Connect with public, URA tells govt staff

Jnanapeeth awardee and renowned litterateur Dr U R Ananthamurthy opined that bureaucracy should not be bureaucratic, instead it should be a process imbibed with humanitarian values.

Speaking at an interaction programme “An evening with Dr U R Ananthamurthy” organised by District Administration for government officials, the litterateur said the flow in the process of governance will be efficient and successful only when an official in government job will connect himself with the public who approaches him through humanity.

Bureaucracy should not be misused. The officials forget their gentle and compassionate virtues once they enter their offices. He added, bureaucracy gets rotten because of the desire of some people to get attached to their position.

He said the desire to be obedient to someone higher than us is more helpful that can result in effective run of the administration. The very idea of obedience will make life fruitful. Mutual respect for each other is also important in carrying out the administrative jobs, he added.

The litterateur said bureaucracy has shape but no qualities. To bring about qualitative changes in the bureaucratic system, each government servant should enjoy his work and also be committed towards his obligations, he added.

“Our response to the compassionate values are buried in the midst of several problems that exist in the society. The personification of “self” will only help us to reinvent ourselves,” he added.

He said the administration is possible either by rule of love or rule of fear. Rule of fear will sometimes lead towards underground. He added the government rules and regulations in a way make people to commit crimes. Crime is also creation of government going against the wishes of people, he added.

Retorting to a query, Ananthmurthy said he would always support the idea of common schools and similar education for all irrespective of status till 10th standard. This is essential to keep India as India and also to avoid the recurrence of rigidities of caste system once again. It is better to go for the medium of instruction preferred by the child after 10th standard.

Each child should be educated in the language that he or she is comfortable with until the child reaches the age of maturity. He added the children who go for classy schools are deprived of learning the common knowledge acquainted by the children on streets. It is essential to get maligned against the sanctity of caste to acquire knowledge.

He stressed that both education and health should not be privatised which leads to disaster. In India, both sectors are privatised and attempts should be made to revive educational standards in government schools, he stressed.DC Dr M T Reju said until and unless the government officials have strong conviction, it is difficult to become government servant in 2012.

These days the government servants are under the whipping eyes of everybody. Be it Anna Hazare anti corruption movement or anyone else, everyone portrays that government servants are not doing anything. He called upon the government officials to reinstate their minds to become brave and also to be sensitive.