The news today is all about the slaughter of 24 cops in Bengal by Maoist rebels. What is truly shocking is this report on how poorly secured the police camp was. If the senior officers of the Indian Police Service (IPS) cannot look after their own men, how will they ever look after us?
Actually, senior IPS officers are known to extort bribes when recruiting their men. I was at a seminar in Devlali when I heard Sharad Joshi reel out the “rates” for police recruitment to a former Director-General of Police – who did not, or could not, contradict this claim. It would seem that police jobs are deemed “cushy” for lumpen youth, with good pay and perks, and also the opportunity to earn a lot “on the side.” Thus, senior officers in the police do not “look after” their men. Everyone is busy looking after himself. Of course, there is this vast pretence that they look after us.
I think things will change drastically now that Maoists are killing cops by the dozen. I was watching TV last night, and they showed footage of angry relatives of the killed cops attacking police headquarters. If things continue in this manner, no one will join the force. Quite certainly, no one will pay a bribe to join up. It is fortunate that the private security industry is expanding at an incredible pace. Able-bodied young men will join up as private security guards. They will protect themselves. They will also protect us.
What will happen to the IPS? In yesterday’s post, I argued that the IAS should be entirely sacked. Today, I will add that the same should be done for the IPS. Our police forces are a disgrace. Their top officers should all get the pink slip – a dishonourable discharge.
It needs to be underlined that this top echelon of the police is heavily politicized. They do not serve the people. They do not look after their men. They only look after their political bosses. VVIP Security is the only job they perform.
This is also true of the IAS. I wrote about Wajahat Habibullah yesterday, Director of the IAS Academy in 2001. What I forgot to mention is what one of his deputies told me in hushed tones. Wajahat, he said, was “very close to the Gandhi family.” I have kept a close watch on Wajahat’s career since he left the Academy, and indeed he is one of the favourite courtiers attending upon the Queen of the CONgress these days, a permanent fixture at the Imperial Palace on 10, Janpath. If the IAS are like this, can the IPS, who work under the IAS, be any different?
All this shows that we do not possess an “apolitical bureaucracy” – which is the “theory” constantly fed to us. In truth, all these baboons are de facto members of political parties. The goals they pursue are political in nature. They are therefore as “self-interested” as their political masters. They all must go.
Give me self-interested businessmen any day – who compete to serve their customers better. Of course, there are some good men in the bureaucracy, but, as ET reports today, they are quitting in droves, joining MBA programmes, and opting for the private sector. They are the good guys.
There are good and bad everywhere incl the business world AND media (I worked in accounting in both private and govt firms and I will tell you, it was much easier for me to live an honest life at PSU than at private firm (this is not an endorsement of state ownership of businesses - I do not - but to point put that good and bad is everywhere, not just in state sector). And, it will not help to solve our probklems by making such generalisation.
ReplyDelete"I worked in accounting in both private and govt firms and I will tell you, it was much easier for me to live an honest life at PSU than at private firm"
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There can be incompetence everywhere.
But the important point is that “corruption” is a concept that applies only to the government. Corruption applies only in cases where “tax payers money” is involved.
If an employee is robbing a private company then that is not corruption. That is theft.
The only losers in such cases are the owners and the investors in the company, who are lazy or foolish to allow such mismanagement go on under their noses. If the mismanagement in the private company goes on, the company will go bankrupt and it will be taken over by a much smarter entrepreneur at dirt-cheap rates.
In any case, rest of the population does not suffer.
But if any employee is robbing a government owned company then that becomes a case of corruption. In this case everyone in the country suffers, because it is taxpayers money that is being siphoned off. The inefficiency in PSUs brings suffering to everyone, even if they are not directly associated with these companies.
That is why “theft” in a private company is a much minor issue, as compared to “corruption” in a government owned company.
@Anoop:
ReplyDeleteWell said. But let me add something Mises mentions:
Under socialism, in State-owned enterprises, there pervades a "universal moral hazard." If you shirk work in a State job, the negative effects of your shirking do not fall on you, as they would in a private firm (you would be fired). Rather, they fall on the rest of the "socialist" population. This Universal Moral Hazard under socialism is what we are suffering from today, and this is far worse than mere corruption.
currently reading the Mises book Human Action.
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