Sushasan Vol. 02, Issue 07, December, 2016

Vision –“Equal opportunity to all through Good Governance geared to improve the quality of lives of our people."

Newsletter of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance & Policy Analysis

Akhilesh ArgalDirector

From the Editor’s

Dear Readers,

The District Collector is the pivot of district administration, a focal point for most of the activities/issues in the district. With the onset of new schemes, the roles and responsibilities of the Collector are increasing day by day. It has been reported that the Collector is heading more than 150 committees in the district. It is being widely felt that Collectors are mostly tied to district headquarters. Hence, a study has been taken up by the Center for Governance, AIGGPA to document the various roles and responsibilities of District Collectors. This study would aid District Collectors in planning/scheduling their activities/meetings well ahead and in maintaining their monthly/yearly activity calendar. A brief about the study is in this issue of the Newsletter.

In any organization, problems are bound to occur. These problems could be administrative, professional, personal or financial. It is a general tendency of the top leadership to avoid the problem due to a number of reasons- attending to the problem may open up some bigger problem or it may mean fixing responsibility, which is an unpleasant decision to take; or the problem is fraught with political overtones and difficult to redress etc. A leader should be good at solving such problems. The Newsletter has an interesting reading on this issue under the article "The Buck Stops Here-Provide Solution to the Organizational Problems".

To improve the efficiency of governance, the need for 'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance' has been widely felt. The Government of Madhya Pradesh currently has 53 departments, which is high in comparison to states like Gujarat. Hence, there appears to be a case to analyze whether there is a need for further downsizing of the number of existing departments to improve efficiency of governance. In line with this, AIGGPA has taken up a project on 'Rat ional izat ion of the Departments and Interdepartmental Coordination in GoMP'. Briefs of a brain storming session to conceptualize the project to address this issue are in the Newsletter.

There was also a brainstorming meeting at the Institute to formally commence a project taken up by AIGGPA to bring out a monograph on corruption titled "Understanding the Causes, Forms and Strategies to Combat Corruption in Government". Details of the meeting are in the Newsletter.

Performance of PSUs in the state has not been up to the mark with a sizeable number of them incurring big losses (Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, 2015). The article of Mr. M.K. Tyagi, Principal Advisor, Centre for Governance, provides a check list for Improvement in Governance of State Public Sector Undertakings (PSU).

Your comments on the Newsletter will be greatly appreciated.

Institute News

Brainstorming Meeting on proposed AIGGPA Volume on Corruption

As already reported in the previous issue of the

Newsletter, the Centre for Governance, AIGGPA has

taken up a project to bring out a monograph on

corruption titled "Understanding the Causes, Forms

and Strategies to Combat Corrupt ion in

Government". A brainstorming meeting was

organised at AIGGPA on November 15, 2016 to

formally commence this project and take on board

the suggestions of key experts on the first steps

forward. The focus of the meeting was to discuss the

key aspects which a volume on corruption should

cover to bring about a comprehensive picture on the

issue and the potential contributors. Chaired by Shri

Padamvir Singh, Director General, AIGGPA, the

meeting was attended by Mrs Nirmala Buch, Former

Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh; Shri

K.M. Acharya, IAS (Retd.), Shri M. Natarajan, IPS

(Retd.), Shri R.K. Diwaker, IPS (Retd.), Shri Vijay Yadav,

DG, Economic Offences Wing, Government of

Madhya Pradesh; and Shri Shashidhar Singh Kapur

from the media. It was also attended by Shri Akhilesh

Argal, Director, AIGGPA, Shri Mangesh Tyagi, Principal

Advisor, Centre for Governance ;Shri M.M. Upadhyay,

Principal Advisor, Centre for Social Sector

Development, and Dr. Indrani Barpujari, Advisor,

Centre for Governance of the Institute.

The experts present in the meeting while appreciating

the timeliness of the effort, stressed that the

proposed volume should address the problem of

corruption in a holistic, multi-disciplinary manner and

take on board the perspectives of all the stakeholders,

including the political establishment, bureaucracy,

judiciary, civil society, media and the common man.

The scope of the volume should include the idea of

corruption (historical, philosophical as well as societal

context); present status of corruption in India both at

the national and sub-national level based on available

data; instrumentalities to address corruption and

their effectiveness; causes responsible for corruption

as well as proposed strategies to combat the problem.

The meeting also emphasized that while addressing

the issue of corruption at the national level, the

volume should also throw light on the problem of

corruption in Madhya Pradesh and strategies to

circumvent the same.

Brainstorming Session on the Project 'Rationalization of the Departments and Interdepartmental Coordination in Government of Madhya Pradesh'

To improve the efficiency of governance, a need for

'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance' has

been widely felt. NITI Aayog has initiated NIYATAM

(NITI Initiative to Yield Aspirational Targets and

Actionable Means) in four states to minimize the

number of departments in government. Madhya

Pradesh is one of the few states which have taken

concrete steps in adopting the concept of 'small but

smart government'. The Government of Madhya

Pradesh currently has 53 departments, which is high

in comparison to states like Gujarat. Hence, there

appears to be a case to analyze whether there is a

need for further downsizing of the number of existing

departments to improve efficiency of governance. In

line with this, AIGGPA has taken up a project on

'Rat ional izat ion of the Departments and

Interdepartmental Coordination in GoMP'. The

project intends to explore possibilities for

reorganizing, right sizing and redeploying the

government departments for effective service

delivery and coordination across the departments in

the state.

A Brainstorming session was organised under this th

project on 17 November, 2016 at AIGGPA. Shri R.

Parasuram, Former Chief Secretary, Government of

Madhya Pradesh and Shri Ashok Baranwal, Principal

Secretary to CM attended the session along with the

Director General and Director of AIGGPA and offered

valuable inputs to improve the scope of the project. It

was suggested that the organizational structure of

better performing states especially the states like

Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Gujarat may be studied

and compared. Shri Parasuram opined that as a first

step, the history of evolution of the various

departments in the state needs to be understood

following which departments with common/similar

roles need to be identified and the possibility of

clubbing/merging of the departments may be

assessed.

Institute News

Brainstorming Meeting on proposed AIGGPA Volume on Corruption

As already reported in the previous issue of the

Newsletter, the Centre for Governance, AIGGPA has

taken up a project to bring out a monograph on

corruption titled "Understanding the Causes, Forms

and Strategies to Combat Corrupt ion in

Government". A brainstorming meeting was

organised at AIGGPA on November 15, 2016 to

formally commence this project and take on board

the suggestions of key experts on the first steps

forward. The focus of the meeting was to discuss the

key aspects which a volume on corruption should

cover to bring about a comprehensive picture on the

issue and the potential contributors. Chaired by Shri

Padamvir Singh, Director General, AIGGPA, the

meeting was attended by Mrs Nirmala Buch, Former

Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh; Shri

K.M. Acharya, IAS (Retd.), Shri M. Natarajan, IPS

(Retd.), Shri R.K. Diwaker, IPS (Retd.), Shri Vijay Yadav,

DG, Economic Offences Wing, Government of

Madhya Pradesh; and Shri Shashidhar Singh Kapur

from the media. It was also attended by Shri Akhilesh

Argal, Director, AIGGPA, Shri Mangesh Tyagi, Principal

Advisor, Centre for Governance ;Shri M.M. Upadhyay,

Principal Advisor, Centre for Social Sector

Development, and Dr. Indrani Barpujari, Advisor,

Centre for Governance of the Institute.

The experts present in the meeting while appreciating

the timeliness of the effort, stressed that the

proposed volume should address the problem of

corruption in a holistic, multi-disciplinary manner and

take on board the perspectives of all the stakeholders,

including the political establishment, bureaucracy,

judiciary, civil society, media and the common man.

The scope of the volume should include the idea of

corruption (historical, philosophical as well as societal

context); present status of corruption in India both at

the national and sub-national level based on available

data; instrumentalities to address corruption and

their effectiveness; causes responsible for corruption

as well as proposed strategies to combat the problem.

The meeting also emphasized that while addressing

the issue of corruption at the national level, the

volume should also throw light on the problem of

corruption in Madhya Pradesh and strategies to

circumvent the same.

Brainstorming Session on the Project 'Rationalization of the Departments and Interdepartmental Coordination in Government of Madhya Pradesh'

To improve the efficiency of governance, a need for

'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance' has

been widely felt. NITI Aayog has initiated NIYATAM

(NITI Initiative to Yield Aspirational Targets and

Actionable Means) in four states to minimize the

number of departments in government. Madhya

Pradesh is one of the few states which have taken

concrete steps in adopting the concept of 'small but

smart government'. The Government of Madhya

Pradesh currently has 53 departments, which is high

in comparison to states like Gujarat. Hence, there

appears to be a case to analyze whether there is a

need for further downsizing of the number of existing

departments to improve efficiency of governance. In

line with this, AIGGPA has taken up a project on

'Rat ional izat ion of the Departments and

Interdepartmental Coordination in GoMP'. The

project intends to explore possibilities for

reorganizing, right sizing and redeploying the

government departments for effective service

delivery and coordination across the departments in

the state.

A Brainstorming session was organised under this th

project on 17 November, 2016 at AIGGPA. Shri R.

Parasuram, Former Chief Secretary, Government of

Madhya Pradesh and Shri Ashok Baranwal, Principal

Secretary to CM attended the session along with the

Director General and Director of AIGGPA and offered

valuable inputs to improve the scope of the project. It

was suggested that the organizational structure of

better performing states especially the states like

Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Gujarat may be studied

and compared. Shri Parasuram opined that as a first

step, the history of evolution of the various

departments in the state needs to be understood

following which departments with common/similar

roles need to be identified and the possibility of

clubbing/merging of the departments may be

assessed.

The District Collector is the pivot of district

administration, a focal point for most of the

activities/issues in the district. The roles and

responsibilities assigned to the Collector can broadly

be categorized into three types- regulatory,

development and revenue functions. Apart from

these regular duties, he is also responsible for the

smooth conduct of elections and efforts to mitigate

natural calamities in the district. He plays an

important role in coordination between departments

such as sorting out inter-departmental bottlenecks in

the implementation of schemes. With the onset of

new schemes, the roles and responsibilities of the

Collector are increasing day by day. It has been

reported that the Collector is heading more than 150

committees in the district whose details at times even

the Collectors are not aware of. The Collector is, thus,

expected to be a jack-of-all-trades and appears to be

burdened with too many told and untold duties in the

district administration. It is being widely felt that

Collectors are mostly tied to district headquarters,

engrossed in file work, protocol duties, revenue

administration and other scheme/committee related

meetings. He is left with little time for field tours

which is required to deepen his understanding of the

issues at the ground level and also, maintain a rapport

with the citizens.

It is very difficult to predict the daily work routine and

time log of a District Collector and there is no defined

schedule or a typical day in the life of a District

Collector. While it has been widely reported that the

Collector has been assigned quite a large number of

responsibilities, no thorough documentation has

been made of the exact nature and extent of these

roles and the time he needs to spend on discharging

them. Such documentation would help one

understand the amount of time the Collector spends

on each of his assigned roles and whether, he is able

to give adequate time for a particular role to achieve

the desired objectives. This would also help the

Collector to plan his routine in a better manner. It

would also help the Government to decide the

optimum work load that a Collector can handle, the

additional responsibilities he can be assigned and

whether, there is a need for rationalisation of his roles

and responsibilities.

Hence, a study has been taken up by the Center for

Governance, AIGGPA with the following objectives:

l to document the var ious ro les and

responsibilities of District Collectors;

l to list out the committees in which the

Collectors are members and to assess their

relevance, importance and time consumption in

his work calendar;

l to record the time log of the daily routine of a

District Collector for a week/month and rank the

functions based on the average time consumed;

l to understand the challenges faced by a District

Collector in the current scenario in performing

the roles and responsibilities assigned to him;

l to create a digital repository and provide an

index on the importance of the various roles and

responsibilities;

l to propose a decision support mechanism that

may be used to decide whether a new

arrangement needs to be created or whether

this could be included in an existing

arrangement for implementation of new

schemes, projects etc.

The study will be based on both quantitative and

qualitative research methods. In-depth interviews

will be conducted with the district magistrates and

other stakeholders us ing pre-st ructured

questionnaires developed in consultation with the

senior officers through meetings/workshops. A

representative sample of 10 districts would be chosen

randomly in Madhya Pradesh and extensive data on

the roles and responsibilities would be collected from

various levels of functionaries in the district. The daily

routine of the district collectors would be studied to

understand the activities which consume his time.

The information collected through the study would be

fed in a digital repository with the help of software

designers. The repository would be designed in a way

that it can be used by policy makers/senior officers as

a backgrounder before planning/formulating new

schemes/committees involving Collectors and can

also be used by the Collectors in scheduling their

meetings /activities.

Expected Outcomes of the Study

l The study would be helpful in documenting the

roles, duties and responsibilities of the Collector

in the current scenario in the state.

l Creating a digital repository would maintain a

database of all the activities of the District

Collectors in the state, which can be updated

whenever needed.

l Would aid District Collectors in planning/

scheduling their activities/meetings well ahead

and in maintaining their monthly/yearly activity

calendar.

l The database would serve as a backgrounder for

the policy makers and senior functionaries while

making decisions regarding assigning news

tasks/ formulating new schemes involving

District Collectors.

The project is being coordinated by Dr. Anitha

Govindaraj, Deputy Advisor, Centre for Governance,

AIGGPA.

Viewpoint

Checklist for Improvement in Governance of State Public Sector Undertakings (PSU)

As on 31 March 2015, the State of Madhya

Pradesh had 64 Government companies

(including nine non-working companies) and

three statutory corporations (all working) which

together constitute the Public Sector Undertakings

(PSUs) in the state. Performance of PSUs in the state

has not been up to the mark with a sizeable number of

them incurring big losses (Report of the Comptroller

and Auditor General of India, 2015). Following are

some strategies proposed to improve governance in

the state PSUs, ultimately contributing to the financial

health of the sector:

l State budget to separately fix targets of revenue

by disinvestment or strategic sale;

l Loss making ones to be disinvested or

strategically sold;

l Attractive package of severance to be provided

for voluntary retirements;

l Audit of accounts to be done and balance sheets

to be disclosed;

l Accounts of all state PSUs to be compiled and put

in public domain;

l Due procedure for selection of CEOs and other

independent directors in management boards;

l PSUs with social objectives to be identified and

reviewed separately;

Project Round Up

Roles, Responsibilities and Challenges of the District Collectors in theChanging Scenario: An Exploratory Study in Madhya Pradesh

The District Collector is the pivot of district

administration, a focal point for most of the

activities/issues in the district. The roles and

responsibilities assigned to the Collector can broadly

be categorized into three types- regulatory,

development and revenue functions. Apart from

these regular duties, he is also responsible for the

smooth conduct of elections and efforts to mitigate

natural calamities in the district. He plays an

important role in coordination between departments

such as sorting out inter-departmental bottlenecks in

the implementation of schemes. With the onset of

new schemes, the roles and responsibilities of the

Collector are increasing day by day. It has been

reported that the Collector is heading more than 150

committees in the district whose details at times even

the Collectors are not aware of. The Collector is, thus,

expected to be a jack-of-all-trades and appears to be

burdened with too many told and untold duties in the

district administration. It is being widely felt that

Collectors are mostly tied to district headquarters,

engrossed in file work, protocol duties, revenue

administration and other scheme/committee related

meetings. He is left with little time for field tours

which is required to deepen his understanding of the

issues at the ground level and also, maintain a rapport

with the citizens.

It is very difficult to predict the daily work routine and

time log of a District Collector and there is no defined

schedule or a typical day in the life of a District

Collector. While it has been widely reported that the

Collector has been assigned quite a large number of

responsibilities, no thorough documentation has

been made of the exact nature and extent of these

roles and the time he needs to spend on discharging

them. Such documentation would help one

understand the amount of time the Collector spends

on each of his assigned roles and whether, he is able

to give adequate time for a particular role to achieve

the desired objectives. This would also help the

Collector to plan his routine in a better manner. It

would also help the Government to decide the

optimum work load that a Collector can handle, the

additional responsibilities he can be assigned and

whether, there is a need for rationalisation of his roles

and responsibilities.

Hence, a study has been taken up by the Center for

Governance, AIGGPA with the following objectives:

l to document the var ious ro les and

responsibilities of District Collectors;

l to list out the committees in which the

Collectors are members and to assess their

relevance, importance and time consumption in

his work calendar;

l to record the time log of the daily routine of a

District Collector for a week/month and rank the

functions based on the average time consumed;

l to understand the challenges faced by a District

Collector in the current scenario in performing

the roles and responsibilities assigned to him;

l to create a digital repository and provide an

index on the importance of the various roles and

responsibilities;

l to propose a decision support mechanism that

may be used to decide whether a new

arrangement needs to be created or whether

this could be included in an existing

arrangement for implementation of new

schemes, projects etc.

The study will be based on both quantitative and

qualitative research methods. In-depth interviews

will be conducted with the district magistrates and

other stakeholders us ing pre-st ructured

questionnaires developed in consultation with the

senior officers through meetings/workshops. A

representative sample of 10 districts would be chosen

randomly in Madhya Pradesh and extensive data on

the roles and responsibilities would be collected from

various levels of functionaries in the district. The daily

routine of the district collectors would be studied to

understand the activities which consume his time.

The information collected through the study would be

fed in a digital repository with the help of software

designers. The repository would be designed in a way

that it can be used by policy makers/senior officers as

a backgrounder before planning/formulating new

schemes/committees involving Collectors and can

also be used by the Collectors in scheduling their

meetings /activities.

Expected Outcomes of the Study

l The study would be helpful in documenting the

roles, duties and responsibilities of the Collector

in the current scenario in the state.

l Creating a digital repository would maintain a

database of all the activities of the District

Collectors in the state, which can be updated

whenever needed.

l Would aid District Collectors in planning/

scheduling their activities/meetings well ahead

and in maintaining their monthly/yearly activity

calendar.

l The database would serve as a backgrounder for

the policy makers and senior functionaries while

making decisions regarding assigning news

tasks/ formulating new schemes involving

District Collectors.

The project is being coordinated by Dr. Anitha

Govindaraj, Deputy Advisor, Centre for Governance,

AIGGPA.

Viewpoint

Checklist for Improvement in Governance of State Public Sector Undertakings (PSU)

As on 31 March 2015, the State of Madhya

Pradesh had 64 Government companies

(including nine non-working companies) and

three statutory corporations (all working) which

together constitute the Public Sector Undertakings

(PSUs) in the state. Performance of PSUs in the state

has not been up to the mark with a sizeable number of

them incurring big losses (Report of the Comptroller

and Auditor General of India, 2015). Following are

some strategies proposed to improve governance in

the state PSUs, ultimately contributing to the financial

health of the sector:

l State budget to separately fix targets of revenue

by disinvestment or strategic sale;

l Loss making ones to be disinvested or

strategically sold;

l Attractive package of severance to be provided

for voluntary retirements;

l Audit of accounts to be done and balance sheets

to be disclosed;

l Accounts of all state PSUs to be compiled and put

in public domain;

l Due procedure for selection of CEOs and other

independent directors in management boards;

l PSUs with social objectives to be identified and

reviewed separately;

Project Round Up

Roles, Responsibilities and Challenges of the District Collectors in theChanging Scenario: An Exploratory Study in Madhya Pradesh

The Buck Stops Here-Provide Solution to the Organisational Problems

A leader's job is not of someone enjoying the perks

and powers that go with the leadership. You would

find people thronging around leaders. One reason is

that the followers get their powers from their leaders.

By aligning themselves with the high and the mighty,

they also get empowered. Apart from being the

source of power, a leader has to solve problems which

his followers pose to him on a day to day basis.

In government, the subordinate offices pose all types

of problems. It could be administrative, professional,

personal or financial. A leader should be good at

solving such problems. A large number of problems in

government relate to their profession and the leader

who is good at human resource management can

easily get over them. His professional competency or

experience in that particular sphere helps him in

addressing them better. By solving problems of his

team members and subordinates, the leader

develops the faith of his team, apart from growing as a

leader himself. Problem solving is an important

activity at the personal and professional level and it

shows the empathic approach of the bureaucratic

leader.

Problem solving is also an exercise in communication.

What are the types of problems the employees are

facing and what is the preparedness of the

organisation to deal with them? It helps in

organisational growth. It is also reiterating that the

buck stops here- the leader in the organisation is the

one on whom his team can fall back for solutions and

who can put an end to the endless chain of problem

solving.

Problems usually involve questions or issues which

contain doubt, difficulty or uncertainty. There can be

other situations where a person can also become a

problem due to lack of having the desired initiative.

No organisation is free from problems and the bigger

the organisation, more complex would be the

problems. This is particularly true for large

organisations or departments in government.

Problems don't present themselves in a straight

forward manner. It may be at one place but its impact

would be seen at some other place. Take the case of

poor performance in vaccination programme in some

states. It may be seen that the problem has been

compounded by lack of funds, manpower availability,

logistics, publicity etc. One may feel lost where to

start with but getting into the details of it would reveal

that only one or two are the critical factors, which if

dealt properly, would set the system right. The

problem could also be due to a poor team leader, who

with all the resources is not able to deliver.

Problems can either creep in slowly or may appear like

a thunderbolt. In public service, one can find a

plethora of problematic issues which have not been

resolved by those who need to. In government, there

can be various reasons for such a situation:

(i) attending to the problem may open up some

bigger problem. So it is better to keep it under

wraps;

(ii) it may mean fixing responsibility on someone for

non-performance and taking action, which is an

unpleasant decision to take;

(iii) the problem is fraught with political overtones

and is difficult to redress without handling the

political aspect of it;

(iv) by raising the problem, one comes in the line of

fire and the onus now lies on oneself to address

it;

(v) in the absence of suitable monitoring and review

mechanism, the senior officials are not aware of

the problem brewing in the organisation;

(vi) absence of administrative and financial

infrastructure to address the problem.

Who will bell the cat? It is only wishful thinking that

the problem will go away which doesn't happen,

rather it gets worse. As a leader, it is not significant

whose fault has caused the problem. What is

important is that once a problem has been noticed,

you solve it and move ahead. A problem in the initial

stage may need a small investment of energy and

resource for correction, but once it crosses a certain

threshold, it becomes a menace requiring

considerable effort to deal with it.

Generally, in every day public life, we find the nation

gripped by one agitation or the other. These

agitations going to the streets create newer problems

which need to be dealt with by use of force leading to

casualties and adding fuel to the already existing fire.

It may also turn worse as we have seen in the case of

the anti-reservation agitation. Then, it becomes a

mere fire fighting exercise.

All problem- solving involves a degree of uncertainty

because in order to solve them, decisions have to be

taken. One cannot be too sure that these decisions

would solve the problems. Each situation is unique

and requires a case to case solution. Sometimes, it

may be prudent not to take any decision and let the

problem die a natural death. It is always better to deal

with the problems in a well thought manner and not

let them drift away. One may not arrive at a solution

but it would definitely take you closer to the solution.

It has been repeatedly observed that a proactive

approach to problem-solving always helps and for

leaders in administration, it is their essential

responsibility to address them.

M.M. Upadhyay

Principal Advisor

(Centre for Social Sector Development)

l Profitable ones to be listed on the market;

l PSUs in profit to be required to pay a minimum

dividend of 30% of PAT (Profit after Tax) or 5% of

net worth whichever is higher;

l Those in profit should go for cash buyback if the

net worth is over two hundred crore rupees or

bank balance is fifty crore rupees;

l PSUs in profit to be asked to consider bonus

share issue if their reserves and surpluses add up

to five times the equity capital (paid- up). They

are to be asked to issue bonus shares if their

reserves cross ten times the paid up capital;

l PSUs should split their stock when the market

price or the book value goes up fifty times the

face value. This will help tone up the financial

management of state run companies and

maximize revenues;

l Make government nominee d i rectors

responsible for financial management;

l PSUs in profit should buy back shares to use

surplus cash to meet investment needs.

Adoption of the above mentioned strategies is

expected to improve the governance and financial

health of the state PSUs facilitating small investors to

enter the market, would deepen the market; help

improve liquidity and trading volumes of the shares

while meeting disinvestment target. Such moves

would also improve investor confidence, help raise

capital and contribute to expansion and

diversification.

Mangesh TyagiPrincipal Advisor (Centre for Governance)

The Buck Stops Here-Provide Solution to the Organisational Problems

A leader's job is not of someone enjoying the perks

and powers that go with the leadership. You would

find people thronging around leaders. One reason is

that the followers get their powers from their leaders.

By aligning themselves with the high and the mighty,

they also get empowered. Apart from being the

source of power, a leader has to solve problems which

his followers pose to him on a day to day basis.

In government, the subordinate offices pose all types

of problems. It could be administrative, professional,

personal or financial. A leader should be good at

solving such problems. A large number of problems in

government relate to their profession and the leader

who is good at human resource management can

easily get over them. His professional competency or

experience in that particular sphere helps him in

addressing them better. By solving problems of his

team members and subordinates, the leader

develops the faith of his team, apart from growing as a

leader himself. Problem solving is an important

activity at the personal and professional level and it

shows the empathic approach of the bureaucratic

leader.

Problem solving is also an exercise in communication.

What are the types of problems the employees are

facing and what is the preparedness of the

organisation to deal with them? It helps in

organisational growth. It is also reiterating that the

buck stops here- the leader in the organisation is the

one on whom his team can fall back for solutions and

who can put an end to the endless chain of problem

solving.

Problems usually involve questions or issues which

contain doubt, difficulty or uncertainty. There can be

other situations where a person can also become a

problem due to lack of having the desired initiative.

No organisation is free from problems and the bigger

the organisation, more complex would be the

problems. This is particularly true for large

organisations or departments in government.

Problems don't present themselves in a straight

forward manner. It may be at one place but its impact

would be seen at some other place. Take the case of

poor performance in vaccination programme in some

states. It may be seen that the problem has been

compounded by lack of funds, manpower availability,

logistics, publicity etc. One may feel lost where to

start with but getting into the details of it would reveal

that only one or two are the critical factors, which if

dealt properly, would set the system right. The

problem could also be due to a poor team leader, who

with all the resources is not able to deliver.

Problems can either creep in slowly or may appear like

a thunderbolt. In public service, one can find a

plethora of problematic issues which have not been

resolved by those who need to. In government, there

can be various reasons for such a situation:

(i) attending to the problem may open up some

bigger problem. So it is better to keep it under

wraps;

(ii) it may mean fixing responsibility on someone for

non-performance and taking action, which is an

unpleasant decision to take;

(iii) the problem is fraught with political overtones

and is difficult to redress without handling the

political aspect of it;

(iv) by raising the problem, one comes in the line of

fire and the onus now lies on oneself to address

it;

(v) in the absence of suitable monitoring and review

mechanism, the senior officials are not aware of

the problem brewing in the organisation;

(vi) absence of administrative and financial

infrastructure to address the problem.

Who will bell the cat? It is only wishful thinking that

the problem will go away which doesn't happen,

rather it gets worse. As a leader, it is not significant

whose fault has caused the problem. What is

important is that once a problem has been noticed,

you solve it and move ahead. A problem in the initial

stage may need a small investment of energy and

resource for correction, but once it crosses a certain

threshold, it becomes a menace requiring

considerable effort to deal with it.

Generally, in every day public life, we find the nation

gripped by one agitation or the other. These

agitations going to the streets create newer problems

which need to be dealt with by use of force leading to

casualties and adding fuel to the already existing fire.

It may also turn worse as we have seen in the case of

the anti-reservation agitation. Then, it becomes a

mere fire fighting exercise.

All problem- solving involves a degree of uncertainty

because in order to solve them, decisions have to be

taken. One cannot be too sure that these decisions

would solve the problems. Each situation is unique

and requires a case to case solution. Sometimes, it

may be prudent not to take any decision and let the

problem die a natural death. It is always better to deal

with the problems in a well thought manner and not

let them drift away. One may not arrive at a solution

but it would definitely take you closer to the solution.

It has been repeatedly observed that a proactive

approach to problem-solving always helps and for

leaders in administration, it is their essential

responsibility to address them.

M.M. Upadhyay

Principal Advisor

(Centre for Social Sector Development)

l Profitable ones to be listed on the market;

l PSUs in profit to be required to pay a minimum

dividend of 30% of PAT (Profit after Tax) or 5% of

net worth whichever is higher;

l Those in profit should go for cash buyback if the

net worth is over two hundred crore rupees or

bank balance is fifty crore rupees;

l PSUs in profit to be asked to consider bonus

share issue if their reserves and surpluses add up

to five times the equity capital (paid- up). They

are to be asked to issue bonus shares if their

reserves cross ten times the paid up capital;

l PSUs should split their stock when the market

price or the book value goes up fifty times the

face value. This will help tone up the financial

management of state run companies and

maximize revenues;

l Make government nominee d i rectors

responsible for financial management;

l PSUs in profit should buy back shares to use

surplus cash to meet investment needs.

Adoption of the above mentioned strategies is

expected to improve the governance and financial

health of the state PSUs facilitating small investors to

enter the market, would deepen the market; help

improve liquidity and trading volumes of the shares

while meeting disinvestment target. Such moves

would also improve investor confidence, help raise

capital and contribute to expansion and

diversification.

Mangesh TyagiPrincipal Advisor (Centre for Governance)

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institite of Good Governance & Policy Analysis(ISO 9001:2008)

(An autonomous institution of Government of Madhya Pradesh)

Sushasan Bhavan, Bhadbhada Square, T.T. Nagar,Bhopal (M.P.)-462003Tel : +91-755-2777316, 2777317, 2777308, 2770765, 2770695, 2770538, 2770761, Fax : +91-755-2777316

Web: www.aiggpa.mp.gov.in Email: aiggpa@mp.gov.in

Editorial BoardEditor: Akhilesh Argal

Associate Editor : Dr. Indrani Barpujari Production & Commerce Manager : Amitabh Shrivastava

"Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things"

- Peter Druckers

Published By