Sri Kutta! Does it sound weird?
Yes, that’s how he would have been officially addressed because the spelling of his surname in the official record tells just that - had Sri Srikanti Kutta (Dutta) of Bankura not protested.
Dutta was
determined and was made of sterner stuff.
After
repeatedly failing to move the authorities to make a valid change of the name
on his ration card, he chose to stage a protest in the most non-violent and
creative way. He took his appeal to the head of the organization for the fourth
time and instead of requesting the authorities with folded hands wearing a
hangdog look, he yelped and whined like a snarling dog much to the chagrin of
the BDO in the full public view. The video became viral on social
media.
The visibly upset BDO took up this urgent matter personally.
Not reported in the press; the matter must have been sorted out in hours. Our
experience says that things get done once you make it too hot for them to sit
over it any longer.
This ‘non-important’ matter involving a ‘non-descript’
man became ‘urgent’ not because the officer was appalled on discovering the rot
of inefficiency in his office but because he saw the rage and determination of
Sri Dutta to take on the system and embarrass all of them publicly. As the
adage goes ‘The creaking wheel got the oil’. Just assess the harassment,
wastage of time, loss of reputation, and human efforts involving so many people
for such a small thing.
Why did such a small issue reach this stage? Was it necessary?
Quirky stories like that of Dutta’s keep appearing in the
newspapers regularly. News like - Man wins a 25-year-long
litigation to recover the two rupees he was charged extra by the TTC. A man
letting loose a sack full of snakes in the office of the revenue officer who
was not heeding his request.
This news of Mr. Kutta (Dutta by now) might have given us
a few mirthful moments on the morning of December 19th, but a much bigger and
painful truth hiding behind this incident should not be brushed aside. Why a
sense of duty and responsibility are not the tracks on which the administrative
juggernaut moves automatically? Things move either out of someone’s goodness,
or interest or under pressure. Why?
What are the organizational safeguards against it?
That incident is a commentary on how our official
machinery works without a built-in responsive redressal system and how a common
man is pushed to resort to active or passive violence out of sheer frustration
of not being heard or served.
Some react like Mr. Dutta, some exert pressure to make
things move, and the wise ones devise ways to manage (sic) the obstacles and
get their thing done. But no one talks about what to do to institutionalize
responsibility and accountability for performance and prevent the officers in
charge to go scot-free of their delinquencies.
We are socially conditioned not to see the elephant in
the room. But how long?
To explain what I mean let us discuss this Kutta to Dutta
resolution episode. Did anyone (The BDO in this case) ask his office the
following questions to permanently solve the problem in the system?
- Why was his name entered erroneously?
Was the person recording the names not
familiar with the Bengali surnames?
- Why were his first three appeals not responded to?
Who was responsible and what was the
valid explanation for not effecting the correction?
- What do the rules say about such wilful negligence?
Does it go to his performance
assessment? At what stage does the feedback from the public form a part of his
assessment?
If the BDO could resolve the issue in hours what
disciplinary action was taken on the people who were plain deaf to the first three
requests? What did their departmental inquiry unravel?
We all have some experience of dealing with such stone-deaf people for whom your reason, duty, and responsibility are not strong enough to make him lift his pen to a piece of paper to put his signature below a half-page note. He can sit on mountains of unattended files for months and no one has the power to ask him about them. It doesn’t matter how convincing or valid is your request, or how acute your situation is; your fate is determined by the whims and fancies of the person you are dealing with.
They
feel empowered by their power to harass the common man. Harassments like this
can turn one murderous if one is passing through personal difficulties.
We all know that there exists a world where the words
like duty, responsibility, and accountability are nowhere mentioned in one’s
job description. KRA and KPI and efficiencies are a strange composition of
alphabets.
Not long ago to qualify as a capable householder in a
city, you had to have contacts in the Civil Supply Department to get some extra
kerosene or sugar beyond your quota, DoT JE to get your telephone line timely
repaired, an electricity linesman for ensuring early response to a fuse-off the
call, LPG distributor for that out of turn gas connection or a refill, cinema
hall manager for blocking tickets of a hit movie. Many hobnobbed with the MPs
for an LPG connection, telephone line, and a seat in a Central School.
Things have changed for the better and one can
lead a respectable life without having to develop a friendship with such people
for ensuring their legitimate rights for basic service delivery. Now only the
PhDs in most of the state universities are dependent on such personal contact
with your supervisor and his relationship with the clerks, big and small in the
department. You earn a degree not on your merit as your right but are rewarded
for your good relationship with the powers in the system as gratis. Hope it
changes soon.
This type of harassment is not limited to state-owned organizations, most of
the big organizations are blind to their vendor management practices or after-sales
service performance. Try calling a toll-free number of a big bank to block your
lost credit card or an IVR system of a big white goods company you are to get
certain parts not available at the local dealership dispatched to understand
what I mean.
If something has worked so far, you are lucky, if there
is a hitch, you are plain unlucky.
Just
buying a flight ticket in a deal, having a hotel booking in hand, or buying
health insurance online won’t give you the expected service assurance, one as
to be prepared for their denials citing various clauses and terms and
conditions written in fine print somewhere in their documents and have a plan B
for those situations.
We know
how difficult it is to deal with virtual offices for your insurance claim
settlement or get your refund for a canceled flight or hotel booking. I am now
in the midst of such a refusal-settlement issue with OYO Rooms where my prepaid
room booking was flatly dishonored by their property partner in Delhi. You must
have the grit of Mr. Dutta to write reams of emails to get them to work.
But then
such determination is not commonly found. And the organizations and their
officials know that.
In these cases, the owners of the organizations and their
representing officials know too well that they can continue to be in business
as usual by creating a public perception through advertisements and serving
those rare hot dissatisfied voices only to silence them. Changing the system
for better service and higher accountability is not needed for business
continuity.
Oh, now I
am reminded of a chronic problem with my BSNL cell phone connection which I
can’t neglect anymore. When my phone is out of the network coverage area, the
callers are getting diverted to the number of a certain lady in Basta, Balasore
who is treating my callers with the choicest of expletives to vent her
frustration. Who likes being inundated with calls trying to speak to someone with
an unfamiliar name?
To deal with the problem first, I have to draft a long
application detailing my problem, then personally go to the right officer
sitting in some numbered rooms on the right floor of the right office building,
and if I am lucky find him in his seat and in a mood to speak to me, if he
believes my story and receives my application then go to him again and again
over the next one month to follow up and get it resolved by finally discovering
some contact who is at a higher position than this officer through six degrees
of separation. This process will take me no less than a month. Am I prepared
for the ordeal?
I am not so helpless now as I have a choice.
The choice is either I voluntarily go through the ordeal or apply for number portability through an online portal.
