The scourge of tendering

One word that singularly shares the highest responsibility for not allowing the nation or its constituent organizations to move forward at a fast pace is “tendering”. Least understood yet widely bandied, the curse of tendering has afflicted almost all processes of the governmental sectors leading to widespread inefficiencies and putting brakes on progress.

Unfortunately the origin of the tendering process may have taken root in the mistrust that our erstwhile rulers, the british had for the natives and rightly so, they were the masters and we their minions. But what is really impossible to comprehend are the reasons behind the continuation of this abdominal practice in its crudest form, with a total disregard for the end objective. Under the garb of transparency, the ridiculous continues to rule the roost.

Whether one has to buy potatoes, appoint a consultant, procure aircrafts or acquire a work of art, going through the tendering process is almost sacrosanct, a process that is steeped in mistrust almost as deep as that between our country and its western neighbor. A process that regards the procurer of the goods or services as a proclaimed offender unless proven otherwise, while remaining totally oblivious of the end objective that often conveniently gets sidelined and lost sight of. The process keeps us busy.

And the very fact that the laid down conventional process of tendering that may at best be suitable for procuring potatoes is utilized for acquiring even creativity that is propriety in nature, is leading to ridiculous end results is getting conveniently forgotten.

Before setting out to do anything and often it involves procurement of goods or services, almost always the obvious concern is how to get over or around the tendering system to make things happen for any deviation from the laid down system is viewed as sacrilege enough to condemn the perpetrator to hell for the rest of his life. And there are examples galore of officers known for their integrity having to pay the price for something they never did, but agencies unconcerned with deliverance feel that they did and thoroughly enjoy roasting the innocent.

And that brings us to the fundamental question of whether a vigil by a non-executive over matters he has no clue about can really make an executive or the total system effective? I can never accept a situation in which a non-executive who is less committed, less knowledgeable, less involved and perhaps often less honest than an executive is mandated to keep an eye on the executive and pin him down at the slightest opportunity, not for non-deliverance but for making an inconsequential mistake while doing his job. And if everyone is to be policed, who will police the police.

If I could go back in time, I would like to confront the professor of finance who taught us the canons of financial propriety during the foundation course at staff college, for the first canon was indeed an outrageous statement – use government money as if it is your own. Never in my career spanning almost four decades have I come across a situation in which I would have been allowed to go scot free had I followed the professors advice to the hilt.

A system of procuring goods and services that accepts and even applauds mediocrity in deliverance and regards even a deviation in the procedure as an act of malafide sufficient to consign the perpetrator to the fires of hell needs to change. The nation of today requires the executive to work fearlessly as long as he is on the side of right. And to expect mere mortals not to commit mistakes is foolish to say the least for it is only those who idle shall commit no mistakes.

Amen!

Pinning the executive down

Those who idle shall commit no mistakes!

The news report reg CBI filing an FIR into alleged improprieties in Air India’s purchase of software in 2011 came as a shock. Shock because ostensibly as per the stand taken by the company as well as its parent ministry, while there may be procedural lacunae, there is no apparent malafide in this case. Perhaps there is more to it than meets the eye.

Regardless of the issue, such an investigation is bound to hit the company hard as besides the pain of digging out old papers, questioning of many including the innocent and the honest and its attendant ramifications, it would further strengthen the belief that following processes is important and deliverance can take a back seat. That process overrides deliverance and merely following the laid down systems guarantees personal safety is sadly becoming the norm in almost all governmental organizations. Air India that has been a victim of gross indecision in recent years and only lately had started to come out of its slumber will also take a hit, I am absolutely certain, as an outcome of the unfortunate turn that this case has now taken.

Whether the variety of watchdogs that the nation has have been able to reduce the levels of corruption is a matter of debate, yet the fact remains that they have been successful in stifling deliverance almost everywhere.

Having maintained highest standards of integrity all my life, I am unable to appreciate the basic premise that we require a non-executive to keep an eye on every single aspect of working of the executive and that we should have checks and balances that are highly tilted in favor of the checks.  I also wonder how mere non-adherence to a rule or process, howsoever silly though it may be, is regarded as an act of malafide, sufficient enough to hound the hapless executive for years, if not decades. And what hurts even more is that one single incident of straying from the path, even if done in the overall interest of the organization or the nation is sufficient to wipe out years of proven deliverance. And then we lament that the organization does not perform!

The public sector is indeed the favorite whipping boy of the media, a media that makes or mars public opinion. A single news item like that of today would have made many think and also perhaps believe that the national carrier is neck deep in corruption, even though that is far from reality. The omnipresent shadow of vigilance and other more powerful investigative agencies over the minutest processes undertaken by the executive is one single factor that has caused the maximum damage to the public sector in our nation. Commercial organizations need to be swift in decision making processes, especially the ones that face competition from the private sector, but how the hell and also why the hell would an executive take a decision if he knows that it would be dissected in hindsight, motives would be ascribed even where there are none and he may even face a life of ignominy for a long time later, if the investigative agencies so desire. Is the risk really worth it ask many, and the universal answer is “No” and mediocre performance therefore continues to rule the roost, with many of those on the sidelines continuing to wonder and also treatise on why we are unable to deliver.

At a time when we have a Prime Minister totally committed to pulling the country out of the morass it has found itself in after almost six decades of failed governance, it is sad that we also have a machinery that believes in an overload of checks and generally regards officials as dishonest unless proven otherwise. Mistrust was indeed at the core of the decision making processes that we inherited from the british and rightly so : they were ruling over a nation other than theirs, but why should the same system continue when men are governing a nation of their own elk, is what is often difficult to comprehend. Mistrust has indeed continued for far too long under the garb of “checks and balances” and transparency, with its attendant damages that are visible almost anywhere.

When errors or mistakes are regarded as a malafide, best is not to commit them. And the only way that is possible is by not taking any decisions. This is the learning that has emerged over time and successfully assimilated by a large majority of those who are a part of the system. And surprisingly many still wonder why progress is not commensurate with the effort and also the desire. Continuing to be fooled by a beehive of activity while remaining oblivious to the fact that remaining busy, is by no stretch of imagination akin to deliverance has also emerged as a hallmark of the rotten system.

Yet the silver lining remains that still there are many who would continue to trod along, regardless of the price they may have to pay later. Perhaps the inner peace and satisfaction that deliverance brings in its wake still finds takers.

Amen!

The Tendering syndrome

My recent visit to New York had me unnerved once again and reinforced in me the belief that there are no rich and poor nations but productive and unproductive nations. Is it not unacceptable that even after having served over three decades and a half in the service of the Sarkar, I am yet unsure about what comes first – delivery or process.

The footpaths, the roads, the lamp posts, the buildings, the bridges, almost every infrastructural item that one witnesses in the developed economies is built to last, if not centuries but definitely a couple of decades and here at home the unending cycle of repairs and rebuilding baffles me. All perhaps because we find it almost impossible to go around the established decision making and tendering processes that are neither efficient nor a deterrent for a guy with a crooked intent.

The extremely high delivery by almost everyone in the developed economies is forged out of trust, integrity, commitment and above all simplicity of processes that we have over-complicated in the garb of transparency. It is indeed sad that for far too long this nonsense has carried on uninterrupted!

Will we forever remain a developing nation one really wonders? When shall deliverance be regarded as supreme and those with an honest intent find the courage regardless of the roadblocks that include a host of people ready to point fingers and jump at the slightest perceived mistake.

Handling an airline is definitely not by any stretch of imagination an easy task and this business is therefore regarded as the mother of all businesses. And the beleaguered Air India with a bundle of legacy issues and an empty cash chest made the job even worse. Quick decision making without fear is a philosophy that should be at the core of all businesses that aspire to do well, yet what I found here when I landed with a thud almost a year back was an exact antithesis of this school of thought. The instant feeling was that this airline is waiting silently to pass away into oblivion, unsung without concern. And the underlying reason was what one expected - overemphasis on processes, reacting to symptoms and jumping to conclusions with absolutely no concern whatsoever for delivery, not because the people were not committed or inefficient but due to the all-pervading fear of being pinned down if any decision went even marginally wrong in hindsight. What an insane manner of handling commercial organizations!

The tendering process that we inherited from the british raj is the culprit. Why should I wonder, the process for purchasing potatoes be the same as for buying paintings or contracting for a hotel room or procuring a latest software or adding aircrafts to the fleet? The first thought therefore that comes to mind whenever something innovative is to be resorted to is how this shall be done through the conventional tendering process without the doer landing in a soup himself and avoidance therefore tends to provide solace. Perhaps this is the single reason behind the overarching presence of sub-standard infrastructure, goods and services that we almost always encounter in this nation. The decision making and contracting processes can be and should be overhauled and made simple if we aspire for progress and the silver lining is that there is no doubt about this aspiration in the India of today.

In simplification of processes, not merely flogging it lies the key to success. And let us begin with the tendering process for it has indeed become the bane of delivery in our nation.

Amen!

Retribution at the holy Tihar

The death of Ram Singh within the precincts of the holy Tihar was perhaps the only death in recent times that brought smiles on the faces of many. Vicious it may sound but the fact remains that this news gladdened many hearts for the act of his suicide was perhaps the best retribution for the heinous crime that this animal had perpetrated. Maybe God intervened for want of a swift and just punishment for this heinous crime against the human race.

Mad dogs should be killed at the earliest and what better than the mad dog killing himself and in the process making it easy for the overburdened machinery. Perhaps ours must be the only country in the world where even an act of killing a top honcho or an attack on the parliament itself takes decades to be taken to the logical conclusion of punishing the perpetrator. Dispensation of justice is also perhaps as deeply tied in knots as development and education are and rightly so, we all hail from same societal structure, howsoever good or bad it may be.

The Nirbhaya case has displayed the extent to which a human being can be brutal, merely for satisfying his basic instinct. The extent of brutality perpetrated shocked not only the common man but also hard core criminals who throng the holy Tihar and regarded Ram Singh and his gang as the ultimate scum amongst scums. Newspaper reports at times highlighted the vicious treatment that the men of Tihar inflicted on all those who defiled humanity by the rape and brutal murder of Nirbhaya. To that extent the men of Tihar gained the appreciation of many of us.

The affected party in almost all instances has a different and perhaps an appropriate viewpoint, yet the rest of us impose our, the society’s viewpoint even if it may be contrary had we been directly affected. During an earlier tenure as the head honcho of a major sarkari setup, I had as always cracked down on sexual harassment within office premises and suspended and transferred the male in many cases without going through the motions of an enquiry. On being questioned by a union leader during a staff interaction, I agreed to enquiries in future provided the leader would also seek an enquiry and not demand direct action even if his daughter or wife was sexually harassed in the office she worked. He and all other armchair critics were thus suitably silenced.

I am also unable to appreciate the clamour of many arm chair enthusiasts for a humanitarian handling of the criminals who displayed animal instincts while violating the girl and worse still showed no remorse thereafter. That this is distinctly a behaviour definitely not worthy of mercy or condonation is not in doubt, yet statements seeking the protection of the juvenile interalia seeking legal rights to rape and murder by adolescents keep on doing the rounds amongst the intelligentsia. Such pseudo protectionism encourages criminal tendencies, a familiar scenario in the capital city that has juvenile act in force.

Why cannot we be like Singapore or Dubai, nations where criminals are treated like one and crime therefore makes extremely rare appearances. That sheer deterrence is indeed the remedy for such crimes is a fact that needs appreciation even amongst that section of the society that remains fairly insulated from all that affects the common citizens of the nation. It is also beyond doubt that all those who are in favour of a treating the juvenile with kids gloves and abolition of death penalty for even heinous crimes, would like a chameleon change their stance the day someone from their immediate family and friends goes through even a hundredth of what Nirbhaya experienced. 

Soft pedalling on issues and softer still on deliverance and economic growth has led our nation to such a pass that even miniscule nations cock their thumbs at us more often than acceptable, and the recent snub is a case in point. Gandhi, the father of the nation wanted to build an India based on the foundations of truth, value systems and character, yet nation building has perhaps remained the least of our concerns. 

Today morning enroute to my office I read a graffiti on an auto that said “Please don’t honk. The nation is sleeping”. How true, yet how sad!

desi bureaucrats

The role of government servants in a democratic setup should necessarily be confined to implementing the policies of the government in accordance with the basic laws of governance and in conformity with the rules and procedures framed for the purpose. The role has definitely not been designed to assume the role of the government or to block delivery under the garb of adherence to  rules and procedures. Unfortunate it is that rules and procedures framed primarily to facilitate deliverance have emerged higher in the pecking order to delivery itself, primarily at the behest of unconcerned bureaucrats.

Unfortunately the Indian bureaucrat lives in a world of illusion, right from the start. Aspiration to become a civil servant is not borne out of a desire to serve the nation but to be a part of the machinery that has the power and the perks. Power and perks is the draw, serving the nation is an undesirable headload and that is what I have widely witnessed in my over three decade of working for the government. With the exception of a few who could be counted on the fingertips with a couple of fingers to spare, the rest of the senior blokes merely occupied the chair, threw their weight around and merely fended for themselves most of the time. Ego issues, like who comes on the line first almost always commanded a much higher weight-age over the need to deliver. Merely pushing files out of the chamber emerged as a much bigger necessity than taking a decision that leads to delivery.

Remaining busy has been the motto and what better than the mundane to keep a top bloke occupied. In tune with this philosophy, routine operational issues of a petty nature have been occupying almost the entire working hours of the apex bureaucracy in the railways. Visioning and policy is out, jumping on symptoms is in. Even the agenda documents for apex level meetings resemble a hefty book and make hilarious reading.

And the race to impress the top guy is what the bureaucrat becomes adept at right in the beginning of his career. The race however is not for the national good, but for self perpetuation. An Indian bureaucrat also learns fairy early that what really matters to fulfill his earnest drive for self gratification are doles from those above and therefore those below almost always get the short shrift. The never ending cycle of licking above and kicking below continues ad-infinitum.

And the nation almost always lays the blame at the altar of the politician. A tragic irony indeed, as both have emerged from the same “devoid of value systems” society.

Amen!

Making things happen

I often wonder where we went wrong in the last sixty five years. Why despite a stable democratic system inherited after centuries of foreign rule and oppression, Bharatvarsh did not really take off? Why, on the economic front we are still at the bottom of the list of nations. Why even basic infrastructure like decent roads and highways were non-existent till now, and it required a major resolve to start building them at a pace unimaginable, only a couple of years earlier. How is it that every Bharatvasi who leaves our shores becomes a success story, despite being an abysmal failure in his own motherland? Why, Why, Why, Why and Why. These Why’s, I think will haunt me to my grave.

Yes we all have to start questioning and start asking why? Isn’t it ridiculous that in the system we live in, a procedure or a rule or a policy is easily and almost always allowed to take overriding priority over deliverance? Isn’t it equally ridiculous that the same system lays such a strong premium on non-deliverance that at times the achievers stand the risk of being victimized. And in the process, deliverance suffers and has suffered in the first sixty five years of the existence of a free Bharatvarsh.

My first discourse on deliverance was after my visit to Germany in 1991 where I thought, I unraveled the secret of deliverance and then shared the experiences with my wife and all who came in contact with me. During visits to German locomotive builders whose productivity was fifty times ours, I understood why the purchasing power of an average German was as many times that of a Bharatvasi. And this ratio of fifty was not due to just technology. The major factor was an enthused human being who delivered for the eight hours he worked as opposed to remaining or appearing busy for eight hours. The crux is delivery, not deliberation and the sooner we understand this as an individual, as a society and as a nation and relate it to our capacity to purchase even household items of everyday necessity, the better.

Over three decades of being wedded to sarkar has left me thoroughly confused. In the hallowed sector, one is generally assessed by how busy he remains, how rule and procedure oriented he is and how subservient he is. How productive one is, generally remains immaterial unless it is to be twisted and used against him. Procedure orientation is welcome but output orientation is considered an unacceptable trait, and delivery, if at all it happens is always looked at with suspicion. Cutting across a plethora of official buildings spread all over the country, one comes across a sea of babus, who appear busy but have no interest whatsoever in delivery and are therefore not delivering. And if deliverance happens, it is more by chance, less by choice. And so we have become a rashtra of non-achievers. A rashtra where anything happening is considered an achievement and so one has all the foundation and inaugural stone ceremonies galore for things, which should have been there as a matter of routine.

“Make things simple to happen” and then things will happen. Things will happen at the hands of even the so-called average and mediocre and then the country would have no option other than taking off for the big league. Unfortunately the primitive feudal mindset still continues. During the British rule we were slaves, and the system was accordingly designed to make untrustworthy slaves work. Why we are still carrying on with the same system is what I am unable to fathom. The same old system, which required a hundred thumb impressions for a job as trivial as even buying a spoon, continues. The same old system where everyone is considered unworthy of trust and you have to have a countersignature over the signature of every responsible person continues. Somehow we have ended up believing in and therefore practicing “Make things impossible to happen” as the solution to all ills including the all-pervasive corruption. I quite often wonder why we don’t make it easy to do things. Why even simple matters spin out of control requiring phenomenal effort to execute? Why things happen so easily in the developed and even the developing countries and never happen in our motherland? Why our motherland even after fifty years of independence is still grappling with primary issues like water, electricity and housing? Why we can make one rocket and one atom bomb beautifully and fail in mass quality production of even petty items? Why projects initiated with great fanfare are found rotting only after a couple of months? All this, I feel is because we have made doing anything impossible. I really dream that the country would one day adopt the philosophy of “Make things simple to happen”. 

If even buying a spoon is a project, how will factories and powerhouses get built? And therefore as a first step there is a need to de-complicate the over complex decision making process. And I am not talking only about the big decisions. Even petty decisions at the field level also require being de-complicated. Let us reduce the number of thumb impressions per decision. Let us if possible eliminate or drastically reduce files. This will radically improve productivity, fix accountability and in the process eliminate corruption. Everyone will then be fully accountable for his or her acts of omission or commission and will either pay the price for non-deliverance or enjoy the fruits of achievement besides standing the risk of immediate exposure for acts of impropriety. Another step is to de-complicate the complex mechanism of contracting. Our contractual procedures are so harrowing that ultimately one ends up purchasing poor quality products and services at unreasonably high and sometimes unworkable prices, and also in the process creating ample opportunities for loot. Let us for once accept that our decision-making processes and the contractual mechanisms have failed the country and therefore deserve to be overhauled.

The remarkable book “Maverick” by Ricardo Semmler tells us about a multi billion dollar organization, which has no policies, no rulebooks and believes in absolute delegation. The employees decide their own wage, decide their timings of work, take decisions about production and create their own working environment. And instead of bringing about a chaos, which we Bhartvasis believe such a system shall, the organization is growing at an annual rate of more than 40%, besides being rated as a model organization in Brazil. If structured and complicated decision making systems, strong procedure oriented budgeting systems, elaborate vigilance setups and an over bearing bureaucracy has brought the country to the present situation, we would be better off without them.

Let us make things simple to happen and then they will happen. 

Maintaining sanctity of processes!

Sanctity of processes and procedures is what all of us strive to maintain at the railways, irrespective of whether deliverance happens or not. It is true that deliverance in the railways has emerged as a by-product that may or may not take place, but we should always have at hand our excuses and reasons of non-deliverance for that keeps us safe, alive and climbing.

Somehow I am unable to appreciate the way railway works, despite being on the hot seat of Delhi for almost two years now. The way most of us railway men think and act foxes me completely. The penchant for the mundane coupled with the tremendous focus on penning down inspection notes and other A4 documents for others to read and improve matters has created a scenario where most of us are wasting their time without even knowing about it. The servile attitude that officers are more prone to display the higher they climb on the organizational ladder also does not help. Obeying orders is fine but restraining oneself from speaking out the truth and the ground reality just because it may be inconvenient for the powers that be, is something that is plainly unacceptable.

Tethering on the verge of bankruptcy, Railways is presently passing through a very crucial phase. Ever increasing volumes of traffic and the rapidly rising staff costs, coupled with the long stay on increasing passenger and freight fares has brought us to the verge. Any further period of inaction on resolving this imbroglio would see us nosedive into an abyss from which it would be almost impossible to emerge.

Despite the financial bankruptcy and the tremendous complexity of procedures, railways still manages to deliver in the form of running its quota of trains, a task that any other organization in the country would have miserably failed at. It is also gratifying that after a very long wait, there is also a silver lining in the form of a committed and humane bureaucratic leadership at the apex level.

Perhaps all is not lost yet, and we may yet emerge from the shadows.

Insha Allah!

We shall make it

I have a hunch that India shall present a spectacular show during the forthcoming commonwealth games. Things now seem to be moving fast and am sure that the speed would continuously accelerate in the coming months.

Connaught Place seems set to revive its old glory. The stadiums and other facilities are fast attaining completion and even the railways is now fast putting its act togethor to present the stations and services in a remarkably improved shape.

A system that is not very conducive for deliverance can also deliver provided the will is there and this time certainly, the will does not seem lacking.

The show will be spectacular, and if India also manages a decent haul of medals, it would be the icing on the cake, a cake that would be savored by the entire population.

I am now keenly awaiting the games, with pride of course.

who will do it

The recent Delhi tourism conclave concluded on the note that the recommendations of the conference should monitored by the body for implementation. The conference as usual saw generation of a lot of ideas by experts of various shades and hues. I was feeling pity for the organizer, the MD of the DTTDC who was the only one in the large gathering who had the responsibility for implementation. Rest all were free to generate ideas, rapidly.
That precisely is the problem of Hindustan, the country that has almost everyone full of ideas and suggestions, but has very few people who have the capability to convert an idea into a reality through the maze of a variety of rules and procedures. The situation is so complex that it almost borders on the hilarious.
Why is it so? Why have we made deliverance impossible in a country that almost begs its inhabitants for deliverance. For we have everything, a rich culture, a glorious past, unmatched legacy, brilliant people, but we do not have deliverance on the scale it should be witnessed.
And we accept the nonsense. We accept that the present way of doing things is sacrosanct and that deliverance is not. And so we have a complicated bureaucracy, almost the mother of all bureaucracies that is hell bent on complicating matters, by the day and gloating in its remaining maddeningly busy without even producing a lemon.
We have to accept that there is a problem in the way our country handles its problems, its deliverance. Our refusal to accept the same is the source of the problem. For if we dont even accept the existance of the problem, we shall never move even an inch in the direction of resolving it.

Love not Pride

Being an Indian, I love India but do not take pride in it.
Being a railwayman, I love Indian Railways but do not take pride in it.
How can I take pride in my country, that is interlaced with poverty and rampant corruption. A country that even after 60 years of independance has failed to provide even the most basic necessities to its citizens. A country that ranks high on the corruption index but very low on the human development index. A country that is almost at the bottom of the list of nations and perhaps ranks marginally above its even more lowly placed neighbors.
How can I take pride in my railways that has sacrificed deliverance for rules and procedures. Rules and procedures that do not facilitate, but obstruct deliverance. A railway that is least concerned with HR, a system that makes any development a monumental task, a set of officers who have and apply only negative powers, whose focus is only self gratification, not welfare of the men at large.
Love yes but pride no. Love is there for anything that is close to the heart. Pride can only be for excellence, not for rot, howsoever close to the heart it may be.

The true path is different

I firmly believe that our way of doing things is definitely the wrong way, be it any sector, state or organization in the sarkari sector. Otherwise how does one justify our "bottom of the heap" ranking amongst the nations of the world.
If our way was the right one, our country would have been in the top fifty, but at present that seems like utopia.
Why the hell, this simple thought does not come to the majority of us, the top shot nincompoops of the nation? And why the hell it should come, because we are forever busy satisfying the unsatiable, the proven system and mechanism of non deliverance.
All my visits overseas have reinforced this belief of mine, that what we are doing is wrong and the way we are attempting it is even more wrong. But it is always easy to tread the oft beaten path and therefore we are where we are. Reckless chaos is what I would term the sarkari way of working in our country, but it keeps us terribly busy and satisfied. After all diferentiation between delivery and remaining busy is what we have been unable to learn even after spending a lifetime in service of the self, not of the people.
Overworked but underutilized as opposed to underworked but overutilized is the scenario in which I find myself and my colleagues in, almost all of the time.
When shall we change things physically on the ground?

Forever busy

When shall we stop remaining busy and start delivering?

Well we the bureaucrats of India whom a british playwriter once described as a bunch of bumbling nincompoops shall forever remain busy satisfying the unsatiable, the system of non deliverance.

When shall we become mature enough to realize that remaining busy is not enough and that this scenario places us in a make believe world where we imagine that the country, state, organization of our dreams will fructify with our highly misplaced efforts.

It is true that India has potential. Unfortunately all of us have a notion that having potential is a good state of affairs to be in, wheras the truth is just the opposite. Having unlimited potential in every single sector, as is the case in our motherland goes to prove that we have been a sheer failure in our efforts. Decimating potential, and not accumulating it is the key to happiness and success.

The remaining busy syndrome has been taken so far by the bureaucracy of India that we almost everyday and on every occasion grumble about the heavy work on our shoulders and at the same time judge others by how busy they are. We are so bloody busy that we dont even have time to improve the system, or to place our objectives and the goals in the correct viewing frame. And therefore in our over-drive to create unproductive work, we are everyday devising new policies, procedures and rules, while at the same time remaining totally unconcerned about delivery. What an ingenious way of working, it is only indian bureaucrats who are capable of such a devious approach.

And why not. We have emerged as an end unto ourselves. Our concerns do not extend beyond our small worlds that comprise of our own near and dear ones. Even others in the organization can go to hell, and the common man does not figure even in the farthest of our dreams.

How the hell can this country even dream of finding a place in the top 100 nations of the world when the drivers, and we certainly are one of them, do not even know the way, have eyes but no vision, have no innner motivation to drive unless cajoled, greased or bambooed, and lastly who would sell the car at the earliest possible opportunity.

But we are happy and content, just remaining busy.

Does size (of states) matter?

I definitely do not think so. How can small states help when we already have small states that have been unable to help themselves. After all efficiency is definitely not dependant on size. It depends on the efficacy of governance or administration. Why the hell we do not realize that the fundamental problem with the sarkari machinery in the country is the almost defunct decision making processes and a complex contractual mechanism. Unless these twin issues are resolved, let us not expect deliverance, whether small states or big states.

Look at what happenned with railways. Going from 9 to 16 zones has not helped either. On the contrary dissatisfaction levels in the staff have shot up exponentially. After all deliverance cannot be expected from a disgruntled HR.

But definitely there is a positive side. More slots for babu's to fill leading to better promotional avenues and also more posts of ministers and chief ministers. There are gains, but definitely not for the masses.

Experts on advising others

My belief that we indians as a society are experts on advising others is getting stronger by the day. Ask any man on the street how the nation can go forward, and he would know. Everyone, each one of us has an opinion on how the nation should be run, how the railways can do better even under extreme climatic conditions or how the airlines should tackle problems during fog, how the crime rate can be reduced, how economic prosperity can be brought about or evn how to improve cities. What we do not know or rather do not appreciate is how we should be doing our own jobs.
We believe and quite often take pride in being busy, even though the deliverance might be zero. And that is the tragedy of our nation. We all believe in cleanliness even though we would like someone else to ensure it while at the same time we can continue to litter and make this country a giant dust bin. Since coming back to the railways, my conviction on this front is getting stronger by the day. I find it rater surprising that so far I could not locate even one establishment or evn one small room in this gigantic establishment that can be called clean and/or orderly by decent standards.
Perhaps the reason for such and many other similar issues lies in our inability to govern this nation properly, a fact that is amply reflected through our ranking on various international indices. I hope for the sake of the nation, that we as a society should mature as early as possible. Amen.

"Potential" is a dirty word

I get irritated when potential is talked about as if giving credit to the organization, place, city, state or nation. Is Madhya Pradesh great because it has tremendous tourism potential and does it give it any credit? Rightfully it should not. Realization of that immense potential is what should give credit and convey a positive impression.
Why do people say that India has tremendous potential and therefore should be regarded as great? Nobody ever talks about the potential of the United States or Britain. The difference is that while we have carefully preserved our potential, others, mostly the developed world has realized it.
Potential is therefore directly linked to deliverance, inversely proportional to be exact. We have done nothing and therefore we have tons of potential and those from the developed world have delivered and have therefore consumed their potential.
Consuming the potential is therefore what matters.
In tourism, the example of Kerala is worthy of emulation. A state known more for its militant trade unions gradually started first appreciating and then consuming its potential in the tourism sector. The state looked around and then realized that its backwaters, the tradition of ayurveda and the coconut lagoons can attract people and the famous Amitabh Kant took no time in consuming the potential of the state. On the contrary, states like the Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Orissa always took pride in the unlimited tourism potential that they ever had, with the difference that current Govt of Madhya Pradesh decided to do something positive about it. And the state surged forward in all spheres, especially tourism.
Let us all abandon the sense of pride that we Indians have started taking in the word "potential". Let the nation, state, city or organization be judged not by the potential they posess, but by what they have done to eradicate the potential.

Procedures override deliverance

I often wonder, where did we go wrong in the last sixty odd years. Why despite a stable democratic system inherited after centuries of foreign rule and oppression, Bharatvarsh did not really take off? Why, on the economic front we are still at the bottom of the list of nations. Why even basic infrastructure like decent roads and highways were non-existent till now, and it required a major resolve to start building them at a pace unimaginable, only a couple of years earlier. How is it that every Bharatvasi who leaves our shores becomes a success story, despite being an abysmal failure in his own motherland? Why, Why, Why, Why and Why. These Why’s, I think will haunt me to my grave.

Yes we all have to start questioning and start asking why? Isn’t it ridiculous that in the system we live in, a procedure or a rule or a policy is easily and almost always allowed to take overriding priority over deliverance? Isn’t it equally ridiculous that the same system lays such a strong premium on non-deliverance that at times the achievers stand the risk of being victimized. And in the process, deliverance suffers and has suffered in the first fifty years of the existence of a free Bharatvarsh.

Why is it so important for a sarkari mulazim to follow rules and procedures without any concern whatsoever about deliverance and output. It is important because in our system there is no demand for and therefore no premium on deliverance. In my twenty nine years of career, I can count on my fingertips, occasions when deliverance of a very basic nature, in the form of acts to be done, not results to be achieved has been asked of me. Career progression nowadays is not based on performance, but on other factors like sycophancy, spinelessness, sweet talk, boss handling, and other similar qualities. Strange, one even thinks about deliverance in such a system!

Bureaucrats stake in non-deliverance

It is often said that the power and importance of bureaucrats is inversely proportional to the economic growth of the nation. How true, especially when viewed in the context of our home grown Indian bureaucrats! Has anyone ever noticed a bureaucrat from a developed nation flaunting around his power and authority, directly or indirectly over the citizens of his nation? Do the children of countries like the USA or Britain aspire to become a civil servant, only to lord over the masses, as is so common with the children of under-developed countries like ours? The answer is a blatant No.

Well we the bureaucrats of India, whom a british playwriter once described as a bunch of bumbling nincompoops have perfected the art of rampant exploitation of the system coupled with total and absolute non-deliverance. All of them are forever giving reasons and later excuses for non-deliverance, rather than being positive and reveling in deliverance. The bureaucrats are forever busy satiating their hunger for power, perks and money and in the process being of help only to their family, friends and relatives. And why not? After all, all of them have cleared the civil services examination, one of the toughest in the country and this gives them the right for a cushy comfortable existence thereafter. Who bothers about the masses? The common man can go to hell.

The bureaucrats are powerful, only because the country is poor and under developed. And the country is poor and under developed only because of the stranglehold of the bureaucrats, these so called servants of the government, the government that is supposedly of the people, by the people and for the people. Bull shit! How the hell can the country prosper when the reins of the country have been handed over to a bunch of nincompoops who have a strong vested interest in keeping the country backward and poor?