Sunday, October 12, 2014

Modi Takes on Babu Raj

Modi is imposing electronic surveillance on bureaucrats, to compel more discipline:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/world/asia/in-india-government-tracks-its-own.html?_r=0


Well, that's one way to downsize the govt - attrition.

4 comments:

non-carborundum said...

Although biometric is fine, I thinks Modi (who seems to be gradually turning into omnipresent talking head Obama) is going too far with his approach in general to govt officials. They were mean-spiritedly summoned on 2nd October - Gandhi Jayanti to work for half a day. I agree with Pratap Bhanu Mehta's comments in this article:


“It is a mistake to think that discipline can replace the need for trust,...At most, it displaces trust. But the harm it produces is to create a culture of suspicion, where distrust becomes the norm.”

P.S.: I am not a babu

san said...

It may be necessary to shake up the babu culture with sharp actions that grab their attention. Whatever whining they do, I seriously doubt any babus will give up their plum positions to work in the private sector, where they'll be worked much harder.

AGworld said...

In the private sector, babus will have to take calls, make their own coffee and basically be accountable for results (not just for constituting committees)

they need a few short, sharp shocks.

that is not to say Modi is doing everything right -- he could do a lot more in the areas of big reforms (rather than focusing exclusively on hundreds of smaller ones as it seems from the outside).

but i guess we're behaving like the Adimral who asks M "What the hell is Bond doing"

to which M replies, rather coolly, "his job"

non-carborundum said...

I don't know where you guys are based but you're talking like typical NRIs.

The single biggest factor in indecisiveness of senior bureaucrats is the fear of Vigilance harassment. This is what basically happened during the second UPA term. Beyond a point, terrorizing govt servants is going to be counter productive.

The most incompetent are the hardest taskmasters. Remember Chidambaram?