Trading paychecks

Now that the Sixth Pay Commission8217;s recommendations are out, it would naturally be the government8217;s prerogative to decide the timing of its announcement of salary increases for Central and armed forces staff. However, the government needs to be quick-footed and creative to manage the assortment of resentments being voiced among different categories of personnel. The Indian Police Service, for instance, perceives a slight in the way its ranks have been juxtaposed alongside the Indian Administrative Service8217;s. On Thursday, the three service chiefs were expected to convey to the defence minister their reservations on the suggested salary structure for officers and jawans, as well as short commission emoluments. And all across, the junior-most staff are upset that their take-home totals have not been enhanced in the proportion their seniors8217; have been.

The public sector in India is given 8212; often for good reasons 8212; to bemoaning its salaries, especially at a time when private sector salaries have been rising at a fast clip. It is, in contrast, extremely disinclined to discuss meaningfully the implementation of a system of appraisals and checks to yield an order of accountability that would make it less of a hindrance to good governance and programme implementation. Therefore the argument, made in these columns too, that a pay commission exercise is the apt moment to draw government staff into reforms in the terms and ways of employment. Besides a token nod to tiny performance-linked increments mentioned by the Sixth Pay Commission, there has so far been no supplementary gesture from the government to indicate that there is any such dual process under way. There is, however, enough indication that, unchecked, the resentments being voiced by different categories of staff could begin an unseemly and false adversarial lobbying amongst them.

There are enough ways and mechanisms available with the Central government to begin a consultative process with its employees, allowing them to air their grievances with the confidence that these views are being heard sympathetically. The reality is that hardly any government is a paymaster comparable to the private sector. And like every other working organisation, governments by their very nature breed and need hierarchies. Yet, they do need to vie ever more for good and reliable talent. In a proper consultative process, the government and its staff could find a viable balance.