Rajesh Sinha/DNA India
- Experts say pay panel suggestions won’t increase efficiency
New Delhi, Mar 26: Bureaucrats may end up getting more money, but the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations are unlikely to enhance either the efficiency or the attraction of civil services, feel experts.
Former cabinet secretary and an authority on financial issues TSR Subramanian said the effect of the recommendations would be broadly similar to that of the previous pay commission. Financially, the central government would not have much problem in meeting the burden since the revenue from taxes is buoyant. “But the states would have to follow suit sooner or later, and it would be a crushing burden on them,” he said, adding, “The states took eight years to recover from the impact of the fifth pay commission and it is going to be the same story again.”
As for civil services as a career option, he said the attraction of government service was not simply in terms of salaries but other aspects such as job security, work conditions, accommodation and medical and other facilities. On the flip side were things such as political interference. These features would remain and the provision for incentive for performance won’t make any difference. “1% increase is no incentive,” Subramanian said.
Subir Gokarn, chief economist with Standard & Poor, said the recommendations of incentives and higher salaries are not going to make much difference. They would “make some bureaucrats happy”, but that is all. The package is not enough to attract better talent, he said. There is a recommendation to provide for lateral entry, as in the previous pay commission report, but one would have to see if it is implemented, he added. It is the whole system that governs functioning and a pay commission cannot change the system. Salary is only one aspect, the larger issue is system, Gokarn said. If you put them in a system that hinders, they cannot give their best.
Gokarn approved of higher salaries for bureaucrats, however, reminding that “if you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys”.