Editorial: On Vacation

It is a Government holiday today, and before one has finished sending out all the Sonam Lochar greetings, it will be time for another breather the day after with government offices on holiday for the Republic Day. The two, almost back-to-back holidays are a teaser to how extravagantly Sikkim celebrates holidays. Although a daily newspaper which conscientiously takes every Sunday off [the stands] and almost routinely celebrates every other holiday as well, might draw sniggers for its attempt to comment on work-cultures linked to holidays, we still stick our necks out, sandbagged behind the argument that the administration should be more accessible and accountable in a State like Sikkim where every aspect of life draws a string back to the government. [The limited readerships absolve newspapers of similar accountability because much fewer lives are touched]. Counting all the gazetted holidays, second Saturdays and Sundays, the year 2012 has an astounding 99 holidays for State Government employees in Sikkim! That’s nearly three and a half months of no work for the entire administration this year. Add to these the prescribed leaves enjoyed by government servants, and the number of days a government servant needs to report for duty slims down even more dramatically than the mere 266 days this year that all offices will remain open. Even for a holiday obsessed country, this figure must be a strong contender for a record among the States.
Don’t get us wrong, this is not an attempt to argue for fewer government holidays; in fact, Sikkim should seriously consider adopting a 5-day week, if for nothing else, then to reduce the expense on travel allowances and to allow the environment to breathe lighter for some more days. But that is a discussion for some other time. For now, let’s focus on what such a lavish number of holidays should guarantee for the lay Sikkimese. Those who depend on government offices to get work done should receive better services. After all, government employees here, apart from being among the better paid state government employees in the country, are also among the most rested, enjoying, on an average, a little over eight days off every month. This should recharge them amply and bring them reinvigorated to their desks and less bogged down by the lethargy which now defines bureaucracy in our country. As per the Report of the State Administrative Reforms Commission, submitted to the State Government in June 2010, the Sikkim government employees also spend the least amount of time in office, and this, not just because they enjoy the most number of official holidays, but also because the official working hours [10 a.m. to 4 p.m.] here are the lowest in the country which mostly operates on the 9 to 5 format on a 5-day week system. One will not even venture into how casually even this shortened working-hours schedule is followed, and close the detailing by reiterating that State government servants in Sikkim are well provided for in as much as remunerations and holidays are concerned. Improved work culture and better work ethic should hence not be considered an unfair demand.
Now, let’s see how service delivery measures up in this work-force when it is not on vacation. For want of space in this already too long a piece, we speak only of how fast [rather, slow] a file moves from the time a prospective beneficiary submits an application to the time a decision is made and communicated. As per the Report of the State Administrative Reforms Commission, such files take a “long and arduous” journey. While a person might address the letter directly to the Head of the concerned Department, once received by his office, the file moves down to the bottom tier of the system, one rung at a time. In most cases, as per the Report, the ‘files’ “settle down” at this level and rarely get moving [up] unless ‘pushed’. The Report also records that there is rarely any “intellectual input” on the contents of the file from the dealing assistant right up to the Superintendent level but it still halts there along the way. From the Under Secretary upwards, substantial inputs are made and by the time the file reaches the HoD a ‘draft’ order or reply is inked on the file. Then it reaches the Minister, and if required the Cabinet. The quickest that file can complete its downward process is 21 days. Given the average number of holidays, that’s already a month gone and if there are more than the normal number of reds on the almanac at the time, even longer. And then, the file has to move up again, and although this is quicker, it will still take seven working days to complete this journey. But that’s under ideal conditions. In general, the Report informs, the down and up process takes three months. Interestingly, the Report observes that the “indirect compulsion to keep everyone occupied in one way of the other itself complicates the process and adds to the delays”. Surely, with so many days officially off and that many fewer working hours per day, every employee should already be busy catching up with pending work for there to be any need to keep them so compulsorily occupied in matters they cannot contribute anything to. If they are not, clearer delegation of responsibilities should be made so that service delivery improves. They could definitely figure out a way to iron out these wrinkles in the days that they turn up for work between holidays...