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Journalism of Courage
Early in the cabinet-mandated year and a half the sixth pay commission has been given to submit its report, there has to be the firm recognition that the way to approach a government pay review is to figure how to make government work better. It should be clear to commission members, some of whom would have had private sector work experience, that the government cannot be made to work better at the current abysmal levels of compensation. A junior corporate executive will probably choose unemployment over what the government pays a middle-level official. Private sector top management probably put more in their PF accounts every month than what the government pays its departmental secretaries, PSU and public sector bank chiefs and institute heads. At the low end, the picture is in some ways worse. The police constable on the street and the army jawan on the border are paid less than office peons in the private sector. Even if one monetises perks, government pay is way too little compared to private sector salaries.
This is silly when economic reform and incentives are the broad official credos. Badly paid government officers may well have a jaundiced view of market rewards. Pay is also why the government is no longer even the second or the third career option for the very bright. Of course, government pay and private sector salaries will always differ. But the difference can8217;t be at levels that make government jobs a refuge for those doling out and seeking mass patronage.
