On the 13th of July 2011, I went to the office of the Revenue Inspector in Kalpana Area of Bhubaneswar in the evening and was happy to see the Inspector still working . I was interested to know if I had paid the rent for my homestead land in Bhubaneswar for 2010-11. The official expressed his inability to let me have the information readily and advised me to wait for a fortnight or so. I should have paid the rent for the year even though it could have meant paying the rent twice. I was perhaps a bit obstinate in assuming that I must have paid the rent and would have misplaced the receipt. On that assumption, I paid the rent for 2011-12, the current year, and the helpful Inspector gave me the receipt. I thanked him; though honestly I was annoyed that the Inspector could not let me help me know whether I had paid the rent for the previous year. I recollected my days as SDO in Bonai sub division in late sixties. The Revenue Inspector of Gurundia had always impressed me. He was a person in his late forties and with a heavy body. He did not know cycling; yet he was effective and had total grip over the subjects he was handling. His jurisdiction was very large--- coterminous with the Gurundia Block. He always collected the entire dues of the government for the year. The Tenant ledger he would sit in front of was always impressive and one got to know immediately for which year a tenant had paid the rent. On the 13th of July of this year, if he was the Inspector of Revenue in Bhubaneswar, he would not have disappointed me. Things have changed over years; for the worse, for the citizens. Gurundia area of late has become a favourite zone for the extremists. I visited the Revenue Inspector’s office again, on the 19th December and volunteered to pay the rent for 2010-11 assuming that I had not paid the rent for the year. I was advised by the Inspector to go the other room to pay the rent. A gentleman dug out a slim note book. This was surely not an approved Register in the office of the Revenue Inspector. He looked for some entry in the note book and without any convincing clarification whether I was in arrears, accepted my payment for 2010-11 and issued a receipt. The rent receipts I got from the Inspector’s office in July and December had a stamp that the Revenue Inspector received the payment from me “without prejudice” which would mean that the mere acceptance of rent from me does not prove my ownership of the land. I have the record of rights in my favour; the Inspector would be aware of that; the Tenant Ledger would have my name as a tenant; yet I would receive a receipt of ad hoc nature. This experience shows how disorganised government offices have become. Government talks about e-governance. How long will it take to bring the Tenant Ledger along with other related records online so that I would know my payment-status and can make online payment?
Indian citizen witnesses more of chaos and only a modest dose of order in public offices. The hapless citizenry has got used to it and has accepted it as a normal phenomenon. He has no other alternative to take any other view. In such a situation if a sensitive citizen feels aggrieved when his legitimate grievance does not get redressed after one visit to the official concerned and he narrates his tale of woe to a friend, it is very likely that the friend would find fault with him and advise him not to lose patience so soon and realise that in government working, delay is not only normal but legitimate. We have learnt to see virtue even in an oppressive and exploitative system; thanks to the overdose of negativism we continue inhaling every day. Payment of speed money has assumed legitimacy; jumping the queue looks normal; harassment appears benign; humiliation has become a non issue. All these however have left a lingering rancour in the heart of millions of citizens. People found in Anna a messiah who was sensitive to the silent agony of the oppressed and who had the courage of conviction to call a spade a spade. We found that this man was speaking and standing on our behalf. Anna soon became an icon who boldly put forth a demand before the government to frame a law to punish the corrupt. He emerged as a crusader; he was in great hurry as we had been suffering far too long.
The country witnessed a new phenomenon--- strong articulation of the polity which was strange to the politicians’ ears so long accustomed to language of sycophancy; humility and begging. The voice had the potential of heralding a new era for governance. People in government were used to relishing their MAAIBAAP image which justified populist programmes emanating from the top and going down to the people.It has been always a situation where the high and mighty would grant some benefits to the subjects. Now a new situation has arisen. Civil society through Anna was asking for a specific legislation—wholly citizen-centric and arrayed against the high and mighty. Civil society was now outlining the probity parameters for the rulers and insisting that transgression would be visited by severe punishment. The well fed political class naturally was averse to Lok Pal legislation in private but competed with one another to eulogise in public the incoming institution. Anna and his team were subjected to liberal dose of humiliation. A myth was created and propagated that Anna was posing as someone who is above the Parliament. All that Anna wanted was India’s Aam Admi needed protection from corrupt baboos and netas . He wanted Aam Admi to enjoy his share of the fruits of development. While Anna wanted a charter for the citizens, he also wanted an enforceable code of conduct for the rulers. There was never even a whisper about Anna posing a challenge to the supremacy of the Parliament. It was only a well engineered slogan of people with small mind.
Political class avoided reaching a consensus on the draft legislation while each political formation talked loudly on the need for a strong Lok Pal. The nation witnessed how the Bill could not be voted in the Raja Sabha which was adjourned sine die when the clock struck the midnight hour on the 29th of December.The outcome was exactly as expected. No politician wanted to sign his death warrant as many of today's politicians would die of suffocation in the absence of unfettered privileges as a fish would,taken out of water. Citizens should not now raise their hands in despair. They must not let the process of articulation die down. They must strive for and legitimately expect that citizen-centric governance need not have to wait for a central legislation on Lok Pal.Government institutions must function well. The office of the Revenue Inspector must function properly with regular supervision; so also other public offices. The states should bring in legislation on Lok Ayukta without waiting for a central legislation. The Lok Ayukta should have its own investigating and prosecution wing and the Chief Minister should be under the purview of the Lok Ayukta. The crusade of Anna must continue to let the country have an adequate law on Lok Pal. I would not like to accept that the politicians have lighted the pyre of Lok Pal with crocodile tear.
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