The first question that arises in a discussion like this is --- FOR WHOM ? Obvious as this may seem or foolish as it may sound, it is necessary to specifically ask this question and attempt to answer it precisely.
These Reforms are meant for whom ? The Administrators ? Of course not. Can't you see from the Title itself that we are talking of People - Oriented Reforms which obviously means that these Reforms are meant for the people !! Fine, excellent. However, if it is really so then would it not be good idea to consult the people "for whom these reforms are meant to be instituted" ? Can such a discussion really be meaningful if the group it is meant to benefit is not consulted as to "what reforms they would like to see"
It is in that spirit, and to fulfill that need that I come here before this august gathering as an ordinary citizen to express what the "people, the ordinary average men/women on the street" expect by way of administrative reforms.
Please do not dismiss me because I am an ordinary, average citizen of this country. Indeed that is the very reason why I should be listened to with care and attention for I represent the vast majority of the average citizens on whose toil this country runs and for whose benefit it is meant to be run.
Before I talk about our expectations and problems let me briefly go back to the history of Administrative Reforms in our country. The first such commission was the Santhanam Commission in the early sixties. It did a comprehensive job, made many useful recommendations and became history.
(2)
Then came the Sarkaria Commision, more concerned with the Centre - State relations for giving more autonomy to the States so that they could, hopefuly do faster development work in their states for serving their citizens better --- this too did a comprehensive job, made many useful recommendations and became history. Next came the Vohra Committee on the Bureaucratic - Criminal - Politician nexus --- did a comprehensive job, made many useful recommendations and became history.
How long are we going to repeat this cycle of Agitation, Commission, Recommendation, Consideration, Interpretation, Contemplation and Procrastination. This has gone on ad nauseum and must stop.
What has been happening is that the objectives are never clearly spelt out or understood with the result that very often, there is too much emphasis on design when what is called for is action, too much emphasis on consideration when what is called for is responsiveness, too much emphasis on perfection when what is called for is implementation.
So my plea to you in this deliberation is : please avoid the all - encompassing, all - pervasive, far - reaching approach. Pick up the small things that affect a citizen's daily life and see how you can make it a little easier, a little faster, a little cheaper, a little better.
If you wish to truly do something for the people then the first step you must make is to change from People - Oriented Administrative Reforms to People - Centred Adminstrative Reforms. It is only when you put the people at the centre of thinking can you think of actually doing something for them.
Let us take a brief look at the ordinary citizens biggest headache - red-tapism.
(3)
Red - tapism
Why does BEST insist on an arrears stamped Bill, where the amount in arrears has already been paid (but beyond the due date), being paid only at its Colaba Office ; further, even at its Colaba Office it insists on this Bill being signed by a specific officer who does nothing but only sign it ? Then why does he have to sign it at all ?
Are you aware of a mysterious but most harassing instrument called the eligibility certificate that students must procure when they pass their 10th and have to seek admission to the 11th standard class of the Maharashtra HSC Board. Two trips have to be made for this purpose, two application forms filled, one stamped paper declaration filed before such a certificate is issued. There is absolutely not a single case where such a certificate is denied. Then why is this required at all ? It is only a major harassment for young students who have to run all over the city. If this is a revenue collecting device, then why not simply collect such revenue by a straightforward transaction at individual school by a simple over-the-counter "coupon for cash" transaction ?
This kind of red-tapism is not confined to a Government offices. Consider the Flying Returns Scheme of Indian Airlines. The Free ticket redeeming procedure is an ordeal. First of all you have to make an application in a Form that is only available at the Agency's Office which runs the scheme for Indian Airlines at Fort. You know that Fort is at one end of the city. If I am a resident of Borivali, I have to make a trip to Fort to simply collect the Form. After I fill it, they will ask me to come back after 5 to 6 days to collect the "sanction" letter. The letter is a standard letter that says or computes nothing new and can easily be issued in 15 minutes, But if that is done how will the citizen be harassed !!
So it has to be a second trip. Then with that letter I must go to the Airlines for booking my ticket. At the time of the issuance of the ticket I am given a rude shock that the ticket is not really free -- the tax element I have to pay. How come I was never told about it, I asked ? The Indian Airlines staff gleefully point out a sentence in the sanction letter which says so. But that has just been issued. I was never told when the scheme started that there is this catch. A helpless shrug is all the response that you get.
(4)
Now I proceed to pay the "non - free" amount by offering my credit card. Sorry, smirks the lady on the counter --- this amount can only be paid by cash ! We used to earlier accept credit cards but due to some problem you have to pay cash only. So because of your problem, you have simply passed on the responsibility to me, the customer. This means a return to Borivali and another trip to Mumbai all the way with the required cash to collect my ticket.
Why talk only of Government Offices and Public Sector Institutions ? Even the temples of modern management suffer from the same disease. My son wished to apply for the IIMs this year. After reading the announcement in the newspapers, I went to the SBI Office at Fort to collect the Form on Payment of Rs. 800/-. Incidentally the forms are only disbursed by 3 Branches of the SBI in this huge city of Mumbai ? Does it not strike the IIM authorities that it causes great trouble to people to have to come such great distances. Why cannot it not be offered in at least 25 Branches distributed all over the city.
Be that as it may, when I reached the counter and offered the money for the form, the clerk asks me where is your application form ? What Application Form ? Do you know that one has to actually fill an Application Form (in triplicate) to get the Application Form. This was not mentioned on the Advertisement nor mentioned on the Form dispensing Counter. So when I was handed over the Form for filling after I had reached the counter, I was asked to move aside so that the person next in line could get his form. The form itself requires you not only to write your Name and address in all 3 copies (why ?), it also ask you to fill the denomination of notes given (why ) and requires you to sign the form (again, why ?).
In this manner by the time I finished filling the form, 3 people had taken their form. Now when I tried to get back in the queue, the 4th person who had not seen me exit the queue earlier protested against my breaking the line telling me " Yeh mumbai hai. Idhar sub line se chalta hai. Dadagiri mat kar. Jaa line me khara ho !"
The point I wish to make is simple : please examine every single process, form, document that you require a citizen to follow or fill with a fine comb to see how many can be totally eliminated, which can be drastically simplified, how many can be combined into a one-action, one-stop, one table procedure.
(5)
In doing so remember one cardinal principle : if some approval is sought which is automatic and routinely given by some higher -up for hierarchical reasons, the same can and should be totally eliminated. If any official is not doing any "value - add" when the document comes to him, don't send it to him in the first place.
Non-availability of the concerned officer to sign a particular paper should never be a reason for a citizen to have to come again ; simply have another duly authorised officer sign on behalf of the first. Like this, have a panel of 4 or 5 or even more signatories for each such case so that there is no queue or wait for such things.
It is important to remember that your reforms must make things easier and simpler for the people. Very often the Reforms instituted have been known to make things easier for the administration, the people be damned.
How can this be done ?
I would like to suggest the following anchors :
Awareness
Accessibility
Availability
Action
(6)
Awareness
People must be made aware, in the manner that they can understand, of what services are available to them, where it can be availed and how to go about it.
Even today, simple day-to-day activities like opening a bank account, sending a money order or registered letter, getting a ration card made or obtaining a gas connection are not standardised nor known widely enough. Where for example can one register himself as a voter ? Why is this such a secret that it cannot be published in every telephone directory. Why can this information not be put up at every Post Office. And finally, why must all centres for such registration must always be the most inaccessible, remotely located, broken down school where the concerned staff are rarely to be found ?
This applies to various other "public interest" locations like the Courts, Secretariat, Land Record Offices, Public Hospitals, Post Office, Railway stations, Tourist Spots and such like.
Accessability
What about accessibility ? Once there is awareness, the next logical need is accessibility. The office must be easily accessible, the concerned officer must be even more so. Why, for example, can we not have more offices for Sales Tax, Excise and RTO ? In most cities there are just one or two of such offices which makes a visit to any of these offices a full one-day engagement.
Take the case of The Stamp Office at Horniman Circle : why must stamps be bought or sold from only one place. Why, for example cannot these stamps be sold from all Post Offices or Head Post Offices or all/selected nationalised Banks. It will be so much more convenient for the citizen to go to a bank or Post Office near to his place of work or residence. than to trudge all the way to an office tucked away in one corner of the city.
(7)
Why only one Passport Office in a huge city like Mumbai ? In these days of electronic connectivity, why can we not have ten offices where people can file their applications without having to travel huge distances ; where they can easily go back home to get a missing document the same day ; where they can afford to go twice instead of, in desperation, become prey to the touts who extract huge sums for getting routine jobs done through "contacts".
What about Income Tax ; the authorities have sensibly instituted the collection of Income Tax amounts in various Banks ? Why not do the same for Filing of Income Tax returns ? Why must citizens suffer long waits in huge serpentine queues every March - end because there is only one or perhaps two Income Tax Offices where return can be files. Officials of the IT Department can be posted for the last 15 days of every June, August, November and March, ion selected banks and Post Offices all over the city to receive such returns so that the ordinary citizen can do this task a little more comfortably.
Why has Mumbai university shifted its entire office to Kalina and discontinued any service at its Fort Office so that even to collect an admission Form for the Distance Education Programme one has to go all the way to Kalina. Cannot it not be given also from its Fort Office for the convenience of Residents who stay South of Dadar and Mahim ? Indeed why cannot it run a counter in selected colleges covering areas like Thane, Ghatkopar, Dadar, Byculla, Churchgate / Colaba, Worli, Bandra, Andheri, Borivali and Vashi ? What is even worse is that information as to when the forms for a particular course are being issued is never given out on telephone so even to find out ehn the forms will be issued one has to make a separate trip to Kalina.
Availability
Once a person reaches the concerned Office or desk, a most common occurrence is -- the officer is not available, or the form is exhausted or the file cannot be found. This negates all his efforts in having reached so far.
(8)
Can this not be planned and arranged for ? I sometimes take loans from my Bank against my Unit Certificates. They never have the forms that are required to be filled in this regard. They have the nerve to ask me to procure such forms from the UTI and get a few extra copies for them too.
Another small example. You go to a bank and want to have some account information for which you have forgotten the account number. Most Nationalised Banks express complete helplessness in giving you any information. Even in this age of computers they do not have a way of sorting account information on names of the account holders ? And we are glibly talking of India reigning supreme in the "Information Age"
The interminable hours that one has to spend for any service from the State is a major area for administrative reform --- however, it will come to naught if the problem is not viewed from the perspective of the citizen. In saying this, I am not suggesting that every service should be doubled or trebled so that the citizen does not have to wait. Of course, where necessary, it should be done. But before investing in additional resources, wherever there is scope for modification, simplification, elimination, the same should be done.
Can the citizen download a form from the internet ?
If a friend has the form, can he xerox it ?
Can the attestation be done by a wider range of officials than is permitted now ?
Can the working hours be made a little more friendly ?
How can a 2nd trip be saved if some small formality is missing ?
Can the form itself be simplified to make its filling -up simple, fast and less cumbersome and subject to confusion ?
What is being advocated here is a dedicated, work simplification exercise with the objective of making the whole process "simpler for the citizen", not the clerk or the bureaucracy
(9)
Action
The Indian State is a huge graveyard of good intentions. Numerous plans have been made only to be shelved, laws enacted, only to be ignored, commissions formed only to be forgotten, promise made, only to be broken. Just a week ago on television, a news item was being shown (in the context of the agitation by the NBA protesting against the recent Supreme Court Judgement) where it was reported that since the past 50 years over 80,000 families who have suffered displacement in Orissa in the wake of the Hirakud dam Project and other such mega projects in that state, not one has received any of the compensation land it was promised nor any of the other compensation that was planned.
The more recent case of the Bhopal gas tragedy victims needs no further elaboration. Once again the even more recent scandal in the wake of the cyclone last year in Orissa and the diversion of relief materials to "others" underlines our pitiable record in implementation.
First of all we take inordinately long to initiate any action ; if and when we finally do, it is distorted, lackadaisical, sloppy and doesn't benefit the target group. What has gone wrong ? How long can we continue this ? How much longer is the ordinary Indian citizen's patience to be tested.
Do not mistake their silence for consent, nor construe their tolerance for approval. Everything in this world has a flash point. Indians have a very high flash point but independent India's state machinery may yet earn the distinction of being the first to ignite them
Anomalies and vagueness must be avoided and sufficient authority needs to be delegated at the operating level so that 99 % of the routine cases can be tackled by the person on the spot. Whenever an odd case comes up and needs intervention or interpretation from authorities, catalogue such occurrences and find a "routine" way for tackling them for the future so that they need not be referred to the higher ups again
(10)
Indeed, the only effective way in which one can tackle this whole problem is by looking upon the people as "customers" of the State and all its machinery. It is good to remember that any organisation survives and exists only because of and for the purpose of serving its customers.
if this simple but perceptive view can be truly internalised, most problems will find automatic and naturally efficient solutions.
Just as we do not like to keep a customer waiting, so also you will make sure that the citizen is not kept waiting. Just as we desire to please the customer so that he is happy with our service/product and returns for more, so also you will take proper care of the customer to make things easy, comfortable and easy for him.
Thus it may be seem that people-oriented or even people-centred administrative reforms are not a simple case of realigning or simplifying procedures and practices ; they call for a deeper change viz. a change in attitude which looks upon the citizens as the customers for whom we exist and whom we are duty bound to serve. This is, of course, cannot be achieved overnight ; but is surely cannot be achieved if no beginning is made. And such a beginning requires an honest acceptance of this truth without which such a seminar or effort will remain one more gathering in the long line of many such efforts.
I can do better than quote Mahatma Gandhi who made one of the fines and most incisive statements about how we should look upon and treat our customers. No marketer in modern times has even come close to putting it better.
(11)
" The most important visitor……."
" A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependant on us. We are dependant on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is a part of it. We are not doing him a favour by servicing him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity of doing so. "
Mahatma Gandhi
If the above approach can be kept as the central underlying idea and the people consulted as to the reforms they would like to see, there is no reason why this effort cannot succeed.
These Reforms are meant for whom ? The Administrators ? Of course not. Can't you see from the Title itself that we are talking of People - Oriented Reforms which obviously means that these Reforms are meant for the people !! Fine, excellent. However, if it is really so then would it not be good idea to consult the people "for whom these reforms are meant to be instituted" ? Can such a discussion really be meaningful if the group it is meant to benefit is not consulted as to "what reforms they would like to see"
It is in that spirit, and to fulfill that need that I come here before this august gathering as an ordinary citizen to express what the "people, the ordinary average men/women on the street" expect by way of administrative reforms.
Please do not dismiss me because I am an ordinary, average citizen of this country. Indeed that is the very reason why I should be listened to with care and attention for I represent the vast majority of the average citizens on whose toil this country runs and for whose benefit it is meant to be run.
Before I talk about our expectations and problems let me briefly go back to the history of Administrative Reforms in our country. The first such commission was the Santhanam Commission in the early sixties. It did a comprehensive job, made many useful recommendations and became history.
(2)
Then came the Sarkaria Commision, more concerned with the Centre - State relations for giving more autonomy to the States so that they could, hopefuly do faster development work in their states for serving their citizens better --- this too did a comprehensive job, made many useful recommendations and became history. Next came the Vohra Committee on the Bureaucratic - Criminal - Politician nexus --- did a comprehensive job, made many useful recommendations and became history.
How long are we going to repeat this cycle of Agitation, Commission, Recommendation, Consideration, Interpretation, Contemplation and Procrastination. This has gone on ad nauseum and must stop.
What has been happening is that the objectives are never clearly spelt out or understood with the result that very often, there is too much emphasis on design when what is called for is action, too much emphasis on consideration when what is called for is responsiveness, too much emphasis on perfection when what is called for is implementation.
So my plea to you in this deliberation is : please avoid the all - encompassing, all - pervasive, far - reaching approach. Pick up the small things that affect a citizen's daily life and see how you can make it a little easier, a little faster, a little cheaper, a little better.
If you wish to truly do something for the people then the first step you must make is to change from People - Oriented Administrative Reforms to People - Centred Adminstrative Reforms. It is only when you put the people at the centre of thinking can you think of actually doing something for them.
Let us take a brief look at the ordinary citizens biggest headache - red-tapism.
(3)
Red - tapism
Why does BEST insist on an arrears stamped Bill, where the amount in arrears has already been paid (but beyond the due date), being paid only at its Colaba Office ; further, even at its Colaba Office it insists on this Bill being signed by a specific officer who does nothing but only sign it ? Then why does he have to sign it at all ?
Are you aware of a mysterious but most harassing instrument called the eligibility certificate that students must procure when they pass their 10th and have to seek admission to the 11th standard class of the Maharashtra HSC Board. Two trips have to be made for this purpose, two application forms filled, one stamped paper declaration filed before such a certificate is issued. There is absolutely not a single case where such a certificate is denied. Then why is this required at all ? It is only a major harassment for young students who have to run all over the city. If this is a revenue collecting device, then why not simply collect such revenue by a straightforward transaction at individual school by a simple over-the-counter "coupon for cash" transaction ?
This kind of red-tapism is not confined to a Government offices. Consider the Flying Returns Scheme of Indian Airlines. The Free ticket redeeming procedure is an ordeal. First of all you have to make an application in a Form that is only available at the Agency's Office which runs the scheme for Indian Airlines at Fort. You know that Fort is at one end of the city. If I am a resident of Borivali, I have to make a trip to Fort to simply collect the Form. After I fill it, they will ask me to come back after 5 to 6 days to collect the "sanction" letter. The letter is a standard letter that says or computes nothing new and can easily be issued in 15 minutes, But if that is done how will the citizen be harassed !!
So it has to be a second trip. Then with that letter I must go to the Airlines for booking my ticket. At the time of the issuance of the ticket I am given a rude shock that the ticket is not really free -- the tax element I have to pay. How come I was never told about it, I asked ? The Indian Airlines staff gleefully point out a sentence in the sanction letter which says so. But that has just been issued. I was never told when the scheme started that there is this catch. A helpless shrug is all the response that you get.
(4)
Now I proceed to pay the "non - free" amount by offering my credit card. Sorry, smirks the lady on the counter --- this amount can only be paid by cash ! We used to earlier accept credit cards but due to some problem you have to pay cash only. So because of your problem, you have simply passed on the responsibility to me, the customer. This means a return to Borivali and another trip to Mumbai all the way with the required cash to collect my ticket.
Why talk only of Government Offices and Public Sector Institutions ? Even the temples of modern management suffer from the same disease. My son wished to apply for the IIMs this year. After reading the announcement in the newspapers, I went to the SBI Office at Fort to collect the Form on Payment of Rs. 800/-. Incidentally the forms are only disbursed by 3 Branches of the SBI in this huge city of Mumbai ? Does it not strike the IIM authorities that it causes great trouble to people to have to come such great distances. Why cannot it not be offered in at least 25 Branches distributed all over the city.
Be that as it may, when I reached the counter and offered the money for the form, the clerk asks me where is your application form ? What Application Form ? Do you know that one has to actually fill an Application Form (in triplicate) to get the Application Form. This was not mentioned on the Advertisement nor mentioned on the Form dispensing Counter. So when I was handed over the Form for filling after I had reached the counter, I was asked to move aside so that the person next in line could get his form. The form itself requires you not only to write your Name and address in all 3 copies (why ?), it also ask you to fill the denomination of notes given (why ) and requires you to sign the form (again, why ?).
In this manner by the time I finished filling the form, 3 people had taken their form. Now when I tried to get back in the queue, the 4th person who had not seen me exit the queue earlier protested against my breaking the line telling me " Yeh mumbai hai. Idhar sub line se chalta hai. Dadagiri mat kar. Jaa line me khara ho !"
The point I wish to make is simple : please examine every single process, form, document that you require a citizen to follow or fill with a fine comb to see how many can be totally eliminated, which can be drastically simplified, how many can be combined into a one-action, one-stop, one table procedure.
(5)
In doing so remember one cardinal principle : if some approval is sought which is automatic and routinely given by some higher -up for hierarchical reasons, the same can and should be totally eliminated. If any official is not doing any "value - add" when the document comes to him, don't send it to him in the first place.
Non-availability of the concerned officer to sign a particular paper should never be a reason for a citizen to have to come again ; simply have another duly authorised officer sign on behalf of the first. Like this, have a panel of 4 or 5 or even more signatories for each such case so that there is no queue or wait for such things.
It is important to remember that your reforms must make things easier and simpler for the people. Very often the Reforms instituted have been known to make things easier for the administration, the people be damned.
How can this be done ?
I would like to suggest the following anchors :
Awareness
Accessibility
Availability
Action
(6)
Awareness
People must be made aware, in the manner that they can understand, of what services are available to them, where it can be availed and how to go about it.
Even today, simple day-to-day activities like opening a bank account, sending a money order or registered letter, getting a ration card made or obtaining a gas connection are not standardised nor known widely enough. Where for example can one register himself as a voter ? Why is this such a secret that it cannot be published in every telephone directory. Why can this information not be put up at every Post Office. And finally, why must all centres for such registration must always be the most inaccessible, remotely located, broken down school where the concerned staff are rarely to be found ?
This applies to various other "public interest" locations like the Courts, Secretariat, Land Record Offices, Public Hospitals, Post Office, Railway stations, Tourist Spots and such like.
Accessability
What about accessibility ? Once there is awareness, the next logical need is accessibility. The office must be easily accessible, the concerned officer must be even more so. Why, for example, can we not have more offices for Sales Tax, Excise and RTO ? In most cities there are just one or two of such offices which makes a visit to any of these offices a full one-day engagement.
Take the case of The Stamp Office at Horniman Circle : why must stamps be bought or sold from only one place. Why, for example cannot these stamps be sold from all Post Offices or Head Post Offices or all/selected nationalised Banks. It will be so much more convenient for the citizen to go to a bank or Post Office near to his place of work or residence. than to trudge all the way to an office tucked away in one corner of the city.
(7)
Why only one Passport Office in a huge city like Mumbai ? In these days of electronic connectivity, why can we not have ten offices where people can file their applications without having to travel huge distances ; where they can easily go back home to get a missing document the same day ; where they can afford to go twice instead of, in desperation, become prey to the touts who extract huge sums for getting routine jobs done through "contacts".
What about Income Tax ; the authorities have sensibly instituted the collection of Income Tax amounts in various Banks ? Why not do the same for Filing of Income Tax returns ? Why must citizens suffer long waits in huge serpentine queues every March - end because there is only one or perhaps two Income Tax Offices where return can be files. Officials of the IT Department can be posted for the last 15 days of every June, August, November and March, ion selected banks and Post Offices all over the city to receive such returns so that the ordinary citizen can do this task a little more comfortably.
Why has Mumbai university shifted its entire office to Kalina and discontinued any service at its Fort Office so that even to collect an admission Form for the Distance Education Programme one has to go all the way to Kalina. Cannot it not be given also from its Fort Office for the convenience of Residents who stay South of Dadar and Mahim ? Indeed why cannot it run a counter in selected colleges covering areas like Thane, Ghatkopar, Dadar, Byculla, Churchgate / Colaba, Worli, Bandra, Andheri, Borivali and Vashi ? What is even worse is that information as to when the forms for a particular course are being issued is never given out on telephone so even to find out ehn the forms will be issued one has to make a separate trip to Kalina.
Availability
Once a person reaches the concerned Office or desk, a most common occurrence is -- the officer is not available, or the form is exhausted or the file cannot be found. This negates all his efforts in having reached so far.
(8)
Can this not be planned and arranged for ? I sometimes take loans from my Bank against my Unit Certificates. They never have the forms that are required to be filled in this regard. They have the nerve to ask me to procure such forms from the UTI and get a few extra copies for them too.
Another small example. You go to a bank and want to have some account information for which you have forgotten the account number. Most Nationalised Banks express complete helplessness in giving you any information. Even in this age of computers they do not have a way of sorting account information on names of the account holders ? And we are glibly talking of India reigning supreme in the "Information Age"
The interminable hours that one has to spend for any service from the State is a major area for administrative reform --- however, it will come to naught if the problem is not viewed from the perspective of the citizen. In saying this, I am not suggesting that every service should be doubled or trebled so that the citizen does not have to wait. Of course, where necessary, it should be done. But before investing in additional resources, wherever there is scope for modification, simplification, elimination, the same should be done.
Can the citizen download a form from the internet ?
If a friend has the form, can he xerox it ?
Can the attestation be done by a wider range of officials than is permitted now ?
Can the working hours be made a little more friendly ?
How can a 2nd trip be saved if some small formality is missing ?
Can the form itself be simplified to make its filling -up simple, fast and less cumbersome and subject to confusion ?
What is being advocated here is a dedicated, work simplification exercise with the objective of making the whole process "simpler for the citizen", not the clerk or the bureaucracy
(9)
Action
The Indian State is a huge graveyard of good intentions. Numerous plans have been made only to be shelved, laws enacted, only to be ignored, commissions formed only to be forgotten, promise made, only to be broken. Just a week ago on television, a news item was being shown (in the context of the agitation by the NBA protesting against the recent Supreme Court Judgement) where it was reported that since the past 50 years over 80,000 families who have suffered displacement in Orissa in the wake of the Hirakud dam Project and other such mega projects in that state, not one has received any of the compensation land it was promised nor any of the other compensation that was planned.
The more recent case of the Bhopal gas tragedy victims needs no further elaboration. Once again the even more recent scandal in the wake of the cyclone last year in Orissa and the diversion of relief materials to "others" underlines our pitiable record in implementation.
First of all we take inordinately long to initiate any action ; if and when we finally do, it is distorted, lackadaisical, sloppy and doesn't benefit the target group. What has gone wrong ? How long can we continue this ? How much longer is the ordinary Indian citizen's patience to be tested.
Do not mistake their silence for consent, nor construe their tolerance for approval. Everything in this world has a flash point. Indians have a very high flash point but independent India's state machinery may yet earn the distinction of being the first to ignite them
Anomalies and vagueness must be avoided and sufficient authority needs to be delegated at the operating level so that 99 % of the routine cases can be tackled by the person on the spot. Whenever an odd case comes up and needs intervention or interpretation from authorities, catalogue such occurrences and find a "routine" way for tackling them for the future so that they need not be referred to the higher ups again
(10)
Indeed, the only effective way in which one can tackle this whole problem is by looking upon the people as "customers" of the State and all its machinery. It is good to remember that any organisation survives and exists only because of and for the purpose of serving its customers.
if this simple but perceptive view can be truly internalised, most problems will find automatic and naturally efficient solutions.
Just as we do not like to keep a customer waiting, so also you will make sure that the citizen is not kept waiting. Just as we desire to please the customer so that he is happy with our service/product and returns for more, so also you will take proper care of the customer to make things easy, comfortable and easy for him.
Thus it may be seem that people-oriented or even people-centred administrative reforms are not a simple case of realigning or simplifying procedures and practices ; they call for a deeper change viz. a change in attitude which looks upon the citizens as the customers for whom we exist and whom we are duty bound to serve. This is, of course, cannot be achieved overnight ; but is surely cannot be achieved if no beginning is made. And such a beginning requires an honest acceptance of this truth without which such a seminar or effort will remain one more gathering in the long line of many such efforts.
I can do better than quote Mahatma Gandhi who made one of the fines and most incisive statements about how we should look upon and treat our customers. No marketer in modern times has even come close to putting it better.
(11)
" The most important visitor……."
" A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependant on us. We are dependant on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is a part of it. We are not doing him a favour by servicing him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity of doing so. "
Mahatma Gandhi
If the above approach can be kept as the central underlying idea and the people consulted as to the reforms they would like to see, there is no reason why this effort cannot succeed.
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