Dasara is almost here and Raja Marga is still in news. The creation of Raja Marga was decided in 2010 and on July 31st, foundation was laid. Then we were told that the complete Raja Marga would not be done right away but only a part of it. So we assumed instead of doing up the whole 4. 8 kms may be the government will do just half of it — probably 2. 4 kms, for now. We were wrong. The government settled to do work only from Hardinge Circle to Chamaraja Circle — a mere 200 metres!

Even worse, it’s been a year and two months and still this 200 - metre stretch is incomplete! If this is not incompetence, then what is?

Roads are the arteries of prosperity in a vast democracy like ours and our nation still hasn’t learnt to build proper roads or should we say our government has not allowed the construction of good long lasting roads. May be they don’t want roads to last long; after all, road construction is the golden goose that keeps alive the nexus of terrible trio — the politician – officer - contractor.

Most main roads in the heart of the city are not in a very bad shape; especially the Devaraj Urs road. Yet the government applies a thin coat of tar on this road. Is it really necessary? And why when it’s raining? Why when it’s so close to Dasara? Why apply a “skin” when we know it will come off within a few months and the road will get worse.

The excuse that the Central government has sent money to fix roads and if we don’t use the money it will be taken back, is not good enough to justify the application of a thin skin on a good road only to ruin it and then ask the State government for money to repair it. If the government wanted good roads in Mysore, why didn’t they plan it better and sooner? That’s because the government likes taking its time and by the time it steps out of this indecisive limbo, various nexuses would have been formed to loot the tax - payer.

Who uses what ink?!
Speaking of our government’s affliction of indecision, journalist Arun Shourie in his book “Governance” recalls how the government took one year to decide what colour ink should be used by government officers! It seems in early 1999, two officers in the Ministry of Steel made some notes on some files. Their superiors, apart from the content in the files, also noticed that they had used red and green ink. The superiors wondered if this was allowed and wrote to the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances: “Can officers use inks other than blue or black?” The letter arrived at the Department six days later though the buildings of the two organisations are less than a kilometre away.

Consultations commenced. Ultimately, it was decided that since the matter concerned ink, the Directorate of Printing must be consulted. Accordingly, an “Office Memorandum” was sent to the Directorate of Printing. After three weeks, the Directorate wrote back to the Department of Administrative Reforms: “There are no orders / instructions / guidelines in respect of use of different colours of ink.” They also said in the end that “The Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Home Affairs, may however, be consulted.”

The letter was discussed for three weeks, and then the Department of Administrative Reforms again issued an “Office Memorandum” to the Department of Personnel and Training seeking clarification. Three weeks passed and then the Department of Personnel and Training wrote back, “The question as to which ink may be used pertains essentially to the manual of office procedure. Hence, the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances may take a view in the matter.” They threw the ball right back.

Later, an officer in the Department of Administrative Reforms proposed that the matter be judged in terms of the longevity of the file notings as some files are kept permanently. So now they had to check on which ink lasts longer! And so a letter was sent to the Director General, National Archives of India! The Deputy Director of the National Archives replied, “So far as fountain pen ink of permanent nature is concerned, the National Archives declared the prescribed colour is blue - black, while for ballpoint ink, the colours are blue, black, red and green.” Now more confusion, what type of pen must an officer use?

Then it was decided to refer to the instructions contained in the relevant manual for the Armed Forces, in particular the Army and so a letter was dashed off to the Defense Ministry. The Ministry of Defense replied stating that red colour ink is used by the Chief of Army Staff / Chief of Naval Staff / Chief of Air Staff; green colour ink is used by Principal Staff Officers; and blue to black colour ink is used by all other officers.

This confusion went on until finally on 27th April 2000, two additions were made in the Manual of Office Procedure, Chapter 6 which now reads, “Black or blue ink will be used by all category of staff and officers. Only an officer of the level of Joint Secretary to the Government of India and above may use green or red ink in rare cases.” Another para of the manual reads, “Initial drafting will be done in black or blue ink. Modifications in the draft at the subsequent levels may be made in green or red ink by the officers so as to distinguish the corrections made.”

While one para says only officers of Joint Secretary level and above may use red or green ink, the other para does not limit the use of these colours to any particular rank. As expected, even after so much of deliberation and involvement of eight government departments, the final solution was actually just more ambiguity.

Visa please!
In another example of the government’s indecisiveness, I was in the Police Commissioner’s office a few months ago and I noticed a young couple with a small daughter waiting for more than an hour. Suddenly, a senior Police Officer walked out of his office and surprisingly addressed the less –than – a - year old child, instead of the parents and left. The parents seemed disappointed and surprised. I was curious to know why would a senior Police officer address a child and rush out in a hurry instead of the parents.

As I spoke to the couple, it turned out they were American citizens of Indian origin and had decided to come back to India and settle down in Mysore. It all began when they had a baby girl in India. A year after the baby was born, they called the US Consulate in Chennai to seek appointment for their baby girl to get her US passport (as the parents were US citizens). When they heard the baby was just a year old, they suggested that they meet the Consulate personnel in Bangalore itself as the Chennai team would be coming to Bangalore soon and it would not make good sense to travel to Chennai with a baby.

So the couple went to Bangalore Consulate office with the baby on time, work was done in 30 minutes and they were back in Mysore. After 5 weeks, the baby’s passport arrived from the United States by courier.

Now since the baby was a US citizen, she needed a visa to stay in India. So the parents called the Indian Passport Office. The father was asked to come to Delhi and visit the Ministry for External Affairs. Once there, he was asked to fill two forms. The first form that he tediously filled turned out unnecessary, as he was “mislead” by a peon. After waiting for a while, not knowing what to do, he was given another form to fill which he then handed over to a computer operator who took his own sweet time entering the data into the computer. After this, he was informed that they would fax the approval letter to Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in Bangalore, and so he flew back.

On his return, the father found that there was an FRRO office in Mysore itself and requested the Delhi office to fax the approval to Mysore instead of Bangalore. The approval came after 8 weeks. But it was invalid without the local Police officer’s signature. They did get the officer’s signature but after 6 visits! I met them on their 5th. The young father called me this morning and told me he got the officer’s signature yesterday.

A child’s passport came from the United States, without having to go beyond three hours from Mysore in 5 weeks. To get an approval for a visa took 12 weeks, one visit to the nation’s capital and 6 visits to the FRRO office. But this delay in signature cannot be blamed on the officer; the government must be blamed for giving him so many responsibilities. How much can the officer do — from catching a thief, to welcoming politicians, to attending community functions and court duties and then to signing a visa approval from?

Quick service has never been our system’s forte, when it must be, considering that we are a nation of a billion people, and to keep up you have to be quick. But instead of finding more efficient and non - corruptible ways of executing work, our system is still busy being indecisive. Indecisive because the governments are too busy calculating the electoral advantages and disadvantages even for small works, calculating profits even for small contracts, negotiating for better “deals” forever till it’s a win - win situation for the politician and the contractors even if it means a lose - lose situation for the tax payers and citizens.

That is why even though Karnataka has the highest road tax in the nation, we have the worst roads. This indecisive behaviour makes us wonder whether our national animal should be turtle instead of tiger. We live in a slow and uninterested system and when in trouble tuck our heads in and pray, hoping the problem will die a natural death. There is nothing tiger like about us regal, strong, and aggressive and goal-oriented. Citizens are like lambs and the government is like a hyena and the system is like a turtle, and yet we are supposed to be the next super power. We must realise that slow and unsteady will never win the race.

Vikram Muthanna
vikram@starofmysore.com
Courtesy: Star of Mysore