Commentary/Rajiv Shukla

The UF wouldn't have been the UF if it had a spine!

It is a rare man who owns a spine among India's bureaucrats. I am happy to note that Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramaniam is one of those few rarities. Besides, he is a wise man too -- it takes both spine and brains for a bureaucrat to make a statement as the one he made earlier this week.

Which is to say, I am all for his stand on the Pay Commission recommendations.

Like Subramaniam said, if the government has to pay an additional Rs 130 billion to its employees and still face strikes (it takes a lot to satisfy them, you see), it is better not to pay the increase. The strikes are going to come anyway, so it might as well save the extra burden.

It is another matter that the weak United Front government did not go along with the suggestion, but the country would be in safer hands if it had 10 more bureaucrats like Subramaniam. After all, what he said was true. And the government knows it is true. But it yielded to the pressure of the trade unions and vote-hungry politicians -- they know it is an unfair strike call, but would rather not annoy millions of government employees.

Today, when millions of youth are unemployed, government staffers are being given drastic salary hikes. Plus other additional perks and allowances. Is this fair to the unemployed?

No, it isn't. But then, the Gujral government has never been known for fairness. They have conceded all the trade union demands. If the Pay Commission hiked salaries, it also recommended certain measures to ensure minimum productivity from the employees. The Commission recommended a 6-day week and the slashing of many unnecessary posts. It also wanted to reduce the number of holidays. But the government did not find any of these suggestions palatable.

Thus, the employees will only work a five day week, will enjoy holidays at the drop of a hat, and unnecessary posts will remain alive and kicking. And, oh yes, they will also get additional allowances amounting to another Rs 20 billion!

Wonderful proposition, no?

If there are millions of government employees, there are as many people working in private companies and organisations. They do not get any of the facilities provided to government employees. Most private companies are open on Saturday, holidays are few, the salary, more often than not, much lesser than what the government pays, and there is no job security either.

Unfortunately, people like Pramod Mahajan, Jaswant Singh, Basudev Acharya, Gurudas Dasgupta and George Fernandes are least concerned about such people. Oh no, they have the welfare of the government employees at heart, not the nation at large.

A simple comparison will make it clear how grotesque the whole thing is. Know what the government has allocated for poverty alleviation schemes? Rs 110 billion. Rs 20 billion less than what they propose to pay as salary hikes. And even then, trade unions are threatening to strike!

I wish there were a couple of people like Subramaniam in the UF. But then, the UF wouldn't have been the UF if it had a spine!

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