Peon culture in government

No administrative set-up in a Government department or office is complete without a “Peon”. Although he is the lowest category official, the Peon plays an important role in the day-to-day functioning of the office, from fetching tea and snacks to carrying files. Without him, the normal routine of an office gets paralysed. There have been instances when the office opening itself got delayed as the Peon having custody of office keys failed to report on time.

The Peon is the source and privy to any information, even secret one, before it is officially out. He is the eyes and ears of his boss. He knows the ins and outs of the office due to his long association. He even functions as “Conduit” for the “dealings” of his masters, and hence would exercise his influence over them, more often than not, misuse this influence. 

Till the 4th Pay Commission, the Peon was bracketed with Mali, Attendant and sweeper, all jointly categorised as Class IV Posts. However, in 1996, the 5th Pay Commission upgraded their status to Group “D” category, which itself they were considering as promotion. Till then, the educational qualification required for a Peon and others of his grade, was only middle school.

However, following the recommendation of 6th Pay Commission in 2006, all Group “D” posts have been upgraded to Group ‘C’ category and designated as “Multi Tasking Staff” with essential qualification of SSCE/ITI pass. With the implementation of the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission from Jan. 1, 2016, the take home pay of such staff has touched Rs20,000. No wonder then, with the job scenario being such, even graduates turn up for interviews for such posts in Govt. Departments/offices. Recently, one such graduate has been appointed in the North Goa District Collectorate. With the pay packet being what it is, he was not ashamed to join. Moreover, once in, there is always scope to rise the ladder as a departmental candidate. In the private sector, he would not earn half the salary paid in the Government.

In my 50 years of Government service, I have come across different characters as Peons. Depending upon their influence or hold over the boss, they would manage to get any work done, sometimes even going out of way. Some of them have been very clever. I remember the late Uttam Tuenkar who was attached to the Finance Secretary throughout till retirement. Mr N. Subramanium, a very competent officer from the Indian Accounts and Audit Service, highly respected for his acumen and depth in financial management, was the Finance Secretary during the period between 1966 and 1969. Upon his transfer, he was succeeded by Mr Puran Singh, an officer who had risen from the ranks, as Finance Secretary. Within a week of his joining, Uttam was quick enough to judge the performance of his new boss.

One evening, Uttam came down to Finance Department with a basket full of waste papers only to prove the point that this particular officer was no match to his predecessor as he was wasting lots of stationary in writing and re-writing the notes before finally recording them on the files. Thus, in no time, Uttam made perfect assessment of the administrative capability of the new Finance Secretary. In Office parlance, Uttam almost wrote the “confidential report” of his boss within a week of joining. 

One of the Peons attached to the late Bhausaheb Bandodkar, the first Chief Minister, was sporting long hair a la Rajesh Khanna at his best during his golden period on the screen from 1968 to 1972. This Peon was reprimanded by the CM on a number of occasions for persisting with his hairstyle and had even warned him about the consequences. Finally, Bahusaheb lost his patience and ordered his Private Secretary to fetch a scissor, caught hold of the errant peon, and low and behold, himself sliced his Rajesh Khanna hair. There is an episode of another Peon attached to Mr G K Bhanot, the then Chief Secretary, who on being told by his boss in Hindi “Batti Off Karo” went all the way down near the flag pole in front of the old Secretariat and on return told the boss “Botti Ata Hai”. Perplexed, the Chief Secretary told Angela Menezes, his PA that in spite of telling the Peon a number of times to put off the light, he failed to do so only to return sometime later and was saying something which he couldn’t follow. When inquired, the Peon told Angela that Sir wanted to know the “Botti” and therefore he had gone down to confirm whether River Mandovi was having high tide or low tide at that particular point of time.

Yet another Peon from the Secretariat, a semi-literate one, who having come to know from the Office of the Chief Secretary that instructions have been received from New Delhi that, pending recommendation of Pay Commission, the Central Govt. has announced “Interim Relief” to govt. employees, came running down to Herald the announcement for what he would call “Intemany” for the dole sanctioned. The end result was that this Peon was branded by everybody as “Intemany” for the rest of his tenure.

There is an episode of a Peon attached to a senior consultant in Medicine attached to Goa Medical College. This Physician, hailing from St Estevam, used to get patients from his village for consultation on his OPD days. Some of the patients used to bring gifts out of deep love and affection for this village doctor, and the peon would ensure that such gifts are kept separately for transfer to the doctor’s car. One such patient was advised by the doctor to bring his “stool” for testing. The patient saw to it that the parcel was packed in such a way that there would not be any foul odour. It ultimately it reached his residence to the annoyance of his wife.

On a pay day, some of the peons who operate as money lenders, would make it a point to remain present at the appointed hour at designated landmark like Library or canteen for recovery of installment with interest from his clients. Thanks to Govt. decision to implement ECS Mode of direct transfer of salary to the bank accounts of govt. employees, the recovery business, at least in Govt. departments, has abruptly come to a stop. 

(The Author is OSD NRI Commission)