| Published on 31-07-2008 In General |
| Viewed 1432 times |
| Raising Retirement age--- Yeddyurappa Cannot stop there |
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Written by
A. Jayaram |
The Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa has lived upto his reputation as a Finance Minister who does not want to burden the common man with new taxes. The people at large are already experiencing the ill effects of double digit inflation, the shortfall in the production of agricultural produce, the crisis facing the farmers and the escalation in the cost of petroleum products.
There is no doubt several new features in the State Budget. But two stands out--- the increase in the age of retirement of State Government employees from 58 years to sixty and the announcement about unveiling a vision document for the State-Karnataka 2020. The five lakh odd Government employees in the State must have wholeheartedly welcomed the announcement on the age of retirement. After Ramakrishna Hegde who increased the retirement age from 55 years to 58 in his first tenure as chief minister, it is Yeddyurappa who has given thought to the issue and acted on it. Till Hegde took the decision in 1983, the age of retirement had remained the same at 55 years for over a century. In pre-Independence days even judges of the Mysore High Court were retiring at the age of 55 as also the Mysore Civil Service (MCS) officers serving as ministers in the dewan's government. In contrast with Yeddyurappa's announcement was the action of N.T.Rama Rao when he became chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1983. He lowered the age of retirement of government employees from 58 years to 55 affecting 36,000 of them.
It may also be recalled that it was the first Vajpayee government which lasted only 13 days, which increased the age of retirement of Government of India employees from 58 years to 60 in 1996. There was no logic in the Karnataka Government retiring its employees at the age of 58.
No doubt there was some criticism that the decision of the BJP Government would aggravate the problem of unemployment in the State. However it must be pointed out that creation of government jobs is not the solution to the problem. At the most it might provide jobs to graduates and those with lesser qualifications. The Government cannot be expected to provide jobs to the lakhs of unemployed as government jobs are often unproductive. There is no doubt the fact there is still a crush for government jobs among large sections of the people. It is especially so in the less developed parts of the State. It is also a fact that in parts of the State, even educated persons are unaware of the opening up of new job opportunities in the private sector and the entry of multinational companies to Bangalore in particular. Educated and semi-educated youngsters from outside the State are cornering those jobs. No doubt there are sporadic protests over this development from Kannada activists. The response of some graduates has been to form associations to protest against denial of government jobs as though a government job is the only opening for them. Some engineering graduates created a scene only recently when the Chief Justice of India K.G.Balakrishnan came to Gulbarga to inaugurate the Bench of the High Court.
Jobs have to be created in the industrial and services sectors to tackle the problem of unemployment and not in government offices. In his Budget speech, the Chief Minister has announced the welcome decision to create ten lakh job opportunities over the next five years including one lakh this year. He has announced the decision to set up a Skills Commission to train the youth for employment.
There are many reasons for the continued attraction of government jobs and some of them are are too well known to be mentioned here. One of the main attractions is the security they provide irrespective of the competence, efficiency and integrity of the employees.
Needless to add that there is the revolting thinking among some that government service provides an unsaid "perquisite" (read bribe taking). It is a perverse and criminal way of thinking and unfortunately sections of the youth think that way. Forgotten altogether is the movement against corruption launched in Gujarat in 1973 by Babubhai Patel who later became the State's chief minister. It was aimed against the Congress government of Chimanbhai Patel. The Gujarat movement was followed by the better known movement launched by Jayaprakash Narayan in Gujarat. Unfortunately there was not even a campaign in Karnataka.
It is not enough the Government cheers its employees by announcing a higher age of retirement. It should exercise its authority to improve their functioning. In the last 25 years, a change in government in Karnataka has meant little for the man on the street. "My lot will be the same whoever comes to power" has been his lament. Generally there will be some initial euphoria about a new party taking over the reins of the administration and the installation of a new set of ministers. But at the ground level, it will be the continuance of inefficiency, delays, indifference and the worse bribe taking. Yeddyurappa and his team should strive to bring in a new culture in the administration. The age old malady of government servants stretching their hands for bribes should be tackled. Otherwise there is no meaning in Yeddyurappa attempting to please the employees if policemen openly demand and accept bribes, sub- registrars extract bribes for registration of documents, commercial tax officials demand bribes even to accept tax returns ,doctors and nurses extract bribes from the poor even to show the newborn baby to the mother, village accountants fill their pockets at every opportunity and even accept cuts from old age pensioners , municipal employees demand money even to bury or burn the dead and municipal engineers expect bribes for sanctioning building plans. Tackling corruption is not the concern of the Lokayukta and the Upalokayukta. The effort should come from the top in the administration.
The other day the Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi spoke of the way he is dealing with the problem of corruption. He gave the instance of how he was using modern technology like the global positing system to tackle the problem. Using it he had been able to improve tax collection at what was once a den of corruption –a check post on Gujarat's border with Maharashtra. He found that the officials there were taking home a bribe of over Rs.250 crores a year. Yeddyurappa and his team of ministers should adopt the Gujarat model of putting down corruption. It was not Hindutva or the tirade against Sonia Gandhi that reelected Narendra Modi. It is his image as "Mr. Clean" a reputation enjoyed by Rajiv Gandhi till the Bofors scandal erupted.
However one cannot agree with Yeddyurappa when he talks of setting up a high level committee to bring about administrative reforms. The Government has before it the voluminous reports of the Administrative Reforms Commission headed by the veteran political leader and thinker Haranahalli Ramaswamy. The S.M.Krishna government had set up the Commission and Ramaswamy submitted his report in a record time. One of the recommendations was to introduce a voluntary retirement scheme for State Government employees. It is yet to be implemented. Those unwilling to continue in service might be allowed to retire instead of having to wait till the age of 60. There is also the Civil Services Rule to compulsorily retire the corrupt and the inefficient. |
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