Just Me - India

Public Servants : The word is a misnomer. It is the public who serve them, not the other way round. Visit any government office, and you will get a taste of it.

 

And as for the title : The Great Fall - the fall is only in terms of quality of work.

 

Consider the following key problems faced by indians:

1. Shortage of Electicity/Power.

2. Extremely poor quality of public health services.

3. Extremely poor quality of primary education provided by govt.

4. Poor quality of roads.

5. Largely corrupt, inefficient Police System.

6. Missing drinking / potable water in large parts of india.

7. Stupid laws, and their blind adherence. Laws are meant to make our lives better, but they are often used to harass people.

 

Now, who is responsible for ALL the above: The so-called Public Servants.

 

Then, when so much is at stake, why isn't it set right?

Because:

1. There is no incentive for the public servants to do their work diligently. (When you guarantee a life time of employment, and promotions are not based on performance, what else do you expect?)

 

2. Their political masters spend more time finding the best bungalows to live in and examining loop-holes in the system to make irrelevant foreign jaunts (very often they go to study traffic management in Chicago!, but have never visited their neighborhood in a public transport :)). So you get the idea.

 

3. Media spends time chasing silly/sensational stories, instead of highlighting macro level problems and being part of the solution. The news channels resemble soap operas, and very often take on the role of a judge instead of being a reporter ! A Well intentioned media can be of help.

 

To be fair - there are well intentioned public servants too. But they are too few. And this species is especially rare at senior positions.