Big Brother Modi is watching bureaucrats

[sarang]

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Douglas Busvine of Reuters does not realise that not only modi, but any public can find out attendance record of bureaucrats. Attendance details will be on the net for public view.

- Narendra Modi has earned a reputation as something of a control freak since becoming prime minister, ordering bureaucrats to throw out office junk and go to work. on a public holiday to clean the toilets.Now he has taken things a step further by launching an electronic surveillance system that will track whether 100,000 government officials are showing up for work on time.
Not only is Big Brother watching the 'babus', as India's pen pushers are known, but the public can also keep track of them through a web site - attendance.gov.in - that quietly went live at the end of September.
The dashboard of the Biometric Attendance System displays a dynamic, real-time chart of how many people are at work. It is also possible to click through and check when an individual checks in and logs out of the system.
"It all started with the prime minister giving the idea," said project coordinator Shefali Sushil Dash of India's National Informatics Centre, the agency for e-government initiatives.
The system is based on the Aadhaar (Foundation) biometric identity card system launched by the last government that now covers 680 million people, and refines a pilot project launched by techno-bureaucrat Ram Sewak Sharma in the state of Jharkhand.
'NO SENSE OF INTRUSION'
Using their Aadhaar numbers, more than 50,000 government workers at 148 government bodies in the capital, New Delhi, have been enrolled in the system. The plan is to double that figure.
Staff can clock in using a fingerprint scan at the entrance of their offices. Top-ranking civil servants can do so, without queuing, with devices attached to their workstations.
Dash said there had been "no complaints" from those enrolled in the scheme that it was intrusive. "This system is meant to make people's life easier," she told Reuters.
Based on a straw poll of his sources, Suhaib Ilyasi, editor of Bureaucracy Today - a magazine for and about Indian bureaucrats - says the response has been positive.
"People like it even though they have to be punctual," he said. "Officers are government servants. They should be serving the people. There is no sense of intrusion."
Keeping the noses of officials to the grindstone is bullish for India, a country where even the most basic bureaucratic task can prove daunting, according to one investor.
"Modi's view is if I get the little things right, if I get the civil servants to work, to clear files, then I'm 80 percent of the way there," said Avinash Vazirani, manager of Jupiter Asset Management's India fund.
"This is Big Brother stuff but very effective. It's not just the central government. The state governments are trying to emulate this."
The Prime Minister's Office will also take part in the scheme, said Dash, although it was not clear whether Modi would be enrolled.
Project mastermind Sharma, who holds the rank of secretary at the government's Department of Electronics and Information Technology, could not immediately be reached for comment. The Biometric Attendance System showed he had signed in at work at 13:55:16 p.m. on Thursday.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-brother-modi-watching-bureaucrats-103707971.html

 

[krish44]

Good managers monitor outputs of employees.

They build people ignoring their shorcomings.

They motivate employees by encouraging them to do better instead of fault finding

aadhar is being used by the state for all the wrong things like tracking employees .

are we heading towards a authoritarian order ?

A similar move by Mrs IG in early seventies led to very bad outcomes like emergency and eventual overthrow by a wise electorate in 1977.

all this talk of desh seva and quoting religion for political purposes and getting intrusive in work place will backfire sooner than later.

it requires one loss in a state election.

most film actors require a flop of their movie to go downhill

politicians require couple of setbacks in elections for singing a different tune

 

[V.Balasubramani]

It is a good thing we have such a Prime Minister to pay attention to these small things which are also important.

Installation of Electronic Surveillance System will ensure prompt attendance of staff and shall ensure discipline among them.

But the normal practice in Government Offices will be that they will install such sophisticated or modern equipment and the equipment will work for initial one year i.e. during the warranty period. After that they won’t go for AMC and slowly one and after other will go out of order due to poor maintenance and one fine day the entire system will come to a standstill with breakdown.

The workforce should also co-operate realising the need to improve the efficiency in serving the public.

General public will also welcome such move.

We have good horses. What we need are good jockeys.

Will the Tamil Nadu Government emulate this system?

 

[renuka]

There is one drawback with such methods..one works with fear and a person working under fear and pressure does not really perform well.

He starts to hate his job eventually.

Then if public too can monitor government employees ..general public will start to take the upper hand and not respect civil servants.

Both public and civil servants should respect each other.

I somehow wont feel comfortable if someone is watching me.

I remember once when I was a trainee intern..one consultant used to be high handed and he used to tell patients in the ward if these interns dont treat you well..tell me..I will blast them right in front of you.

Many patients started to misbehave in the ward becos of this.

Then one day a senior government official was admitted in the ward and he asked us trainees "how do you all work when your consultant puts patients as your watch dogs?He does not know how to respect his juniors".

So that government official actually wrote a letter of complain to the Ministry of Health stating respect for juniors is lacking.

 

[krish44]

in my experience, even domestic servants if we give them space and not closely supervise they do much better.

specially if anyone trusts them fully they would go out of the way and even do unthinkable things to help you.

in fact I leave them in my flat many times go off to do somethings outside the home for an hour or so without thinking too much.

in fact they start bonding with this kind of trust.

it is the same in office .

if we treat our colleagues and juniors with respect and trust them to deliver , they will

one needs this maximum in work place

I have believed in building up people and they have always delivered.

I have hardly bothered about punctuality of workers or when they rest or time they spend at lunch or rest

I always find everyone has a conscience .

if someone does not deliver , I give it to someone else quietly without a fuss.

or show I can do it myself without him so that he does not get an idea that the world cannot do without him.lol

 

[V.Balasubramani]

There is one drawback with such methods..one works with fear and a person working under fear and pressure does not really perform well.

Mam,

Every system will have a draw back but will have comparatively more advantages.

Government Offices are known for corruption. Installing such devices will go a long way in improving the functional system and eradicating corruption also to some extent.

Things are very transparent nowadays. The General public can see how busy the staff are and will gain confidence that they can approach them and get their grievances redressed.

The mechanism is good one.

Why should one fear when somebody watches. We believe that God watches us and we don’t fear or afraid of God.

A friend of mine who an authorized dealer of a MNC installed such a system in his Office and is worry-free now. He watches his staff from his laptop and the staff knows that and they all duty conscious and production oriented. He is getting more return for his investments now and is happy.

It is work place. It is like a temple. So why fear or afraid??

 

[renuka]

Why should one fear when somebody watches. We believe that God watches us and we don’t fear or afraid of God.

Dear Bala sir,

God is not judgmental.Humans are.

So I dont mind God watching me but not another human.

I wonder why Modi is playing stalker too!LOL

 

[sarang]

Why some are going hyper? It is just an attendance monitoring system followed universally in any organization. ISO companies pride themselves on such transparency issues. Modi will have a dig at the media and pathetic distractors. 'Government staff reporting on time' ye news hai kya? This what he said in USA.

 

[Iyyarooraan]

A new broom sweeps well. People expect that NaMo should be at Delhi because of tense border. His reply that the soldiers will give fitting reply cannot fill the vacuum. Well, the gravity of the situation is last. This goes to say the soldiers know better! And when did Modi become big brother - after visiting the US?

 

[prasad1]

A new broom sweeps well.

I remember my mother using that expression. LOL
Modi is micro-manager, tay he knows. Scare and fear is the tactics that is the only way the discipline is enforced. May not be nahine totally out of place in India. Lath ke devata hai Bath say nahin mante.
In the long run it will fail.

 

[V.Balasubramani]

And when did Modi become big brother - after visiting the US?

That is a good one Sir.

 

[sarang]

Yankees may answer why he is big brother.

A new broom sweeps well. People expect that NaMo should be at Delhi because of tense border. His reply that the soldiers will give fitting reply cannot fill the vacuum. Well, the gravity of the situation is last. This goes to say the soldiers know better! And when did Modi become big brother - after visiting the US?

 

[V.Balasubramani]

So I dont mind God watching me but not another human.

Doctor Mam,

Just a thought.

Roger Federer or Serena Williams think that they don’t like to be watched by any human, there can be no live relay of games.

I hope that 'LIVE' relay of programmes gaining momentum.

 

[renuka]

Doctor Mam,

Just a thought.

Roger Federer or Serena Williams think that they don’t like to be watched by any human, there can be no live relay of games.

I hope that 'LIVE' relay of programmes gaining momentum.

dear Sir,

I had been a state level athlete when I was a teenager.

When one is in a stadium competing for an event..at that time nothing matters..its as if the world does not exists..the whole focus is on ourselves and our performance...the crowds itself ceases to exists.

BTW in sports..the spectators do not get a chance to decide the outcome..they are mere witnesses.

BTW sir..have you noticed children? When they see that there is Camera in a shop and see themselves on the CCTV screen..the 1st thing a child does is dance and make faces.

So I am sure if I am monitored 24/7 with CCTV I might actually do that too!LOL

 

[V.Balasubramani]

dear Sir,

I had been a state level athlete when I was a teenager.

When one is in a stadium competing for an event..at that time nothing matters..its as if the world does not exists..the whole focus is on ourselves and our performance...the crowds itself ceases to exists.

BTW in sports..the spectators do not get a chance to decide the outcome..they are mere witnesses.

BTW sir..have you noticed children? When they see that there is Camera in a shop and see themselves on the CCTV screen..the 1st thing a child does is dance and make faces.

So I am sure if I am monitored 24/7 with CCTV I might actually do that too!LOL

Mam,

Just a thought.

A great musician settles for a concert along with his orchestra members. And when he is ready and saw the audience seats, there is none to watch. How will he feel?

IMO the performers love to be watched and wish to have audiences.

The audiences on their part encourage and motivate the performers by clapping, etc.

I think performing and watching are part and parcel.

What is wrong in extending this in Offices?

 

[renuka]

Mam,

Just a thought.

A great musician settles for a concert along with his orchestra members. And when he is ready and saw the audience seats, there is none to watch. How will he feel?

IMO the performers love to be watched and wish to have audiences.

The audiences on their part encourage and motivate the performers by clapping, etc.

I think performing and watching are part and parcel.

What is wrong in extending this in Offices?

dear Sir,

Watching a performance is different from watching something to find fault.

A Big Bro watches us to find fault..so he is not going to see the good in us..he is only going to see if we are "behaving" according to his set guidelines.

So you see that is like having a stalker.

Sometimes during work times my staff too leave work for a while to go get personal stuff done like buying vegetables..going to the bank etc.

I just tell them to remain contactable and carry a their mobile phones with them.

If there is any pending work at times I also help them to finish it.

One has to be flexible and be part of a team...and faults are human..No one can be perfect.

24/7 CCTV is for hardcore criminals to be monitored..office is not a prison.

 

[V.Balasubramani]

dear Sir,

Watching a performance is different from watching something to find fault.

A Big Bro watches us to find fault..so he is not going to see the good in us..he is only going to see if we are "behaving" according to his set guidelines.

So you see that is like having a stalker.

Sometimes during work times my staff too leave work for a while to go get personal stuff done like buying vegetables..going to the bank etc.

I just tell them to remain contactable and carry a their mobile phones with them.

If there is any pending work at times I also help them to finish it.

One has to be flexible and be part of a team...and faults are human..No one can be perfect.

24/7 CCTV is for hardcore criminals to be monitored..office is not a prison.

Mam,

Modi is not watching to find fault in one’s official performance, but he is watching whether one does his duty for which he is paid out of public money.

The performance of the staff is actually monitored by their immediate superiors.

The overall system is a good one. Even Modi's performance is being watched by the public thro Media.

And above all world itself is a big Tihar with only who are caught. There are some 'scot-free' outside the jail who needs to be watched.

 

[renuka]

Mam,

Modi is not watching to find fault in one’s official performance, but he is watching whether one does his duty for which he is paid out of public money.

The performance of the staff is actually monitored by their immediate superiors.

The overall system is a good one. Even Modi's performance is being watched by the public thro Media.

And above all world itself is a big Tihar with only who are caught. There are some 'scot-free' outside the jail which needs to be watched.

Dear Bala sir,



Any sort of unwarranted monitoring is an invasion of privacy...one starts to wonder if one is a closet Voyeurist!

 

[V.Balasubramani]

Dear Bala sir,

Any sort of unwarranted monitoring is an invasion of privacy...one starts to wonder if one is a closet Voyeurist!

Mam,

Watching the staff during office working hours, that is between 10 AM to 5.00 PM or whatever the working hour is definitely not unwarranted. It is in the interest of Government that the staff need not get involved in unwanted activities.

 

[sarang]

Now the smart guys will pick up the views of concerned citizens and upgrade the system from mere attendance recrding system to performance monitoring system if the bureaucrats identify key performance parameters. I am sure most of us have gone through self and company appraisal targets.

 

[renuka]

Mam,

Watching the staff during office working hours, that is between 10 AM to 5.00 PM or whatever the working hour is definitely not unwarranted. It is in the interest of Government that the staff need not get involved in unwanted activities.

Dear Bala sir,

I am somehow not comfortable of the idea of being watched.

I myself prefer to see a patient alone and not even comfortable with the idea of someone accompanying the patient.

That is why when I used to work in the government hospital I preferred doing autopsies...there one is alone with the deceased patient. No relatives accompany a doc or even want to enter a mortuary.

The morgue teaches you about live and death..when a person is alive and if he falls sick..relatives accompany him to see the doctor and ask so many questions..but when the same person is dead..no relative would want to enter an autopsy room.

So when death strikes the human body has no value.

We always have to keep patients relatives out of the ward or ICU..but in the morgue we do not have to keep anyone away..no relative comes there....they wait far away.

Even the name of the dead person is forgotten..when someone is alive..patients relative will ask 'how is my so and so or Mr So and So..'..but when a person is dead..patients relative wont mention his name but ask 'when can I take the body"

From a name he becomes just a body.

This is the lesson I learnt while preforming autopsies.

 

[V.Balasubramani]

Dear Bala sir,

I am somehow not comfortable of the idea of being watched.

Mam,

You may know that in our society there is a section which will always take advantage of the situation and exploit. If there is no one to watch or monitor, they will simply mark the time and there won’t be much of a production. This arrangement is to ensure that one does his duty at the given time without wasting the man hours for which he is paid. What for we have been taught in our younger age the following nursery rhyme:

Work while you work.
Play while you play.
This is the way
To be happy and gay.

You may be aware of 'Red Tapism' prevailing in Government Offices.

In work place, one is expected to be duty conscious. Not to waste time by chatting with friends and relatives over mobile and to do his personal work. One is paid from public money for every minute he spends in his Office. Staff should realize it and should be duty bound. Social policing is just and necessary.

Staff who are not in agreement for such an arrangement, have no other option except to go on their own way leaving the job.

Besides, it also helps in keeping check over pilferages in Stores, Godowns, stocking places and thus save lot of money.

Totally a good move which I welcome.

 

[sangom]

Mam,

You may know that in our society there is a section which will always take advantage of the situation and exploit. If there is no one to watch or monitor, they will simply mark the time and there won’t be much of a production. This arrangement is to ensure that one does his duty at the given time without wasting the man hours for which he is paid. What for we have been taught in our younger age the following nursery rhyme:

Work while you work.
Play while you play.
This is the way
To be happy and gay.

You may be aware of 'Red Tapism' prevailing in Government Offices.

In work place, one is expected to be duty conscious. Not to waste time by chatting with friends and relatives over mobile and to do his personal work. One is paid from public money for every minute his spends in his Office. Staff should realize it and should be duty bound. Social policing is just and necessary.

Staff who are not in agreement for such an arrangement, have no other option except to go on their own way leaving the job.

Besides, it also helps in keeping check over pilferages in Stores, Godowns, stocking places.

Totally a good move which I welcome.

I think this is just yet another "show" by Modi. In the past, many attempts have been made in several institutions and State Government HQs to monitor and control staff attendance, but none has so far succeeded. Our society is so much imbued in corruption and disobedience, that it is really impossible to set these two aspects right unless some rigid dictatorship (along with all its attendant negatives) operates for one or two decades here!

People should also realize that Modi's intentions are not always clear; on the sidelines, now, we have come to a situation in which the poorer sections will find medicines unaffordable and lakhs may die. (See Supreme Court to hear case against withdrawal of drug price cap - Economic Times) Modi even while chest-thumping about demographic dividend and all that, is only interested in pleasing the Capitalists, in the (foolish) belief that they will make this country (instead of their own corporate empires) rich. What naivete!

 

[V.Balasubramani]

I think this is just yet another "show" by Modi. In the past, many attempts have been made in several institutions and State Government HQs to monitor and control staff attendance, but none has so far succeeded. Our society is so much imbued in corruption and disobedience, that it is really impossible to set these two aspects right unless some rigid dictatorship (along with all its attendant negatives) operates for one or two decades here!

People should also realize that Modi's intentions are not always clear; on the sidelines, now, we have come to a situation in which the poorer sections will find medicines unaffordable and lakhs may die. (See Supreme Court to hear case against withdrawal of drug price cap - Economic Times) Modi even while chest-thumping about demographic dividend and all that, is only interested in pleasing the Capitalists, in the (foolish) belief that they will make this country (instead of their own corporate empires) rich. What naivete!

Sangom Ji,

Operating rigid dictatorship for one or two decades that too here in India?

Have you forgotten Emergency (21 months between 1975-77). Why I.G. could not hold it for along time?

You can write in this Forum that this is a ‘show’ and that is a foolish belief,etc

But you and I are left with no other option except to comment on such schemes.

With a stable Government, nothing can prevent such schemes taking shape in Central Govt.,

It is certain that whenever such new schemes are introduced there will be some resistance from the concerned.

And Modi know how to handle them to his advantage.

 

[sarang]

Sngomji,

1. Modi will never get reelected in gujarat; it happened several times.
2. BJP is committing harakiri by announcing modi as pm candidate; bjp has got new strength.
3. Modi will never become pm; he has
4. Proposing modi is good for congress; congress is decimated
5. Secular forces will triumph if modi is made leader. Secular forces have been cowed down
6. There will be religious riots all over india; has not ahppened.
7. Foreign govts will ignore india; they are in queue to work with modi and india.
8. No non bjp govt will cooperate with modi; many cms have developed respect for modi.
9. With his poor english, modi will be an embarrassment in dealing with foreign govt heads; modi has impressed all with his passion, commitment, delivery and body language - and speaking in hindi everywhere.
10. Govt employees will revolt and will use bureaucratic tactics to delay work; Most of the govt servants and babus have fallen in line, attend office in time and clear the files within stipulated time. And many are doing work without leaks to media and enjoying largesse from the media and touts.

So your pessimism and negative mindset is misplaced; perhaps it is better to have some with that mindset and visibility (media) because the contrast between expectation (negative) and result will be strikingly high. Long live pessimists and no sayers.

I think this is just yet another "show" by Modi. In the past, many attempts have been made in several institutions and State Government HQs to monitor and control staff attendance, but none has so far succeeded. Our society is so much imbued in corruption and disobedience, that it is really impossible to set these two aspects right unless some rigid dictatorship (along with all its attendant negatives) operates for one or two decades here!

People should also realize that Modi's intentions are not always clear; on the sidelines, now, we have come to a situation in which the poorer sections will find medicines unaffordable and lakhs may die. (See Supreme Court to hear case against withdrawal of drug price cap - Economic Times) Modi even while chest-thumping about demographic dividend and all that, is only interested in pleasing the Capitalists, in the (foolish) belief that they will make this country (instead of their own corporate empires) rich. What naivete!