THINK

Building Nations?

2012-01-23T11:34:00.000+05:30

Nation building needs to be learnt from the germans and japs. Countries that were totally devastated towards the end of the second world war, had in a matter of a few decades emerged as economic powerhouses. The transformation that took place rapidly was fuelled by the personal involvement, hard work and contribution of the populace.

Looking at our systems of governance and the general character of the population, one shudders to think what would have happened had our nation met the same fate during the war. I am certain that we, the citizens of this nation would still be praying to god for divine help, cursing our misfortune and imploring the government to seek financial assistance from international funding agencies. Most of the mulazims of the sarkari tantra would in fact be rejoicing over the windfall that befalls them whenever such events take place.

Nation Building is a misnomer in so far as we are concerned. National Loot would perhaps be more appropriate. The fence eating the crop is the ground reality.

The rapid march to Tihar of people who used to be held in high esteem till recently is a pointer to the gross loot of national resources by its custodians. This coupled with professional corruption of the worst kind practised by the bureaucrats is definitely not a step in the direction of nation building.

Or is it is nation destruction that we are talking about? I am confused!

Of Turnarounds

2012-01-14T16:36:00.002+05:30

Air India badly needs a turnaround, but it cannot get one unless it decides to turnaround. Yet the signals that regularly emanate from this "deep in the shit" organization tell a different story. A solid internal reluctance to turnaround despite regular proclamations of the intent by all those successive gentlemen who aspired for and sat on the hot yet cushy seat.

Cushy it is, for it provides an ample opportunity for wining dining and loot by all those who manage this and other "deep in the shit" organizations. The cushy lifestyle that they offer to the top guys ensures that the concern for the organization, especially the welfare of its men takes a back seat. What Air-India needs right now is a "people's guy" as its CEO, not someone from the services who generally has only his own comfort and status in focus, almost always. Yes, it is true that the various services of the nation, including the elite ones produce officers who live for self and die for self with no concern whatsoever for the welfare of the organization, nation or the people despite falling in the category of "public servants", not rulers of the nation that they start imagining they are, sadly from the day one.

My stint as the main honcho of the Delhi division, the largest division of the mighty railway system of the country has reinforced my belief in the goodness and the immense utility of men at large. It has also reinforced my belief that the primary problem of the nation is neither the politicos, nor the unions; it is the bureaucracy that with passage of time has emerged as a self sustaining machinery. The "Officer" class has to take the main blame for the pitiable condition the nation and organizations like the railways and Air India find themselves in.

What was earlier thought of as an impossibility in the division is now regarded as child's play by many. The staff is solidly behind all our initiatives and the unions with their positive support ensure a smooth run for all the developmental measures that have changed the face of the division in a period of just two years. And contrary to popular belief, the politicos never intervened. Yet, the staff continues to be the favorite whipping boy for many belonging to the officer clan, who in my opinion would fail to make it to the cut-off list in any developed nation.

Unless we appreciate and then take steps to realize the tremendous latent potential that men have within them, organizations like the railways and Air India shall continue biting the dust and the unions and the politicos shall continue taking the flak.

Amen!

Environmental Blues!

2012-01-06T11:24:00.000+05:30

I often wonder how Corporate headquarters, especially in the sarkari sector, most of which have abandoned any semblance of cleanliness or orderliness try to make their subordinate offices neat and efficient. Such claims or efforts, in my opinion are not even worth the paper which they are written on or issued. Only exceptions, so far in my career, have been experiences with the Rail Bhawan in Delhi and the Vallabh Bhawan in Bhopal. These two office buildings present quite a non-sarkari appearance and an equally appropriate working environment. They definitely smack of efficiency, whether they are or not is besides the point. A visit to the Rail Bhawan surprises even the hardcore Delhiite. The corridors, toilets and public areas are definetely a cut above the rest of the Bhawans. And even the archives are a class. One can locate a file or a noting made almost fifty years ago. But, a dekko of most of the sectional offices and officers chambers leaves one dazed, mainly because of the glaring contrast between the public and the private areas. Well anyway, the mandarins of the Rail Bhawan definitely deserve a pat on their back for their efforts in keeping the building clean and smart. I also remember my visits to the Paryaran Bhawan which houses the union ministry of environment. Well now matters seem to have improved but earlier I used to wonder how a ministry which cannot maintain its own environment do justice to the “environment” of the country?

Environment is perhaps the most important aspect that we experience, yet surprisingly fail to appreciate. My first brush with environment was during those heady days of probationary period at Calcutta, almost a three decades ago when while descending the stairs of the metro station at Calcutta, I came alive to the impact environment has on us mere mortals. It was an unforgettable experience. The same Calcuttan who treated littering and spitting in public places as his widely practiced birthright changed colors within a space of only a hundred odd steps. One does not dare litter or even spit inside the metro stations at Calcutta, merely because of the pride, which the clean environment instills. Similar experiences at have reinforced this belief and I am now convinced that one does not litter a clean place. Also having experienced the effect which cleanliness and orderliness had on me in almost all the offices I have inhabited so far in my career, I stand convinced that a neat, clean and organized environment generates positive vibes that have a multiplier effect on efficiency with consequent growth in deliverance.

And so my first task in joining any new organization is to try to effect a change in the working environment. It has happened in all my offices, in railways, the ministry of tourism, the India Tourism Development Corporation, the State Tourism Corporation and now the hot seat of Delhi. Cleaning up the seat of power and that too literally is the task for the first day, to be followed by beautifying the working environment, both hardware and the software. I find it strange how we sarkari babus manage to retain paper that is useless, out of date, irrelevant and often even dirty enough to soil our hands and the table it is put upon. And so we have piles and piles of files, piled up in almirahs, inside and on top of them in typical government offices, and absolute indifference on part of all of us to do anything about it. And it is not just files, but old cardboard boxes, file covers, old pieces of dusting cloth and if one looks hard enough, even old slippers tucked away under the almirahs. Broken furniture is omnipresent.

But before passing any value judgement, let us try to analyze why a sarkari mulazim maintains his home absolutely spic and span and yet fails to carry his zeal to the work place. Is it lethargy, aversion to cleanliness, too much work or just indifference? Indifference it is, but why? The answer lies in our not being able to correlate our actions with deliverance and that leads to indifference towards whatever we do at work and also the surrounding environment. Official work has become a drudgery that has to be endured. Nothing matters whatever we do has become the prevalent belief even amongst the elite in the ruling class – the bureaucrat. And this is something that has to change, if we are to change for the better.

Amen.

Constant Change

2012-01-05T13:24:00.002+05:30

That it is possible to do things even in a complex organization like the "not so great" Indian Railways is a belief that got reinforced in me during my current stint with the delhi division. It is however a different matter that very often the effort required to move a molehill within the railway system may often be more than enough to move a mountain in the rest of the nation.

Yes it is true that the amount of effort I had to put in to make marginal improvements may have been more than adequate to turn around the national carrier, so be it.

A very interesting line that emerged during the new year celebration in the lawns of my office on the 2nd was that while the men on the field run the trains on the track, those sitting in offices at divisional, headquarters and Board levels run trains on paper and in the process remain sufficiently busy to believe themselves to be the movers and shakers of the railway system.

Often I get angry at the system and its constituents, but more often than that I pity them, especially the upper echelons. While the lower echelons are doing what they were ordained to do, ie run trains, the upper echelons are increasingly failing miserably in playing their assigned role. That the assigned role is not mere sycophancy or remaining busy in mundane bureaucratic chores is a fact that has not yet been appreciated by the officer community of the railways. Yes we have miserably failed, both in living up to the expectations of the organization and also completing our assigned responsibilities. And that leads to frustration, a symptom widely visible in the upper echelons of the organization.

The railway bureaucracy needs to radically change the way it works or else the organization shall ultimately collapse under its own weight and complexities. The existing processes need to be consigned to the flames and new ones evolved. Yes, it is an accepted fact that bringing about change in the highly complex world of railways is an extremely difficult task, yet it is not an impossibility and therein lies the beacon of hope.

Good Morning 2012

2012-01-01T11:55:00.000+05:30

1st January 2012

A new year heralds a new hope

A new desire to achieve something spectacular

A new resolve to remain committed, sincere, truthful and honest

A new determination to fight and win against all odds

Continuing to believe in the goodness of men

Continuing to believe in the necessity of change

Continuing to believe in the equality of mankind and the stupidity of hierarchial segregations

Continuing to have faith in God

Continuing to pray to God to give us the strength to be just, yet firm

A new march on the road to collective success

Let 2012 be the best ever year for all my colleagues, acquaintances, family and friends and the organization I work for

Employees First

2011-12-30T14:37:00.002+05:30

How many of us have ever reflected on the state of the employees under their control. In my over 30 years of sarkari seva, I have yet to be summonned to a meeting or discussion that had the welfare of the staff at its core. And yet this "great" organization professes that it is geared up to take full care of the passengers that throng its trains.

I fail to understand how an organization that does not have the welfare of its men at its core, even dream of taking care of the millions of passengers that utilize its services, not for the love of it, but because of the absence of alternatives.

Interaction with a contented staff has been a rarity during my current tenure. Most of the employees are unhappy and frustrated and therefore actively contribute in the overall unhappy scenario. Each keeping the other guy unhappy and simultaneously blaming the system for his unhappiness.

The problem with sarkari systems is that they are driven by rats, both of the bureau-c and techno-c varieties. These rats as a clan are generally self centered and therefore fail to look at the welfare of any human being other than themselves. This one point mission of welfare of the self has had a devastating effect on organizations especially HR centric organizations like the railways.

Yet, the babudom leaves no stone unturned in mouthing platitudes relating to the welfare of its passengers.

Whom are we taking for a ride anyway?

Public Sector Blues

2011-12-29T21:17:00.000+05:30

Public sector chiefs who thrive and survive on sarkari dole do not deserve to park their backsides on the seats that they have been almost gifted away. Yet they leave no stone unturned in flogging the corporation for the personal benefit of their family and friends.

I have never believed in the superiority of private sector management over the public. I have also always believed that the one single factor that makes or mars a business is the quality of the chief executive and not the shades of ownership. Yet I am amazed at the extent to which most of the public sector chiefs always crib about the government not letting them function.

The nose diving Air India is a classic example of a profitable public sector almost bleeding to death due to gross mismanagement by its bureaucrats led by the almost always high profile yet nincompoop chief executives. I for one definitely do not accept the oft repeated arguments laying the blame for all bad financial decisions at the feet of its political masters. If the chief executives were honest and committed, it was very much within their powers not to let the ministers have a free run at the expense of the company. ITDC is another such example that witnessed both, the best and the worst bureaucratic managements in a short span of time.

And that leads us to a fundamental question. Whether the governments of the day really want the public sectors to perform or want to exploit it or worse still, just do not care. I personally feel that it is a combination of the last two options - exploit fully and just dont care about the rest.

Mere lip service will neither take the public sectors nor the nation anywhere but downhill.

Amen!

Leadership vacuum

2011-12-29T10:44:00.003+05:30

The "vision vacuum" that we witness in the upper echelons of the bureaucratic setup in the great organization that I work for amazes and also saddens me no end. Even a petty businessman has a vision, and yet this largest single commercial organization of the nation drifts along without a vision or a sense of direction. Lack of vision and direction has now emerged as the unique trait of this organization that once was referred to by prefixing "great" to its name. The mediocre management at all levels of this monolith has also distinguished itself almost always by its penchant for the routine and jarring reaction to symptoms. Blaming the organization and its constituents for one's own failures or frustrations has also become a common trait of all those who occupy the hot seats, generally undeservingly.

It was almost always like that with very few exceptions of course. Yet only one exception stands out even decades later and that is Ravindra who is revered and missed even today by many of those who yearn to pull the organization out of the abyss it finds itself in. He is perhaps the only top guy I have ever known whose inner radiance glowed on his exterior self. A top guy whom one looked forward to interacting with and who alone could provide the leadership and vision that one misses badly in the railways of today.

Times change and with that the quality of men also change. The materialistic world of today where occupying a chair has become a goal, not for doing something for the organization or the nation, but for the power, perks, glamour and glory that goes with it has revolutionized, not for better but for worse the way we bureaucrats of India work.

And that leads me to wonder, when shall we hit the bottom?

Taste of own medicine

2011-12-21T14:08:00.001+05:30

My friend Vikas Arya has hit the nail right on the head when he says that the officer clan of the railways, has started getting a taste of its own medicine through the recent suspensions of faultless officers. His statement has opened up a new line of thought, hitherto unexplored.

It is indeed true that the officer clan of the railways never batted an eyelid in imposing indiscriminate suspensions and punishments on the front line staff, without caring a fig about whether the guy is really responsible or not for the act of high treason that the guy is being charged with. What has however emerged as a serious concern is that the bar has been moved upwards and officer class has also started getting a taste of the medicine that they regularly prescribed to the downtrodden. I find it ironic.

The fact remains that the railways with over fourteen hundred thousand employees has lost its HR focus totally and absolutely. The concern for the “aam railway man” has almost evaporated in the last few decades. It amazes me that in my over three decades of service, I have not been summoned to attend even one meeting that had the welfare of the staff at its core. Is it not sad that we discuss budgets, operations, materials and projects and even welfare of the super bosses, but never, repeat never the welfare of the staff.

Leave alone welfare, the system presided over by the railway bureaucrats leaves no stone unturned in exploiting the staff to the hilt. Classic instances of the same are some very glaring exploitation cases of irregularly utilized railway staff at residences of very senior railway officers who go even to the extent of physical assaults and extracting money from the hapless employees.

And I am amazed at the extent of charge sheets being issued, aghast at the trampling of self esteems and sad at the overall environment that promotes injustice and tends to deprive basic human dignity to those below by those above.

And the management continues to think that the problems plaguing railways lie elsewhere. How foolish and how sad!

Loss of Pride

2011-12-12T11:04:00.001+05:30

The suspension of a senior railway officer for alleged dereliction of duty in providing accommodation to VVIP’s speaks volumes about the spinelessness of the bureaucratic setup in the organization. An organization where seniors, who leave no stone unturned in pulling up their juniors and prostrating before their superiors almost all of the time, can’t be expected to take a stand before the powers that be as they are busy making an impression for purported future gains. The most unfortunate part is that the juniors, when they become seniors continue to behave in the same fashion thereby indicating that perhaps something is deeply wrong in the core of the organization.

It is really unfortunate that the organization regards “mard” as those who pounce on their juniors and lay flat before their seniors. Shouting at and humiliating subordinates is a much practiced trait of those regarded as bold and brave by the system. Such bold and brave officers exhibit their braveness through suspensions and harassment of their subordinate officers and staff in an organization that is HR driven and also projects itself as HR centric. A management that accepts even shit from above, but not even suggestions from below is what we have evolved into. I find it hilarious to the extent of being ridiculous.

A recent incident in which a train driver committed suicide by jumping off a running train, perhaps for fear of being removed from service as he marginally passed the starter at a train stopping station is indicative of the magnitude of fear psychosis present in the system at almost all levels. The misplaced emphasis not on giving infrastructural inputs or taking care of HR, but on following ridiculous norms of punishment whenever an untoward incident takes place is a strategy neither designed, nor suited for development and growth in the twenty-first century. The fact that successive generations of management at the apex level have failed in their avowed duty of providing leadership to a rudderless organization thereby bringing the railways to such a pass is neither acceptable nor pardonable.

Such incidents that are indicative of a total lack of concern for HR would make any self respecting officer hang his head in shame. I am however certain that even these will fail to jolt the railway bureaucracy out of its self centric slumber.

Such incidents make me momentarily lose pride in the organization I work for and today is one such day.

In deep shit!

2011-12-01T12:36:00.000+05:30

The news of a lady IAS topper getting arrested for graft is a true reflection of the staid state of affairs in the sarkari sector of our nation. While it is an accepted fact that almost the entire sarkari machinery is laced with graft, yet most of us found it hard to digest that a lady and that too a topper of the civil services would stoop so low. It is really disgusting that things have come to such a pass!

This news would undoubtedly affect the perception of the masses who so far laid a high premium on the fairer sex and also on the academically brilliant. Males were always considered wayward, but now the fairer sex too has joined the bandwagon and that too with a bang. Now only the almighty that too in person can help this nation as his blessings from afar have failed to cleanse this country of eighty four million gods and goddesses.

Despite the above, my mood this sunny morning is upbeat and the cause deter is two honest ticket examiners by the name of Bindra and Grover who displayed a high sense of personal integrity in discharging their official duties and therefore were given a well deserved recognition in my room. But what these two exemplary gentlemen told me and my commercial officers during the brief interaction that we had is nothing short of a horror story that again dampens the spirits. The unbecoming conduct and the unfair demands that most of the travelling members of parliament make, made my head hang in shame. After all these shameless members of parliament are the true representatives of the society that we all live in and therefore the deep sense of shame that I felt. What was even more horrifying were the stories of the demands and misuse of privileges displayed in abundance by the people who constitute the vigilance department of the railways, free meals and free upgrades being the least of the problems. A classic case of the fence eating the crop.

What has the nation come to?

What is so radically wrong that the moral fabric of the nation has gone for a six and almost everyone in the sarkari sector has accepted graft as an integral part of his job?

Is the job and what it entails, as promised at the beginning of the career not satisfying enough? Or is the compensation not adequate?

Perhaps the answer lies in the general lack of satisfaction in almost all jobs in the sarkari sector and also the perceived sense of injustice that the sarkari mulazims carry in the back of their minds. Job satisfaction is almost missing, except for those few who are strongly willed and the extreme complexity of the tantra ensures non transparency.

We already have a rapidly increasing number of srakari mulazims within the confines of the holy Tihar. The rulers of this nation have perhaps mistaken “amanat” for “milkiyat”. What is temporarily handed over to them in trust is not for self gain is a thought that needs to percolate throughout the tantra and the earlier it happens the better it would be for the nation.

I wonder where are we heading to? Only time shall tell!

Rudderless drift!

2011-11-28T13:13:00.000+05:30

Mission, Vision, Objectives, Targets, Action Plan, Individual Action Points and in that order organizations are supposed to think and act. It is basically a pyramid of sorts and the bottom layers are to be in consonance with the upper. It obviously cannot be otherwise.

Is it not therefore unfortunate that in the railways, while the mission is unambiguous, there is an absolute absence of vision at all levels, in all sectors and in alll territories. How can inclusive development be possible in this scenario. And therefore we have disjointed capacity addition plans in a scenario where even completed works have failed to give the necessary respite.

Traffic on the railways is increasing very fast, be it the passenger or the freight sector. Rightly so, being in a monopolistic situation in a sellers market in a nation where economic growth is bound to spiral, railways need to continuously gear up to handle the ever growing traffic.

But are we even looking in that direction? With the existing traffic being far in excess of our capacity to efficiently handle matters, every incremental growth is adding to the chaos. Therefore while normal commercial enterprises welcome a growing market, we in the railways while paying lip service to the advantages of the growing traffic, actually in our hearts dread the scenario that can at best be described as menacing. A situation where even routine maintenance of the track becomes a headache for operations is definitely not a very happy state of affairs to be in and the situation is bound to worsen rapidly with the ever increasing number of trains and almost frozen infrastructure levels.

On a micro level, it pained me to experience the reality that the already over dense Delhi area does not have a master vision plan for the passenger and goods segment. Piecemeal, yet highly cost intensive works are limping ahead with no target dates whatsoever. These works are also a classic case of blocking precious funds for long periods without even a hope of returns in sight. And we say we are terribly short of funds.

Yes we are short of funds and the situation is really comatose, yet should not this catastrophic situation impel us to put our act togethor?

Shall we ever learn?

Amen!

Passion is the key

2011-11-21T12:17:00.002+05:30

Prannoy Roy in his keynote address delivered at the Sanskriti School on the 19th of this month talked real sense. It was neither a speech, nor a eulogy, it was an advice to the students, an advice that struck a emotional chord with all those present in the hall, young or old.

Passion is the key he said. Passion in whatever one does is the key to success he stressed. So either one has to find his true calling that ignites passion or find passion in whatever one is doing. Any job done passionately leads to success as well as contentment and performed dispassionately is a sure shot failure.

Ashok Pradhan a retired senior IAS officer whom I met today is perhaps a very fine example of what Prannoy stressed upon. Ashok Pradhan was as bubbly and as full of enthusiasm today, as he was over thirteen years back in the hallowed precincts of the Transport Bhawan. It was his enthusiasm and passion for work while working as the director general of tourism that pleasently struck me on my first day in my first job outside the rails. That he still almost looks the same as he was thirteen years ago and still has the same level of enthusiasm reaffirms what Prannoy told the students.

All great men, almost all of whom have achieved greatness by dint of sheer hard work and perseverence have one thing is common and that is passion for whatever they are doing, Sreedharan, Pachauri and Amitabh Kant are other exemplary cases of passionate people at work, that readily come to mind. With passion, one can move mountains and cross frontiers generally considered invincible, even in the sarkari sector where excuses for failure are generally the order of the day.

Random Musings!

2011-11-16T11:32:00.000+05:30

How wrong we generally are in regarding:

a) A hard worker as one who always sits late in office.
b) A diligant worker as one who always has a heap of files on his desk.
c) A dumdar officer as one who abuses and roughrides over his subordinates.
d) A man occupying a high seat as a bada aadmi.
e) Wealth as a sign of prosperity and happiness.
f) A senior as a superior.
g) People occupying high chairs as deserving of respect.
h) One political party as better than another.
i) Leadership as only a political trait.
j) A grand plan better than a doable yet small plan.
k) Almost everyone else as corrupt and/or inefficient.

Gandhiji once said "How can an individual feel himself elevated by the humiliation of his fellow human beings". Is it not really unfortunate that most of us railwaymen take pride and a sadistic pleasure in humiliating our subordinates while at the same time leaving no stone unturned in behaving as great sycophants in front of their superiors.

I find it ridiculous when highly placed officials feign ignorance of rules whenever they demand undue favors from the system and display an excellent grasp of the rules whenever anything is to be denied to others.

Why do officers who want the top officials to behave in a particular fashion, do not follow their own thoughts when ultimately they occupy the high chair.

People who do not have the guts to place in writing under their signatures, their own very verbal instructions do not deserve to exist.

Dividing the nation!

2011-11-16T10:45:00.000+05:30

With the proposed division of Ulta Pradesh, four new states are in the offing in the country. One state divided into four apparently to facilitate growth, but actually for political gains. Whether such divisions help the economy or not is debatable but one thing is certain that they help the politicians and bureaucrats alike by giving them new opportunities to loot the nation. More Chief Ministers and Ministers, Chief Secretaries and Secretaries and a full complement of hangers on is definitely what this division shall result in.

Sometime back the (not so)great Indian Railways also went through a similar exercise thereby increasing the number of zonal railways from 9 to 16. The gains or the losses are there for everyone to see. While the railway bureaucracy has definitely gained by virtue of more posts resulting in improved promotional avenues, the railways as a whole have lost out terribly. As it is, the headquarters offices handling only negative functions were always redundant bodies, the need to further proliferate them had absolutely no rationale whatsoever. So now we have a number of zonal railways that have only three divisions to supervise, one general manager in the rank of a special secretary and a fleet of additional and joint secretary level officers, to supervise three functionaries. How superfluous and how ridiculous.

The irony of the situation is that the public, the naive public generally fails to see through such games of the politicians and initially regards such measures as being beneficial for the masses. It is only with the passage of time that the damage caused by such exercises is experienced and by then it is always too late to redeem the situation.

Anyway what can a common man do against the machinations of powerful politicians and a faceless bureaucracy?

It is a hopeless scenario of the fence eating the crop!

Misplaced Focus!

2011-11-09T19:12:00.000+05:30

Misplaced focus is a common ailment of sarkari officials, railways being no exception whatsoever. The higher the bloke in sarkari hierarchy, the more likely he is, to have focus on issues that are generally irrelevant and are of no consequence to the organization.

In other words, it is all about beating about the bush, yet keeping oneself thoroughly occupied in mundane matters and moving around with an air suggestive of involvement in important matters of state. Well we bureaucrats are generally adept at such posturings.

The fundamental issues affecting railways are lack of leadership, severe deficit in infrastructure upkeep and growth, out of date processes and tremendous yet growing complexities in day to day working.

Is it not strange that the largest single employer in the world is totally devoid of even a semblance of HR focus?

The organization has got skewed so badly that it would require monumental effort at the apex levels to set things right.

Getting engrossed in the mundane and daily chores is perhaps the easiest thing to do. Yet, is it not unfair that the guys who have the authority and also the mandate to steer the organization find it safe and also convenient to delve only in the mundane, leaving the complexities at the mercy of god?

Yes we are at the mercy of God and the only thing one can do is pray!

Amen!

Hoping against hope!

2011-10-29T15:35:00.002+05:30

Railways never ceases to amaze me. Just when I think that everything is lost, out of the blue comes a tremendous performance that defies all norms of conventional expectations. The tremendous performance however remains confined to the youngsters only with the old foggies, and I consider myself one, hardly having any say or contribution in its deliverance.

Believe me that the above comments have originated out of the brilliant performance of my officers, cutting across departments in the restoration work in the aftermath of the Kalka Mail accident of the 28th instant.

The senior echelons of the management also contribute by way of advises almost always delivered with the wisdom of hindsight in hand. Period. That is the contribution of the higher management levels when its role infact should be supportive and visionary. Is it not unfortunate that the 1.4 million strong organization is generally led by a group of people who are not leaders of men, but who on the other hand leave no stone unturned in castigating their team whenever things go sour.

Reactive management is perhaps an ideal term. A management that reacts on almost everything under the sun, a reaction that causes more damage to the system than the incident itself. Time established systems and conventions are distorted with impunity by pigmies who wish to leave their mark, even if by assisting in the sheer destruction of the organization.

And we have almost arrived. An organization that fails in the satisfactory completion of even low level mundane assignments is what we have become.

Yet, the brilliance of youngsters gives hope, a hope that all is not lost yet.

Insha-allah.

Royalty on track

2011-10-27T17:28:00.000+05:30

The King & Queen of the tiny kingdom of Bhutan were like a whiff of fresh air. Receiving them at the quaint Safdarjung railway station was an honor for us railwaymen who also left no stone unturned in rising to the occasion in preparing the special train for the newlywed royalty. This royal train that shall ferry the King and the Queen across the state of Rajasthan for the next four days, may perhaps do much more for Indo-Bhutanese relations than many other acts and treaties.

Despite its inherent drawbacks and overcrowding, both inside and outside its system, the Indian Railways is yet a great organization. That it still manages to deliver and deliver fairly well despite a multitude of odds stacked against it is a wonder in itself. The Royal Train that was conceived only a few days back, was turned out neatly in all its splendour and also despatched in time by the hardworking and focussed officers and staff of the division. A perfect example of dynamic delivery in a nation where positive occasions are getting rarer by the day.

Perhaps all is not lost yet! Insha-allah.

Love for hangers on!

2011-10-24T10:46:00.001+05:30

The highly feudal character of railways has given rise to a peculiar trait in recent times that of providing protocol to the higher rank officials. Senior officials demand and get protocol for as mundane an activity as visiting or arriving at railway stations. The higher the official is placed, the higher is the expectation for and from protocol arrangements. The sensitivity of this highly irrelevant practice should never be underestimated as the servility in providing protocol often forms the basis for evaluating an official or a department. The better halves of the protocol hungry officials also leave no stone unturned in reminding the puny officials that they also can be ignored only at the own peril of the junior officials.

I often find it strange that while the really powerful officials of the state like the cabinet secretaries and chief secretaries make do without protocol of any kind, much lowly placed, in the order of their utility to the organization and the nation, officials of the railways cannot step an inch without a senior railway official following in the tow.

The reason for this unusual penchant for hangers on in the guise of protocol arrangement perhaps lies in the rank inability of railway officers as a clan to be able to make any meaningful change in the surroundings that they live in. The absence of satisfaction from ones job invariably leads to deriving a warped sense of power that the protocol arrangements definitely provide to officials who are generally otherwise pygmies, both in stature and in their personal contribution to the organization or the nation.

Railways is perhaps the only organization in the entire nation where officers of the rank of joint secretaries to the government are a dime a dozen. And the organization therefore leaves no stone unturned in regularly reminding them of their worthlessness by assigning them on mundane protocol duties. Perhaps this is another way of showing disrespect for the entire officer clan, by a tribe of officials who have no respect for themselves either.

Blog is the answer for my "Unsaid Thoughts"

2011-10-19T14:36:00.000+05:30

1.Empowerment is non-existent. No officer from the lowest to the highest has any authority to take any decision that has a financial bearing. How can a bunch of powerless people bring a change or deliver efficiently is beyond my comprehension.

2.The entire system is based on mistrust. Every action requires a plethora of thumb impressions. There are inspections and monitoring galore. A request for support is met with by an advice on how to improve matters by more inspections and intensive monitoring. Matters are never accepted on their face value. Hidden intentions/interpretations are always assumed.

3.The decision making process is extremely complex. In fact it is much more complex than even state governments and central government ministries. Complex is actually a mild word.

4.Our contracting processes are also extremely complicated. Role of finance is debilitating in nature. We are increasingly ending up with unworkable low value contracts in all areas.

5.Our system of carrying out developmental works through the Works Program route is primitive, inefficient, illogical and cumbersome.

a.Nowhere else in the entire governmental system is there such a distinct and wide disparity between sanction and funds. Everywhere a sanction is followed up with release of funds. In railways sanction and release of funds are separate and unconnected exercises with the results that while projects are merrily sanctioned, funds are rarely given with the result that we have a massive shelf of sanctioned projects.

b.When a work is sanctioned, the executive has the authority of going through the work awarding process. In the absence of funds, we have ended up with a number of projects that are half complete. A scenario of locking funds without returns.

c.In the entire system, works valuing over 5 times the funds available are proposed year on year. Tremendous amount of wasted effort at all levels.

6.Our vigilance setup treats every violation of a rule or procedure or even minor deviation as a malafide with the result that no one has an inclination to take a tough decision that can have even a minutest element of risk. Delivery suffers badly in such a scenario.

7.The absence of a railway officer in the entire railway system has made matters worse. What we have are only departmental officers who never come out of the narrow confines of their departmental thinking. Nobody therefore watches/monitors the overall interest of the railways.

8.The existence of nine services where there is the need of only one is the crux of the problem. Tremendous fights/manipulation for top slots.

9. The organization also suffers from structure imbalances. Headquarters offices have only a negative role and therefore not required. Railway Board has more officers than all other central ministries put togethor. Too many brilliant brains with no work. What they can achieve is stoppage of work and that is what they all end up doing. The officer cadre should be radically downsized and railway structured on commercial lines.

Maintaining sanctity of processes!

2011-10-11T10:21:00.000+05:30

Sanctity of processes and procedures is what all of us strive to maintain at the railways, irrespective of whether deliverance happens or not. It is true that deliverance in the railways has emerged as a by-product that may or may not take place, but we should always have at hand our excuses and reasons of non-deliverance for that keeps us safe, alive and climbing.

Somehow I am unable to appreciate the way railway works, despite being on the hot seat of Delhi for almost two years now. The way most of us railway men think and act foxes me completely. The penchant for the mundane coupled with the tremendous focus on penning down inspection notes and other A4 documents for others to read and improve matters has created a scenario where most of us are wasting their time without even knowing about it. The servile attitude that officers are more prone to display the higher they climb on the organizational ladder also does not help. Obeying orders is fine but restraining oneself from speaking out the truth and the ground reality just because it may be inconvenient for the powers that be, is something that is plainly unacceptable.

Tethering on the verge of bankruptcy, Railways is presently passing through a very crucial phase. Ever increasing volumes of traffic and the rapidly rising staff costs, coupled with the long stay on increasing passenger and freight fares has brought us to the verge. Any further period of inaction on resolving this imbroglio would see us nosedive into an abyss from which it would be almost impossible to emerge.

Despite the financial bankruptcy and the tremendous complexity of procedures, railways still manages to deliver in the form of running its quota of trains, a task that any other organization in the country would have miserably failed at. It is also gratifying that after a very long wait, there is also a silver lining in the form of a committed and humane bureaucratic leadership at the apex level.

Perhaps all is not lost yet, and we may yet emerge from the shadows.

Insha Allah!

May God help us!

2011-10-05T13:13:00.000+05:30

My recent meeting with a cabinet minister amused me no end. In fact with the rapid deterioration in value systems especially of those in power, the behavior that earlier used to evoke emotions of disgust, now only amuses me, that too only mildly. The cause of the meeting was once again the issue of encroachments on railway land.

People who would go to any extent in sacrificing national interests for purported electoral gains now throng the corridors of power. As expected, the Minister was not at all concerned about the blatant grabbing of government land by the land mafias in the garb of helping the poor. His only concern was his own vote bank that needed to remain intact to enable him to have another shot at power and thereby continue self perpetuation till eternity.

It is true that the politicians of today live only for themselves. Like the dalal street investor, they also invest in elections with the avowed aim of ensuring astronomical returns for the grand survival of all their future generations. The bureaucrats of today also follow suit aggressively, sacrificing both professional integrity as well as the financial absolutely. Like the politician the bureaucrat of free India with some exceptions has also learnt to live only for himself. His focus remains confined to his posting, house, promotions, foreign trips and other perks and like the politician he also sacrifices the organizational and national interest at the drop of a hat, for petty personal gains.

The overall scenario is disgusting and hopeless. How the hell shall this nation ever come out of the abyss that it finds itself in shall remain one of my biggest nightmares.

May God help us!

Over vigilant vigilance!

2011-09-24T17:00:00.000+05:30

That the Anna brigade has brought the issue of corruption centre stage in one of the most corrupt and backward nation of the world is absolutely true. What the brigade however does not know or realize are the complexities of the tantra, complexities that can be appreciated only after experiencing them, not otherwise.

The organizations responsible for eradicating corruption or for catching the corrupt have also moved to the hyper-active zone. Spurred by Anna and also the rising prices, the various vigilance set-ups have also raised their consideration fee. After all the vigilance inspectors and the vigilance officers are also part and parcel of the same corrupt society, so why blame them if they also partake of the loot.

Jokes apart, it is an established fact that the various vigilance set-ups in the nation have with passage of time emerged as the fountainheads of corruption. They thrive on corruption and therefore have no stake whatsoever in its eradication. When corruption thrives, the mandarins of the vigilance set-ups rule the roost and if ever corruption were to be really eradicated, they would not know what to do.

Some organizations like the one to which I belong have taken the vigilance business to absurd and ridiculous proportions. Every single act that is even a minor deviation from the prescribed rules and procedures is sufficient to issue a charge sheet followed by subsequent long drawn out investigations. And the rules and procedures are also many. The massive building that many call as the ministry is busy churning out rules and procedures for specifying almost everything under the sun. Perhaps placing a ban on supply of A4 size paper to the over bloated ministry may be the best thing to do.

Why do we need a separate vigilance set-up is what I have been unable to appreciate in the over thirty one years of my service career. Is it not the primary function of an executive to remain vigilant and prevent corruption in the organization and men under him? Is the executive not to be trusted and every single act of him is to be put under the minutest scrutiny for even a miniscule deviation from the books?

I always wonder what sort of organizational culture we are brewing? Is not deliverance more important than anything else? Or is babugiri the numero uno priority? Let us first be clear and then suitable results that would need to be accepted will follow accordingly.

Having been out of my mother cadre for over a decade, I could never have imagined the extent to which systems have gone rotten in an organization that often calls itself commercial. And amongst the many departments that the mother organization is divided in, vigilance perhaps takes the cake. The best and the most striking example of dishonesty in the garb of honesty.

May God help us!

Untapped Potential

2011-09-23T10:48:00.000+05:30

Potential is a dirty word. Unfortunately many of us associate potential with a positive trait that needs to be flaunted. During my stint(s) in the tourism sector, I often came across people, even the doyens of the industry who left no stone unturned in eulogizing the tourism potential of India as if the potential itself is something that if flaunted would fetch both tourists and forex.

In India there is potential everywhere. There is potential in the building of roads, in eradicating poverty, in increasing tourism, in railways etc etc. On the contrary, one would not find much potential in the developed countries, say the United States of America. Lack of deliverance ensures conservation of potential and deliverance its extinction. Obviously, the extinction option is preferable, yet we take pride in tons and tons of conserved potential.

That conserved potential is not the preserve of infrastructure alone also needs appreciation. Most of us human beings who throng the sarkari sector also have vast reserves of untapped potential. The complexities of the tantra ensure that the untapped potential remains well conserved and the sarkar as well as the sarkari mulazims forever remain devoid of the deep sense of satisfaction that comes with the extinction of the vast reserves of untapped potential.

The tantra needs to be unshackled, the earlier the better.

Output sans input

2011-09-22T11:34:00.003+05:30

The scenario amazes me no end.

The most common folly of all of us is expecting “output sans input”. If only output could be achieved without any tangible input, our nation definitely would have been one of the most progressive nations of the world. Alas, that is not to be!

Mere advice, suggestions, observations and reprimands are definitely not the only tools available with us for ensuring delivery. This is to be experienced as well as understood, yet it is unfortunate that while we appreciate that for us any output needs a commensurate input, we fail to apply this principle when deailing with others.

And so we have an oft repeated scenario of the officialdom demanding output from the system and also their subordinates without either being prepared or being able to give commensurate input.

Hawa mein nangi talwar chalakar system aur utpadakta improve karna chahte hain. Idiots!

How silly. Besides the so called yearning for deliverance often turns out to be hollow and if probed further is found to be borne out of a desire to impress some bloated ego superior.

And as a bonus we have our vigilance setups. One more naka that often demands deliverance every day from the field staff in the form of hard cash to be delivered to the die-hard inspector and if that is not done, the employee who finds himself tied in a vicious circle suffers. The vigilance setups have with passage of time grabbed a major role in perpetuating corruption, especially in the railway system. Yet we regularly have our shams in the form of vigilance week, pledge on integrity and what not.

The system stinks. What stinks even more is total apathy of the senior management towards administrative issues, even those like the ones described above that are nibbling at the vitals of the organization. I wonder whether we shall ever wake up from our "Kumbhakarani" sleep and then overcome the inherent reluctance to do anything that can even remotely be of help in setting the system right?