Ho hum. This must have been the reaction in most government departments to the circular issued recently by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) asking, yet again, for the elusive 10 per cent reduction in staff strength. The orders were first issued to all ministries and government departments during the Narasimha Rao regime in 1992. The prime minister was attending a meeting of the National Development Council where the idea of a one-tenth staff cut was mooted and ever since, the guidelines have been reiterated time and again.What has been the outcome? Results of monitoring done by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) show that seven years after the guidelines were issued, a majority of the 70-odd government departments have ignored it with impunity. Only 18 departments (led by the Department of Chemicals) have achieved the target and several others including the Prime Ministers Office, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Department of Telecommunications have not bothered to furnish details. Also, somedepartments like the Intelligence Bureau and the paramilitary forces have sought exemption on account of the deteriorating security scenario.Figures maintained by the MoF show that 1.57 lakh posts have been abolished between 1992 and mid-1999, but there is no tabulation about new posts being created or upgraded since the diktat was issued. The figures available underscore the mini-government status of arms of the State like the Ministry of Railways, which shows a 5 per cent reduction despite slashing 87,239 posts. The Department of Defence is no better: 18,998 posts have been abolished, but that works out to only 4.6 per cent of its staff strength.The government's strength for 1997-98 stands at 38.47 lakh and is still growing, despite the guidelines for cutting flab. There are 76,000 gazetted officials while the bulk of the force comprises group `C' and `D' employees (almost 35 lakh). In fact, when the Fifth Pay Commission was constituted, it was meant to rationalise the functioning of severalgovernment departments and made recommendations for downsizing. The report was completed in 1996 and contained a recommendation for a whopping one-third cut in government size in 10 years. But this was not among the recommendations accepted by the United Front government headed by I.K. Gujral. Thus, a majority of the pay hikes recommended by the Commission were implemented but the proposal for massive downsizing was not.pStatistics maintained by the MoF show that the pay and allowance bill of the government was a whopping Rs 27,429 crore for the year 1997-98 - a Rs 7,000 crore hike over the previous year's figure, mainly due to hikes recommended by the Pay Commission. MoF officials point out that even as they were coming to terms with cushioning the impact of the pay hikes, there came this year's ``forced spending'' on the Kargil operation and the expected hikes in defence spending.Thus, officials point out that while earlier attempts at cutting flab from burgeoning babudom have failed, the directive for10 per cent departmental cuts is the only one to have survived and to be monitored. The move comes shortly after the August 5 circular issued by the Finance Ministry in which a series of austerity measures were imposed on government departments and ministries. Besides reiterating the requirement of a 10 per cent cut in staff size, the diktat asked for a ban on the creation of new posts and for filling vacancies. A 10 per cent cut was also ``imposed'' last month on all non-Plan expenditure.The government has also reiterated that the period of profligacy must end and has asked for a freeze on hiring. The purchase of new vehicles in government departments and public sector units was banned - the only expectation was for meeting the exigencies of the paramilitary forces and the Ministry of Defence (MoD). All foreign trips would be frowned upon, except those undertaken for meetings with important organisations like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank or the International LabourOrganisation.While no mechanism has been introduced to monitor the actual cuts, repeated Finance Ministry circulars have stated that a 10 per cent cut has also been ``imposed'' on petrol allowances for government and public sector staff as well as in their overtime and leave travel allowance. These may seem routine, but Finance Ministry officials say there has been some consternation about the manner in which government perks have been rising. House rent allowance paid to government employees went up from Rs 664 in 1995-96 to Rs 1,186 in 1997-98. Children's education allowance expenditure is up from Rs 34 crore to Rs 54 crore and the Leave Travel Concession (LTA) allowance from Rs 112 crore to Rs 144 crore. In sum, the cutbacks are numerically large in the biggest departments of the government, but even these are an insignificant fraction of the total workforce. The actual expenditure on babudom is growing with the same inexorable quality of the nation's population, in defiance of a commitment that isclose on a decade old.
