newsletter december 2016 (english) - madhya...
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Sushasan Vol. 02, Issue 07, December, 2016
Vision –“Equal opportunity to all through Good Governance geared to improve the quality of lives of our people."
Newsletter of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance & Policy Analysis
Akhilesh ArgalDirector
From the Editor’s
Dear Readers,
The District Collector is the pivot of district administration, a focal point for most of the activities/issues in the district. With the onset of new schemes, the roles and responsibilities of the Collector are increasing day by day. It has been reported that the Collector is heading more than 150 committees in the district. It is being widely felt that Collectors are mostly tied to district headquarters. Hence, a study has been taken up by the Center for Governance, AIGGPA to document the various roles and responsibilities of District Collectors. This study would aid District Collectors in planning/scheduling their activities/meetings well ahead and in maintaining their monthly/yearly activity calendar. A brief about the study is in this issue of the Newsletter.
In any organization, problems are bound to occur. These problems could be administrative, professional, personal or financial. It is a general tendency of the top leadership to avoid the problem due to a number of reasons- attending to the problem may open up some bigger problem or it may mean fixing responsibility, which is an unpleasant decision to take; or the problem is fraught with political overtones and difficult to redress etc. A leader should be good at solving such problems. The Newsletter has an interesting reading on this issue under the article "The Buck Stops Here-Provide Solution to the Organizational Problems".
To improve the efficiency of governance, the need for 'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance' has been widely felt. The Government of Madhya Pradesh currently has 53 departments, which is high in comparison to states like Gujarat. Hence, there appears to be a case to analyze whether there is a need for further downsizing of the number of existing departments to improve efficiency of governance. In line with this, AIGGPA has taken up a project on 'Rat ional izat ion of the Departments and Interdepartmental Coordination in GoMP'. Briefs of a brain storming session to conceptualize the project to address this issue are in the Newsletter.
There was also a brainstorming meeting at the Institute to formally commence a project taken up by AIGGPA to bring out a monograph on corruption titled "Understanding the Causes, Forms and Strategies to Combat Corruption in Government". Details of the meeting are in the Newsletter.
Performance of PSUs in the state has not been up to the mark with a sizeable number of them incurring big losses (Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, 2015). The article of Mr. M.K. Tyagi, Principal Advisor, Centre for Governance, provides a check list for Improvement in Governance of State Public Sector Undertakings (PSU).
Your comments on the Newsletter will be greatly appreciated.
Institute News
Brainstorming Meeting on proposed AIGGPA Volume on Corruption
As already reported in the previous issue of the
Newsletter, the Centre for Governance, AIGGPA has
taken up a project to bring out a monograph on
corruption titled "Understanding the Causes, Forms
and Strategies to Combat Corrupt ion in
Government". A brainstorming meeting was
organised at AIGGPA on November 15, 2016 to
formally commence this project and take on board
the suggestions of key experts on the first steps
forward. The focus of the meeting was to discuss the
key aspects which a volume on corruption should
cover to bring about a comprehensive picture on the
issue and the potential contributors. Chaired by Shri
Padamvir Singh, Director General, AIGGPA, the
meeting was attended by Mrs Nirmala Buch, Former
Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh; Shri
K.M. Acharya, IAS (Retd.), Shri M. Natarajan, IPS
(Retd.), Shri R.K. Diwaker, IPS (Retd.), Shri Vijay Yadav,
DG, Economic Offences Wing, Government of
Madhya Pradesh; and Shri Shashidhar Singh Kapur
from the media. It was also attended by Shri Akhilesh
Argal, Director, AIGGPA, Shri Mangesh Tyagi, Principal
Advisor, Centre for Governance ;Shri M.M. Upadhyay,
Principal Advisor, Centre for Social Sector
Development, and Dr. Indrani Barpujari, Advisor,
Centre for Governance of the Institute.
The experts present in the meeting while appreciating
the timeliness of the effort, stressed that the
proposed volume should address the problem of
corruption in a holistic, multi-disciplinary manner and
take on board the perspectives of all the stakeholders,
including the political establishment, bureaucracy,
judiciary, civil society, media and the common man.
The scope of the volume should include the idea of
corruption (historical, philosophical as well as societal
context); present status of corruption in India both at
the national and sub-national level based on available
data; instrumentalities to address corruption and
their effectiveness; causes responsible for corruption
as well as proposed strategies to combat the problem.
The meeting also emphasized that while addressing
the issue of corruption at the national level, the
volume should also throw light on the problem of
corruption in Madhya Pradesh and strategies to
circumvent the same.
Brainstorming Session on the Project 'Rationalization of the Departments and Interdepartmental Coordination in Government of Madhya Pradesh'
To improve the efficiency of governance, a need for
'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance' has
been widely felt. NITI Aayog has initiated NIYATAM
(NITI Initiative to Yield Aspirational Targets and
Actionable Means) in four states to minimize the
number of departments in government. Madhya
Pradesh is one of the few states which have taken
concrete steps in adopting the concept of 'small but
smart government'. The Government of Madhya
Pradesh currently has 53 departments, which is high
in comparison to states like Gujarat. Hence, there
appears to be a case to analyze whether there is a
need for further downsizing of the number of existing
departments to improve efficiency of governance. In
line with this, AIGGPA has taken up a project on
'Rat ional izat ion of the Departments and
Interdepartmental Coordination in GoMP'. The
project intends to explore possibilities for
reorganizing, right sizing and redeploying the
government departments for effective service
delivery and coordination across the departments in
the state.
A Brainstorming session was organised under this th
project on 17 November, 2016 at AIGGPA. Shri R.
Parasuram, Former Chief Secretary, Government of
Madhya Pradesh and Shri Ashok Baranwal, Principal
Secretary to CM attended the session along with the
Director General and Director of AIGGPA and offered
valuable inputs to improve the scope of the project. It
was suggested that the organizational structure of
better performing states especially the states like
Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Gujarat may be studied
and compared. Shri Parasuram opined that as a first
step, the history of evolution of the various
departments in the state needs to be understood
following which departments with common/similar
roles need to be identified and the possibility of
clubbing/merging of the departments may be
assessed.
Institute News
Brainstorming Meeting on proposed AIGGPA Volume on Corruption
As already reported in the previous issue of the
Newsletter, the Centre for Governance, AIGGPA has
taken up a project to bring out a monograph on
corruption titled "Understanding the Causes, Forms
and Strategies to Combat Corrupt ion in
Government". A brainstorming meeting was
organised at AIGGPA on November 15, 2016 to
formally commence this project and take on board
the suggestions of key experts on the first steps
forward. The focus of the meeting was to discuss the
key aspects which a volume on corruption should
cover to bring about a comprehensive picture on the
issue and the potential contributors. Chaired by Shri
Padamvir Singh, Director General, AIGGPA, the
meeting was attended by Mrs Nirmala Buch, Former
Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh; Shri
K.M. Acharya, IAS (Retd.), Shri M. Natarajan, IPS
(Retd.), Shri R.K. Diwaker, IPS (Retd.), Shri Vijay Yadav,
DG, Economic Offences Wing, Government of
Madhya Pradesh; and Shri Shashidhar Singh Kapur
from the media. It was also attended by Shri Akhilesh
Argal, Director, AIGGPA, Shri Mangesh Tyagi, Principal
Advisor, Centre for Governance ;Shri M.M. Upadhyay,
Principal Advisor, Centre for Social Sector
Development, and Dr. Indrani Barpujari, Advisor,
Centre for Governance of the Institute.
The experts present in the meeting while appreciating
the timeliness of the effort, stressed that the
proposed volume should address the problem of
corruption in a holistic, multi-disciplinary manner and
take on board the perspectives of all the stakeholders,
including the political establishment, bureaucracy,
judiciary, civil society, media and the common man.
The scope of the volume should include the idea of
corruption (historical, philosophical as well as societal
context); present status of corruption in India both at
the national and sub-national level based on available
data; instrumentalities to address corruption and
their effectiveness; causes responsible for corruption
as well as proposed strategies to combat the problem.
The meeting also emphasized that while addressing
the issue of corruption at the national level, the
volume should also throw light on the problem of
corruption in Madhya Pradesh and strategies to
circumvent the same.
Brainstorming Session on the Project 'Rationalization of the Departments and Interdepartmental Coordination in Government of Madhya Pradesh'
To improve the efficiency of governance, a need for
'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance' has
been widely felt. NITI Aayog has initiated NIYATAM
(NITI Initiative to Yield Aspirational Targets and
Actionable Means) in four states to minimize the
number of departments in government. Madhya
Pradesh is one of the few states which have taken
concrete steps in adopting the concept of 'small but
smart government'. The Government of Madhya
Pradesh currently has 53 departments, which is high
in comparison to states like Gujarat. Hence, there
appears to be a case to analyze whether there is a
need for further downsizing of the number of existing
departments to improve efficiency of governance. In
line with this, AIGGPA has taken up a project on
'Rat ional izat ion of the Departments and
Interdepartmental Coordination in GoMP'. The
project intends to explore possibilities for
reorganizing, right sizing and redeploying the
government departments for effective service
delivery and coordination across the departments in
the state.
A Brainstorming session was organised under this th
project on 17 November, 2016 at AIGGPA. Shri R.
Parasuram, Former Chief Secretary, Government of
Madhya Pradesh and Shri Ashok Baranwal, Principal
Secretary to CM attended the session along with the
Director General and Director of AIGGPA and offered
valuable inputs to improve the scope of the project. It
was suggested that the organizational structure of
better performing states especially the states like
Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Gujarat may be studied
and compared. Shri Parasuram opined that as a first
step, the history of evolution of the various
departments in the state needs to be understood
following which departments with common/similar
roles need to be identified and the possibility of
clubbing/merging of the departments may be
assessed.
The District Collector is the pivot of district
administration, a focal point for most of the
activities/issues in the district. The roles and
responsibilities assigned to the Collector can broadly
be categorized into three types- regulatory,
development and revenue functions. Apart from
these regular duties, he is also responsible for the
smooth conduct of elections and efforts to mitigate
natural calamities in the district. He plays an
important role in coordination between departments
such as sorting out inter-departmental bottlenecks in
the implementation of schemes. With the onset of
new schemes, the roles and responsibilities of the
Collector are increasing day by day. It has been
reported that the Collector is heading more than 150
committees in the district whose details at times even
the Collectors are not aware of. The Collector is, thus,
expected to be a jack-of-all-trades and appears to be
burdened with too many told and untold duties in the
district administration. It is being widely felt that
Collectors are mostly tied to district headquarters,
engrossed in file work, protocol duties, revenue
administration and other scheme/committee related
meetings. He is left with little time for field tours
which is required to deepen his understanding of the
issues at the ground level and also, maintain a rapport
with the citizens.
It is very difficult to predict the daily work routine and
time log of a District Collector and there is no defined
schedule or a typical day in the life of a District
Collector. While it has been widely reported that the
Collector has been assigned quite a large number of
responsibilities, no thorough documentation has
been made of the exact nature and extent of these
roles and the time he needs to spend on discharging
them. Such documentation would help one
understand the amount of time the Collector spends
on each of his assigned roles and whether, he is able
to give adequate time for a particular role to achieve
the desired objectives. This would also help the
Collector to plan his routine in a better manner. It
would also help the Government to decide the
optimum work load that a Collector can handle, the
additional responsibilities he can be assigned and
whether, there is a need for rationalisation of his roles
and responsibilities.
Hence, a study has been taken up by the Center for
Governance, AIGGPA with the following objectives:
l to document the var ious ro les and
responsibilities of District Collectors;
l to list out the committees in which the
Collectors are members and to assess their
relevance, importance and time consumption in
his work calendar;
l to record the time log of the daily routine of a
District Collector for a week/month and rank the
functions based on the average time consumed;
l to understand the challenges faced by a District
Collector in the current scenario in performing
the roles and responsibilities assigned to him;
l to create a digital repository and provide an
index on the importance of the various roles and
responsibilities;
l to propose a decision support mechanism that
may be used to decide whether a new
arrangement needs to be created or whether
this could be included in an existing
arrangement for implementation of new
schemes, projects etc.
The study will be based on both quantitative and
qualitative research methods. In-depth interviews
will be conducted with the district magistrates and
other stakeholders us ing pre-st ructured
questionnaires developed in consultation with the
senior officers through meetings/workshops. A
representative sample of 10 districts would be chosen
randomly in Madhya Pradesh and extensive data on
the roles and responsibilities would be collected from
various levels of functionaries in the district. The daily
routine of the district collectors would be studied to
understand the activities which consume his time.
The information collected through the study would be
fed in a digital repository with the help of software
designers. The repository would be designed in a way
that it can be used by policy makers/senior officers as
a backgrounder before planning/formulating new
schemes/committees involving Collectors and can
also be used by the Collectors in scheduling their
meetings /activities.
Expected Outcomes of the Study
l The study would be helpful in documenting the
roles, duties and responsibilities of the Collector
in the current scenario in the state.
l Creating a digital repository would maintain a
database of all the activities of the District
Collectors in the state, which can be updated
whenever needed.
l Would aid District Collectors in planning/
scheduling their activities/meetings well ahead
and in maintaining their monthly/yearly activity
calendar.
l The database would serve as a backgrounder for
the policy makers and senior functionaries while
making decisions regarding assigning news
tasks/ formulating new schemes involving
District Collectors.
The project is being coordinated by Dr. Anitha
Govindaraj, Deputy Advisor, Centre for Governance,
AIGGPA.
Viewpoint
Checklist for Improvement in Governance of State Public Sector Undertakings (PSU)
As on 31 March 2015, the State of Madhya
Pradesh had 64 Government companies
(including nine non-working companies) and
three statutory corporations (all working) which
together constitute the Public Sector Undertakings
(PSUs) in the state. Performance of PSUs in the state
has not been up to the mark with a sizeable number of
them incurring big losses (Report of the Comptroller
and Auditor General of India, 2015). Following are
some strategies proposed to improve governance in
the state PSUs, ultimately contributing to the financial
health of the sector:
l State budget to separately fix targets of revenue
by disinvestment or strategic sale;
l Loss making ones to be disinvested or
strategically sold;
l Attractive package of severance to be provided
for voluntary retirements;
l Audit of accounts to be done and balance sheets
to be disclosed;
l Accounts of all state PSUs to be compiled and put
in public domain;
l Due procedure for selection of CEOs and other
independent directors in management boards;
l PSUs with social objectives to be identified and
reviewed separately;
Project Round Up
Roles, Responsibilities and Challenges of the District Collectors in theChanging Scenario: An Exploratory Study in Madhya Pradesh
The District Collector is the pivot of district
administration, a focal point for most of the
activities/issues in the district. The roles and
responsibilities assigned to the Collector can broadly
be categorized into three types- regulatory,
development and revenue functions. Apart from
these regular duties, he is also responsible for the
smooth conduct of elections and efforts to mitigate
natural calamities in the district. He plays an
important role in coordination between departments
such as sorting out inter-departmental bottlenecks in
the implementation of schemes. With the onset of
new schemes, the roles and responsibilities of the
Collector are increasing day by day. It has been
reported that the Collector is heading more than 150
committees in the district whose details at times even
the Collectors are not aware of. The Collector is, thus,
expected to be a jack-of-all-trades and appears to be
burdened with too many told and untold duties in the
district administration. It is being widely felt that
Collectors are mostly tied to district headquarters,
engrossed in file work, protocol duties, revenue
administration and other scheme/committee related
meetings. He is left with little time for field tours
which is required to deepen his understanding of the
issues at the ground level and also, maintain a rapport
with the citizens.
It is very difficult to predict the daily work routine and
time log of a District Collector and there is no defined
schedule or a typical day in the life of a District
Collector. While it has been widely reported that the
Collector has been assigned quite a large number of
responsibilities, no thorough documentation has
been made of the exact nature and extent of these
roles and the time he needs to spend on discharging
them. Such documentation would help one
understand the amount of time the Collector spends
on each of his assigned roles and whether, he is able
to give adequate time for a particular role to achieve
the desired objectives. This would also help the
Collector to plan his routine in a better manner. It
would also help the Government to decide the
optimum work load that a Collector can handle, the
additional responsibilities he can be assigned and
whether, there is a need for rationalisation of his roles
and responsibilities.
Hence, a study has been taken up by the Center for
Governance, AIGGPA with the following objectives:
l to document the var ious ro les and
responsibilities of District Collectors;
l to list out the committees in which the
Collectors are members and to assess their
relevance, importance and time consumption in
his work calendar;
l to record the time log of the daily routine of a
District Collector for a week/month and rank the
functions based on the average time consumed;
l to understand the challenges faced by a District
Collector in the current scenario in performing
the roles and responsibilities assigned to him;
l to create a digital repository and provide an
index on the importance of the various roles and
responsibilities;
l to propose a decision support mechanism that
may be used to decide whether a new
arrangement needs to be created or whether
this could be included in an existing
arrangement for implementation of new
schemes, projects etc.
The study will be based on both quantitative and
qualitative research methods. In-depth interviews
will be conducted with the district magistrates and
other stakeholders us ing pre-st ructured
questionnaires developed in consultation with the
senior officers through meetings/workshops. A
representative sample of 10 districts would be chosen
randomly in Madhya Pradesh and extensive data on
the roles and responsibilities would be collected from
various levels of functionaries in the district. The daily
routine of the district collectors would be studied to
understand the activities which consume his time.
The information collected through the study would be
fed in a digital repository with the help of software
designers. The repository would be designed in a way
that it can be used by policy makers/senior officers as
a backgrounder before planning/formulating new
schemes/committees involving Collectors and can
also be used by the Collectors in scheduling their
meetings /activities.
Expected Outcomes of the Study
l The study would be helpful in documenting the
roles, duties and responsibilities of the Collector
in the current scenario in the state.
l Creating a digital repository would maintain a
database of all the activities of the District
Collectors in the state, which can be updated
whenever needed.
l Would aid District Collectors in planning/
scheduling their activities/meetings well ahead
and in maintaining their monthly/yearly activity
calendar.
l The database would serve as a backgrounder for
the policy makers and senior functionaries while
making decisions regarding assigning news
tasks/ formulating new schemes involving
District Collectors.
The project is being coordinated by Dr. Anitha
Govindaraj, Deputy Advisor, Centre for Governance,
AIGGPA.
Viewpoint
Checklist for Improvement in Governance of State Public Sector Undertakings (PSU)
As on 31 March 2015, the State of Madhya
Pradesh had 64 Government companies
(including nine non-working companies) and
three statutory corporations (all working) which
together constitute the Public Sector Undertakings
(PSUs) in the state. Performance of PSUs in the state
has not been up to the mark with a sizeable number of
them incurring big losses (Report of the Comptroller
and Auditor General of India, 2015). Following are
some strategies proposed to improve governance in
the state PSUs, ultimately contributing to the financial
health of the sector:
l State budget to separately fix targets of revenue
by disinvestment or strategic sale;
l Loss making ones to be disinvested or
strategically sold;
l Attractive package of severance to be provided
for voluntary retirements;
l Audit of accounts to be done and balance sheets
to be disclosed;
l Accounts of all state PSUs to be compiled and put
in public domain;
l Due procedure for selection of CEOs and other
independent directors in management boards;
l PSUs with social objectives to be identified and
reviewed separately;
Project Round Up
Roles, Responsibilities and Challenges of the District Collectors in theChanging Scenario: An Exploratory Study in Madhya Pradesh
The Buck Stops Here-Provide Solution to the Organisational Problems
A leader's job is not of someone enjoying the perks
and powers that go with the leadership. You would
find people thronging around leaders. One reason is
that the followers get their powers from their leaders.
By aligning themselves with the high and the mighty,
they also get empowered. Apart from being the
source of power, a leader has to solve problems which
his followers pose to him on a day to day basis.
In government, the subordinate offices pose all types
of problems. It could be administrative, professional,
personal or financial. A leader should be good at
solving such problems. A large number of problems in
government relate to their profession and the leader
who is good at human resource management can
easily get over them. His professional competency or
experience in that particular sphere helps him in
addressing them better. By solving problems of his
team members and subordinates, the leader
develops the faith of his team, apart from growing as a
leader himself. Problem solving is an important
activity at the personal and professional level and it
shows the empathic approach of the bureaucratic
leader.
Problem solving is also an exercise in communication.
What are the types of problems the employees are
facing and what is the preparedness of the
organisation to deal with them? It helps in
organisational growth. It is also reiterating that the
buck stops here- the leader in the organisation is the
one on whom his team can fall back for solutions and
who can put an end to the endless chain of problem
solving.
Problems usually involve questions or issues which
contain doubt, difficulty or uncertainty. There can be
other situations where a person can also become a
problem due to lack of having the desired initiative.
No organisation is free from problems and the bigger
the organisation, more complex would be the
problems. This is particularly true for large
organisations or departments in government.
Problems don't present themselves in a straight
forward manner. It may be at one place but its impact
would be seen at some other place. Take the case of
poor performance in vaccination programme in some
states. It may be seen that the problem has been
compounded by lack of funds, manpower availability,
logistics, publicity etc. One may feel lost where to
start with but getting into the details of it would reveal
that only one or two are the critical factors, which if
dealt properly, would set the system right. The
problem could also be due to a poor team leader, who
with all the resources is not able to deliver.
Problems can either creep in slowly or may appear like
a thunderbolt. In public service, one can find a
plethora of problematic issues which have not been
resolved by those who need to. In government, there
can be various reasons for such a situation:
(i) attending to the problem may open up some
bigger problem. So it is better to keep it under
wraps;
(ii) it may mean fixing responsibility on someone for
non-performance and taking action, which is an
unpleasant decision to take;
(iii) the problem is fraught with political overtones
and is difficult to redress without handling the
political aspect of it;
(iv) by raising the problem, one comes in the line of
fire and the onus now lies on oneself to address
it;
(v) in the absence of suitable monitoring and review
mechanism, the senior officials are not aware of
the problem brewing in the organisation;
(vi) absence of administrative and financial
infrastructure to address the problem.
Who will bell the cat? It is only wishful thinking that
the problem will go away which doesn't happen,
rather it gets worse. As a leader, it is not significant
whose fault has caused the problem. What is
important is that once a problem has been noticed,
you solve it and move ahead. A problem in the initial
stage may need a small investment of energy and
resource for correction, but once it crosses a certain
threshold, it becomes a menace requiring
considerable effort to deal with it.
Generally, in every day public life, we find the nation
gripped by one agitation or the other. These
agitations going to the streets create newer problems
which need to be dealt with by use of force leading to
casualties and adding fuel to the already existing fire.
It may also turn worse as we have seen in the case of
the anti-reservation agitation. Then, it becomes a
mere fire fighting exercise.
All problem- solving involves a degree of uncertainty
because in order to solve them, decisions have to be
taken. One cannot be too sure that these decisions
would solve the problems. Each situation is unique
and requires a case to case solution. Sometimes, it
may be prudent not to take any decision and let the
problem die a natural death. It is always better to deal
with the problems in a well thought manner and not
let them drift away. One may not arrive at a solution
but it would definitely take you closer to the solution.
It has been repeatedly observed that a proactive
approach to problem-solving always helps and for
leaders in administration, it is their essential
responsibility to address them.
M.M. Upadhyay
Principal Advisor
(Centre for Social Sector Development)
l Profitable ones to be listed on the market;
l PSUs in profit to be required to pay a minimum
dividend of 30% of PAT (Profit after Tax) or 5% of
net worth whichever is higher;
l Those in profit should go for cash buyback if the
net worth is over two hundred crore rupees or
bank balance is fifty crore rupees;
l PSUs in profit to be asked to consider bonus
share issue if their reserves and surpluses add up
to five times the equity capital (paid- up). They
are to be asked to issue bonus shares if their
reserves cross ten times the paid up capital;
l PSUs should split their stock when the market
price or the book value goes up fifty times the
face value. This will help tone up the financial
management of state run companies and
maximize revenues;
l Make government nominee d i rectors
responsible for financial management;
l PSUs in profit should buy back shares to use
surplus cash to meet investment needs.
Adoption of the above mentioned strategies is
expected to improve the governance and financial
health of the state PSUs facilitating small investors to
enter the market, would deepen the market; help
improve liquidity and trading volumes of the shares
while meeting disinvestment target. Such moves
would also improve investor confidence, help raise
capital and contribute to expansion and
diversification.
Mangesh TyagiPrincipal Advisor (Centre for Governance)
The Buck Stops Here-Provide Solution to the Organisational Problems
A leader's job is not of someone enjoying the perks
and powers that go with the leadership. You would
find people thronging around leaders. One reason is
that the followers get their powers from their leaders.
By aligning themselves with the high and the mighty,
they also get empowered. Apart from being the
source of power, a leader has to solve problems which
his followers pose to him on a day to day basis.
In government, the subordinate offices pose all types
of problems. It could be administrative, professional,
personal or financial. A leader should be good at
solving such problems. A large number of problems in
government relate to their profession and the leader
who is good at human resource management can
easily get over them. His professional competency or
experience in that particular sphere helps him in
addressing them better. By solving problems of his
team members and subordinates, the leader
develops the faith of his team, apart from growing as a
leader himself. Problem solving is an important
activity at the personal and professional level and it
shows the empathic approach of the bureaucratic
leader.
Problem solving is also an exercise in communication.
What are the types of problems the employees are
facing and what is the preparedness of the
organisation to deal with them? It helps in
organisational growth. It is also reiterating that the
buck stops here- the leader in the organisation is the
one on whom his team can fall back for solutions and
who can put an end to the endless chain of problem
solving.
Problems usually involve questions or issues which
contain doubt, difficulty or uncertainty. There can be
other situations where a person can also become a
problem due to lack of having the desired initiative.
No organisation is free from problems and the bigger
the organisation, more complex would be the
problems. This is particularly true for large
organisations or departments in government.
Problems don't present themselves in a straight
forward manner. It may be at one place but its impact
would be seen at some other place. Take the case of
poor performance in vaccination programme in some
states. It may be seen that the problem has been
compounded by lack of funds, manpower availability,
logistics, publicity etc. One may feel lost where to
start with but getting into the details of it would reveal
that only one or two are the critical factors, which if
dealt properly, would set the system right. The
problem could also be due to a poor team leader, who
with all the resources is not able to deliver.
Problems can either creep in slowly or may appear like
a thunderbolt. In public service, one can find a
plethora of problematic issues which have not been
resolved by those who need to. In government, there
can be various reasons for such a situation:
(i) attending to the problem may open up some
bigger problem. So it is better to keep it under
wraps;
(ii) it may mean fixing responsibility on someone for
non-performance and taking action, which is an
unpleasant decision to take;
(iii) the problem is fraught with political overtones
and is difficult to redress without handling the
political aspect of it;
(iv) by raising the problem, one comes in the line of
fire and the onus now lies on oneself to address
it;
(v) in the absence of suitable monitoring and review
mechanism, the senior officials are not aware of
the problem brewing in the organisation;
(vi) absence of administrative and financial
infrastructure to address the problem.
Who will bell the cat? It is only wishful thinking that
the problem will go away which doesn't happen,
rather it gets worse. As a leader, it is not significant
whose fault has caused the problem. What is
important is that once a problem has been noticed,
you solve it and move ahead. A problem in the initial
stage may need a small investment of energy and
resource for correction, but once it crosses a certain
threshold, it becomes a menace requiring
considerable effort to deal with it.
Generally, in every day public life, we find the nation
gripped by one agitation or the other. These
agitations going to the streets create newer problems
which need to be dealt with by use of force leading to
casualties and adding fuel to the already existing fire.
It may also turn worse as we have seen in the case of
the anti-reservation agitation. Then, it becomes a
mere fire fighting exercise.
All problem- solving involves a degree of uncertainty
because in order to solve them, decisions have to be
taken. One cannot be too sure that these decisions
would solve the problems. Each situation is unique
and requires a case to case solution. Sometimes, it
may be prudent not to take any decision and let the
problem die a natural death. It is always better to deal
with the problems in a well thought manner and not
let them drift away. One may not arrive at a solution
but it would definitely take you closer to the solution.
It has been repeatedly observed that a proactive
approach to problem-solving always helps and for
leaders in administration, it is their essential
responsibility to address them.
M.M. Upadhyay
Principal Advisor
(Centre for Social Sector Development)
l Profitable ones to be listed on the market;
l PSUs in profit to be required to pay a minimum
dividend of 30% of PAT (Profit after Tax) or 5% of
net worth whichever is higher;
l Those in profit should go for cash buyback if the
net worth is over two hundred crore rupees or
bank balance is fifty crore rupees;
l PSUs in profit to be asked to consider bonus
share issue if their reserves and surpluses add up
to five times the equity capital (paid- up). They
are to be asked to issue bonus shares if their
reserves cross ten times the paid up capital;
l PSUs should split their stock when the market
price or the book value goes up fifty times the
face value. This will help tone up the financial
management of state run companies and
maximize revenues;
l Make government nominee d i rectors
responsible for financial management;
l PSUs in profit should buy back shares to use
surplus cash to meet investment needs.
Adoption of the above mentioned strategies is
expected to improve the governance and financial
health of the state PSUs facilitating small investors to
enter the market, would deepen the market; help
improve liquidity and trading volumes of the shares
while meeting disinvestment target. Such moves
would also improve investor confidence, help raise
capital and contribute to expansion and
diversification.
Mangesh TyagiPrincipal Advisor (Centre for Governance)
Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institite of Good Governance & Policy Analysis(ISO 9001:2008)
(An autonomous institution of Government of Madhya Pradesh)
Sushasan Bhavan, Bhadbhada Square, T.T. Nagar,Bhopal (M.P.)-462003Tel : +91-755-2777316, 2777317, 2777308, 2770765, 2770695, 2770538, 2770761, Fax : +91-755-2777316
Web: www.aiggpa.mp.gov.in Email: [email protected]
Editorial BoardEditor: Akhilesh Argal
Associate Editor : Dr. Indrani Barpujari Production & Commerce Manager : Amitabh Shrivastava
"Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things"
- Peter Druckers
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