Punctuality: A Damned Value In India:

Posted on Tuesday, July 12, 2005 at - Post Comment

A small step has been taken in the ministry of Urban Development, Government of India. Few machines were installed at the gates and every employee is asked to register his arrival and departure time in the office through his finger prints.

It may appear ludicrous that a ministry of GOI which should have spent time in formulating the right policies for the society is getting involved in such small tasks. But issue is not so simple as seen. A pattern has developed over the years where the employees in the government sector derive satisfaction in coming late. Punctuality has been divorced and so is the sense of commitment to work in the organization.

The decease of late coming is a universal feature in the Indian society. A lekhpal(patwari) never is seen in the field except when one bribes him for the same. A station officer in a police station is always invisible on the pretext that he was on night duty. Majority of the teachers in government and semi government schools are late coming. The main reason is that the tutorial classes they take privately is so occupying that school/college takes a back seat. You can find long queues in the collectorates where the public keeps waiting for a glimpse of the sahibs since morning. The secretariats are always  late starters except for  few important departments. Ladies universally have a license to come late and go early. No body can do anything about that. If one does try to remind them then one should be ready for charges of harassment. It is perhaps this pathetic state of mind set of Indians working in the Government sector that may have compelled the secretary Urban development Shri Anil Biajal to hit at the very fundamental level of aberration  of values: the value of punctuality.

In Japan if an employee is late by few minutes, say for the reason that the local train was late, then the railway administration issues a certificate to the passenger which he shows to his department to get exemption for the delay. Such is the sense of discipline. The same goes with the Indian Pvt.Sector. But thanks to the philosophy of unionism and the Indian trait of indiscipline and  the license of assured feeding that the employees of government sector consider their birth right in coming late.

The basic cause behind the sense of late coming is that we think that the same may go without punishment. It is another matter that we never identify with the organizational goals and  never feel committed to give our best for it. The politicization of  bureaucracy and the growth of nexus based on involvement in corrupt activities is another reason why indiscipline has grown. Last but not least is the protection to such activities by Unions.

The days of unrestricted indiscipline is gone with the arrival of market forces in India. Not only pvt. sector but the government sector is feeling the pinch. The indiscipline combined with inefficiency and corruption in the government sector has lead the organizations to reduction in roles and outsourcing of the same to the private sector. Time is not far away when the malignancy will be considered incurable. A small example is the recent visit of the Prime Minister of Singapore to India for signing the especial economic cooperation agreement. He conveyed in so many words that the Indian bureaucracy is the hurdle in growth of relationship between countries. This comment is a slap on Indian bureaucracy.

The effort of the Ministry of Urban Development must be seen in the light of this inertia, inefficiency, indiscipline and lack of commitment for the organization. Kudos to Mr. Baijal for bringing a very small but very important change. The other ministries of the central government must immediately adopt the same method of checking late coming and direct all the PSUs and Authorities under them to follow the suit. The state governments may also be instructed to go in for the same innovation in a time bound way. Bringing discipline in public life is must for a developing country like ours which otherwise is loosing about 20% of its work time and the productivity everyday because of late coming.