DailyPost 2507
THE BATTLE FOR POSTINGS!
While the politician throws his gauntlet to grab a post of his choice after being successful at the hustings, the bureaucrat or the government functionary is in eternal battle of postings. How many of you are a firm believer in the objective and empirical management of human resources by the government? This could have become the cornerstone of our democratic success and governance which could have taken India to a totally different level. Suffice to say, India recruits the best and brightest at all levels of the government. But unfortunately they are in an eternal battle for postings.
Managing your postings is the biggest art of a government servant. This also becomes his passion and over a period of time, his only obsession. The reasons can be one and many, what is important is that he is embroiled in it once and for all. Most of the times his family also gets involved impacted as an extension. When the topmost bureaucrats keep eyeing for some extension of his service beyond superannuation or a post-retirement job, why blame the rest of the crowd. It’s not that they would not have picked up this great art at the fag end of their careers. There is no free lunch is more applicable in this case, more than for anything else.
It is still not known as to what percentage of people getting into government service have the intention of continuously improving upon their expertise and competencies and improve their output and delivery based on that. How many of them remain unimpacted by the rot which is visible everywhere? How many of them are ready to be out of the race of cajoling the politicians? How many treat their jobs as a service for the betterment of the people, for which they are duly compensated by the government? The reality they are being taken care off very well if you take the financial compensation, facilities and perks.
There are high profile jobs from a variety of considerations, very rarely thought of, from the delivery of government service point of view. These positions are few and so the battle. If you reach there, you would like to be there for the longest period of time. These positions carry visibility and better comforts plus huge opportunities to brag about yourself, while doing only the routine. If also adds the geographical coordinates, if not anything else, to build up an ‘outstanding career.’ Staying at your choice location is also a very strong consideration for a large number of them. Being on top of the appraisal charts is another battle which they learn to live with, with success. The beauty of the whole exercise is that finally everything is decided by the political executive, de facto, for reasons best known to them. The focus and purpose of bureaucracy seems to have been lost in battle for postings wilderness.
THE BATTLE FOR POSTINGS IS A DEATH KNELL FOR HIGH QUALITY GOVERNANCE DELIVERY, AND TO THE FEW IN GOVERNMENT WHO HAVE DECIDED TO BE OUT OF THAT BATTLE.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.