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.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
A.P.Government Retrenches PSU Staff To Accommodate Ad-Hoc Deputation Officers: A Handiwork Of Vested Interests
A.P.Government Retrenches PSU Staff To Accommodate Ad-Hoc Deputation Officers: A Handiwork Of Vested Interests
(A Story on Chandrababunaidu’s Machiavellian Machinations)
Pandering to the World Bank’s blood thirst (excessive desire for laying off staff) for employees, Chandrababunaidu, the power-hungry, back-stabbing, Machiavellian CM formulated a plan to retrench Government staff.
Although the aim was to retrench unproductive, non-responsive government staff, he guessed that Government employees would not take such reforms kindly; he predicted a strong backlash. To get round this, the only way out for him was to cut the personnel of PSUs who were poorly unionized. The blind, retrenchment-hungry World Bank was shown how the Government cut the government personnel.
Massive retrenchment was launched no matter how unfair, unwarranted and implausible that exercise was. Organizations, as a result, were weakened. Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy also tried to follow suit. But he panicked at the specter of losing his job as it was the case with Chandrababunaidu.
Chandrababunaidu, to be brief, concentrated all his energies on retrenchment; even in the court cases dealing with prejudice, he saw that the retrenchment was not halted under any circumstances no matter how outrageous and cruel it was; he asked the PSUs to engage very expensive Advocates. For instance, in Serifed’s case, a former Advocate General was engaged to argue against the case filed by a handful of employees; as if it was not enough, he instructed the State Advocate General to be present at the time of argument. It was a bizarre, savage-sounding scene that two Advocate Generals were present for a case filed by as few as 6 employees that too on prejudicial grounds; the final output is the discharge of all the employees; the saving grace is that the cases were kept open for final hearing; by now, five years flew off but the discharged employees are still finding it difficult to get the case for final hearing.
Such an overbearing administrator who was out and out for retrenchment took a U-turn now to say that he is not for retrenchment! That is the definition of Machiavellianism and Hypocrisy.
Another angle to the story of Chandrababunaidu’s (government’s) retrenchment carnage is that retrenchment is not done in the departments where there is real need; there are excessive personnel and they have to be laid off; but they are not; moreover, more personnel are selected regularly; take for example, the officers and staff in the Department of Cooperation or Revenue or Sericulture, most of the officers of these departments are on deputation to other departments and PSUs, which means that in their own departments they have no permanent jobs/posts. We call them deputationists. They remain government servants just for the reason that they occupy temporary jobs in PSUs or other departments; no need to say that they have to be retrenched. Further worse, new posts are created and selections made just based on these ad-hoc posts to be filled by personnel on deputation.
An important harm the officers (working in host organizations on deputation) are doing to their host organization is that because of them, PSUs are run on ad hoc basis, which is a measure of a disastrous lack of professionalism. Besides, the native employees (the employees of the host department) are demoralized for lack of promotions and the utter disregard for professionalism. The governments are stupid enough not to notice this trend. Probably, vested interests have their way! The staff of the PSUs is bearing cross and sadly retrenched when government staff has to be laid off just because government is run by vested interests! In nutshell, posts are created and protected where there is no need and PSUs which require people are deprived of their hands!
Strangely, this Chandrababu is today ranting and raving that people are affected by the rule of DR.Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy because of the rampant corruption, and so YSR be dethroned. But Chandrababunaid should realize that we were more seriously affected by his retrenchment practices than the corruption of YSR’s Regime. If he says that he will not retrench Government staff, who will believe such promises particularly from a person who very brutally retrenched the staff and who stabbed in the back of his own father-in-law who gave power.
(A Story on Chandrababunaidu’s Machiavellian Machinations)
Pandering to the World Bank’s blood thirst (excessive desire for laying off staff) for employees, Chandrababunaidu, the power-hungry, back-stabbing, Machiavellian CM formulated a plan to retrench Government staff.
Although the aim was to retrench unproductive, non-responsive government staff, he guessed that Government employees would not take such reforms kindly; he predicted a strong backlash. To get round this, the only way out for him was to cut the personnel of PSUs who were poorly unionized. The blind, retrenchment-hungry World Bank was shown how the Government cut the government personnel.
Massive retrenchment was launched no matter how unfair, unwarranted and implausible that exercise was. Organizations, as a result, were weakened. Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy also tried to follow suit. But he panicked at the specter of losing his job as it was the case with Chandrababunaidu.
Chandrababunaidu, to be brief, concentrated all his energies on retrenchment; even in the court cases dealing with prejudice, he saw that the retrenchment was not halted under any circumstances no matter how outrageous and cruel it was; he asked the PSUs to engage very expensive Advocates. For instance, in Serifed’s case, a former Advocate General was engaged to argue against the case filed by a handful of employees; as if it was not enough, he instructed the State Advocate General to be present at the time of argument. It was a bizarre, savage-sounding scene that two Advocate Generals were present for a case filed by as few as 6 employees that too on prejudicial grounds; the final output is the discharge of all the employees; the saving grace is that the cases were kept open for final hearing; by now, five years flew off but the discharged employees are still finding it difficult to get the case for final hearing.
Such an overbearing administrator who was out and out for retrenchment took a U-turn now to say that he is not for retrenchment! That is the definition of Machiavellianism and Hypocrisy.
Another angle to the story of Chandrababunaidu’s (government’s) retrenchment carnage is that retrenchment is not done in the departments where there is real need; there are excessive personnel and they have to be laid off; but they are not; moreover, more personnel are selected regularly; take for example, the officers and staff in the Department of Cooperation or Revenue or Sericulture, most of the officers of these departments are on deputation to other departments and PSUs, which means that in their own departments they have no permanent jobs/posts. We call them deputationists. They remain government servants just for the reason that they occupy temporary jobs in PSUs or other departments; no need to say that they have to be retrenched. Further worse, new posts are created and selections made just based on these ad-hoc posts to be filled by personnel on deputation.
An important harm the officers (working in host organizations on deputation) are doing to their host organization is that because of them, PSUs are run on ad hoc basis, which is a measure of a disastrous lack of professionalism. Besides, the native employees (the employees of the host department) are demoralized for lack of promotions and the utter disregard for professionalism. The governments are stupid enough not to notice this trend. Probably, vested interests have their way! The staff of the PSUs is bearing cross and sadly retrenched when government staff has to be laid off just because government is run by vested interests! In nutshell, posts are created and protected where there is no need and PSUs which require people are deprived of their hands!
Strangely, this Chandrababu is today ranting and raving that people are affected by the rule of DR.Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy because of the rampant corruption, and so YSR be dethroned. But Chandrababunaid should realize that we were more seriously affected by his retrenchment practices than the corruption of YSR’s Regime. If he says that he will not retrench Government staff, who will believe such promises particularly from a person who very brutally retrenched the staff and who stabbed in the back of his own father-in-law who gave power.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Congress may go out of voters’ favor in the next elections
Congress may go out of voters’ favor in the next elections for the reasons of corruption and bad governance.
Congress has no idea or concept of good governance. Their leaders’ minds are devoid of the faculty for such initiatives. Due to this there are no proper governance systems; so it takes money and influence to get anything from government offices. Congress did nothing on this count. Nobody responds to your requests made to any government office. There are no well-maintained websites and interactive systems to lend ear to the public grievances. I wonder if this is their ( Congress) chosen route to corruption. Chandrababu scores better on this count. Congress will be viewed as an institution strongly in favor of neglected governance. Though populist schemes lure the poor, the latter have problem in accessing the former unmistakably due to the rickety governance systems. The initial letter C in Congress may evoke the pictures of Corruption for the public.
(Chandrababu who has C as his initial letter in his name is already known to be corrupt too, due to his undue haste in pandering to the wishes of World Bank; he wanted to please the World Bank by downsizing public sector, and neglecting the traditional industries. This jinxed him. However, people don’t believe him since he now takes U-turn on most of what he first opposed)
Congress has no idea or concept of good governance. Their leaders’ minds are devoid of the faculty for such initiatives. Due to this there are no proper governance systems; so it takes money and influence to get anything from government offices. Congress did nothing on this count. Nobody responds to your requests made to any government office. There are no well-maintained websites and interactive systems to lend ear to the public grievances. I wonder if this is their ( Congress) chosen route to corruption. Chandrababu scores better on this count. Congress will be viewed as an institution strongly in favor of neglected governance. Though populist schemes lure the poor, the latter have problem in accessing the former unmistakably due to the rickety governance systems. The initial letter C in Congress may evoke the pictures of Corruption for the public.
(Chandrababu who has C as his initial letter in his name is already known to be corrupt too, due to his undue haste in pandering to the wishes of World Bank; he wanted to please the World Bank by downsizing public sector, and neglecting the traditional industries. This jinxed him. However, people don’t believe him since he now takes U-turn on most of what he first opposed)
A Eulogy to Rama Linga Raju
A Eulogy to Rama Linga Raju
Raju is indeed valiant, brave and really royal. He didn’t run away like that Krishi Bank fellow. He admitted to his follies, though belatedly. Real estate downturn may have wreaked havoc on his audacious plan or else he will have continued to be a hero. There is also a possibility that he spent more on bribing the government functionaries which he may have wanted to set off with the appreciated value in real estate. Still I consider him a hero for a good number of reasons.
He has established a company which ranked fourth in the Indian software industry. Through that, he provided employment to more than 50000 persons. He put Hyderabad on the software map.
The most important is the one related to the poor. In eight minutes, a sick person can get transfer from his home to any hospital of his choice just because of the concept advanced by Sri Rama Linga Raju, 108 Emergency Service. It would not have existed without this humble idea of Rama Linga Raju. It is a wonderful service no Nobel prize winner could ever think of. If Government did it, it would have reached the service level of any squlid sarkari davakhana, a home of filth, delay and corruption. Thank you, Rama Linga Raju, the posterity can never forget your service through 108. Your bungling of Rs.7000 crores is nothing before what you did to the poor and vulnerable. In fact, I would not have minded if you did an error of 17000 crores.
Sorry, Investors, I am sympathetic to Ramalinga Raju for what he did to this country. But all said and done, I cannot help staying with you for the misfortune brought about by Satyam debacle; plan your future investments better and make allowance for such risks.
The law will punish Raju but it does not serve any purpose for you in respect of what you invested in Satyam Computers.
Raju is indeed valiant, brave and really royal. He didn’t run away like that Krishi Bank fellow. He admitted to his follies, though belatedly. Real estate downturn may have wreaked havoc on his audacious plan or else he will have continued to be a hero. There is also a possibility that he spent more on bribing the government functionaries which he may have wanted to set off with the appreciated value in real estate. Still I consider him a hero for a good number of reasons.
He has established a company which ranked fourth in the Indian software industry. Through that, he provided employment to more than 50000 persons. He put Hyderabad on the software map.
The most important is the one related to the poor. In eight minutes, a sick person can get transfer from his home to any hospital of his choice just because of the concept advanced by Sri Rama Linga Raju, 108 Emergency Service. It would not have existed without this humble idea of Rama Linga Raju. It is a wonderful service no Nobel prize winner could ever think of. If Government did it, it would have reached the service level of any squlid sarkari davakhana, a home of filth, delay and corruption. Thank you, Rama Linga Raju, the posterity can never forget your service through 108. Your bungling of Rs.7000 crores is nothing before what you did to the poor and vulnerable. In fact, I would not have minded if you did an error of 17000 crores.
Sorry, Investors, I am sympathetic to Ramalinga Raju for what he did to this country. But all said and done, I cannot help staying with you for the misfortune brought about by Satyam debacle; plan your future investments better and make allowance for such risks.
The law will punish Raju but it does not serve any purpose for you in respect of what you invested in Satyam Computers.
Friday, November 7, 2008
POLICE STATION IS BUSY: IT HAS NO TIME TO HELP THE CITIZENS!
POLICE STATION IS BUSY: IT HAS NO TIME TO HELP THE CITIZENS!
Recently, my mobile was stolen while I was boarding an RTC bus at Nallakunta. When I retraced my movements, I realized that a person holding a Telugu newspaper tried to mob around me and feigned to ask somebody something on the board of the bus when I was checking from the gate if there was room; he did not board the bus since I did not. I boarded the next bus when there was really a big crowd but I was not mindful of my pocket in which my mobile phone and a purse were put; the same person play-acted boarding and while doing so, he put his newspaper on my pocket and did his trick and stole, which I did not notice till half an hour later.
My colleague suggested that I should complain this theft to the police, giving IMEI number (a unique identity number of any mobile phone).
I did not feel like going to a police station because when I visited a police station the last time for a similar purpose, the cooperation I got from it was dismally lukewarm and discouraging. It happened to me in Mehdipatnam Police Station in Hyderabad in September 2008.
A boy from my home village, as part of his tantrums, left his parents without informing them where he was heading; a couple of calls made by him to his parents gave the clue that he was hiding in Hyderabad. I along with the boy’s relatives went to Mehdipatnam Police Station seeking their help in locating the boy by accessing the mobile phone user database each police station is provided with.
There are many personnel in the station. On our way to the reception desk, about three officials (not officers, just staff members, probably constables and clerks) asked why we had come. We explained with full details. Nobody appeared to be enthusiastic or willing to help. Nobody showed the body language that a police station would be of help. Everybody agreed that they had the database. A relatively elderly person wanted us to wait saying that the relevant clerk was busy with the work related to submission of returns. We waited in the police about two hours and kept reminding the elderly staff member if the relevant person was then free to help. A little later, one person announced that the computer was not working since an important chord was broken and so connectivity gone.
One of the sentry staff suggested that a constable belonging to our district is working in the same station and he would help us if we requested him; his mobile phone number was also given to us. We called him more than four times. He was telling that he would come and did not for a long time. After about two hours, he came, went inside the station and left saying he would come back and help us. He did not turn up at all.
We waited in the station for about three hours with no help forthcoming. To push the process, I asked one of the personnel if I could meet the Inspector to speak about our problem; he replied it would be of no use since the computer was broken and the clerk was busy in his work.
By their delay and behavior, we were firmly convinced that they would not help us and we had to understand this fact ourselves since they would never tell us straight. We returned home in despair.
Government is staffing Police Stations very generously: in as many numbers as required. It is giving facilities like computers and vehicles to the Police. But police personnel are busy and computers are not working. What use are these police stations? First of all, who is really bothering if the police stations are doing their jobs as they should? The answers to these questions represent the bad governance we in Andhra Pradesh are forced to live with.
Recently, my mobile was stolen while I was boarding an RTC bus at Nallakunta. When I retraced my movements, I realized that a person holding a Telugu newspaper tried to mob around me and feigned to ask somebody something on the board of the bus when I was checking from the gate if there was room; he did not board the bus since I did not. I boarded the next bus when there was really a big crowd but I was not mindful of my pocket in which my mobile phone and a purse were put; the same person play-acted boarding and while doing so, he put his newspaper on my pocket and did his trick and stole, which I did not notice till half an hour later.
My colleague suggested that I should complain this theft to the police, giving IMEI number (a unique identity number of any mobile phone).
I did not feel like going to a police station because when I visited a police station the last time for a similar purpose, the cooperation I got from it was dismally lukewarm and discouraging. It happened to me in Mehdipatnam Police Station in Hyderabad in September 2008.
A boy from my home village, as part of his tantrums, left his parents without informing them where he was heading; a couple of calls made by him to his parents gave the clue that he was hiding in Hyderabad. I along with the boy’s relatives went to Mehdipatnam Police Station seeking their help in locating the boy by accessing the mobile phone user database each police station is provided with.
There are many personnel in the station. On our way to the reception desk, about three officials (not officers, just staff members, probably constables and clerks) asked why we had come. We explained with full details. Nobody appeared to be enthusiastic or willing to help. Nobody showed the body language that a police station would be of help. Everybody agreed that they had the database. A relatively elderly person wanted us to wait saying that the relevant clerk was busy with the work related to submission of returns. We waited in the police about two hours and kept reminding the elderly staff member if the relevant person was then free to help. A little later, one person announced that the computer was not working since an important chord was broken and so connectivity gone.
One of the sentry staff suggested that a constable belonging to our district is working in the same station and he would help us if we requested him; his mobile phone number was also given to us. We called him more than four times. He was telling that he would come and did not for a long time. After about two hours, he came, went inside the station and left saying he would come back and help us. He did not turn up at all.
We waited in the station for about three hours with no help forthcoming. To push the process, I asked one of the personnel if I could meet the Inspector to speak about our problem; he replied it would be of no use since the computer was broken and the clerk was busy in his work.
By their delay and behavior, we were firmly convinced that they would not help us and we had to understand this fact ourselves since they would never tell us straight. We returned home in despair.
Government is staffing Police Stations very generously: in as many numbers as required. It is giving facilities like computers and vehicles to the Police. But police personnel are busy and computers are not working. What use are these police stations? First of all, who is really bothering if the police stations are doing their jobs as they should? The answers to these questions represent the bad governance we in Andhra Pradesh are forced to live with.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
WE ARE STARVING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE IN ANDHRA PRADESH!
WE ARE STARVING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE IN ANDHRA PRADESH!
When I was working in a government-run cooperative society (I worked there for 20 years), I was made to work as a subordinate as long as nine years under a government officer drawing less than my pay. If it were others, they would definitely cry foul over such a practice!
When there was a vacancy to which I could be promoted, I was not given that position on a variety of fake alibis and pleas- young age, or technical person not usually taken for an administrative job, or a servant of a firm run by a government could never be equivalent to a government servant, or experience, qualifications and salary drawn could never be the criteria for promotion. This is the Andhra kind of apartheid!
When I pleaded down on my knees with the chairman of an upper caste for promotion (in 1994), he said:
“How it possible to give you any kind of advancement which may leave a certain group dissatisfied? That group had joined much before you did.” They were all lower-grade employees belonging to upper castes! My qualifications, experience and salary were not accepted as criteria.
That group consists of members from his community; he and the group already had a private conversation to turn down any kind of requests from me for my promotion.
Ironically and curiously, the chairman belonging to an upper caste sneaked into a cooperative society meant for handloom weavers! He espoused the interests of upper caste employees disregarding my eligibility, most atrociously, by taking membership in a society established for backward weavers!
When regularizing the services of daily wage employees also, the chairman in collusion with the other officers belonging to upper castes, benefited only those of upper castes and henchmen of upper-caste officers in the process of regularization. Sadly, all those daily wage employees belonging to backward castes were shown the door, on the plea of economic revamp of the organization!
After some years, when Chandrababunaidu was humoring the World Bank by downsizing the organizations although such organizations were running in profits, I and other employees belonging to only backward classes were identified as candidates for downsizing! Even IAS officers believed to be impartial played into the games of upper caste officers! We lost our jobs!
Only Mega Leader Chiranjeevi who has taken social justice as a primary plank in the elections is our hope now.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
The Change That I Expect Chiranjeevi’s Government to Bring into Andhra Pradesh
The Change That I Expect Chiranjeevi’s Government to Bring into Andhra Pradesh
( Dr. Appalayya Meesala, Professor, Deccan School of Management, Hyderabad. ameesala@gmail.com phone: 9848514011)
Structural Interventions
Improve farm productivity by way of more research or innovations in farm technology. Allot heftier budgets for research on crop varieties, crop management practices, and data management; a remunerative farm economy will fund higher education, and ensures distributive justice. Encourage more investment in agriculture goods processing industry.
Encourage migration of rural folk to urban areas which give even an illiterate person the vision about higher standards of living, education, a wide variety of livelihood opportunities, civilization and assertiveness. Create more jobs in urban areas. Invite foreign direct investment in a number of industries and design the necessary incentives. Design the government-clearance process in such a way that any industry can be started in just 15 days. Improve the facilities in the urban areas to make them more hospitable.
Give high quality education to the poor. The poorest should have access to the best of education.
100% literacy in 5 years. Engage all the matriculates and pay them remuneration for making people literate on per-head basis. (If there is a scheme to pay each matriculate Rs.700 to make one person a literate, achieving 100% literacy is no big deal).
Spend heavily on roads, communication, power and public transport.
Spend heavily on medical care to the people through private hospital. (Work out a method to avoid false claims.)
Focus on research and the transfer of the research outcome to the industry, as done by Singapore and Hong Kong. More patents applications should be filed from Andhra Pradesh.
Develop 100 new cities in Andhra Pradesh
Governance Interventions
100% transparency about how government machinery makes decisions.
There should be quantitative measures for the performance of every government servant.
There should be computerized data on every living hand of this state. Plans are failing on account of wrong data and intuitive estimates. Our budget is going into wrong hands because insufficient and inaccurate data.
Every citizen should be treated like a customer to the government; he should be able to get a response for his letter, from the government department within 15 days, which can be called ‘the right to response’- right-to-response should be enacted. It can work wonders and be more useful to a common man than right to information. This ensures that farmer is not insulted or snubbed when he visits an MRO’s office for a certificate; Government offices-be it MRO and municipality- are cesspools of corruption, carelessness, lethargy and immunity from action.
Educational institutions should be led by the efficient, clean and honest- not on caste lines- let a Kamma or a Reddy or a Dalit lead if he is efficient and honest, and has no caste-tilt. This selection should be more transparent, and the selection criteria and their weights should be set by the honest officers.
Increase employment opportunities in government sector but pay by productivity metrics, but not as an honorarium.
Government Officers should be recruited from private industries-there are a large number of highly energetic and vibrant turnaround professionals who can turn a loss-making company into a profit-making company; government should draw its recruits from them.
Reduce the incentives for politics-such arrangement can break the cycle-“spend money on elections and earn money many times what has been spent, by illegal methods”.
Any politician trying to supply to government or do contracts to government or recommend award of contracts to their kith and kin should be disqualified from contesting for any public office.
All appointments to the corporations and public sector undertakings- from chairman to director - should be based on merit and previous experience, and they should be paid reasonably well but not low sum given as an honorarium.
Crush muscle power ruthlessly with iron hand; if law should prevail, more investment comes and more development will take place.
The concerns of the tribal area people and their development should be addressed. All the vulnerable people, the poorest in scheduled castes, backward classes, and other unreserved communities should be provided housing, employment and unemployment allowance.
Make a statute to punish severely who don’t pay their dues to the creditors, loans taken from banks, and any other economic offences committed at individual level, to bring in discipline which is needed for free movement of savings.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)