DailyPost 2573
POSTS, POSTINGS & SUPERFLOUS GOVERNANCE
In the din, clamour of posts and postings, locations of power and the proximity to it, how much can you project to live in reflected glory of the post, or closeness to power, and the influence you wield and seem to wield, covers the complete mind space of top echelons of both the permanent and the political executive. The system is of the thinking that power is up for grabs and no stone should be left unturned to grab it. Why that power was created and for what purpose, is no one’s concern.
A discussion on what expertise needs to held to occupy those positions of power is a taboo. It has been brought to a level, that the general understanding is that anyone hold any position and “do justice to it.” Why nearly no one has been able to do justice to those positions of power, has never been researched upon and will never be researched but that is where the magic sauce could be found to * create a new executive of a new India;* elected or recruited. The nature of creation of posts and added to that methodology of the postings has created a madness without a method, which on the top of it looks so sombre, grave, tasking and delivering.
How many posts in the last few decades have been created with a purpose and that purpose has been fulfilled? There is no sanctity of the numbers of ministers and hence the corresponding sanctity of ministries and departments itself in in question. Even unknown designations keep appearing. Power grab by the powerful and then satisfying political interests (loyalists etc) has been the formula of sharing. There will never be a time when their numbers, job description and performance, would get objectively evaluated. This nature of posts opens up both a diehard rat race and also a maddening personality cult culture.
In the bureaucratic posts how many superfluous and more so at the senior levels, is left of your imagination. They have primarily been created to accommodate a top-heavy bureaucracy on account pathetic human resource planning. The powerful posts remain few in number and they are at the centre stage of many ongoing battles. Those who get to those posts, because of their superhuman effort, are not ready to give it up, whatever come may, even superannuation. The intricacies and complexities of this game can intrigue any outsider, but the grandmasters inside play with skill and finesse. The real problem is that it has created a mechanism of governance which is superfluous in more ways than one, and seems to be getting as awry as it can, with the passage of time.
PERSONAL LOYALTY AND INDIVIDUAL COMFORT & GAIN ARE THE ANTITHESIS OF THE IDEA AND PRACTICE OF BUREAUCRACY.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.