Government offices opened on Monday a month after they had locked down in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The last working day for government offices had been March 20, which was a Friday. They opened again on April 20. The offices are, however, not fully operational, as there will be a skeleton staff on duty, which will continue so until at least May 3, when the second phase of the lockdown ends. As of date how the lockdown will be lifted after that is not known. Given that across the country the COVID-19 graph is still rising, and deaths from the virus not ending, the possibility of a further extension cannot be ruled out. How will this affect government functioning, is a question that needs to be pondered.
This four-week lockdown has placed a major question mark on the essential nature of many government services. Police, fire and emergency services, medical services, information services and others have been on duty throughout the lockdown. Others that have been on a skeleton staff are the civil supplies, water supply, electricity department and a few other essential services. If the State can manage with a limited number of services and a limited staff, does it require the huge army of government servants that it currently employs? Right now, Goa has the largest number of government servants to population ratio in the country. More recruitment is on the cards, as all departments complain very loudly of short staff. Yet, the government must see if it is possible to make maximum use of the current staff in the State without employing more.
This is the right time to start the process of rationalisation of government staff in the State. There will be departments that are understaffed, and there will also be departments that are overstaffed. Instead of recruiting new employees to fill up vacancies in those departments that require new staff, there can be transfers effected so that a balance in the staff is brought about without any further cost to the exchequer. Such a proposal may not find favour with the political class that depends a lot on recruitments to satisfy voters, but should such appeasement come at the cost of the taxpayer? Some sacrifice will have to be made, and this is the right time.
Government has to also learn to make do with minimum staff. This government is well aware that its staff does not give of its best to the State. An earlier Labour Minister had gone on record that 30 per cent of the government servants are involved in private businesses and this affects their performance resulting in poor administration. The minister was subsequently dropped, but why didn’t the government ever act on this statement? The Chief Minister has also warned government servants of taking action on late coming to work, but again this was not acted upon. Action against the staff has always been missing, and that is what makes employees break rules.
Government staffers have had an easy run until now, their performance has never been appraised, and promotions and salary raises are based on number of years of service and pay commission recommendations. Goa was the first State to implement the VII Pay Commission for its employees, that was done just before the 2017 State Assembly elections. This is an opportunity to change the current system, and make the government servants competitive by removing the complacency that has set in. If the government is able to run efficiently in the coming weeks with 50 per cent of the staff, then this could be an indication of a bloated bureaucracy that needs to be trimmed for efficiency and financial savings.
