PEOPLE - ORIENTED ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS a citizen's perspective

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.


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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.







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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.

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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.
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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



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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.
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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.



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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
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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


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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.










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" 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.

Role of the Press - A Citizen's Viewpoint

Role of the Press

- A Citizen’s Viewpoint



While the nightmare or emergency is behind us, two question continue to stare us in the face - one, “Why the emergency ?” and two, “How to prevent its recurrance ?” The answer to the first question can really, only be provided by those who enacted that high drama, though a number of plausible explanation have been put forth by those who were close to the scene of action. The answer to the second question, however, must be sought and provided by each and every citizen of our country. Succeeding generations will not forgive us if we do not take any corrective actions ; history will despise us.

Our representatives in Parliament are working on the legal and constitutional safeguards for preventing such safeguard would be to overhaul the social climate itself which permitted such abuse of power to take place with little challenge or resistance or protest ; which made us all so docilely submit to authority we knew to be wrongly exercise and which we roundly condemned after the emergency. It is in this task of building up a strong sense of democratic values and creating a reservoir of courage to stand up to and resist authoritarianism that the press has a crucial and vital role to play.

The emergency has underlined the importance of having a free and unfettered press which would keep the government aware of the people’s moods and reactions. It is a widely held view, to-day, that had the press been free, during the emergency, to mirror the people’s feelings may of the excesses would not have been committed. True, but what about the periods before the emergency ? There were no felters on the press then. If only the press had, at that time, taken upon itself to faithfully report to the people about the goings on in the government, if only it had discharged its function of exposing corruption and inefficiency wherever they occurred, if only it had educated the people about the principles of democracy and the dangers of their about the principles of democracy and the dangers of their about the principles of democracy and the dangers of their about the principles of democracy and the dangers of their abuse, if only it had emphasised the value of freedom and the agony of its absence, if only it had cautioned the people of impending authoritarianism and what it would lead to, it is conceivable the people may not have been numbed it is conceivable that people may not bave been numbed into such a state of shock as they were. It is possible into such a state of shock as they were. It is possible that the spark of resistance ignited by an informed and aroused public an inflamed by the courage and defiance of the news media would have spread a big enough conflagration that would have contained and arrested the tide of despotism which engulfed us all for nineteen moths. But all that is history now. It is the future we must look to and how we can protect it.

If, however, the performance of the news media during the five months after the emergency is any indicator, then it appears that no lessons have yet been learnt. Newspapers continue, as before, to be fully taken up with only reporting events. There seems to be very little effort at informative analysis (as opposed to opinion-expressing in editorials), information giving or educating or investigative reporting or racket-busting or exposing corrupt practices and so on. These are some of the more important features of any responsible newspaper which distinguish it from the routine news sheets. All that one sees in the newspapers these days is more reports of “What happened yesterday” and authentic (!) accounts of “What happened during the emergency”. There is hardly and attempts to go into the ‘why’ of things, to investigate incidents / controversies, to probe alleged scandals, to regularly and systematically inform the people about how the government is functioning, if at all, and such things.

Consider the Belchi incident, for instance. All that we have got so far is a report of the Belchi M. P., Mr. Gupta’s version and Mr. Ram Dhan’s version and Mr. Charan Singh’s version and MP’s team’s vesion. Where, may one well ask, is the newspaper’s version ? Why cannot the newspapers send their own journalists for an on-the spot and detailed investigation and let the people know their findings. Indeed, a team journalists drawn from various newspapers/news magazines could do a joint study and report. Such a report would not only carry a great deal of conviction and thus clear the confusion but put pressure on the governemnt to expedite its own enquiry into this and such matters. Similar individual / joint investigations could also be done on the widespread labour unrest and violence in the country, campus troubles, the working (or non-working) of the campus troubles, the working (or non-working) of the enquiry commissions, the Poona demonstrations against the Prime Minister, the violence in and around industrial areas in Poona on that occasion and such other incidents.

Consider another example. All newspapers have been dutifully reporting the massive under-utilisation of import licences for edible oils by the traders as also the alleged selling of oil meant for import to third parties abroad. And what is the source of their (the news papers) information ? - only statements made from time to time by Shri Mohan Dharia. How many newspapers of magazines have reported anything in this matter which they themselves have uncovered ? Why has no newspapers attempted to do its own detailed investigation in the matters to give the people a clearer and more complete picture of the whole affair ? Why is no attempt being made to unmark the cartal (if there is one) which is holding almost the entire country to ransom ? Organised corruption at influential levels and by moneyed people is not capable of being fought by the government alone. The government requires active co-operation and support, of all sections of the people, especially a vocal medium like the press, to weed out this malaise. Similarly, alleged scandals of cement hoarding, high vegetable prices, gulf employment agencies, college admission wrangles, actual election expreses of selected candidate who are known to have spent very large sums, etc. need to be thoroughly investigated and the offenders exposed. A newspaper is its task also lies in investigating matters of public interest and exposing law breakers so that not only do the people come to know who the real culprits are but also the fear of public exposure may desist many from indulging in such activities. it is hardly necessary to emphasize that such investigations must not degenerate into witch-hunting or lead to harrassment of innocent people - the only casualty in such a case would be the press credibility.


This is so far as investigating and exposing is concerned. There are still other important roles for the press. Educating is one. We talk a lot about democracy and its relevance to our conditions of life and so on and so forth. But what does and should it mean to a common man, has anyone bothered to explain ? How does our democracy work, what does it comprise of, what are its advantages and disadvantages, what rights does it bestow and what obligation does it cast upon a citizen, has anyone tired to explain to him ? who are our representatives in Parliament and assemblies, what is their background and previous record are things which many educated urbanites are not aware of, much less a common villager. With this level of ignorance and lack of awareness of such matters it is not difficult to relise why there is so much apathy towards the affairs of the country by large sections of the people. It also explains the considerable indifference of the large majority of the people towards the imposition of the emergency - a factor which decidedly made the things much easier and smoother for those who imposed it. If democracy is to strike permanent roots in our country it is essential that a basic training in democracy be imparted to the people and the news media is admirably suited to play this role.

To begin, with all MPs elected in the March elections should be introduced to the people through brief life sketches, listing, among other things, educational qualifications, political activities / background, special attainments / interest as also their addresses so that the people know who their representatives are, what their calibre is and where they can be contacted. To-day, save for the Union Ministers (and that too not all) and a fe prominent MPs, people hardly know even the names of other members of Parliament ! A similar exercise should also be done for all the legislators of states where, recently, elections were held.

Next, there could be a more detailed / elaborate reporting of the Parliament / Assembly sessions regarding both the debates and the question hour where a lot of useful information is given. These reports should also comment on the attendance in the House viz., how many members present at the start of the day’s proceedings, how many present during the course of the day, say, immediately after lunch, as well as total present and participating whenever a bill/motion is voted on. The people are entitled to know whether or not their representatives are doing the work they were electedd for, which when the Parliament / Assembly is in session, is primarily legislating. Similarly MPs/MLAs with less than 3 days attendance in a week’s session of Parliament / Assembly should be named (An explanatory remark should be added only for those who are ill). Such a report, it is expected, will have a salutory effect on members who treat their legislative functions lightly.

Further there could be a series of articles on various facets of democracy like the election process, the distortion it produces, safeguards and remedies against election malpractices, the functioning of Parliament and Supreme Court, the structure of government at district and panchyat level, the planning process and how a citizen can contribute to it, the five-year plans, the citizen’s avenues for redressal of grievances, especially against violation of his civil / fundamental rights by those in authority and other related topics.

One more equally important area of activity for the press is ‘informing’ (not to be confused with reporting of recent events). In this field, newspapers should regularly report on the functioning of each and every ministry, functioning of various National Laboratories and Central Research Institutes, review periodically the actual receipts and expenses on different items of the budget, the deviation from the budgeted estimates and the reasons thereof, review periodically the progress of work on various projects (dams, steel plants, road networks, community welfare schemes) which are started with much fan-fare before every election and then conveniently forgotten, the actual expenditure incurred till date on such projects as composed to the expenditure estimates for the whole project as composed to the expenditure estimates for the whole project made when the project was started, a periodic comparison of standard economic / social / other indicators with our immediate neighbours, countries in this region and developed countries of the world, and other information of general interest. Apart from keeping people informed of what is happening to the tax-payer’s money, the fact that such reports are going to be published for public consumption is bound to have a salutory effect on various public bodies concerned and keep them on their toes. More-over, this will. Induce in the latter a habit of periodic review (which doesn’t seem to be very common now) and thus enable them to detect deviation from plan at an early stage itself which would be beneficial for taking necessary corrective actions.

The task of nation-building is a collective responsibility and so single agency or group can do it alone. Nevertheless in the conditions obtaining in our country to-day, the new media, which has the largest reach as a single group, has a very significant role to play and will have a very decisive bearing on the shape of things to come in the future.

Our recent traumatic experience has shown that ignorance of and indifference to public affairs are the surest breeding grounds for totalitarianism and dictatorship with all its associated evils. In the recent elections the people have cast a clear verdict against authoritrianism, but unless the basic reasons which permitted those in power to get away with its abuse are tacked we will continue to remain vulnerable to reimposition of the kind of rule we went through during the emergency.

If we wish to follow the democratic path, if we value our freedom and individual dignity and wish to safeguard these, then, it is the twin enemies of ignorance and indifference which must be attacked first. And it is here that the news media must play a vigorous role. The emergency showed up the strengths and weaknesses of our news media - unfortunately more of the later than the former. The present affords an opportunity to the news media to retrieve its former credibility and prestige. Let this chance not be lost by default again.


H. K. Varma
11th August, 1977
Bombay.