Pandemic, Social Control & Social Audit: The Indivisible Linkage II

 Pandemic, Social Control & Social Audit: The Indivisible Linkage II 

 Indian Administration is a mixture of British and Mughal legacy. While the land revenue related arrangements of Mughal period was continues without any disturbance, the written rules and regulations were heavily brorrowed from the English. Once you get to used to the colonial English ( Most Government communications have that flavour), not only one understands only such a style, but also starts behaving. I shall write about a senior Officer of 1958 batch IAS separately. Under Indian Administration, anything and everything that exist is supported by written rules and procedures. Bureaucracy is all about written rules and procedures, but what is more important is application of mind when such rules and procedures are initiated. Just because an in-patient of a Government hospital  is prescribed with sedataive for sound sleep, a duty nurse should not splash water on a him, wake him up and make him swallow the sleeping pill and say, "I just followed what is written in the prescription. I have to save my skin. I have to do my duty and do justice to my salary and so on". This is the subtle example of written rules and regulations and application of mind. If you come across mad colleagues, born with a mandae of " Surgery success, Patient Died", think of this example. I pity you for having such colleagues. 

Lets now continue our yesterday’s discussion of the two challans displayed at the end of the blog. Those who haven’t read it can access it at https://nkkumaresanraja.blogspot.com/2020/07/pandemic-social-control-social-audit.html

The source for the Challan is a Government Order issued by the Union Territory of Puducherry by way of GO Ms. No.5/LAS/2020 dated 28.06.2020. This was issued by the Local Administration department of Puducherry Government. Please have a quick look at them.

 

Since, the costables in the streets of Puducherry are with these challan books in a rampage of collecting Rs.100/- for six types of offences, which can be found in the challan . Please see below.

Further, I came across a victim a genuine merchant who pays his taxes properly, treats his workers well and inshort a good Samaritan who owns a utensils shop. He  was telling me that everyday by 12:00 Noon two personnel  will come in a two wheeler and find out couples inside the shop and say that these two are not maintaining social distance and issue penalty to the shop keeper for the spouse, who live in the same house, standing close to each other and examining a consumable for purchase for their home. He allowed me to take a picture of the two challans yellow in colour. 

 

After seeing these two different colours of the challan, Blue and yellow, I was much more fascinated that one is issued by a Government department and the other by a Municipality ( A local body).

Under 73^rd Constitutional amendment, a Municpality is an autonomous body and under business rules of Government, except where the Act, empowers a department cannot levy penalty by way of cash. Revenue generation cannot be the aim of Government, The Revenue Department is not for Revenue generation but collection. The subtle difference is that the Revenue Department enforces certain written procedures guided by Act and regulations and levies tax, penalty and surcharge not with an intention of fund raising, but as a soverign function of State. This action cannot be equated by the Local Administration Department printing challns by itself and started to collect fines. Some one must have hinted and then the challans are now getting printed by the Municpalities.

 It was then I started my probe on the Government Order for collecting the fines based on Rules which supplements the Government Order. This is again a peculiar arrangement since only Act passed by the legislature can have rules under the principle of delegated legislation, whereas there is supposedly a G.O and that links to a set of rules called “Puducherry Municpalities [Prevention of Infection and Corona Virus disease (COVID-19) Amendment Rules 2020. Though the G.O is available in Government website, the rules are not in public domain. I am curious to know the person who had a welding machine to link a standalone set of rules to a pre exisiting G.O, instead of either enacting an Ordinance or amending the extisting G.O. This requires the approval of the Cabinet/ Ministers. I am to have a comprehensive understanding since the Chief Minister of Puducherry was insisting the civilian administration not to harass people with the challans, whreas the Police personnel and select municipality personnel were levying the fee.

            It is at this point, I had to examine the G.O very carefully. I have come across men, resembling police personnel (they usually hide their name plates with a pen and lift the flop of the right side shirt pocket, as this morning I came across a  constable orally informing me that he is from Orleanpet Police Station, with another person without a name badge but bearing PHG( Pondicherry Home Guard) shoulder badge. It is pertinent to mention that these constables along with persons bearing SHG shoulder badge have been in a reckless collection of fines in various parts of the City. Since I am aware that constables as per established procedures are the equivalent of Group D (This comparison is now made because of the GO referred above) and I have not found anywhere in CrPC or Police Act that a constable can collect fines, when this is the fact since the inception of the Police force in the country, the very first question that came to my mind is,

1)      When a higher instrument ( CrPC, Police Act or a notification by the MHA, GoI ( in the event of extreme exigency citing Disaster Management) has not conferred a magisterial function on Police constables,  can an executive order taking shelter of Municipalities Act 1973 can confer such a jurisdiction? If so, that is the source of empowerment to all executive organ and first of its kind in the administrative history of India!

2)       On the contrary, even if that is a decision by the Cabinet, it can be only a draft and should receive the consent of the President, before it is implemented. Please correct me if I am wrong.

3)      I understand that the rules were supposedly framed in line with the amendment is not in the public domain, and I am curious if the rules stand the test of rules framed under the Act. I am only afraid that this should not be a bad precedent.

4)      Very strangely constables who are graduates can collect fines has been mentioned in the GO, thus an elevation has been done at a stroke of a pen, making them “qualify” to exercise magisterial powers that is usually vested with a person not below a Tahsildar, who is a Sub Divisional Magistrate in erstwhile Madras Presidency. This decision of discriminating constables between those graduated and those not ( thre recruitment rules prescribe it is only 12^th standard) and is not in a good taste.

While these are my concerns about the GO per se, the following are my apprehensions in the manner I see them implemented.

1)      Whether any security press is indented to print the challan books? How sure is the administration that there are no duplicate books?

2)      Based on what precedent, consultation, the challan books are printed? Who vetted the draft challan copy, as it is without any head of the account? I see different types of challans issued under the name of the Local Administration department and the Municipalities. Is this based on any written rules, and if so, should not those rules be in the public domain?

3)      What is the Head of Account in which the realized amount is to be credited, which is missing in the GO or the supposed rules, that is not available in Public Domain?

4)      What is the standard operation protocol of bookkeeping since every leaflet is an exchange of cash? Does the Department of Accounts and Treasuries maintain the

5)      Interestingly the Challan does not have a definite amount of cash mentioned. Since the denomination is not specified, how sure the personnel collecting fines from an outstation moving crowd, crossing Puducherry will confine that the counterfoil will carry the same figure mentioned in the Challan issued to the public?

6)      How sure I am as a citizen that the money collected from me goes to the State Exchequer? Are there evident proofs in the public domain?

7)      What is the deadline issued for remitting the cash collected to the Treasury? Who is designated for collecting the money and how long can a police constable retain the money raised by him, how long the SHO can keep the money given to him by the constables before remitting to the Treasury? What are the SOP (Standard Operating Protocol Issued?) Do the rules contain these issues and permit them?

8)      Which department supervises the auditing and accounting at the field level organizations? How many teams from DVAC (Directorate of Vigilance and Anto Corruption) have so far conducted surprise checks?

When the above are my ideas on the manner it is implemented, the following are my observation from the field.

1)      The GO Notifies that constables are entitled to collect the fines, but the SHO’s sign the challans and give them lamented a constable.

2)      The Challan’s office copy  does not have the entry of the penalized person or his signature – This is my observation based on Challan Nos.007424 and 007423

3)      When the entire exercise is done in the name of COVID 19, the Challan has a space for the penalized person to sign the space, before it is separated from the counterfoil. Then where is the social distance between the Constable and the penalized person? Is this arrangement does not put the constable or the fine levying personnel under an avoidable risk?

4)      The constables usually come with another constable or a PHG person in a two-wheeler (Social distancing?) and charge a shop keeper for allowing a couple to inspect things before buying (Challan No. 007423 & 007424 dated 18.0.07.2020) charging couples were standing close to each other. This creates unpopularity to the elected Government, and in my opinion, Indian bureaucracy supports elected representatives. This scene is witnessed by not less than ten person per Challan.

5)      The personnel of Lawspet police station ( two of my colleagues from Pondicherry University share their challan with me in blue colour) catch holds of every vehicle passing by and instead of charging them of over crowd, just that a child was in the lap pf the mother, it become the fourth traveller to violate social distancing. Whether it is a violation of one way or any other, a challan is recklessly issued, perhaps there is a competition among the police stations for higher collection. At the cost of making the Government and the administrative system unpopular?

6)      When the Government of India encourages payment by UPI ( Unified Payments Interface). Our  Hon’ble Prime Minister has introduced BHIM App, and invariably, everyone has a UPI |enabled smartphone, why not a cashless method of collection of fines be introduced?

7)      There are six types of offences are found in the Challan, including (1) Spitting (2) Spilling of phlegm or blood or nasal fluid – How sure a constable can differentiate between the two and what is the operational definition of these items. If they are deemed to be in a public place, what defines public place? The challan reads without Mask or Hand kerchief, not spelling how the hand kerchief should be presented.

8)      I can see the challans from those who are penalized for not maintaining social distancing? How many constables have their vision lastly checked? By whom? What is the yardstick to find that a person is violating social distance norms? This is certainly not a trivia.

The father of public administration Woodrow Wilson says, writing a constitution is easy than running it and justifies the existence of a discipline called Public Administration. To a question of what is public administration Wilson responds, “Public Administration is detailed and systematic application of law. Every particular application of law is an act of Administration”. Max weber the proponent of bureaucracy that the authority wielded by bureaucrats should be legal and rational.

Thus to see the contents GO. Ms. No.5/LAS/2020 dated 28.06.2020 and the way it is implemented hastily.This would not only make Woodrow Wilson and Max Weber feel sorry but even a citizen like me. I have always equated Puducherry as a City State like Singapore, which can be a model City/ UT for the rest of India in terms of Governance, and all related indicators.

But, I am exremely happy to convey to the readers that after this has been taken to the Chief Secretary of Puducherry Government by me, I was ovwewhelmed that the Top bureaucrat is nterested for a proposal from my end for both social audtiting immediately and later after a lock down is over to conduct an assessment of UPI payment acceptance among the Public of Puducherry. The ended very at a happy note 

Students who read this blog may identify the supportive rules of atleast ten actions by Government they see around them. The best reply will be awarded a good Public Administration text Book 

 

 

 

Pandemic, Social Control & Social Audit: The Indivisible Linkage

Pandemic, Social Control, & Social Audit: The Indivisible Linkage

Introduction

My senior colleague, a well-established Professor of History, has been on a rampage with his blog writing, pounding social media every day, thanks to the pandemic. Taking a clue from there, let me restart my blog from an epidemic related issue itself.  

The pandemic in the eye of the commoner has been observed as a situation where his usual routine as a Citizen has been affected to a very great extent. In other words, there has been a curtailment of one's free choices (not to be confused with freedom). The country as a whole was not prepared to embrace the pandemic of this proportion, where the extreme randomization of the distribution of mortality and the lack of availability of data on the virus, each and everyone is terrified for his/her life. 

Thus, we enter into a Hobbesian state (a medieval idea) where self-preservation gets paramount, and all conditioned values get vaporized at no time, where a human being is afraid of a fellow human being for the first time since modernity. This fear of human to human necessarily gives scope for a greater force to plead salvation, and there the instrumentalities of Government such as the service sectors get a never before attention. However, since Government is nothing but a human enterprise, while the relevance of Government is upheld, glorified and worshipped, the humans who run the show are detested. 

I never imagined that western philosophy, together with the entire western civilization, is undergoing a deep crisis. Most of what those "great" philosophers write is more or less pointless. In the words of my bosom friend and philosopher Predrag Cickovacki, a Baltic philosopher, the entire paradigm of western civilization has collapsed. It could hardly be of any inspiration for anyone, in the West or outside." Thus, the Globe as a whole is under crisis. Just like the earthquake of 1755 on November 1 when Feast of All Saints was celebrated, pulverized the churches together with the beliefs of the believers of Church, this pandemic had made even Temple Gods boycott the Dharshan of people, which had made several people introspect whether Gods in Temple have no control over the epidemic? 

The recent report that scores of priests of the sacred Tirumala Tirpathy Devasthanam have been infected with the Novel Corona Virus leaves the people clueless.It is demotivating to people how come their saviour as well as an assured guarantor of money flow can forsake them. Temple Dharshans cannot be done via Video Conferencing because the experience is missing along with the tasty Prasadham.This holds good for hour-long meetings through video conferencing ,where both parties have to arrange their refreshments.There is no explanation for this fear, hopelessness and above all even a discussion is not possible because each one if afraid of every one. 'Homo Homnus lupus' (Hobbesian expression). Well, there are exceptions too, who feel that haven taken AYUSH recommended medicines  they are like Mahabarata Karna, with his Kavach, but let me not disturb them or their beliefs, I being a person with such a feeling. 

With the above as the setting, I wish to explore how this crisis has factored in our day to day life to me as a Citizen and then as a Teacher of a reputed University and as a man with a family of intimidating members with their skills of introspection both young and old. I being the sle point of contact to outer world, is forced on a domestic quarantine, which I feel right. Fear is universal.

To begin with let me start from today onwards with incidents what I see and hear around me in Puducherry, a federally controlled territory that has been located in the South-Eastern part of India, a former French settlement (Colony is offensive in the diction of my French Diplomat friends, so it is a settlement). The Treaty of Cession was signed by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and then Plenipotentiary of France in India S. Ostrorog on May 28, 1956. By the Treaty, France ceded to India in full sovereignty the territory of the Establishments of Pondicherry, Karikal, Mahe and Yanam with effect from July 1^st  1963. 

This transfer, in my opinion, is an unfinished agenda, which was not taken up seriously by the then Government of India and the elected Governments of the Union Territory of Puducherry. Today we can see Puducherry Union Territory as a legislature without legislative power, the executive side-lining the state's elected Chief Minister and a judicial system that is understaffed and rudimentary. The Lieutenant Governor is designated as the Administrator of the UT parellel to the elected representatives. That the Madras High Court has jurisdiction over the Union Territory of Puducherry, the situation is better. Thus with these genetic infirmities, the Union Territory has been functioning under the UT Act 1963 and rules binding thereof, which was conveniently updated for the past 50 years. Therefore, my narration on the administrative issues of UT of Puducherry should be viewed on this aspect, and I have nothing against any individuals in the system.

I shall be writing the rest tomorrow on an exciting aspect of Police Constables collecting fines with a bill book at every junction for the Local Administration Department. I am giving two copies of the Challans for your perusal and let me see if you can get my questions on them. I shall continue tomorrow, the rest ... Have a Nice Day ahead ....

Apollo Hospital Treatment of Jayalalitha and the Visit of AIIMS Doctors - Documents accessed by RTI act 2005

Treatment by AIIMS Team to Dr. J. Jayalalithaa, at Apollo Hospitals  

Against media propaganda that it was the Central Government that despatched AIIMS Medical Team, documents accessed through RTI Act 2005 indicate that the AIIMS Medical team were sent only on the request of the Government of Tamil Nadu. There were also accusations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi spying on the health conditions of Dr.J.Jayalalithaa through AIIMS Team. Media also endorsed this sensational angle to the ailment of the Honourable Chief Minister.

Thanks to RTI Act 2005,  the reality remain something else as under:

It was Dr.J.Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary to Government, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Chennai  who have requested the services of AIIMS Doctor.

The email sent by Dr.J.Radhakrishnan IAS addressing Union Health Ministry is obtained through RTI Act 2005 and the same can be seen below.

 Based on the request of Government of  Tamil Nadu, received through the Union Health Ministry the AIIMS have permitted the doctors to attend to the Chief Minister at the expense of AIIMS.

Options before V.N Sasikala, Leader of AIADMK

The Options before V.N Sasikala, Leader of AIADMK

The available stock of literature in Tamil Nadu Government and Politics are very few including those written by the western Scholars. The much known Robert Hardgrave who was the pioneer western scholar from Berkeley who wrote the 'The Nadars of Tamilnad: The Political Culture of a Community in Change' which is widely read would have lost the vital inner three divide of the toddy tapers as Nadars, Gramani and the Shanaas, whereby earned the wrath of intellectual Nadars like Professor Emeritus late C.A Perumal of Madras University, who was furious how Nadar identity could be expropriated among the Gramanis and the Shaanaas.

Similarly the works of André Béteille or Robert W Stern would anchor the socio political spectrum from western lens called Class and would have made certain over generalisations. One of the biggest challenges that pose any scholar who writes on Tamil Nadu Politics is its unpredictability and the mystery of contradictions.

Since its founding Chief Minister O.P. Ramasamy Reddiar to Jayalalitha, a majority of Chief Ministers who ruled was non Tamils or rather belong to a identity that are anti-Tamil. Secondly the identity of Tamil Nationalism cannot be completely declared as subnational as the rich treasure of Tamil bhakthi literature of the Tamil poets and saints speak about universal love and peace. Much not known Ramalinga Swamigal version of nonviolence is far ahead of Thoreau or Gandhi.

The Tamil Siddha tradition is a parallel construct of Vedic Rishis that speaks of a parallel spiritual establishment in the South of India. The delta district of Thanavur, erstwhile Trichirapalli District is the place where the Nagur Dharga of Muslims, Shrine Velankanni of the Catholics and numerous temples of Hindus exist and pilgrims visit all the three holy places. Furthermore the Nagapattinam District that was later carved out from the erstwhile Trichirapalli District is the cradle of Communist party in Tamil Nadu. This bundle of inner contradictions or what I can white wash this peculiar phenomena  as multi-faceted social and political culture of Tamil Nadu. This I view as the shortcoming of Tamil population as their deficiency in negotiating modernity. It is inbuilt crisis in negotiating modernity has not provided the several million youths what next after the Marina revolution, termed as the second biggest agitation after Anti Hindi protest in Tamil Nadu.

Midst these developments the news comes of V.N.Sasikala (read my earlierblog post on her) the aide of late Jayalalitha, the iconic leader of AIADMK political party elected as the Leader of ruling party and obviously the Chief Minister designate. O.Panneerselvam the Chief Minister is also shown the doors and he might be lost in the pages of history in the near future.

            Let me examine the aruguments that are justified by the mercenaries of V.N.Sasikala within the top ranks of AIADMK party

1.      Party Leadership and Chief Ministership should not be with two different persons. Hence Chinnamma ( English meaning is mistress or mother’s younger sister) the title of V.N.Sasikala should be made the Chief Minister

Well, if that’s the case why not O.Panneerselvam the choice of Jayalalitha be made as the party head

2.      Chinnamma was with Jayalalitha for thirty years. Hence she must be made the Chief Minister

If that applies the maids of Rashtrapathibhavan and the menial staff of Prime Minister Office qualify to become the President and the Prime Minister

But dismissing these flimsy justification, V.N.Sasikala was until now was a proxy head that existed parallel to Jayalalitha who cannot be accounted for the actions as she held no responsibility. Now she comes to the front to bear the responsibility. But the biggest challenge with the money laden V.N.Sasikala are winning the confidence of the party cadres of AIADMK, as they do not recognize her as a leader. Their enormous contempt against Sasikala went to the peak the way she handled the medical treatment of Jayalalitha in those 74 days in Apollohospitals, Chennai in shrouded mystery. She needs to publicly give details of the medical treatment that she alone knows after the Chairman of Apollo Hospitals Prathap Reddy.

Secondly, V.N.Sasikala needs to demonstrate that she is not a mafia queen by tendering unconditional apology to all those victims of her and her family’s land grabbing and for other misgivings publicly which alone will spare her from the wrath of general public.

Third, she needs to sail smoothly with BJP government until 2019, which cannot be an easy task as the if not the RSS, the BJP of Tamil nadu will demand their larger pound of booty she has and will be generating.

Fourth, she needs to pamper the MLA’s who in any time can change to DMK opposition party for a dignified living, if she is going to ill-treat her top level party functionaries as Jayalalitha did, lest DMK is well equipped to handle situations like this and come to power with just 40 MLA’s of AIADMK who can be easily laid a honey trap.

Or, if her family members have thought this is a one-time bonanza to have a Harvest and then acquire overseas citizenship and fled the country with the money earned, then it must not be surprising as they have been doing it.

The game has started today…and the political stage of Tamil Nadu will be very much entertaining. Regardless of the theoretical explanation, the furious nature of the people especially the youth of Tamil Nadu is always there as a perennial threat for any politician especially the one like V.N.Sasikala.

Does Education have any bearing on Values and Ethics?

Does Education have any bearing on Values and Ethics?

My grandparents from impoverished pockets of a Dalit colony of a small hamlet has been known for their hospitality – this mean, feeding the surrounding boys even when there is no much food for them. They were absolutely illiterate. Had no education.

A senior colleague and a person instrumental for my induction into Federal University of Pondicherry, renowned economist Prof.D.Sambandhan many times have stated “My parents were illiterate, but had enormous values as rural rice vendors. They were clean in their business – marginal gain apart from benevolent approach towards poorer people. His social status is much above a Dalit as in the case of my grandparents.

When I was raised away from my native village by a relative during my Kinder Garten days in a neighbouring town as I was educated by a missionary school, the introduction of hell and heaven came to be for telling lies. At school, a reinforcement of catholic values was made and of course with the inputs of teachers at Class I, II and III through moral science instruction hours, some kind of value system was being inculcated within us. These, according to me are mere social behaviour. Just like I would not lick my fingers and eat in a public place, those were ornamental toning of public behaviour. But, what makes me identify this is right and this is incorrect or Yes, he is a scoundrel hence let me keep away, is really a mystery.

Again, going back to Prof.D.Sambandhan, who says “ I cannot do a mischief when I am away from home not because of lack of opportunity or social control, but because of a fear – that fear I would subscribe to parental genes. Even this theory to me is not convincing as not all children nurture values as their parents or ancestors. Then what shapes values? Morals?

When I examine this question deeply – I can never admit education as an instrument of imbibing morals and ethics – provided how education is understood conventionally. I find of late that the real culprits are the educated. In Village Swaraj, Gandhi whips doctors and lawyers, but if he is today would include Academic educators too – especially those who sit in higher educational system.

Mere degrees cannot ensure any values. Hence rightly the University Grants Commission have laid “People of high morals “alone should be considered for the post of Vice Chancellor. This I find not a casual adjective but a well thought condition, but does not have any indicators. How shall a person call himself as morally upright?

Let’s consider the following probabilities:

1.      Honesty with arrogance cannot be moral!

2.      I am very polite but most scandalous also is dangerous.

3.      I am an erudite scholar, but I have sexual harassment charges against me (somehow I white washed) also cannot qualify the expected parameter.

These above situations have resulted in the massive manufacture of candidates for Vice Chancellors across the country as evidenced in the High Court Judgements of Bombay, Chennai as well as the Supreme Court in the last few years that there the majority fall within the scope of the two broad categories:

1.      I am very generous and kind and very popular – but I am a muff though I have produced PhD and written some pulp literature

2.      I am a proven rascal with political clout I can become a Vice Chancellor.

There are of course exceptional like Mrs.Kalyani Mathivanan, effective teachers in a College in Chennai who according to UGC rules have not found eligible to hold the post of Vice Chancellor, but later awarded relief as benefit of doubt citing federal-provincial laws by the Supreme Court of India. But what matters for me is the moral uprightness. How did she behave in the University as a Vice Chancellor? This is a video clip that shows how she re-joined University as Vice Chancellor after the Supreme Court granted an interim relief. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmXNEz4Swlc. How such arrangements could be ever permitted in Higher Educational Institution. I am really worried of the fate if students on the teachers who exhibit maximum sycophancy. It is these uncouth, back-boneless unethical group who cause the system to rot, which rules the roost.

A dissertation by one of my student on the selection process of Vice Chancellors for Kerala Universities indicate that in the case of Kannur University there was a major flaw in the recruitment process itself. The incumbent Vice Chancellor has full knowledge about this and this is where my question gets validated –“Does Education have any bearing on Values and Ethics?”

I am afraid how this world would be when my children become players of the society. I am afraid of the future course of this society. Religions have failed. Educational Institutions have lost their relevance in inculcating moral values and higher education institutions have been reduced as a “Degree Granting Institutions”. What is the way out? Where this vicious circle can be broken and a transformation brought – I keep searching.
( I am not discussing about Pondicherry University Issue because the matter is subjudice)