Service Sector Should not be managed by Government

The recent example with the Department of Post & Telephones, GOI has made me to believe it is right time for the government to withdraw from postal & telephone services. In the last month I booked new connection with Bhopal Telephones online & it never materialized. After 2-3 days of booking we started reminding. Every time new person received the call, repeated the same questions & promised for the solution. But it never was converted into action. Fortunately the GM Administration of Bhopal Telephones happen to be my friend. I narrated this story of his department. He also did not listen the story but asked the details and instructed to his junior for the job. I got the telephone installed. But the first request is still pending waiting for the closure.
Second incidence occurred with Department of Post. We  sent our tender documents by Speed Post to Patna & booked the letter from Hazarat Nizammuidin Post Office New Delhi on 18th March 2011 with a hope it will reach by 21st as 24th being the last day for the document to reach. It was sent from the National Capital to a state capital. It did not reach to the addressee even by 24th March 2011 ( i.e. today).

It appears it is high time for the government to open this sector free for the private operators. The GOI should strengthen them for the welfare of the national development rather than  protecting inefficiency & callousness in the Government.
Dr S K Trivedi

Why are we not congruent in our analysis or decisions.

I am watching the TV & listening to the opinions of the experts about India winning semi finals in World Cup Cricket. Since India won against Australia, so every one appreciates the team members & the process of their winning with all the possible praise. But when the same team lost in the past I heard the same experts criticising the same players with all possible negativity. It appears we give our opinions after colouring with the success or failures. Why? It appears we do not have faith in our analytical ability at one hand & on the other we don not want to reduce the flavour risen among the audience because of success. During the time of defeat the opinion leaders always try to assess the mood of the audience & give their analysis accordingly. Thus anlaysis  does not remain fair. Why? We do not have courage to fight the emotions of the audience. In the process we loose a golden opportunity to learn. I am a bit perturbed by the praise as it took away the opportunity from players to learn. May we the team does that in closed doors.

What ails our thinking to be global?

Our thinking is conditioned by the environment we live in & influenced by the attitudes of the persons who live with us or work with us. If we wish to think global, we need to make surrounding look globally & think globally.The next supportive factor is nurturing the criticism & supporting critic for its survival. The criticism help in widening the eyes. The criticism forces you to think the darker side of your views. As cats widen their eyes in dark, so is the critic makes you to widen the eyes. Therefore if we wish to think globally we need to promote the factors which help widening  the eyes resulting into global thinking. The main disease with us is intolerance to criticism.

Enemies of Development

Who gains from development is a deciding factor. In a development intervention the administrator or service provider is not the direct beneficiary. Therefore he does the job as a formality & with out any interest. GOI failed in all those schemes where there is no direct gain to the implementor. In the absence of any gain, the implementing agents first invest their energy to identify the gain for themselves. Their search for the gains may not consider the over all productivity. Therefore if any development scheme is planned to succeed, it should devise incentives, may be even in kind,  to the implementing agents. The development schemes if make a provision for rewards for the implementors it may succeed. If rewards are not planned, it can not succeed whatever be the level of honesty or integrity & even vigilance. At least a small note in personal file may be effective.

Affect of alma matter on corruption

I was of the opinion that alma matter has an impact on corrupt practices. I believed people educated in reputed institutions are less corrupt. It may be generally true. But there are few more factors which prompt a person to be corrupt. To me it appears that inferiority complex in a person is one of the major reason for adopting corrupt practices. A person if brought up in poor financial state of the family with loose moral values if given an opportunity, he tend to more corrupt than the opposite. I came across a person who graduated from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the best institution of the country, was totally engrossed in corruption. Yesterday I was talking to my co-passenger in Bhopal Express & I stated that persons from reputed institutions are generally not corrupt. But he refuted very vehemently & named the bureaucrat  who graduated from IIT & IIM was corrupt to the lowest level. The essence is, if society wants to reduce corruption, it should respect the persons who are suffering from inferiority complex to boost their moral for keeping away from corrupt practices.