As in the case of beauty being in the eyes of the beholder, the level of honesty, morality, accountability desired from people in public offices very much depends on what the society expects from them. Passing acts in the Parliament, formulating rules for model code of conduct, and extensive policing by the chief vigilance commission in the case of bureaucrats or by the Election Commission for the elected representatives would hardly beable to prevent this monster from thriving, especially as elections approach and the party in power goes into an overdrive granting favours to all and sundry!

Honesty is perhaps one of the most desirable qualities in a public servant towards which transparency in public life is inescapable, and those who are sincere in their approach to public service do not require much skill or effort to establish beyond any reasonable doubt high moral standards of behavior. After the `Hawala' scandal politicians can no longer avoid being categorised as public servants and their conduct covered by an appropriate code. Undoubtedly enjoying higher level of public trust, unlike the bureaucrat who continues to be in service at the pleasure of the President of India, the politician cannot be sacked except at the next election!

However corruption at higher places is not the only major affliction which the Indian bureaucracy suffers from. It is often the common cold variety when one comes across any of the four `P's,supposedly `Pillars' of bureaucracy viz. PS's (personal secretary), PA's (personal assistants) penpushers (clerks) and the ubiquitous peons which even a highly committed and honest officer or a politician has to often lean heavily on to perform and deliver results. A relic of the British Raj these bureaucratic crutches have individually, and sometimes collectively come to wield considerable clout in their ability to dispense favours of an assorted variety. They can first create and then remove road blocks in movement of papers or proposals, act as effective conduits for speed money, generally keep transparency in public dealings at as low level as possible and end up as a major source for initiating and maintaining corrupt practices. The babus as the keepers of various files, records, code and manuals, etc, at best have a high nuisance value and unless the bureaucrat is downright lazy, refusing to look up the relevant various rules and regulations himself, can easily be dispensed in a paperless office.

Withthe electronic revolution of intercoms, answering machines and computers leading to such a paperless office the need for most of these has been drastically reduced as has been established beyond any doubt by DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) which has a core of only 150 staff to manage its Rs 5,000 crore project! The PAs, peons being limited to only the MD, two whole-time directors and half-a-dozen heads of departments, rest of the officers and technical staff maintain and their own papers/files, type out letters, and don't have to runaround for a cup of tea as it is made available by a contractor at their respective table at fixed timings. Of course the ubiquitous LDC, UDCs, section officers and others are conspicuous by their absence.

Entry being controlled through electronic locks operated by alert and security guards has eliminated any possibility of touts and other wheeler dealers from ever gaining entry into this tightly run ship! In fact for those who are loath to even type out their ownreports/letters a $60 voice recognition programme is being introduced which gets a rough draft ready as the report or letter is being dictated into the PC. Over a period these programmes are capable of learning the way word are pronounced eventually reaching almost 95% accuracy bringing an end to the tyranny of the PS/PA raj. Of course on a much bigger scale Chandrababu Naidu's attempt at electronic governance through establishing APVAN (Andhra Pradesh value added network) apart from making a good beginning has all the signs of being a winner. In spite of the temporary set back suffered on account of fear of job losses which it may bring about, not to mention the resultant serious loss of `babu' power, the common man undoubtedly would be much more than delighted. Reportedly a business plan by McKinsey, the world renowned consultants puts the hitherto untapped market of providing a host of Government services to its citizens through a widespread computer link at Rs 3,600 crore.

Implementation of therecommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission has put a serious drain on the economy on account of the steep hike in wages and pensionary benefits, forcing the Government to now seriously consider various options to downsize.

While Railways have over the last decade succeeded in bringing down the staff strength from about 1.65 million to 1.55 million through the process of attrition alone, this avenue unfortunately has been now plugged for two years when the age for superannuation was hiked up from 58 to 60!

Undoubtedly improving efficiency, productivity, and transparency in public dealings in Government offices and public sector undertakings has to be accorded top priority if India has to refurbish its image as a dynamic democracy on the move while entering the new millennium. Individual attempts made by Shreedharan MD, DMRC (of the 720 km long Konkan Railway fame which was completed in a record period and against heavy odds) and Chandrababu Naidu the CEO of Andhra Pradesh are just waiting to be emulatedby any one in a position of authority, blessed with a minimal computer literacy and prepared to go the whole hog to eliminate one of the last vestiges of the Raj, such as the PS's, PA's, peons and the penpushers!

Any takers in the North, South block, and scores of bureaucratic fiefdoms dotting the Delhi landscape?

(The author is a former member--mechanical, Railway board)