In 2006, I wish ....
With another new year coming up, I thought it was only apt that I wish for a few things to happen,
(It's now a year since I wrote the blog entry "The New Year, what's so new?" and, I really cannot believe a year has gone by already (Cliched but true). And it has been a very important year in my life, and it's going to change me for the rest of my life)
And here's what I am wishing for...
Can I wish to see a vibrant labour market mechanics at work in the government sector?
From the Traffic police on the road to the chap who certifies your electricity meter, from the clerk in the births and deaths registrar to the one for marriages, from the district magistrate to the IAS officer, each and every member of the executive affect your life.
It is not very difficult to notice that they are not a very happy lot on being asked to work for a few hours more as one Chief Minister of Andhra found out in an election.
Itis also reasonable to assume that a good percentage of them believes they are not paid enough for the work they do, given how many people supplement their earnings from hard work under the table.
My wish list for this horrendous institution that we know as the Government Employee.
A) Introduction of a very objective appraisal system that rewards hard-working and efficient employees.
B) A performance linked pay system that allows from considerable flexibility in hiring, ie Government jobs are no longer for life ie The so-called 'Permanent Ayyindi' (I have become permanent ie i can laze around for life) will become a myth.
C) Introduction of Lateral recruitment - If an IIM grad with the experience of managing a company's division wants to run a department in the government, welcome him warmly.
D) And I no longer should be able to buy a judge on the way to court.
Can I wish that professors stop blaming students for a lack of motivation and do some self-introspection?
Introduce a contract system, that goes from short-term to medium term contracts and then on to a permanent status. If you need to make attendance compulsory to get students to attend your lecture, well there lies the answer.
We don't want to guarantee a job for life for under-performing academic staff who have decided that the leafy environs of the IIT campus is where they want to stay until they retire in the same position they joined.
Can I wish that the IITs and the IIMs give up their general compartment mentality?
For those of you opposing the expansion of India's famed institutions, what you are probably displaying is a variation of the General class comparment mentality that ensures survival in the famed compartment of the Indian Railways - Get in by Hook or Crook and do your best to keep the rest out.
If the top 3000 out of a 100,000 are so good, the next 3000 grouped together, armed with a mighty brand cannot be that bad, can they?
Can I wish that the IAS officers compete so that they don't vegetate?
Smart people who don't want to compete - that's what the IAS officers stand out as, apart from being a colonial legacy that has largely disappointed.
When you choose 50 people a year across a nation of 1.1 Billion, you would expect the ones who do badly to stand out, alas! It is the few good ones who do.
The smugly comfortable modern day Sahebs are fighting hard to keep high quality lateral entry out, even as India faces a scarcity of quality managers in the government.
Can I wish for more regulation that will ensure that not so many colleges are affiliated to caste ?
Studying in a college with peers and teachers from the same community is not going to help shape your view of the world, which is becoming increasingly pluralistic. Esp if you are one of those roughly 100,000 Indian students seeking to find a career abroad.
Can I wish that medical degrees are not sold to the higest bidder?
Banning the NRI quota of admission will mean more talented doctors - and less money spent by fathers looking to buy doctors with purchased degrees as husbands for their daughters.
Can I hope to see more intercaste marriages, that will give rise to new generations each of which is increasingly less aware of its caste identity?
That the caste system is preserved by marrying within is easily noted. Without breaking the stranglehold of the arranged marriage on the Indian youth, caste is not an institution that can be gotten rid of.
So can I see more marriages of love, atleast acquaintance so that our parents won't have to bother.
Can I hope to see all this in the next ten years? :)
A very Happy New Year to you.
(It's now a year since I wrote the blog entry "The New Year, what's so new?" and, I really cannot believe a year has gone by already (Cliched but true). And it has been a very important year in my life, and it's going to change me for the rest of my life)
And here's what I am wishing for...
Can I wish to see a vibrant labour market mechanics at work in the government sector?
From the Traffic police on the road to the chap who certifies your electricity meter, from the clerk in the births and deaths registrar to the one for marriages, from the district magistrate to the IAS officer, each and every member of the executive affect your life.
It is not very difficult to notice that they are not a very happy lot on being asked to work for a few hours more as one Chief Minister of Andhra found out in an election.
Itis also reasonable to assume that a good percentage of them believes they are not paid enough for the work they do, given how many people supplement their earnings from hard work under the table.
My wish list for this horrendous institution that we know as the Government Employee.
A) Introduction of a very objective appraisal system that rewards hard-working and efficient employees.
B) A performance linked pay system that allows from considerable flexibility in hiring, ie Government jobs are no longer for life ie The so-called 'Permanent Ayyindi' (I have become permanent ie i can laze around for life) will become a myth.
C) Introduction of Lateral recruitment - If an IIM grad with the experience of managing a company's division wants to run a department in the government, welcome him warmly.
D) And I no longer should be able to buy a judge on the way to court.
Can I wish that professors stop blaming students for a lack of motivation and do some self-introspection?
Introduce a contract system, that goes from short-term to medium term contracts and then on to a permanent status. If you need to make attendance compulsory to get students to attend your lecture, well there lies the answer.
We don't want to guarantee a job for life for under-performing academic staff who have decided that the leafy environs of the IIT campus is where they want to stay until they retire in the same position they joined.
Can I wish that the IITs and the IIMs give up their general compartment mentality?
For those of you opposing the expansion of India's famed institutions, what you are probably displaying is a variation of the General class comparment mentality that ensures survival in the famed compartment of the Indian Railways - Get in by Hook or Crook and do your best to keep the rest out.
If the top 3000 out of a 100,000 are so good, the next 3000 grouped together, armed with a mighty brand cannot be that bad, can they?
Can I wish that the IAS officers compete so that they don't vegetate?
Smart people who don't want to compete - that's what the IAS officers stand out as, apart from being a colonial legacy that has largely disappointed.
When you choose 50 people a year across a nation of 1.1 Billion, you would expect the ones who do badly to stand out, alas! It is the few good ones who do.
The smugly comfortable modern day Sahebs are fighting hard to keep high quality lateral entry out, even as India faces a scarcity of quality managers in the government.
Can I wish for more regulation that will ensure that not so many colleges are affiliated to caste ?
Studying in a college with peers and teachers from the same community is not going to help shape your view of the world, which is becoming increasingly pluralistic. Esp if you are one of those roughly 100,000 Indian students seeking to find a career abroad.
Can I wish that medical degrees are not sold to the higest bidder?
Banning the NRI quota of admission will mean more talented doctors - and less money spent by fathers looking to buy doctors with purchased degrees as husbands for their daughters.
Can I hope to see more intercaste marriages, that will give rise to new generations each of which is increasingly less aware of its caste identity?
That the caste system is preserved by marrying within is easily noted. Without breaking the stranglehold of the arranged marriage on the Indian youth, caste is not an institution that can be gotten rid of.
So can I see more marriages of love, atleast acquaintance so that our parents won't have to bother.
Can I hope to see all this in the next ten years? :)
A very Happy New Year to you.
posted by Mohanakrishna C at 7:37 PM
3 comments
