What Price Government Of India?

My son attends classes in the evening. When I go to pick him up, I invariably find one of his classmates being picked up by a driver. Nothing wrong with that, except that this is the driver of a government car. A white Ambassador. (I have the number, if Mr Shourie wants it.) Who can object if joint secretaries and above of the Government of India have cars at their disposal? If they have to drive themselves, they can't read ubiquitous files in the cars. But is there a government order permitting government cars to be used for ferrying government children around? Apparently, there was an attempt some years ago to pool cars. Cars would only be used for dropping people to office and taking them back. But a friend in the civil services tells me that the attempt has now gone for a six. If you are an important enough joint secretary (or above), you have a car at your complete disposal.

 

How much does one such car cost the exchequer? We first have to provide for capital costs. These are Ambassadors. Allowing for a three-year depreciation period, Rs 8,000 per month seems reasonable. Maintenance at Rs 1,000 a month. Driver at Rs 5,000 a month (perhaps more if one includes over-time). Petrol at Rs 7,500 a month. You add that up and you get Rs 21,500 a month. Even if you disagree with the individual components, you will agree that the overall figure is around Rs 20,000 a month. I have some figures on how much it costs to run primary schools in villages. At these rates, Rs 20,000 per month amounts to three primary schools lost. Don't tell me that private sector executives also have use of personal cars. At least in the private sector, the company is answerable to shareholders. When has the government ever been answerable to its shareholders?

The joint secretary (or above) doesn't need continual use of the car. So the car is used to ferry wives for shopping and children to classes. I am told that joint secretary and above now also have unlimited Internet access at home with Pentium III processors. Burdened with files, which joint secretary and above has time to surf the net? So the net access is also for children. On cars, isn't it simpler to scrap the car system and give a lump-sum amount of Rs 5,000 per month? Provisions do exist. If you live more than 3 kilometres away from your workplace and don't use the office car, you are paid Rs 800 per month as conveyance allowance. The differential between Rs 800 and Rs 20,000 is so high that there is no incentive to avoid using cars. My friend in the civil services gives me Rs 5,000 as a reasonable figure for adequate incentives. He maintains that since government servants live in government colonies, with lump-sum payments, cars will be pooled and there will less congestion on roads. The commanding heights of Delhi roads will no longer be occupied by Ambassadors. Since government servants will share cars, they will be forced to talk to each other. This will improve coordination between ministries and departments, a phenomenon completely missing at present.

I find this a compelling argument. Not just cars, but Internet access, newspapers and magazines, medical allowances. I don't know how it works in the central government. But in other places that follow government-type rules, people tend to fall in during March, because medical allowances must be exhausted. There are doctors who provide certificates after a 10 per cent cut. Newspaper bills are provided for the entire month, even if more expensive newspapers are not bought on Saturday and Sunday. Downsizing government is not only about slashing jobs, alth-ough that is important. It is also about slashing expenditure with the same number of jobs. Pro-vided direct cash payments are instituted, I am prepared to bet that government expenditure can be slashed by at least one-third.

If you count all layers (Centre, state, local bodies, public sector), there are probably around 20 million people employed in the government. One mustn't forget children, so perhaps 100 million people with vested interests. The remaining 90 per cent is cross-subsidising this caricature of public interest.