Prof. Ranjan Mohapatra

There are a large number of patriotic Indians, who are passionate for positive change in the conditions around us in our great nation. It is also believed that the starting point for change is, the change of mindset and promoting loyalty for the country. Thus, we have the answer , about , what to change ?

But the real question remains unanswered, where to start, at the top or at the bottom ?. As a Change Management Consultant, supporting organizations in managing change, I have rarely seen any successful change process, when initiated from the bottom of the organization, unless it is owned up and led from the top leaders of the organization. Essentially, a change process is a top-down process. Any change process initiated from the bottom, is resisted by the top , actively or passively. The active process of resistance is exhibited by the Government today through its action against the Naxalites, who are demanding change through violence, which is not legal, not constitutional, permitting the Government to take action. When, a change is initiated by a citizen in his individual capacity or a group of citizens, it is ignored silently and passively, if it does not benefit the system, which usually resists change. In fact the passive resistance to change over long periods, leads the citizens to a state of frustration , leading to use of violence.

In case of the Naxals , they are challenging the very right of the state to govern, which is rooted in the failure of the state in making governance services reach them for generations. The country is almost choked with the problem of Naxalism, which has spread like cancer and it has got a large part of Indian territory under its control, snatching it away from the lawfully elected Government. The number of killings including Government Officials, Police, politicians and damage of property can be estimated , but what about the loss of faith of the common man in a Government and the to right to safety and security , which is the Government is guaranteed under the constitution. This is fast eroding the faith of Indians on the system (Government), the so called SARKAR.

The response by the Central and State Governments, to the problem of Naxalism, which challenges the very foundation of state, have been adhoc and non-serious till now. Why ? This big question becomes a major issue for debate in the media after every major attack, killing by the Naxalites and then the issue dies down and out of public memory till the next attack. Now, why the issue dies down. Because, every one, individually feels helpless and the Government as a system does not respond effectively, as they play a game of buck-passing between center and the state.
Again, why does this buck passing happens?. Both the sides are most of times, represented by the same group of politicians, a CM becomes a central minister and a central minister becomes a CM of a state. The answer to the question is, the individual politicians are puppets in the system of governance, who are themselves helpless many times to act and they do not have the resources, intellectual or political , to change the system. As the head of the “system” is helpless, the functionaries, within the “system”, tend to exploit the system and make it weaker day by day , taking it to a point of collapse.

The crime rate is growing, public anger is increasing, you have murder, rape, kidnapping as a regular affair. The public is taking law in to own hands, at the slightest provocation, reason no punishment, conviction for crimes as the criminal justice system has collapsed.
The basic cause of public anger is the non-availability of basic services from the government that includes livelihood options for income, safety, health care , education , housing support etc. All these can be possible to a much larger degree, if the governance system works for the public as a service provider , not as a ruler.

What is a system or system of Governance? For general understanding, it is a process of making decisions, made within the framework of Government, involving policies for the security, welfare and for the overall interest of the citizens.

If, we say that quality of governance is all about quality and quantity of decision making, then I may conclude that the level of public frustration / naxalism is dependent on the Quality of Governance, which is dependent on the quality and quantity of decisions made in the Government, in the interest of the state. If, we look at the state of poverty, development and naxal activity, in different states of India and compare it with the quality and quantity of decisions made in public interest, we will find that there is a positive correlation between the quality and quantity of decisions made in the Government, in the interest of the public and state of poverty, development and naxalism. A real life case of an under developed state with naxal problem, presented below, speaks for the quality ( includes timelyness) and quantity of decision making.

My friend Rajesh (name changed) , who works on a senior position in a Nationalized Bank in Delhi, wanted an authentication certificate for his degrees from a University in his home state, for processing his VISA through the Govt. of India and then the Embassy concerned. Mr. Rajesh, took leave from his duty and rushed to his state capital. As Rajesh landed at the entrance of the State Secretariat at about 11 AM; the security guard asked for a gate pass and then guided him to the reception block. Rajesh stood in the queue in one of the counters for a pass to see Additional Secretary, Education Department. The counter clerk asked if he already had an appointment with the Additional Secretary.

“No !” said Rajesh. Then the counter clerk refused to issue a pass. Rajesh lost cool and felt as if he was in an alien’s land. He lost his cool and created a scene and with difficulty managed to get a pass to enter into the high security Babu Mahal. Rajesh saw the Additional Secretary and explained his requirement. Additional Secretary called his Deputy to arrange for the authentication. The Deputy Secretary took Rajesh with him to his official chamber. Rajesh was made to wait for a couple of hours. When Rajesh again talked of the letter of authentication, the Deputy said it was not that easy. Only Additional Secretary could do so after getting it verified by the University. The Deputy then wrote a note on the file and forwarded to the Additional Secretary. The Additional Secretary approved it. Then Rajesh asked for the letter. The Deputy said he was not authorized to issue the letter.

“But, you have got the approval from Additional Secretary?” Rajesh reacted.

The deputy said, “Oh that’s only for the file and record. A draft letter had to be approved.”

“Then, why did’t you send the draft letter in one go?” Rajesh asked.

“We will follow our process” said the Deputy. Rajesh meekly surrendered and bowed down before the officials for the favour though what he expected was his legitimate right and felt that the so called process , is irrelevant and should have been substituted by now. He , as banker, trained to provide service to the customers , felt that the officials do not conduct themselves as service providers with a respect for the customers, rather they behave as rulers and masters, with a colonial mindset .

Draft had to be typed by the typing section. Rajesh rendered a helping hand to the typist and sat with him in the typing section. The draft letter was sent to the Additional Secretary. The peon and no one else had to carry the file to the Additional Secretary. Fortunately Additional Secretary was available in the room and not away in meetings, which is usually the case. The peon said you are lucky; the Additional Secretary is not having any meeting out side his office.
The Additional Secretary signed the draft. The final letter was typed and again sent to the Additional Secretary for signature as the Deputy was not authorized to do so. Finally, the Additional Secretary signed the letter. Rajesh was to carry the letter with him to the University, where he had studied. But the Deputy said, the letter would be only sent to the Dispatch Section and he can not be given a copy of the letter , unless approved by the Additional Secretary. Out of total anger and frustration, Rajesh, pushed himself in to the office of Additional Secretary and requested him to permit a copy of the letter to be carried by him to expedite the process. The Additional Secretary directed that Rajesh be handed over a copy of the letter. He got the copy of the letter. It was already about 4 PM. Then he rushed to the University campus.

Rajesh was asked to come the next day.

He submitted the letter with the Registrar’s Office after identifying the official concerned to handle the job. Rajesh followed up the whole of second day with the University Office and the officer concerned said that he would sign only one document and not documents attached as by mistake the Additional Secretary office has requested for signing “the document and not documents”. Then Rajesh ran to the office of Additional Secretary again and managed to get the letter corrected. The verification was done in the evening and the letter was issued only on the third day. Three working days got lost. The job was not difficult. Original Certificates were there and only an authenticity certification was required that the applicant did study in a university under the state. This certificate was to be given after seeing the original documents.

Does it require three days time? A Senior Manager in a Bank has so much of responsibilities to discharge. An Additional Secretary has so much of responsibilities to discharge. Is the process for the public interest , being so time consuming. Why was the Additional Secretary wasting his time for making so many signatures, draft approvals, was it not possible for him to delegate the routine task to the juniors with appropriate training and focusing him time and energy for meaningful intellectual work, including process improvement ?. In this case, is it not possible to put all the past university students database with scanned copies of certificates on the web , with passwords to the Department of Education of the Government , which can verify the record and authenticate the certificates , instantly . A 3- minute job took three days. In the era of computers, we are still burying ourselves in the dusty files ignoring the interest of the public. Where are we heading to? Anarchy! Obviously, Naxalism , insurgency etc are the beginning. The leaders and politicians are yet to appreciate that governance system is acts as the foundation, for the development processes. The states, where governance systems are improved, the state of development is far better. A senior govt. official of Punjab Cadre, listening to the story of Rajesh, said, “ if, you would have come to my office for the same job, I would have taken my letter head drafted the letter by hand and sent you the University to get the verification done and your job could have been completed in one day, in place of three “. If, this is case of one to three in governance, for BIMARU (poor – under developed) state to Punjab, we have another comparable case from Gujarat, a developed state

A real life case narrated to me by a former Secretary, Industry, Government of Gujarat, the state known to be a industry friendly state. The recent TATA NANO episode is a larger example of speed of decision making, supporting the process of industrialization. In the case of the Industry Secretary, one entrepreneur setting up an Industry in Gujarat met the Secretary, Industry with a problem of clearance from few other Departments. After a brief discussion, the Industry Secretary realized that effective and quick solution will be possible only with the involvement of the CM; otherwise the process of delay would cost the industry heavily, may be making it unviable. He spoke to the CM’s office in the next floor of his office, who was incidentally available. He wanted to meet the CM immediately, to which the CM agreed, unlike the long drawn out process of meeting a CM in other states, even for top officials. The Industry Secretary took the Industrialist with him and met the CM; the CM spoke on phone to other Secretaries, involved in the case and solved the problem immediately.

I need not repeat now that the progress, development of a state, country is dependent on the quality ( which includes timeliness) and quantity of decision making. But, why then, the system of governance is not improving in the poor states? It is common knowledge that the quality of state leadership influences the quality of governance. You may take the example of Mr. Chandrababu Naidu( AP), Mr. Digvijay Singh (MP), Mr. Narendra Modi ( Gujarat) , who have contributed positively, to the process of governance in their states. However, we need to appreciate that every CM contributes to the quality of governance , positively or negatively. If, a state goes through a long period of negative contribution from the CM , amy be called mal governance , the governance system gets weakened and develops a negative mindset , which becomes difficult to correct in a short span of time. Causing damage to any system takes less time than undertaking repair of the system. Our Governments in states and also the center has are carrying on with a system, left over by Britishers, designed to suppress and public and rule, with a mindset of ruler. This prevailing system, motivates the heads of the Government to carry on with a similar mindset of ruler, even when elected, through a democratic process, to service the people, because the system induces the leaders through more power and no accountability, which is like an addiction and it benefits the insiders of the system. The Governments are not as effective as they can be , primarily because the governance system controlled, by the mindset of ruler, is not for the outsiders / the public. It is not a Government, “of the people, for the people, by the people”, which was intended to be, by the Constitution of India.

Probably the constitution makers made a mistake, rather a grave mistake by giving the future leaders a Constitution with ideal goals for serving the people of India, but through an instrument of Governance system, designed to exploit and rule the people of India.

It is like giving the leaders a task to heal the people of India , suffering from centuries of mis-rule and exploitation through an instrument like gun, designed to kill. Again, without prior experience in Governance , Indian leaders did not have the capacity of designing a new instrument to heal , i.e., designing a new governance system to serve the people of India , with a mindset of service- service provider, changing from the mindset of ruler. By now, it is high time , the system should change from a killer to a healer.

The mindset of the Government / Governance system is comparable with the spirit of a body. The conduct of the body is regulated by the spirit and therefore, the conduct of Government can be regulated by the spirit, the mindset of the CM. Then, why is it , not changing. The mindset is not changing as the politicians can get away with it. They win elections and rule , irrespective of poor performance in service delivery. Even today, we it is a Congres ruled state and that is a BJP or CPM ruled state, not congress served state or BJP served state.

Reason, the majority of voters do not know what to demand, due to their low level of education , understanding and prone to manipulation. They demand bijli, sadak, paani , and not reform in governance and judiciary. If, reforms are done in these two basic areas at the macro level-top level , bijli, sadak, pani and all other services will automatically flow in at the micro level. In fact, change will happen, only when, there pressure from the voters, the voters being ignorant, it becomes the responsibility of the enlightened civil society to lead the process of demand for reform at the level Governance system and also the judicial system.

For the civil society, it is for the wiser to focus on macro level change, starting with Governance and Judiciary, other than focusing micro issues. On the top of it all, the love for our country, which is essential as oxygen, every where and always. Patriotism, can be used as a catalyst for any positive change.