Reading ‘English August’ and ‘Mammaries of the Welfare State’ by Upamanyu Chattterjee, prompted me to pen my own experiences with babus of the Welfare State . Most people include army in the ‘babus’ category, but, despite being a govt organization it is more like a corporate, in terms of order, work culture, efficiency and accountability; in short, it is more like HDFC bank than SBI.
So when we do get to work in a civil govt org, we too undergo a cultural shock. I have had to deal with three different State Govts, while serving with NCC (National Cadet Corps) , viz, Tamilnadu
(TN), Madhya Pradesh (MP) and West Bengal (WB). There are vast differences betwen the States in language , resources, and work culture. In most of the states, NCC comes under the Education Department or the Department of youth affairs, but in WB, it comes under the Department of Civil defence and Disaster Management (CD and DM), though NCC has little do with Civil defence or disaster management except in extreme circumstances.
(TN), Madhya Pradesh (MP) and West Bengal (WB). There are vast differences betwen the States in language , resources, and work culture. In most of the states, NCC comes under the Education Department or the Department of youth affairs, but in WB, it comes under the Department of Civil defence and Disaster Management (CD and DM), though NCC has little do with Civil defence or disaster management except in extreme circumstances.
Be that as it may, considering that everyone is interested in milking the welfare state, it is a common factor that in any State you approach the dept, mostly for finances. Milking the state is a full time job, and it can lead to ludicrous situations. In WB, there was an NCC BN, where not a single clerk was posted out of authorized strength of 10. Of course there were 12-15 Group D staff posted. The question is how do you do the paper work for drawing the salary and other allowances . A clerk was hired to do the needful and he was paid out of the unit’s private resources. So the only work done in the unit was preparation of salary bills and that too was outsourced !
While at TN and MP, I was just one of the users, in WB, I was one of the privileged few to be involved in budgeting, release of funds and such aspects.
This took me to the famed Writers’ Building atleast twice a week. The WB Govt , or the Party, as they call it, loved to exercise tight control over everything and what better way to achieve this than by holding on tightly to the purse strings.
An NCC unit incurring an expenditure of say, Rs 2000/- for sending just one cadet for some training, had to send a proposal to the Department through the proper channel of communication. This was finally approved by the Dept of CD and DM, and a Goverment Order (GO) was issued based on which the amount was drawn from the Govt Treasury.
Issuance of a GO is a torturous process, requiring the concurrence of the triumvirate, Pricipal Secretary (PS), Joint Secreatry (JS) and Deputy Secreatry (DS) , duly approved by the all powerful “finance dept” and the invisible hand of the trade union. Despite all efforts, the funds may not be available in time if the particulr clerk responsible for typing the GO glares at you and says ‘hobe na’ (not possible) for whatever reason. It may be due to the fast approaching Durga Poojo (Poojo starts approaching a month in advance) or ‘jomoi shashti’ or one of the many ‘poojos’ in the land of ‘barah mahino, teroh poojo’. When poojos didn’t oblige, the didi did by calling for a bandh on the odd working day. Those were the days when didi was in the opposition.
Coming to the ring side view of the working of the Govt, the minister was young, highly educated and a genial man. But any interation with him started and ended with exchange of pleasantaries. The PS, of the IAS cadre, was again a very affable person, but had definitely imbibed the work cuture of the State, with the long years spent in the districts. When he was not pan-chewing in a comtemplative mood, or discussing office politics, he could be seen laboriously working on a draft letter with one bare foot perched on the chair, and tongue sticking out in deep concentration. The entire process of issue of a letter, from dictaion to his PA, typing, corrections, recorrections, retyping and final despatch could take about a week in good times.ie when there was no disruptions due to strikes or poojos. A computer was seen in his office, but it was seldom used.
The real work or obstruction to any kind of work took place in the large halls, populated by hundreds of clerks, duly supervised by JS s and DSs from their tiny cabins. One had to negotiate through a labyrinth of corridors, with only the singara vendors and huge stacks of files and the public toilets, for sign posts. You literally had to use your nose for navigation.
It all may sound very depressing, but surprisingly things do move, if you keep at it. People are good natured and courteous even if they didn’t like being rushed in their workplace. Only in their workplace they take it easy; they are just personifications of efficiency when it comes to participating in Durga poojo celebrations or while organizing a musical night. The PA to the minister was secretary of his mohalla Durga poojo cmmittee and by the way he plotted and planned to mobile resources for the poojo, one would think that was his primary job. So, things did move if you are patient.
West Bengal Civil Defence Minister Sreekumar Mukherjee
It was a great day, when I saw the ‘Master GO‘ declaring that the senior most army officer responsible for all NCC activities in the state , was empowered to draw and expend money, based on a lump sum allotment for the whole year. It also meant the end of my biweekly or triweekly visits to the Writers’ Building. Fortunately for me, my tenure there alo came to an end around that time, for I would definitely have missed the trips through the corridors of power.
The est of NCC is old. How is it that experienced army offrs have not sorted out the problem in the past?
@balutagi,
NCC functions in a different way in every state. It would take more than a blog to explain.
Funding is done jointly by the centre and the state govt. It is quite complex for eg, vehicle is provided by the centre while petrol is provided by the state. Till 2006, it was 50-50. the state govt had to do the initial funding and then claim 50% from the centre. Interested / efficient state govts expended funds from their own resources and then claimed their share from the center promptly. CM, chandrababu naidu wanted NCC for every studet in AP, and was willing to share the costs. States like WB, spent little, and due to sheer inefficeincy and inertia failed to collect the central share leading to even lesser spending; and hence the tight control.
Post 2006, state govts and central govt released funds simiultaneouly (centre 75% and state 25%; for j & k and NE States it was 100% funding by the centre.) so, every 1 rupee the state govt released, got for them 3 rupees from the centre. State like Goa and sikkim, actually volunteered to spend more, so that they could get more for their student population. To get an idea of the variance, in 2006, WB was spending rs 7.50 per cadet per day and got Rs 23.50 from the centre, making it Rs 30/ per day per cadet; MP Govt was giving Rs 10/ and was getting Rs 30/ from the centre and by 2007, it had risen to Rs 18.50 from the state and Rs 56.25 from the centre, making it Rs 75/ more than double of what a WB cadet got.
I don't claim to have solved a 50 year old problem. Post 2006, somebody, in the wb state govt must have realized, with some help from our side, that they had to give just one fourth of what they had earlier been giving, and that the only way they could get the 75% from the centre was by releasing their share of 25% faster. ( If Mamta Didi, gets to know, she would be fighting for 100% from the centre, for continued support to UPA)
In mera bharat mahan, you always wonder, how something gets done, rather than how or why something doesn't get done!