Why do Collectors deliver and we fail?

Why do Collectors deliver and we fail?

In the aftermath of Phailin, it gives me immense pride and joy to read stories about how some of our IAS colleagues led from the front and managed evacuation of almost a million people in just 3-4 days and saved thousands of lives. The magnitude of the impending disaster and the experience of 1999 of course helped in clarity of decision making, but the real challenge was mobilizing teams of government officials, at a festive time, and executing the operations with clockwork precision.

Most IAS officers who led the show were District Collectors, with just 6-10 years of experience. These bright young men and women are chosen by one of the most difficult examinations in the world and are given responsibility and authority at a very young age. They are intelligent, hardworking and tech savvy and are never shy of taking a decision. This is what matters when you are dealing with emergencies. Even in normal times, the kind of work that collectors do is wide ranging – from chairing 60-70 committees to managing diverse subjects of law and order, collecting revenues for the State and coordinating development work – building roads, irrigation canals, schools, health centres to providing food and employment to the poor. The canvas is big with almost every shade and most young officers do a great job and are admired immensely by people of their districts.

However, after around 12-15 years of service in the States, when the very same officers are posted in Government of India, as Directors and later as Joint Secretaries, the output diminishes greatly. Most senior officers in Government of India are today demotivated, disillusioned and generally not happy with the state of affairs. They lose their authority and the role remains merely of writing notes on files for which they can never be held accountable. Of course, at Government of India level, the role is more of policy making and less of implementation as it is at the State level, but the sheer inability to get a decision agreed upon with regard to any aspect of a policy frustrates most. One clear difference is that as a District Collector, the IAS officer is the last to sign on a file and he doesn’t need to send a file to a Minister or anyone. Thus the buck does stop at the officer. He is accountable, responsible and hence is able to deliver.

At Government of India level, the issues get lost in Inter Ministerial consultations and any decision that is to be taken goes through layers and layers of bureaucracy – be it in the Planning Commission of Department of Expenditure. Very often proposals put forward by senior Joint Secretaries and Secretaries of Ministries are shredded to pieces by Desk Officers and Under Secretaries in the name of appraisal. Letters and Files fly back and forth and the end result is a stalemate – delay in decision making and non-utilization of funds which leaves everyone unhappy except those who are fine with a lower fiscal deficit with a cut in expenditure to match the falling revenues. However, this comes at a huge cost to the economy – resulting in loss of jobs and lower GDP growth. And the best part is that no one is responsible. Everyone has worked hard, stayed late in offices at the cost of government electricity bills and personal family time, yet we don’t move forward.

So what’s the solution? The answer lies in the problem. The key is making people responsible and accountable. If as collectors, IAS officers can be empowered and trusted with running a district, why can’t we make them responsible and accountable at higher levels. Any district collector today has an annual budget of almost 200 crores across schemes and plans. If they can be trusted with that, can we not give our Joint Secretaries budgets of say Rs 1000 crores and a set of outcomes and deliverables. Let them make a plan and get it implemented subject to broad limits on amounts that could be spent on travel or miscellaneous expenses. Let him have his own team and ensure delivery of results in a transparent manner. Subject the deliverables to third party audit. Let the buck stop at him. Let him be free to move forward rather than shackling him with inter-ministerial consultations and views of arm chair outdated experts. There will be potential gains of moving rapidly and cutting the red tape. The risks are abuse and misuse of power and authority by a few. In such cases, punish them fast. This along with transparency in use of public funds will improve things.

Can we do so and make Collectors out of Joint Secretaries and prevent disasters?

Abhishek Singh

(Views are personal)