Andhra:IIM Ahmedabad submits report on strategy to curb graft, wants AP govt to keep media at bay

The IIM-A suggested that the media be kept at bay as otherwise it was causing "undue pressure and disturbance in administrative activities," besides rumour-mongering. The Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government had in November last year engaged the Public Systems Group of IIM-A, led by Principal Investigator Sundaravalli Narayanaswami, to study the processes prone to corruption (in the state administration) and suggest remedial measures to end them.

Amaravati, Aug 25 (PTI): The local media was playing a "huge damaging role" in the state administration in Andhra Pradesh, becoming one of the causes of corruption, a study by the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad has noted. The IIM-A suggested that the media be kept at bay as otherwise it was causing "undue pressure and disturbance in administrative activities," besides rumour-mongering.

The Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government had in November last year engaged the Public Systems Group of IIM-A, led by Principal Investigator Sundaravalli Narayanaswami, to study the processes prone to corruption (in the state administration) and suggest remedial measures to end them. The IIM-A team submitted its report to the Chief Minister here on Monday.

The team studied the operational processes in the mandal revenue offices, Town and Country Planning wing, Sub- Registrar Offices and the Municipal Administration Department. Citizen-centric governance, employee-centric administration and participatory governance to restore peoples trust were the key to root out corruption, the IIM-A said in its recommendations.

"Local media play a huge damaging role in the state administration; there is very little fair and honest reporting. Media is said to play the role of informal middlemen in several instances and some unscrupulous officers conspire with such media in sharing administrative information," the report said.

"External intervention (particularly, media) is unprecedented in administrative affairs even in smaller and remote state government offices.This causes undue pressure and disturbance in administrative activities and also rumour mongering," it added. It wanted the government to totally curb interference from the media, apart from "local politicians, middlemen and local gundas(sic)," in governance and administration.

The IIM-A observed that the initiatives of the government to curb corruption so far were "local and reactive," without eliminating the root cause. The IIM-A suggested that a "whistle-blower policy" be implemented to help prevent malpractices before they grow large.

All sensitive positions and important portfolios (in government) should be assigned only to officers cleared by the Anti-Corruption Bureau or other enforcement agencies, it said. Noting that the state government administration is run through the most advanced automated systems and many services are delivered through online mode, the study team observed that normally one would expect "zero corruption and total transparency." "It is not to be so, as technology intervention seems to be the boon and bane of the state," it remarked.

"Internal systems reforms, amendment of existing policies and updation of various databases in all departments on a real-time basis is required. Besides, a one-point access should be developed for every citizen to apply, avail, track every state government service," the IIM-A team suggested.

Finding that several processes in state administration were "prone to subjective interpretation and arbitrariness," which allow violation of rules and regulation, the IIM-A advised that any such policy be either withdrawn or corrected, citing the (illegal) building penalisation scheme as an example. It also found that there was a severe dearth of resources, both in terms of manpower and revenues, in the state offices and suggested filling of all vacancies and allocating sufficient funds commensurate with operational costs.

"Honesty (good work ethics) and efficiency go hand-in-hand.Good governance should lead to good economics.For this, creative and contextual solutions have to be developed," the study said. Summing up, the IIM-A team observed that it was not only important for the government administration to be transparent, fair and corruption-free, but "it should also be perceived so." "Unless the measures are implemented in letter and spirit, fair and transparent governance remains a lip-service," it added.PTI DBV BN WELCOME BN WELCOME