Our ‘Not-Eunuch’ Bureaucrats
By Rummuser. Filed in Politics, Raves and Rants |Tags: Indian Bureaucracy, Reforms in India
This is a guest post from my friend Sandeep, who is currently in Canada but is expected to return to Pune shortly and cook a meal for me that he claims will be the best that I ever ate. He really knows how to please me.
This is a thoughtful piece of writing. He had just sent me an email about the article that he refers to at the end of the post, but I persuaded him to allow me to post this as a guest post. Bureaucrats everywhere are the same and I am sure that Sandeep’s rants will get a lot of sympathetic nods from my readers. Do please read on.
Twenty years ago, Rajiv Gandhi, India’s late Prime Minister, lamented that only 15% of every rupee spent on governmental developmental works and poverty alleviation reached the poor. The remaining 85% was swallowed by corrupt middlemen and government bureaucrats. He also said if all of the the massive governmental outlays on poverty alleviation actually reached the poor, India would cease to be a poor country.
India’s bureaucracy is also its curse. Unlike politicians (who are often and rightly maligned), our bureaucrats cannot be voted out of power. They are never held accountable for their action – or lack of it. Many of them (though not all) are corrupt, incompetent and just plain callous.
The new government is promising to try and push through the reform of India’s bureaucracy. The bureaucracy is powerful and it will be hard to push these reforms through. But reform in this area will make India a much more equitable and prosperous country.
As any student of ancient history will tell you, the ancient Persian and Roman empires were brought down in large part, by their bureaucracies, which were run by all-powerful court eunuchs. Our bureaucrats are not eunuchs, but they are just as corrupt, arrogant and incompetent as their ancient counterparts.
Will attempts at bureaucratic reform in India succeed? We hope so. The future of one-fifth of humanity depends on it.
Read this Wall Street Journal article to learn more.
Thursday, May 28th 2009 at 23:24 |
Good luck!
Jean Browman–Cheerful Monk´s last blog post..I’ve Been Thinking…Again
Rummuser Reply:
May 29th, 2009 at 18:15
Yes, we need lots of it!
Friday, May 29th 2009 at 04:13 |
Thanks for the opportunity to be a guest on your blog, Ramana. I hope my culinary skills live up to your expectations!
Sandeep Gupta´s last blog post..India: Why the Opposition Matters
Rummuser Reply:
May 29th, 2009 at 18:14
Time will tell!
Monday, June 8th 2009 at 23:57 |
Ah Beaurocracy, for the most part and for the most of us, it just involves opportunities to harass the common man. I storm my brain to find a way out, but while giving up, I say to myself, “This is perhaps the natural order of things”. It seems hopeless but as I most often like to say, lets wait and watch.
Ashok´s last blog post..Vacation thoughts
Wednesday, June 10th 2009 at 11:27 |
Hi Ramana!
I place my faith in people!
The small and the few that do what it takes each day!
Some of these people are in government and try everyday to work tirelessly to promote a better economics and policies.
But I have learn their are many loop holes that exist that many can use to promote well being form the outside in…Thankfully this exists everyday. I am not alone in this knowledge. There many small foundations that make the right thngs happen everyday!
Don’t get down get up and do something!
Namaste,
Diane
Rummuser Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 17:31
I do agree that there are good bureaucrats who try their best to get things done and are stymied. The vast majority however, do not and that is the problem!
Namaste