One brick at a time

It has been my attempt on this blog to write my feelings as events unfold. As a result, many of my posts are political whereby I offer my analysis of the current political happenings in Kashmir. Some other posts are non-political while others are outright silly. I do not attempt to be an all knowing person, but I do have a fair knowledge of the political atmosphere brewing in Kashmir. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I am involved in politics myself. 

Today I would like to further develop a couple of the ideas that I have been writing about in the last little while. My goal is to analyze in detail all the possible employment and developmental avenues for Kashmir, and this I seek to accomplish by presenting my case in a series of posts where I will try to develop each idea as comprehensively as I can. This post is going to deal with an issue that I consider is of utmost importance if we seek to utilize our limited resources wisely. It deals with remedying our over-burdened and inefficient government service by curtailing the operations of inefficient departments. 

I have mentioned in my earlier posts that we all are aware that most Kashmiris would rather be employed in the government services if they could get a chance. This seems to be the norm and I do not fault anyone for desiring a stable and sustainable form of income. In particular, the last two decades have seen this as the only source of income that was unaffected by the turmoil. Government servants are guaranteed to receive their paychecks regardless of whether they show up at office or not. Who would not desire such an easy source of income. I salute the new CM for getting down to business from day one, and sending a clear message that non-punctuality and absenteeism will not be tolerated in the government workers anymore. 

Although this will send a clear message to the government employees to show up for work and they will be in office as required, a closer look is needed to get to the root of this lack of interest in work. In my opinion, some departments such as the departments of handicrafts, floriculture, animal husbandry to name just a few are useless and an unnecessary drain on our limited resources. Would it not be more sensible to reallocate the focus areas of these departments that would be more in tune with what the more pressing issues facing our governments are. I would like to emphasize that I am not advocating the dismissal of any government employees but what I am suggesting is re-assigning them different tasks that would make their jobs more useful to Kashmir. 

For instance, even though we have had the department of floriculture and horticulture for many decades in the valley, yet, how come we are not even on the map of the world producers of cut-flowers? or why is it that our fruit growers are still utilizing ancient techniques in growing fruits when the same acreage is capable of producing hundred times more fruit than what they are at this time. Clearly, these departments have been unable to do adequate research in bringing technology from world leaders in these fields and educate our farmers in these new agricultural technology. For instance, New Zealand apple growers are capable of producing 400 times more apples per acre than our Kashmiri fruit gowers. The main reason for this variance is that the New Zealand farmers were fortunate enough to be educated by "agriculture extension officers" as they are known there, in modernizing their production techniques.

Government officials should have the initiative to be innovative and have the vision to see what would make Kashmir more progressive in areas that their departments are concerned with. Instead of waiting for the CM to spoon feed them and pull them by their fingers. It is easy to follow orders but if they really want to earn their wages and excel in their jobs, then they have to start thinking out of the box and start thinking of ways of bringing in new technology from overseas and adapting it to be more suitable to Kashmir. That was the whole reason why the departments of horticulture, floriculture and animal husbandry were introduced to begin with. To modernize our agriculture. They have failed to deliver because I do not see Kashmir on the map of the world leaders in the production of frutis, or cut-flowers, or bulbs, or even sheep. Therefore it is time that we re-assign these departments other tasks that require critical attention at this time.

Some ideas where the several thousand employees of these department can be readjusted:

1. Anti Corruption Officers. (A short training of a few months to these employees on how to weed out and lay charges against corrupt officials)

2. Public Grievance Centers. (Set up one-room government grievance-centres in every mohalla, where anyone can come and register a complaint regarding everything from an exploded water pipe to complaints about harassment by security forces. The employees must receive rigorous training for a few months on customer service, and how to deal with irate public in the most professional manner. This will be sort of a one-stop outlet for the public to deal with the government. The employees will learn through training the most appropriate department and person to forward the complaint to. The person who registers the complaint receives a file number for their complaint and it would be nice to make our government efficient enough that the complainant is assured of some sort of an answer within a week or two. This will save the public from running around in the secretariat for days with a worn out file-folder wanting to meet with the minister to have their drain fixed)

3. Traffic Enforcement Officers (This is another area that we could use these employees. After receiving training for a few months, these employees could be reassigned the task of traffic law enforcement. Anything from speeding buses, overloaded buses and parking violations can be enforced by them)