Citizens as Consumers
Bureaucracy: Some Reforms Dr.Rao VBJ Chelikani In some developing countries like Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, and Kenya, soon after independence, there were attempts to revamp the entire colonial style of administration by filling the posts by the party militants who had sacrificed and suffered most. But, the results have not been very happy. Organising resistance is a quite different activity from administering services for the citizens. The militants very quickly initiated themselves into the bureaucratic mould of enjoying power and authoritar…
Effects of the Bureaucracy on our Economy
Dr. Rao VBJ Chelikani Having historically originated under the monarchies and, later, imbued with the welfare state mentality, the bureaucracy is empowering itself and is still insisting on doing things that the citizens themselves can do better, quicker and cheaper. Whether one is employed in the public sector or in the private sector, every citizen as an economic actor has to have equal social impact, accountability, and responsibilities. The Finance departments in India behave like a state within the state, retaining the right to suspect…
Time to restructure district administration
Apart from creating a superfluous power centre, the current district-level administrative structure in India creates conflicting political and administrative forces. This needs to be corrected apart from deglamourising the role of the District Collector. Dr.Rao VBJ Chelikani The District Collector has been the most significant precursor of the whole Indian administrative system. In the Mughal period, the equivalent post in the capital cities was that of the Kotwal, Munsab being under him. It was a glamorous job during the British rule for whi…
We Need a Revolution in Administration
The administrative machinery is the permanently visible symbol of the state and its power. We are, virtually living in a regime of the Rule of Rules, instead of the Rule of Laws, framed, revised and implemented by the bureaucracy. By Rao VBJ Chelikani Since the head of the Executive is the president of the Republic, the administration is one of the organs of the state. But in practice, much beyond the expected respectable autonomy, the balance has tilted in favour of the Administration within the Executive. As the legislature is slack in its f…
Mahatma Gandhi Epitomised all that a Civil Society Activist Should be
It is the sheer power of a Civil Society activist’s personality, credibility integrity, objectivity, and persuasiveness that leads to recognition, respect and appreciation and not the loudness of his voice, nor the public outcry in the wake of that noise, be it from the crowds that follow or the media exposure. There can no better example of this than Mahatma Gandhi himself who epitomised all these traits and commanded the influence that no CS representative has to date in this country or elsewhere. By Rao VBJ Chelikani I Authenticity of an A…
Civil Society Operations : Are they Opposed to Development?
Dr. Rao VBJ Chelikani Recent trends indicate that our NGOs are becoming more and more efficient in their management capacities and are in a collaborative mindset with the governments in the interest of scaling up their operations in multifarious domains. They are proving to be a fertile source for social innovations. Departing, vastly, from the traditional ‘poor feeding’ approach, the new generation of NGOs place high value on the worth and dignity of the needy person and treat him with respect. There is a definite cost-effectiveness in their …
Mission of The Civil Society Organisations
By Dr. Rao VBJ Chelikani - In the context of the omnipotence of the political parties and frequent surfing of loyalties by elected representatives from one party to the other, elections are becoming a big ‘ power mela ’ where Instead of urging voters to exercise their rational faculties, candidates whip up mob fury and frenzy, tribal instincts, self-interest, emotional and sentimental attachment to personalities, and narrow caste loyalties. Every election is becoming a sterile repetition. In this context, the Civil Society organisations are tr…
What is a Civil Society Organisation?
Dr. Rao VBJ Chelikani Human beings as they evolved into living in societies have acquired certain natural expectations and claims against each other, on reciprocal basis, such as, respect for life, family and property, civil liberties, fair play and justice, fraternity and solidarity. When we formed political states, we expected the state to convert those values into legal rights and duties and to reconcile them with authority in the interests of all. In our modern state, we have the constitution, which articulates the same as mandate to t…
Religion as Power and Peace
Dr Rao VBJ Chelikani Primitive feelings of bewilderment and fear in man were expressed by declaring his submission to the unknown and known forces in nature, imploring for their protection. Such submission or surrender was, gradually, extended towards many invisible and visible things and to persons on earth or in heavens in order to seek their favourable disposition and kindness. We have good evidence to conclude that before the period of established religions, people all over the world, including in India, were practicing shamanist kind of c…
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