Saturday, June 18, 2016
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Avoiding wasteful
work
There are many practices in India that should be eliminated.
They waste people’s time and resources like paper.
One example is the filing of receipts with a revenue stamp
for payment of salary or pension, even if the payment is through a bank. I do
not know if this serves any significant purpose. Some municipal corporations do
not ask for receipts from pensioners – they do not even send them an
information slip saying what pension is being paid for which month or year. Intimations
of payment with some detail can be sent even in the form of SMS. Failure to
send salary slips or messages makes one suspect that such lack of transparency
could facilitate fraud. We do not need an Administrative Reforms commission to
set these things right. The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of
India can do a lot by insisting on efficient procedures and transparency in all
government and government funded offices.
There are other wasteful practices like the railways giving
10% concession to doctors – allopathic - travelling for any purpose, or giving
75% off for artists traveling to give a performance. The list of persons
eligible for such concessions has 53 categories. Recently, the Railways woke up
to the fact that it is not the job of the Railways Ministry to pay for these
handouts – the concerned ministries should pay. Even that appears insufficient.
Railways should not waste the time of their staff handling these subsidy
transactions and slow down their service to people waiting to buy tickets.
Trivial subsidies ought to be eliminated. More important ones should be handled
by concerned offices – not by Railways.
Many government departments tolerate the practice of
government employees being used as domestic servants by superiors. This is
often justified by designating subordinates as orderlies. This has to be stopped.
Government salaries are high enough now for officers to pay for their own
domestic help. Making subordinates work as domestic servants is corruption.
Digital India, Smart Cities and Good Governance are all good
ideas. The way towards these ideals is through the elimination of mindless
practices!
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