Chief Minister Pema Khandu of late has come across as a taskmaster at least in words (which is also good than remaining mute) regarding performance of government officials. On few occasions, the CM has been heard impressing upon government employees to perform. He also went on to say the government will not hesitate to sack those who fail to perform and non-performers will be given early retirement.

By saying so, Khandu may have dented a bit of the allure of government service. You see, government job is much desired not just for the security or the plum pay packets it provides but also mostly for the lack of accountability and dare one say lack of professionalism. Government servants have for long led a comfortable bordering on ennui-like existence at least here in Arunachal. Go to any office, even at 11AM there are hardly any staffers—either you are too early for them or just missed them!

For long, whenever we speak about ‘dedication and sincerity’, it is the teaching community that is solely cornered while their counterparts in other fields are rarely made aware of their duties.

Productivity of government offices is way lower despite having ample manpower as compared to the private establishments where the trend is quite the opposite. This has a lot to do with the recruitment process as well. Government offices no doubt have sufficient numbers but qualitatively the human resources are unable to deliver and the heads are often reduced to fend for themselves— right from dictating, typing letters et al. Even a prominent institution like the Arunachal Pradesh Information Commission, Information Commissioner’s themselves are forced to dictate and correct spelling errors. If one looks from this aspect, it is clear that it is a case of ‘quantity over quality’.

But who is to be blamed? The answer would be all of us. Until such time when workforce are recruited on merit and abilities and not on ‘connections’, sadly the unproductive work culture is here to stay.

The Northeast and Arunachal in particular has been quite candid about having a separate Time Zone to help improve efficiency and increase working hours. When government employees can hardly do justice even during limited time courtesy Indian Standard Time, the demand frankly is ‘hilarious’.

What Arunachal needs is change in mindset.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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