...of party loyalists and impotent politicians...
I have refrained myself from getting into the political debates and standpoints in the wake of political correctness, but today after the 60 hour ordeal in Mumbai, I have no regrets in penning down this blog.
I always had this impression that the current UPA government (funny name to the current government...which is a mockery of progressiveness) is one of the weakest form of government. I was initially surprised by India giving a mandate in favor of Sonia (is she a true Gandhi?) as the next prime minister of India. Although BJP lost the election the era of coalitions did not end with them. The split majority (or minority) given to the Congress and the huge task of managing coalition and relying on political blackmails has become a norm and not a very familiar situation for the Congress, which had unilateral control over India for over 4 of the 6 decades of Independence. In this context, party loyalty and sycophancy became the order of the day.
The minute Sonia "Madam ji" was made to decide the future of a resilient nation, she (tactically) decided not to be the Prime Minister but to be a King Maker and run the show by placing puppets in the key posts. Two key posts always haunted me: the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, both very powerful and both "conferred" upon to party (Congress) loyalists. I have greatest respect for our former finance minister and the current prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh, but I feel he is in no way competent to govern a country of our stature. I have no regrets in expressing my displeasure towards the home minister though, he has never proved to be pivotal in Indian politics and was never an able leader. Even when he was the speaker of the house, he did not have the clout to manage the proceedings of the house which consisted of 500 odd members, Now, how can he handle the second most powerful portfolio in the country?
There are a number of questions that keep bothering me: I have no idea as to why the congress politicians lay spineless and surrender to Madam ji? Don't they have an iota of shame? Don't they feel that they are being looked at as hermaphrodites? don't these politicians have ego. last of all? I have no clue. But what seems evident is that they do not have!
Now, there are politicians on one hand and the bureaucrats the other. Both are equally responsible. The bureaucrats are another set of sycophants who are only and only worried about their promotions and their positions. There are many bureaucrats who can be directly seen as "affiliates" of partisan politics. Some of these are "posted" at powerful positions and others deemed to "punishment" posts. Only to avoid the latter, these bureaucrats become the "yes minister!" typologies. To me these babu's are equally responsible for what ever is happening. Of course not all babu's come under this category, but many of these have never gone against the tide and really achieved anything significant. There might be a couple that have done that, but they had to regrettheir decisions (Kiran Bedi, Jay Prakash Narayan etc come to my mind as I scribble this). Thus many of the bureaucrats become mere spectators and really do not contribute their part in the decision making process. I have seen these people in close quarters and always felt that they had such enormous power, talent and are selected through a sophisticated methodology but have to heed to politicians who are probably not even 1st graders.
There is yet another draw back in the bureaucratic system: Lack of specialization. The babu's are jack of all trades and master of none, this poses a great threat to the sustainability of the programs and even the design of the same. A fresh bureaucrat starts as a regional official, graduates to district deputy and collectors post, then moves haphazardly to departments without their "choice" to say. one day, they are municipal commissioners and secretary of animal husbandry the other and this cycle is never settling and so are the timings. the Police services are no different, although power varies with the compleity of the city and the closeness to the power center. The tenure of these people is completely dependent upon the whims and fancies of politicians and not the "merit" (or otherwise) of their decisions and actions. This leads to a major drawback in the way the "system" functions and the effectiveness. there is no one who is continuously following through a set of reforms and programs, this leads to the execution of the programs to be dealt according to the "person" incharge. Thus the lakc of institutionalization of changes and administration. This leads to a lot of confusion and chaos in the way systems work and hence ineffective governance system that is present in the country as of today.
In this mire of complex political and bureaucratic relations, the people of country suffer. At times the people benefit from government policies and at times despite them. The lack of accountability in the political process and the administration lead to an incoherent growth pattern and a lack of confidence in the future. One agency tries to pursuade othe other to take steps to ensure that there is no lack of coordination, but when the buck is passed they do not care if it reaches the destination. It is similar to the relay running races in which relay depends on continuous passing of baton to the next player. Since the race has accoutability (win/loss) everyone ensures that the baton is passed and in the right way, and in politics and the incoherent administrative setup, baton is lost, sometimes multiple times. The news these days is focusing on the multiple warnings and the ignoring of the same. This clearly illustrates my analogy.
In any case, I can keep on writing for ages on this topic, but sticking to the self imposed principles of time constrains I would like to stop here.
There is no right answer to whatever has happened. There is always a way to find a scape goat and move ahead. But what is really lacking is the resolve to come together and find a solution to the problem. Be it terrorist attacks or poverty alleviation. There is a a clear lacuna in the system and the system itself needs change. I do not have a solution for the same and neither can I see some one bringing the "change" ...but some one has to take the first step, towards it...and I am waiting for such a moment...As Gandhi used to say "be the change you want to see"...I want to become a change agent...I am probably waiting for something...I am unaware of what it is as of today.
PEACE...my deepest condolences to the families of the victims
Jai Hind!!!
Avadhani
I always had this impression that the current UPA government (funny name to the current government...which is a mockery of progressiveness) is one of the weakest form of government. I was initially surprised by India giving a mandate in favor of Sonia (is she a true Gandhi?) as the next prime minister of India. Although BJP lost the election the era of coalitions did not end with them. The split majority (or minority) given to the Congress and the huge task of managing coalition and relying on political blackmails has become a norm and not a very familiar situation for the Congress, which had unilateral control over India for over 4 of the 6 decades of Independence. In this context, party loyalty and sycophancy became the order of the day.
The minute Sonia "Madam ji" was made to decide the future of a resilient nation, she (tactically) decided not to be the Prime Minister but to be a King Maker and run the show by placing puppets in the key posts. Two key posts always haunted me: the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, both very powerful and both "conferred" upon to party (Congress) loyalists. I have greatest respect for our former finance minister and the current prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh, but I feel he is in no way competent to govern a country of our stature. I have no regrets in expressing my displeasure towards the home minister though, he has never proved to be pivotal in Indian politics and was never an able leader. Even when he was the speaker of the house, he did not have the clout to manage the proceedings of the house which consisted of 500 odd members, Now, how can he handle the second most powerful portfolio in the country?
There are a number of questions that keep bothering me: I have no idea as to why the congress politicians lay spineless and surrender to Madam ji? Don't they have an iota of shame? Don't they feel that they are being looked at as hermaphrodites? don't these politicians have ego. last of all? I have no clue. But what seems evident is that they do not have!
Now, there are politicians on one hand and the bureaucrats the other. Both are equally responsible. The bureaucrats are another set of sycophants who are only and only worried about their promotions and their positions. There are many bureaucrats who can be directly seen as "affiliates" of partisan politics. Some of these are "posted" at powerful positions and others deemed to "punishment" posts. Only to avoid the latter, these bureaucrats become the "yes minister!" typologies. To me these babu's are equally responsible for what ever is happening. Of course not all babu's come under this category, but many of these have never gone against the tide and really achieved anything significant. There might be a couple that have done that, but they had to regrettheir decisions (Kiran Bedi, Jay Prakash Narayan etc come to my mind as I scribble this). Thus many of the bureaucrats become mere spectators and really do not contribute their part in the decision making process. I have seen these people in close quarters and always felt that they had such enormous power, talent and are selected through a sophisticated methodology but have to heed to politicians who are probably not even 1st graders.
There is yet another draw back in the bureaucratic system: Lack of specialization. The babu's are jack of all trades and master of none, this poses a great threat to the sustainability of the programs and even the design of the same. A fresh bureaucrat starts as a regional official, graduates to district deputy and collectors post, then moves haphazardly to departments without their "choice" to say. one day, they are municipal commissioners and secretary of animal husbandry the other and this cycle is never settling and so are the timings. the Police services are no different, although power varies with the compleity of the city and the closeness to the power center. The tenure of these people is completely dependent upon the whims and fancies of politicians and not the "merit" (or otherwise) of their decisions and actions. This leads to a major drawback in the way the "system" functions and the effectiveness. there is no one who is continuously following through a set of reforms and programs, this leads to the execution of the programs to be dealt according to the "person" incharge. Thus the lakc of institutionalization of changes and administration. This leads to a lot of confusion and chaos in the way systems work and hence ineffective governance system that is present in the country as of today.
In this mire of complex political and bureaucratic relations, the people of country suffer. At times the people benefit from government policies and at times despite them. The lack of accountability in the political process and the administration lead to an incoherent growth pattern and a lack of confidence in the future. One agency tries to pursuade othe other to take steps to ensure that there is no lack of coordination, but when the buck is passed they do not care if it reaches the destination. It is similar to the relay running races in which relay depends on continuous passing of baton to the next player. Since the race has accoutability (win/loss) everyone ensures that the baton is passed and in the right way, and in politics and the incoherent administrative setup, baton is lost, sometimes multiple times. The news these days is focusing on the multiple warnings and the ignoring of the same. This clearly illustrates my analogy.
In any case, I can keep on writing for ages on this topic, but sticking to the self imposed principles of time constrains I would like to stop here.
There is no right answer to whatever has happened. There is always a way to find a scape goat and move ahead. But what is really lacking is the resolve to come together and find a solution to the problem. Be it terrorist attacks or poverty alleviation. There is a a clear lacuna in the system and the system itself needs change. I do not have a solution for the same and neither can I see some one bringing the "change" ...but some one has to take the first step, towards it...and I am waiting for such a moment...As Gandhi used to say "be the change you want to see"...I want to become a change agent...I am probably waiting for something...I am unaware of what it is as of today.
PEACE...my deepest condolences to the families of the victims
Jai Hind!!!
Avadhani
posted by Avadhani at
7:09 AM
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