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THE NATION: BUREAUCRACY
Myopic View
Jaswant's
office is currently processing similar proposals for extensions and reemployment
of officials who are about to retire. For example, he has made up his
mind to induct Satish Lambah, currently India's ambassador to Russia,
as adviser in the mea after he demits his office in August. In the case
of Kamlesh Sharma, India's permanent representative at the UN, a file
has been moved on an extension of his services beyond his retirement on
July 31. Why? Because the prime minister is expected to visit New York
in September and the UN General Assembly will be in session till December.
Earlier this year, Jaswant also decided to accommodate two foreign secretaries,
Lalit Mansingh and K. Raghunath, as ambassadors to the US and Russia.
But Jaswant cannot be singled out for giving
government posts to a favoured few. Vajpayee himself went against his
own decision of not giving extensions beyond the age of 60. To begin with
he gave temporary extension to N.K. Singh after he retired in January
2001 and later promoted him as a member of the Planning Commission with
the status of a minister of state. Then he inducted A.S. Dulat as adviser
in the PMO after he retired as director of raw.
The Vajpayee Government has
generally not been effective in handling the bureaucracy. And since these
appointments are made without taking a long-term view, the Government
finds itself in a bind particularly during crunch situations-perpetuating
the malaise. For example, Finance Secretary Ajit Kumar is going to retire
along with the new chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes before
the next budget is presented in early 2002. Both are likely to get an
extension or will have to be replaced before that.
A truly ridiculous situation has arisen in various
financial institutions where the Government has not been able to select
people of its choice to run them. The post of chairman in the Industrial
Development Bank of India is vacant for the past six months. Due to serious
conflict between the PMO and the Finance Ministry, the name recommended
by the ministry was not accepted. Meanwhile, the Government extended by
three months the term of the person who is acting as chairman of the bank.
Even now, the Government is unable to resolve its internal conflict, and
there is a possibility of the person on extension getting yet another
extension.
Naturally, some senior BJP functionaries and
coalition partners are peeved over this pick and choose policy. Not only
has the Government, they feel, reneged on its promise to cut the size
of the bureaucracy, it is also rewarding mainly those who have middling
and inferior track records by letting them continue in their positions.
Admits a senior cabinet minister: "We have nothing spectacular to
show as achievement. The least we could have done was to present a lean,
mean and hungry bureaucracy."
Unfortunately the BJP has accentuated the hunger
of the bureaucracy by giving in to its machinations and manipulations.
There was always the concept of jobs for the boys. In this administration,
it's more a case of jobs for the old, ragged boys.
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