Why should government make citizens jump through hoops to obtain a certificate?

Why should government make citizens jump through hoops to obtain a certificate?

To get a caste certificate for son, I went to the office of the Mandal Revenue Officer. It is a story that happened in 2002. I portrayed myself to the officer as a cog in the wheel of the government! The officer wore a welcome look and spoke very courteously giving me an impression that for a person of my stature, issue of a certificate is just a walk in the park. He said, “ Send somebody, sir, it would be ready by tomorrow and it would be given to your person”. It was very assuring so I did not have a fleck of doubt about what I had to get.

The next day, I got off work a couple of hours earlier and headed for the caste-certificate issue office. An old man, appearing to be a low-rung employee, stared at me for a few seconds and ignored me. I went straight to the officer I spoke to yesterday. The officer was not there since he was on tour. A clerk who was shuffling papers and files in the officer’s cabin volunteered to advise me that I should come the next day. I was puzzled and disappointed.

To ascertain if my application was receiving the attention of the right person, or, luckily, action was already taken, I went to the relevant clerk to enquire. He dug through the papers and files to find mine, and the answer I was anxious to get came out of his lips, and I was shocked. ‘Your paper did not reach us’. This is the language particular to Indian public offices.

I went home and made another set of applications. I went to the office and searched for the low-rung employee for his help; he said he was observing me since the first time I went to that office. He took the application and told me to come a couple of days later. Dealing with him was not very expensive. He took the responsibility to file the application and get the certificate issued. I went two days later and collected the certificate from the clerk who made it ready. Things have to be got done through the agents!

This is the story of a privileged member of the society who has to pursue or bribe the staff in the public offices! Imagine the situation a poor farmer or crafts person has to encounter in these offices to get a certificate for his son. It is horrendous! He has to make a few overnight stays and bribe many!

Can’t governments spend money on database and its updating? Why should an officer issue a certificate! Certificates can be issued within minutes by the front office manager or a receptionist in a public officer if only the database about the citizens is kept and updated! Which Government Can Do This? I will vote for such political party.

It is difficult to reach public servants in Andhra Pradesh

It is i to reach public servants!
In this era of information/computer technology and internet, governments like those of Andhra Pradesh should be seamlessly wired/ connected to receive inputs from the public or sort out their problems; still, the people at helm in Andhra Pradesh appear to have the mindset that a member of the public should visit their offices and submit their complaints and queries! How much wastage does such personal visits entail –expenditure, hassles and inconvenience to the visitor, and attention that has to be paid by the officer. To illustrate, one has to spend money on transport, spend time to visit and encounter the hassles of passing through security or elicit cooperation from the unwilling employees.

I visited ‘www.aponline.gov.in’. When I tried to contact the officers on email - for example, those of Department of Agriculture and Cooperation or Vigilance Commission, the email messages either rebounded or remained unacknowledged; most of the email ids given in the portal are either non-extant or dead (long unopened). A citizen cannot reach a government servant; during Chandrababunaidu’s time, email system was good, whereas in current regime, no such focus is seen. No government officer responds to the emails from the public. Earlier, even Chandrababunaidu used to personally respond to the emails, which contrasts sharply with the present situation in which YSR has no such discipline to respond; for one, all the representations to CM of our colleagues who were unfairly discharged from services during Chandrababu’s rule appear to have been pushed under carpet, although five years have elapsed after the first submission of their representations. I am sure you cannot now reach the CM in any manner; he does not have a system to look at the correspondence or meet the public and has no system to monitor what happens to such correspondence or visits.

He does not want us to reach him. He appears to believe that system takes care of what has to be done to the public; but what puzzles me is that he does not know that there is no system. Or, he seemingly assumes that he can figure out our needs himself without our inputs; YSR either has no understanding of concept of good governance; or, such pretence of ignorance benefits him as well as supporters. Same is the mindset of either Sonia Gandhi or Sushil Kumar Shinde! In fact, Congress government appears to thrive on bad governance. ‘Don’t be transparent and don’t let people reach you’ is the lodestar and centerpiece of their strategy! May God Bless This Country!

AP People Cannot Understand Social Justice

Dr. Chiranjeevi held a ‘Social Justice Conference’ yesterday in Rajamundry. The centerpiece of his manifesto or political strategy is social justice and corruption-free government. Do such promises appeal to the plebian people? The people, unfortunately, cannot distinguish slavery from decent living; they cannot distinguish bad governance from a good one; they cannot tell between corruption and rule of law. They don’t mind the way they are treated in a police station or an MRO office. They don’t mind paying bribes, and experience insults in the public offices; they don’t bother if their children are unable to get into public employment; they have no ability to understand that their brethren of lesser gods are either marginalized or disadvantaged. This is the backdrop created, or canvass laid by the successive Congress and Telugu Desam governments. Congress, Chandrababu and Corruption all, belong to the same Caste!

How To Finalize Party Manifesto: A Scientific Method

When the political parties formulate their strategies basing on different agendas/promises, they should take care to identify and finalize the combination of agendas (Portfolio of Promises). This Agenda Portfolio will either make or mar a party’s chances of success greatly. This is something like a product offer; a company identifies carefully the features of their product to be launched: features, material quality, style and design, price and so on. Each product is a unique combination of offers. Is there a statistical or scientific method to find out the best mix of product features or, for that matter, party agenda? Yes. It is ‘Conjoint Analysis’.

The Dismal Inefficiency in Voter Identity Cards’ Issue in Andhra Pradesh

After a long, excruciating wait, today, my son and my daughter got their voter identity cards ; they are registered as voters for the first time. They were all eyes to see their voter identity cards. They received but there is not even a single entry which is correct! The entry clerk did not appear to be able to read from the record at least name, not speak of date of birth or address or father’s name! A shining example of sloppy work that happens in any government department!
The following entries are wrong:
1. The voter’s name itself is wrong in both English and Telugu entries; there is at least no correspondence between Telugu and English entries;
2. Father’s name is wrong;
3. Address is wrong; and
4. Age is wrong.
The following are the details.
My daughter’s Card
No.YZK0229674 As in the card (wrong entry) What it should be as per record (correct entry)
Name M.Nirupam Mrunalini M.Nirupama Mrinalini
Age 1985 1986
Father’s Name Appalayya Appa Laiah
Address Saktisainagar KL Nagar Community Hall

My son’s Card
No.YZK0229708 As in the card What it should be as per record
Name MVIR Venkatesh MMVR Venkatesh
Age 1988 1987
Father’s Name Appalayya Appa Laiah
Address Saktisainagar KL Nagar Community Hall

The obvious reasons for these blunders are:
1. Quality staff was not hired.
2. There was no supervision.
3. There was no planning.
4. The job was done in a rush.