India is incredibly complex: A diverse society with people spanning across a wide range of social, political, economic and cultural backgrounds. Governing such a nation is not easy. Implementing a welfare scheme, a statutory regulation or even a government decision is a delicate act of balancing between competing interests.
On top of it, we are highly litigant. Few cases reach court; one petition can stall action for months and years.
At the district level, our country’s complexity creates a lot of administrative overhead: the routine but essential statutory work for the District Collector.
On any ordinary day, one must file counters to court cases, observe protocol, maintain law and order, issue licenses, head statutory meetings, resolve disputes or manage any crisis that has come up. This work may seem trivial or routine, but it is critical. If you fail at these basic functions, everything falls apart.
Such firefighting consumes a lot of band-width of an officer, leaving much less time and energy for the important work. No matter how well meaning an officer may be, they end up fighting the weeds and constantly juggling between these tasks to maintain the system from crumbling.
The urgent tends to drown out the important. The administrative, routine tasks compete and crowd out the time dedicated for the truly important work: to improve the educational standard, to facilitate investments and create jobs, to improve the health services in Government hospitals, and to impart skills to the youth.
But it’s not enough to simply fight the weeds. We must grow a garden. One must contribute meaningfully to the district or the department they are working in. It could be a new pilot programme, solving a long pending problem, or a process re-engineering that improves productivity.
Several such pilots fail to take off because much like growing a garden, it requires constant time and effort. Sometimes, the results are seen only when you put in the work consistently over a long period of time, often outlasting your tenure.
The results are not always obvious and one may not succeed all the time. But the point is to keep trying.
One guiding principle I repeat to myself: Plant some seeds and nurture them consistently for as long as you are posted.
Give it all you got and one day you’d be thrilled when the flowers finally bloom.
Nice to see your post sir after a long time…