managed by Station Commanders (Brigadiers), have emerged as Islands of
Excellence why have Districts, even a small percentage of them, not
emerged in a comparable league?
- Does a DM/DC not know what is going on
within his jurisdiction – in the departments of RTO, PWD, Electricity etc?
He knows! But he chooses to look the other way – where power is. He looks
towards the politician, who has no scruples. Then this DM/DC continues to
climb up a ladder of REGARD, (mark, not Respect) not accountable even for
the dereliction of duty! He has marked his time (as a
The Missing Link – Leadership
A
District Magistrate (DM) is like a Commanding Officer in the Defence Services. If
the defence services are an enviable force today it is because of the
institution of Commanding Officers. With 8-years of service, a DM is supposed
to command the entire government machinery in the district; every department
within the district comes under them. Do they not know that they are the
custodians of government land; if they were responsible and delivered, how
encroachments happen? Do they not know what goes on in the government offices under
his jurisdiction? Do they not know that every government premises is full of
touts and agents because of greed injecting system-inefficiencies, demanding
more grease?
The
truth is that the district-level machinery has been left to function without
any leadership being provided by the DM. They are responsible,
through their neglect, for the moral and ethical decay of the institutions at
the district level and below. Through their inefficiency, bordering on
dereliction of duty, they have given our nation a parallel system of Agents
and Touts and all the corrupt practices in every government premises. The
absence of leadership at the district level has permitted the mushrooming of the
vector of human greed, just like puddles of water allow unhindered mosquito-breeding;
the nation thereafter suffers malaria, dengue and chikungunya! Absence of
leadership from those responsible to provide it, has created the conditions for
mushrooming of human weaknesses like greed; the malaise has grown in last
seventy years to unimaginable proportions at the national level that a common
man feels resigned to.
The
catch lies in the career path of an IAS officer. With 7-8 years service he is
appointed a DM. He holds this post for 2-3 years or at the pleasure of his
political masters (sic). This singular period of grass-root level
involvement
is akin to the tour of duty of US Officers in the Vietnam War; USA Vietnam India
The Verdict
The
bureaucrats are guilty of dereliction of duty at the district level! Beyond the
district level they have fine-tuned their system so as not to be held
responsible for anything. It has
taken 70-years of administrative neglect to have a nation so pathetic, corrupt
and dirty that a PM has to give a clarion call for something as elementary as
cleanliness, for Swacchh Bharat!
Conclusion
When
a building ages, it throws up daily challenges for the occupants to handle.
Call a plumber, he will suggest remedies for the plumbing problems; call an
electrician and he will suggest replacement of all old wiring and putting
better safety gadgets, like spike busters and MCBs. Anyone who has lived in the
ancestral house can easily recall what a challenging life it can be to survive
in an old ancestral house.
If
one calls a good architect he may well suggest that the recurring expenditure
to maintain this old house is uneconomical in the long run. Immediate costs to
build afresh may appear high in the immediate future but such a radical
decision is advisable from a long term perspective.
Our
nation is in a similar situation. Various committees and commissions are
instituted and they come up with the solutions in the form of reforms (Judicial
Reforms, Electoral Reforms etc), just like the plumbers and electricians; all
suggesting a little tinkering here and a little there. The owner of the house
accepts what is convenient and politically
affordable!
It
is time that some radical decisions are taken. If the foundation is ignored,
its weakening over the last seven decades is overlooked, then the structures
built thereon may not be as effective as they are intended to be. The bold
decision on demonetisation, and continued public support for it, must encourage
the present leadership to take bold decisions to (1) Make both politician
and bureaucracy accountable (2) Look at possibility of giving the nation a
fresh Constitution (3) In the mean time, do not impinge on the honour of the
singular institution, the Defence Services, who have earned respect of the
entire Nation.
May
the nation have a Chief Secretary whose name may be recalled with equal RESPECT
as those of Cariappas, Thimayyas and Sams. May the nation have more Seshans,
Khemkas and Khairnars amongst the lot of bureaucrats!
Jai
Hind
**********
Labels: Bureaucracy, Military, Nation, Republic Day 2017
