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From The Editor In Chief
As
the joke goes, when God created India it was as a wealthy and prosperous
land. The other nations protested about this favouritism. So God, in his
infinite wisdom, willed the Government of India to us to balance matters.
We have been cursed since. India's bureaucracy is a blight on the nation.
It now exists not to serve the people but to feed itself, and all us taxpayers
have the privilege of supporting this monstrosity.
 This
week, we begin an exclusive series of articles leading up to the Union
Budget on February 28 with a cover story on the bloated bureaucracy, to
my mind the single biggest reason why India is still a laggard. While
part of the economy is coping with competition and becoming more efficient,
the bureaucracy continue to burgeon, with perks to match. The Central
Government eats up more than a fifth of the government's total revenue
receipts. There is now in some states not enough money to pay salaries
to state employees. If nothing is done, this will also happen at the Centre.
We first recorded the phenomenon in 1979, with a path-breaking cover story,
"Rule of the Babus" co-authored by Editor Prabhu Chawla. The
Centre then employed 3.02 million civilians and the cost of governance
was Rs 17,717 crore. Two decades later the number has grown to 3.72 million
but the cost of governance has zoomed to an astounding Rs 2,68,285 crore
as the bureaucracy, in an unholy conspiracy with politicians, found ways
to circumvent a hiring freeze to keep patronage and perks alive for both
of them.
It is generally
agreed that less government is good government. And with liberalisation
many ministries like steel, tourism, civil aviation, information and broadcasting
and telecommunications have lost a lot of their relevance. In this age,
for a file to move up to a secretary from an under secretary takes seven
steps. Besides, a feudal culture persists: a minister has a support staff
of 19, a secretary 12. "At almost every level of government, there
is a lack of recognition for delivering value for taxpayers' money,"
says Senior Editor Sumit Mitra who co-authored the story with Chawla.
What is
required is an act of bold political leadership which wields the axe ruthlessly.
Otherwise India can forget the dream of becoming the first-rate economic
power it deserves to be.
(Aroon
Purie)
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METRO TODAY
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