Last month the hon'ble President of India issued a very
important piece of subordinated legislation titled "the National
Institution for Transforming India (Staff Car Driver) Recruitment Rules, 2019"
(see
here). These rules have been issued in suppression of "the Planning
Commission (Staff Car Driver) Recruitment Rules, 2010". The objective of
issuing these Rules apparently is to prescribe the method of recruitment, age
limit, qualifications and other matters relating to the recruitment of car
drivers for the staff members of the National Institution for Transforming
India (NITI Aayog).
As per the rules, the entry level driver needs to be 10th pass
with a valid driving license and 3yrs driving experience. Experience of serving
as home guard or civil volunteer for 3yrs is desirable but not mandatory.
The only disqualification prescribed is that the candidate must
not have practiced bigamy, unless the Central Government is satisfied that such
marriage is permissible under the personal law applicable to such person and
the other party to the marriage and that there are other grounds for so doing.
As per the pay scales prescribed under the said rules, the
starting salary of the drivers of NITI Aayog shall range between Rs29,000 to
Rs45,000 depending on the scale he is recruited in.
For me, the key take away from the above are as follows:
(a) The government
certainly does not believe in less government more governance.
(b) NITI Aayog is no
different from the erstwhile planning commission insofar as the bureaucracy is
concerned. No transformative efforts may be expected from the National
Institution for Transforming India.
(c) Of all things,
prescribing bigamy as the "only" disqualification for a driver
requires serious amount of explanations. I am unable to fathom any rationale of
choosing bigamy over all other crimes.
(d) A cursory glance
through matrimonial column of Sunday newspaper would show that the average
salary of management and engineering graduates with 5-6yrs work experience is
not more than Rs1,00,000-Rs125,000. A high school driver of NITI Aayog may also
get similar salary after 10yr of tenure. There has to be something terribly
wrong somewhere.
This prompts me to reiterate the following from what I had said
couple of years ago:
"Two news items have frequently dominated the media
headlines in past few years.
(a) How many thousand post
graduates, people with professional degrees etc. have applied for a handful of
clerical or subordinate (peon) job in various government departments.
(b) What new communities have raised demand for
being classified as "backward" to become eligible for reservation in
government jobs. Many times their protests have turned violent, disrupting
public life and damaging public and private property.
The first item is interpreted by the public at large, either as
an indication of the massive unemployment prevalent in the country; or as a
symptom of the craze for jobs with opportunity for corruption. The second item
is interpreted by various people to indicate different things. For example—
(i) he ruling party takes
it as a conspiracy of opposition parties to destabilize the government and
polarize the voters of the community demanding reservation, e.g., Jat community
in Haryana, Patidars in Gujarat, Marathas in Maharashtra, and Gurjars in
Rajasthan.
(ii) The communities already covered by the scheme
of reservation, take it as a conspiracy of "upper castes" to
undermine their rights and privileges.
(iii) The communities seeking reservation benefits
do so to demand fulfillment of the constitutional guarantee for equality and
life.
(iv) The others claiming to the victims of
reservation policy, see it as a likely further infringement of their right to
equality and diminished number of opportunities in higher education and jobs.
What I discovered after discussing the matter with a variety of
people and stakeholders, is as follows:
1. The average salaries in
government departments and PSUs have meaningfully higher than the private
sector. Besides, the government jobs offer job security that is not available
in most private sector jobs. The entry level subordinate job starting salary is
close to Rs19000 these days. Not many MBAs and Engineers can get this kind of
salary in private jobs.
2. For the highly
qualified, entering the system as a subordinate is relatively easier. Once
inside the system, they can easily move forward, as the insiders get preference
over outsiders in almost senior level vacancies.
3. The increasing number
of communities seeking reservation in jobs is directly linked to higher
salaries, better career prospects and job security in government jobs.
4. Fiscally challenged
government with only partially success in growing the tax base, has not been
able to increase the number of jobs in government or public sector. In fact the
government and Public sector jobs have been consistently shrinking in past two
decades. This has further intensified the competition, hence greater political
interference.
5. The government (past,
present and future) has literally no solution to this problem.
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