I was in Kolkata last week and I was skimming through Times of India in the morning. The headline which said “Howrah walks past man struck by bus” caught my attention. I was shocked and horrified to read that a young man who got hit by a bus at the busy Howrah crossing was lying unattended for 20 hours pleading to the passersby to take him to a hospital.
Hundreds of people passed by, including many police men. Nobody was ready to extend a helping hand to Vishal. One Good Samaritan felt pity on him and moved him from the road to the pavement, gave him some water and biscuits and moved away. Even he did not dare to take him to the hospital as he “did not want trouble with the police”
Later when journalists reached the spot and started taking photographs, the police decided to act. Even then, they just dragged him away without even using a make shift stretcher.
This reminded me of what happened to one of my friends few years ago in New Delhi. He met with a bike accident in the night. He realised that his spine has been critically injured. When the Police came on sight, he pleaded with the police to be careful as his back was severally damaged. The police man took him and made him stand upright and as per the doctors who later treated him, one of the main reasons why he was paralysed waist downward was the load that was exerted on his back after the injury.
Later they moved him to Safdarjung hospital where also the medical attention was totally pathetic. He survived only because his parents reached hospital and moved him to better hospital.
The saga did not end. He had to have an immediate surgery on his spine to fix an artificial sleeve had to be implanted. His brother sent the required sleeve by courier. It took couple of days of Ping-Pong from desk to desk to get the stuff cleared from the Customs. Finally when they cleared the package from the customs and opened the box, it was empty. Then his father got a call from an unknown person asking for a decent sum of money for this to be returned. Finally his brother had to fly down with a new piece.
Why such apathy we see among the public servants? Is it that our public servants are not capable of good quality community service?
The answer is No.
What we need leaders who believe in public service. Occasionally we see islands of excellence. The initiative by JK Tripathi, Commissioner of Police at Trichi to improve the quality of community policing is an excellent example of what can be achieved by means of cooperation between government agencies and public at large. His efforts helped to reduce crime rate by 40% in two years after he took over. The city notorious for it communal violence became a paragon of communal cooperation.
The Surat initiatives by the Municipal Commissioner S R Rao in the aftermath of the plague outbreak in 1994, also shows that if we have leadership that cares achievements can be extraordinary. (A detailed discussion of bothe these case studies are available in “Making breakthrough innovation by Mr. Poros Munshi)
Ms Kiran Bedi’s achievement as Inspector General (Prisons) at Tihar Jail is even more stupendous.
All these go to show that with the right kind of leadership the so called apathetic, insensitive public servants can rise up to self sacrificing levels of service instead of self-serving levels.
The million Dollar question is how we can have more of such leaders (an retain them) in our legislature and bureaucracy. What the PM has done for UIDAI is a good example. He got an outstanding professional to head the prestigious UID project. The same idea can be taken to the next level.
How can we scale this up and ensure that outstanding professionals are placed in key functions on the basis of a better and more competitive selection process? (Some suggestions on this topic )
How do we motivate and encourage such leaders.
If half of what is explained in Kiren Bedi’s book “I Dare” about how the system is ‘enslaved’ is true, then the challenges in front of us appear to be gargantuan.
Does it mean we should just hope and pray for these ‘Messiahs’
Porus Mushi has articulated how each one of us can contribute. “All we need to do is to take what we have in hand and use it to make a delta change. Look around you. Every sign of progress you see anywhere has happened because some individual didn’t see himself as doing ‘just a job’. .... Every job contains within it the potential to change the civilization if it is reframed appropriately. ... What can you do to make a delta change today?”
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