Even in the performance of the NSG and MARCOS, there has been criticism that their equipment was not as modern and up-to-date as ought to have been for a commando strike force. This is probably true. Be that as it may be, the lack of modernisation was shown up in bold relief in the performance of the Mumbai police. The weaponry they had was hopelessly out-of-date; even the anti-terror squad did not have the minimum equipment to handle emergencies. Their defensive armour was nearly non-existent, as was their weaponry. Probably the Mumbai police would rank among the better-trained and equipped police forces in India. The call of the time is to modernise, revamp the equipment and the material support for the police force all over India, and to make it an effective instrument of law and order. Better use of information technology, higher quality equipment and rigorous training methods are urgently indicated. A number of commissions have repeatedly pointed out these factors, but to little effect.
At a time when cyber crimes and more sophisticated white-collar transgressions of the law are on the high, there is no corresponding improvement in the training or preparedness of the police investigative machinery to meet these new challenges. The traditional village sub-inspector who rises in rank, and whose experience is generally related to rural law-and-order situations is often required to take charge of scenes where sophisticated urban cyber crimes take place; they are frequently out of their depth, and only manage to muck up the evidence. Even the CBI or the state Criminal Investigation Departments (CIDs) are poorly equipped in this regard, to handle economic crimes. The solution of course is to train the police hierarchy in specialised branches of detecting and combating crime; equally by induction of specialists from the market to take charge of special kinds of crimes in the urban setting.
In the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attack of 2008, the prime minister spoke of the need for a 'modern, well-equipped' police force. It is not clear if this was a new discovery by the government; this ought to be self-evident. Indeed a number of commissions have spoken precisely of these matters, perhaps none even bothered to read these reports not to speak of implementation. While the need for this is imperative, the prime minister in his speech did not refer to reforms in the areas of motivation, attitude, and morale of the police forces. These are at least as important as the hardware, technology and the weaponry. Providing the necessary legal backing may be essential, but not sufficient. The urgent need for reforms has to be sensitively understood; we cannot merely salve our conscience by throwing large amounts of money in modernisation, without correspondingly improving the conditions in which the police perform, and upgrading their morale.
In short, the lethargy and inertia that one has seen affecting institutions in India, has also overtaken the police force. We leave this segment with the thought that there is no doubt that the quality of policing, preventive as well as punitive, will dramatically improve, if the police force is kept out of the clutches of the politician; a tall order indeed!
Other Central Services – we also ran . . .
The Audit and Accounts Service, the Revenue Services including Customs and a host of other services also find their recruitment through the all-India service examination through which the IAS and the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is selected. In general, the quality of intake of these Class-I services is extremely high. By the very nature of their service, these officers in general do not have the same level of political contact as that of the IAS, except members of the Indian Police Service and to some extent the Indian Forest Service, who are seconded to serve in state governments. These two services have much the same kind of history as the IAS; they find themselves today divided, politicised, dominated, and indeed decimated. The political control over their activities is so high, that all individual and group initiatives remain curbed; systematically, they are forced to act as an appendage of the political machine, much like the IAS has been reduced to. Nothing further needs to be said in this regard, except that the same reform prescriptions made for the IAS will apply mutatis mutandis to these two services also. Services like the IA&AS, with much less political interference, have maintained a certain standard. However, I should not be misunderstood if I say that, this group of bright people has not made any shining contribution to the nation in any way.
There is elsewhere a reference to the way the Indian Railways are managed. Much of the credit should go to the officers who man the system at various levels. Most are recruited through the same examination as the IAS or the other Central Services. Without much political interference in their day-to-day operations in general, these officers, mostly of high quality, have acquitted themselves well – they have contributed to management of good quality.
Most other Central services fortunately have not been tainted by political contacts, though they all come across such problems every now and then. However, many of these services have developed their own internal culture, and want to be left alone without outside scrutiny. It is also true that while the revenue services (IRS, Customs, etc.) have managed to raise levels of revenue receipts in recent years, in general the levels and standards of financial probity of the officers manning these areas is widely considered to be far lower than the corresponding levels in the other higher civil services. I have been connected with business circles after my retirement for about ten years now, and can relate many stories of delinquency, which have come to my attention. It is also significant and noteworthy that there are 'very lucrative', 'moderate lucrative' and 'dry' postings – the minister of state in-charge in the finance ministry, who generally handles these postings, is always said to have a strong hand in such matters. Indeed, in one of the recent books written by a retired customs official, which I had released about a year or so back, the author writes chapter-and-verse of misdoings in this regard. It is a little surprising that enough checks and balances within the system have not been developed, which will quietly elicit actionable information against wrongdoers and throw the book at them.
Some Related Issues Use of technology and training . . .
Some efforts have been made to induct modern technology and work practices. However, the progress made till now is limited. Probably I would not be far wrong if I say that the method of noting on files and management of files probably has not changed, since the Sepoy Mutiny days or the time of the First War of Independence – whichever way you may like to call it. No doubt, computers and word-processors have replaced the old Remington in the past decade or so; however, we still do not use modern technology in any significant way in file management in the secretariat or the collectorate. Use of the internet or the web to progress the file rapidly has not caught on in government circles; there is surely the question of security, prevention of tampering of notes and retention of record of the process of decision-making, all relevant in the context of the governmental decision-making process. However, innovative approaches to cut down the procedures have not yet, in general, found acceptance. There have, here and there, been some brilliant exceptions; but no nationwide approach to this issue has been attempted. Land records in all rural areas have not yet been fully computerised. Urban land issues are still not being dealt with through a permanent record, readily accessible to the individual citizen with adequate safeguards. Even in crime prevention and investigation, the innovativeness in use of technology has been relatively non-existent. It is almost as if there is paralysis of thinking in adding IT for day-to-day administration. For instance, management of car registration, identifying car thefts, managing traffic violations and a host of other activities can be dramatically improved through the use of technology. In most of the western countries, every public agency has brought its day-to-day activities into use of technology; we lag far behind.
Much has been said about 'downsizing government'. Indeed the Class 'C' and Class 'D' form over ninety-five percent of the government servants at the Centre, and even more at the states. My own experience is that it is possible to reduce the total number of staff by half, without loss of efficiency; indeed thi
s may lead to greater efficiencies. But this has to be judiciously done, coupled with induction of appropriate technology. It can also be generally stated as an axiom with reference to emoluments, that one cannot have both quantity and quality – if significant pay rises at all levels are required, there has to be corresponding reduction in the number of civil servants at all levels.
We have elsewhere noted the 'utility' of the Question Hour in Parliament. Through personal experience I am aware of the casualness and scepticism with which this is taken by the officials, and even the minister in the various ministries. The attempt naturally is to block out all vital or controversial information in the 'draft' reply, and concede as little as possible. Indeed the 'briefing' of the minister by the senior officials of a department to 'prepare' him for Question Hour is frequently a hilarious affair, providing much discreet mirth and merriment to the officials! The minister of state deputed to answer the question would, generally, have little clue of the issues involved, and would be dealt with like a dense school boy, getting private tuition from an exasperated teacher. Be that as it may, the preparations for answering a question, including collection of the relevant data take a lot of time of the ministry, with the carefully drafted reply having the main objective how not to convey any meaningful information. It would be fair to estimate that at least twenty-five percent, if not much more, of a ministry's time and effort goes into preparation of answers to Parliament questions; in some ministries more, and in some less. We have also noted that in the context of Right to Information (RTI), and the role of the media, it may be sensible to have the question hour abolished. This could enable downsizing of ministries by twenty-five percent or more at all levels.
Matters relating to training of civil service officers, pay scales, terms and conditions for services have been discussed and debated; a number of commission reports have looked at these issues in the past three decades. The same ground is not covered once again here. However, issues relating to annual character roll entry and fair system of promotion are vital to keep the level of motivation of civil servants at a higher level.
Need for Regulation
One of the government's main task is to act as a catalyst to release the energies of the people, provide conditions where the people prosper and their efforts flower; and act where required as a regulator or arbitrator or coordinator as the occasion may demand, keeping in view the interest of the common man. One would recall the clamour in the '80s among the business community to abolish 'Inspector Raj'; there was also a vituperative movement against civil servants of all categories, with the sage advice 'leave the businessman alone'. Events of the last twenty years have shown not just in India but all over the world, that businessmen are no angels – indeed on the contrary, left alone, they are ruthless bloodsuckers. One need not elaborate on this point, on the greed of the business and finance community that has led to the second Great Depression in 2008. There is now general recognition that there is need for regulation for every activity – this point need not be flogged now. There is also increasing recognition that the government cannot directly act as a regulator – it must, however, create conditions that fair regulation, sponsored by government, with enough punitive teeth, with adequate checks and safeguards need to be in place in every major field of activity. In this sense, while the number of government servants could be reduced, government through its regulatory mechanisms has to be present in all aspects of the nation's social and economic life.
Administrative Reforms – Plus ça change (plus c'est la même chose)
A large number of administrative reforms recommendations have been made over the past two decades, starting from the Appleby Committee followed by the Santanam Committee. Sometime in the '80s, the Jha Commission was specially constituted as an ongoing body to make recommendations for administrative changes. M. Veerapa Moily has been chairing one such body in recent times. By and large, Moily's prescriptions are palliative and localised in nature, tinkering with this aspect or the other, probably correctly. However, the fundamental flaw is the failure to recognise the basic malaise and to boldly suggest a cure – what else can you expect from a political spokesman of the ruling party – clearly his credentials are suspect for this assignment. Other committees have focused on aspects of reform, including review of secretariat procedures, reduction and rationalisation of government departments and government staff, and the like. Many state governments have also had their own commissions and committees recommending changes.
There is a common thread to all the problems of governance confronting the nation. As I have shown in micro analysis, the common factor has been the vice-like grip of the political class on every aspect of national affairs. This is the common thread and the common denominator. The self interest of the political class has led to the impoverisation of the country in every aspect, and pre-empted it from enjoying the fruits of freedom. The political class appears to consider that the country is being run for its benefit, rather than the other way around. This fundamental has to be recognised before any reform is thought of, or undertaken. Most recommendations from reform committees and commissions ignore, or slur over this aspect, and give 'technical' recommendations for reforms. While these may be necessary, or even essential, the fundamental reform has to do with the isolation of politics from all implementation aspects. Unless this is done, we simply have to wait till the system follows its current logical path, and collapses under its own weight. At that stage we may have to search for a new constitution – indeed one that may be imposed on us.
As has been discussed elsewhere, in a democracy, politics is essential, and will play a role. The political executive will be at the helm of affairs. However, it must be clearly understood that the legislator is part of the law making machinery – he is not an executive or implementer. Any intervention by him in the implementation process amounts to exercise of authority without responsibility and accountability. This is a fundamental change in attitude and approach the political class needs to make; and which alone, can lead to a discussion of the reform process. If this bridge is not crossed, we should be practical and make the most of what we can – devil take the hind most!
No one questions the crying need for reform of the civil services. The IAS and other services stand aloof from the problems of citizens. Politicisation of the civil services has taken deep roots. The level of corruption in many civil services has reached alarming levels. The morale of the civil servants themselves is low, be it at the Centre or in the states. Groupism is rampant. Some even ask whether the time has come to abolish the all-India services.
What is needed is reform, not scrapping the system. Civil servants should be enabled to perform with freedom, efficacy and accountability. For this, one should reach out to tackle the core problems, not just tinker with peripheral issues. The necessary political will has to be summoned if such a thing were possible, to tone up and cleanse the civil services.
The core problems afflicting the civil services stem from larger political causes, relating to unstable governments, and an insecure political executive exploiting the public servant for narrow personal ends. Politics having become the most lucrative business in the country, with few checks and controls, there is compulsion for the minister or political leader to tempt or coerce civil servants to collude with him for mutual benefit. The service rules and procedures have been progressively adapted to facilitate this process. Frequent transfers, ministers hand-picking the officials to work with them and sidelining of efficient but honest officers are common now, especially in the states and increasingly, at the Centre. An array of weapons is used: arbitrary transfers, control over the annual character roll entry, and unleashing of departmental inquiries to keep civil servants off balance and submissive, prodding them to collusion. These are the key issues which need to be addressed, for a meaningful reform.
The Hota Committee's recommendations for reform of the civil services has to be seen in the above context. The report is said to be under scrutin
y of another committee in the cabinet secretariat. The recommendations are generally unexceptionable; whether they are implementable is another question. The weakness of the Hota report, as of most other earlier reports, relates to non-recognition of the deep interface between our political process and the rot in our administration. This issue cannot be solved till there is reform of the political process itself. Mere change in the technical aspects would only have cosmetic impact.
Stable tenure in postings is one long-standing recipe, forming the core of all previous Reform Committee recommendations, and reiterated by Hota. But, will the political masters, especially in the states, allow officers to complete a full tenure of three or five years in a post? The lucrative transfer industry flourishes in most states, and generally yields two crops annually. What will stability of tenure do to the pressure groups and vested interests in every district? As governments come and go with regularity at relatively short intervals, won't the new minister want his own man? Will he trust a man appointed by his predecessor? The other significant suggestion of Hota is that the corrupt officers should be thrown out and their illegally obtained properties confiscated. But, who will bell the cat when the masters themselves are corrupt? And how does such peremptory action tackle the problem of inquiries themselves being rigged to persecute honest officers?
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