Walter Nandalike
Daijiworld Media Network
Mangalore, Nov 8: It is a sad but true fact that these days with corruption hogging all the limelight, the efforts of some good bureaucrats who make a difference to the state and to the lives of people go unnoticed. Negative news gets more popularity than the positive ones, but if we hunt, we do get a few, and indeed their success story is worth presenting to the masses.
A person from Bantwal who joined Karnataka government in 1978 as KAS officer, and who was later elevated as an IAS officer in 1989, has never been in the limelight, perhaps simply because he is too honest, straightforward and upright officer.
His humility shines forth when he says, "I chose to be KAS officer because I never had any other option; in those days the best job was to get into government service or become a banker through competitive exams."
When Daijiworld started investigating the loopholes in the ration card system of Karnataka state, we came across the name of Harish Gowda. We ended up learning not only about the advantages and drawbacks of the ration card system in the state, but also of the IAS officer's tremendous success in the state PU board.
Harish Gowda has worked in various state government departments in various capacities, including a two-year term as DC of Bangalore Rural.
In 1985 the officer entered the Vidhana Saudha to render secretarial works with various ministers as well as chief ministers. He was deputy secretary to former CMs of Karnataa Veerendra Patil and Veerappa Moily.
We present before you two major achievements of this humble officer, without whose dynamism, millions of Kannadigas would not have benefited so much.
The Revolution in State PU Board
A big challenge Harish Gowda had to face was in bringing reforms in Karnataka PU Board. He was appointed director of PU board, which made him the first IAS-ranked officer to hold the post.
Not long ago, a student of second PU was deprived of the privilege to apply for evaluated answer sheets, unlike now. The results announced by the PU board were final, and there was nothing much students could do, even if they were deprived of fair results..
It was Harish Gowda who made a bold move after he assumed office as director and proposed a reform system to the then CM J H Patel, such that students who wish to see the photocopy of the evaluation sheet should be able to avail it from the board soon after the results were announced, with a nominal fee.
Though the Cabinet approved the proposal, the idea was not welcomed by some in the PU Board, as they felt it would be a huge task, waste of time, money, energy and impractical. But only Harish Gowda knew how much the proposal would help thousands of students in building their future.
Despite the negative feedback, Harish Gowda ahead with the proposal, and in 1997, for the first time in the history of India, photocopies of answer sheets were made available for students after valuation. Until then, answer sheets were absolutely confidential, and no one had could disclose them to the students.
In 1997, major newspapers in the state extensively praised this move by the government, but the brain behind the masterstroke was neither recognized nor acknowledged.
In the very first year, over 40,000 students applied for the photocopies of answer sheets, and a large number of students got better marks after revaluation.
A couple of incidents made headlines around the state.
In the first incident, the mother of a PU student approached the Board directly along with her daughter, claiming that the evaluator had deliberately given her daughter less marks, because a teacher of her college had a grudge on her. When the matter was taken up with the college, the management denied the allegation. During investigation it was found that the student who had written correct answers was wrongly evaluated and her marks manipulated by the evaluator ! It was a rare case that was exposed during verification of answer sheets.
Later, when a similar complaint was filed by another parent that his daughter's marks had been manipulated, it was found that correct answers were marked as wrong!
During investigation it was found that the same teacher had evaluated both the papers. When all papers evaluated by the particular teacher were investigated, the officials were in for a shock! At least 80 papers were found to be tampered with by the teacher, who hailed from a Chikmagalur school.
The incident hit headlines in most of the newspapers in 1997 after the announcement of the PU results. The teacher was suspended and an inquiry was ordered. Though the exact motives were never known, it was assumed to be a psychological disorder, which led the teacher play with the future of 80 students.
When the 80 answer sheets were revaluated, the result emerged positive for all. Justice was thus done not only to the brave students who had dared to complain, but also to those who were deprived by the mischief of the teacher. All thanks to the new system introduced by Harish Gowda.
This apart, quite a few other incidents were revealed, all of which proved that the new system had turned out to be a boon for the students with its clear and transparent system of valuation.
Today, the system is being followed by not only other boards in the state, but several states in the country.
Every case of every student who has benefited from the system is a salute to the great IAS officer Harish Gowda. Thanks to him, students now appear for their exams with more hope and confidence.
The CET Cell Creation
Harish Gowda, who was also incharge of CET, has been instrumental in setting up the CET Cell with total transparency for the benefit of candidates. The Cell lets the candidates know their rankings and their eligibility to select professional courses as well as the institutions in the order of their preference. This has helped in eradicating chances of manipulation in the system.
Ration Card Revolution
In 2010, Harish Gowda took over as secretary of the state food, civil supply and consumer affairs department under the chief ministership of B S Yeddyurappa. He had taken the charge at a time when the state ration card system was in a total mess. The government had already spent about Rs 56 crore to computerise the ration card system, and another few crores were to to be spent for its completion. COMAT Technologies which was responsible for this job had shockingly failed to record the accurate data of ration card holders, with no photographs and no biometric system. Moreover, the COMAT system had issued 1.73 lac ration cards, as against 1.32 crores households only in the state (one ration card per house).
It was Harish Gowda who managed to keep the COMAT Technologies away, given its inefficiency, and started the work from scratch to put the ration card system in order.
Karnataka currently has a population of 6.11 crore with around 1.32 crores households.
Harish Gowda first worked towards cancelling over 50 lac bogus ration cards - one of his biggest achievements - which saved the state and central exchequer hundreds of crores of rupees.
He then started building the database, recording the card holders' photographs in the systems and implementing the biometric system, so that only genuine ration card holder could get the benefit of the state's natural wealth. He installed computers in all 5,627 gram panchayats in the state.
He next linked the ration card data with electricity meters in urban areas and house property tax numbers in rural areas. With an accurate database building up and as a result, in the first year itself whopping 31 lac bogus cards were detected cancelled.
It is learnt that in the coming days another 18 lac bogus ration cards will be cancelled after thorough verification. Meantime, the government has started issuing new computerised ration cards and already over 40 lac households have been registered, complete with photographs and biometrics.
Daijiworld has learnt that Harish Gowda will be retiring from service in February 2013 and may not be able to complete his ration card mission. But with his sheer determination, dedication and commitment, the groundwork has been done and major obstacles dogging ration cards will be ironed out and a successful system will be implemented within the next 6-8 months.
The amazing fact about this government project is, while Rs 56 crore was spent on COMAT for the implementation of an unsuccessful computerised ration card system, Harish Gowda's initiative in adopting a hugely successful, effective and pro-poor system cost just a couple of crores!
These are just two highlights of his career, but in his service of over 38 years, Harish Gowda has introduced several people-friendly programmes in every department he has worked.
According to one of his friends from Bangalore, "I am yet to see such an upright officer who dreams only about his work, and whose motto is 'work is worship'. He was been transferred and even demoted several times for not obeying the wrong 'orders' of his bosses, but it has not dampened his spirit for reforms!"
Perhaps that's the reason why this humble IAS officer has chosen to stay away from the media glare, and instead worked silently behind the screens with dedication and honesty.
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