How three years of Modi sarkar have let the common man like me down
The third anniversary celebrations of the BJP/NDA government lead by NarendraModi have overshadowed all other anniversaries and events falling in the month of May. This includes the death anniversary of Pandit JawaharLal Nehru on May 27, the first Prime Minister of independent India, as well as the demise of KPS Gill, largely credited with bringing militancy in Punjab to an end.
Completion of three years of the government has ruled the air waves for most part of May and continues to do so even now. The political ideology of those writing on the subject can be discerned from whether the coverage is laudatory or otherwise.
Prominent experts have diligently covered all aspects, including state of the economy, job creation, foreign policy, situation in J&K and Maoist-dominated areas, etc. It is, however, difficult to locate an unbiased and well-reasoned analytical piece.
Neither being an expert nor a journalist having inside details, I would attempt to give a commoner’s view by quoting some real life experiences and leave the rest to the judgment of the reader.
These mainly refer to decision-making, ease of getting things done through government departments and the digital drive.
The first experience relates to my own promotion which was due in early 2015. The file was moved by the department after a lot of cajoling and requests for fixing a date for convening the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) took almost a month in the home ministry, and the meet was finally held on March 3, 2015.
The file thereafter travelled through at least 20 desks in the MHA, DOPT, ministry of personnel, Cabinet Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office on its way up for approval of the PM and an equal number on its way back, before the promotion orders were finally published on April 9. Part of the delay unfortunately was also because the PM was away for many days for the annual session of BJP.
The delay in my case can perhaps be attributed to inexperience and cautious approach, being the early days of this government.
However, the assumption that decision-making in such routine matters would have improved stands belied by the inordinate delay in appointment of the Army Chief late last year, stalemate/ delay in appointment of judges to various courts and also non-appointment of the Director General of the CRPF for almost two months after the vacancy arose, and that too after a crisis.
The second instance emanates from my experience in trying to hand over government accommodation allotted to me in the Commonwealth Games Village at Akshardham which I had vacated on November 30, 2015.
Assuming that the whole process should not take more than a couple of days, I applied to BSES Yamuna Power, Karkardooma, on November 27, 2015, for the final electricity bill. To my utter dismay, it took them over 10 days to prepare it and that too after several phone calls and a couple of personal visits to their office. My request to adjust the amount in the security money deposited with them went unheeded.
Money was accordingly deposited but the effort to get clearance failed because I was told that the money deposited gets reflected in the system only after two days, hence a certificate can be issued only thereafter.
After obtaining the clearance certificate, I had to now get after the JE of the directorate of estate and I could finally hand over the accommodation only on December 13, 2015. The delay of 13 days invited a penal rent recovery of a few thousand rupees.
My travails did not end here, because getting refund of security money from BSES Yamuna proved another herculean task, requiring deposit of clearance certificate issued by them only! I was thankful when I finally received the security money after a couple of months, even though an unexplained deduction was made from it. I did not pursue the matter further because I did not want to undergo another torturous process.
The third instance relates to the state of digitisation and ease claimed to have occurred in government functioning. I took my car for registration to RTO Mayur Vihar in Delhi. Physical verification done, I went for further processes. The counter clerk discovered that he did not have the rate list of the vehicle concerned on his computer and refused to accept the amount mentioned on the bill and instead asked me to produce the rate list!
Armed with the list, I went back to the RTO the next day and was promptly given an ID/password for depositing the registration amount. The RTO office itself neither had the facility for card swapping nor NEFT for depositing cash. I had to go home but still did not succeed in depositing the money because the portal did not list my banks - ICICI and HDFC. Only nationalised banks were listed.
The password became invalid after logging in once, forcing me to visit the RTO again next day for a new one. Finally, courtesy a friend with an account in SBI, I succeeded in making the payment. The RTO issued a receipt the next day for getting a secure number plate from a dealer located about 5km away and I finally got it after two visits and one week.
Getting a registration certificate (RC) or card is another matter, though. I was told that it can be collected from the RTO after one month. There being no way of checking the status online, I went to the RTO after a month. The RC had not yet come and the clerk was non-committal as to when I should visit again. The process initiated on April 13 is not yet complete till the time of writing (June 3). I am making do with the receipt issued by the RTO in place of a regular RC.
So, gentlemen and ladies my experience sadly is not a happy one. I only hope that this is not universally true as it would mean that the government that we have put in power with a lot of hope has not succeeded in living up to expectations in the small things that matter to the common people.