The expression government servant an irreverent intellectual said has a ring of hypocrisy and needs amendment to mean something like lord’s master’s kingpin’s seekers of favours and so on. A plain speaking feminist preferred sarkar ke demand (sons-in-law of the government) not caring to hide her own sex bias in work culture. Undoubtedly these are very harsh pronouncements on the bureaucracy which is constantly under spine cracking pressures from all sections of society But they also reflect the extreme extent of the frustration the public experiences at the hands of the multitude of officials they come in contact with No wonder therefore that the Central Government according to recent reports is worried about the growing number of public complaints against government servants and indeed about the swelling volume of public grievances. Against 1.10 lakh cases during 1990-91 there were 10.50 lakh cases during 1991-92 the number rose in 1992-93 to nearly 13 lakhs. Out of then between 70 und 80 per cent are said to be disposed of a according to the annual report of the Ministry of Personnel Public Grievances and Pensions Disposing of a file or a case is perhaps one of the trickiest of bureaucratic exercises; it includes the marking of a file to another official for comment or necessary action.  Reformists have paid scant attention for instance to the pols where the public comes in daily contact with the administration   that is where the seeds of public discontent are sown. For example there may be SO employees working in a post-office but there would be only one money order counter with a long frustrated queue (at the beginning of the month) with only one grumpy clerk handling the forms while the rest of his colleagues would keep themselves amused. With the help of retired government officials voluntary agencies: etc If the reforms aim at touching the chords of the babu  the counter and bring a smile to his face while dealing with the public a strong silent movement of a rare kind would Light up the national scene.

Article extracted from this publication >> May 27, 1994