Red Tapism

I was listening a discussion on Red tapism in television yesterday, that made me to think a lot. It is a derogatory term which is to depict the unwanted and cumbersome proceedings that cease file trnasfer in governmnet offices. This unnecessary delay in decision making, unneeded paper works, ambiguities, series of officials and unwanted interventions and implementation of plans crawl people in to unnecessary dilemmas.

One IAS Officer in the discussion commented that "Now red tapism is a crucial issue and the decision makers are those who are handling files. Hidimg and missing of files are very common". At the same time, one labor union representative argued that, shortage of employees are the reason behind this delay and government should intervene in this regard to fill this gap.I thought for a moment and realized... some truths in both. But former is more.  
This age old practice of red tapism now crushing orinary citizens. They are forced to give bribery to get their papers clear and and right time. Now a lower division clerk can decide whether a file should move or not.Time, money and efforts of people are becoming vain due to this evil practice. So far, Government has not taken any action to stop this derogatory practice - red tapism.
Our Information Technology has developed a lot, but we are still in the nexus of files and papers. An effort to trigger 'file free offices' should be our immediate agenda to find a solution to this terrific practice. This should be designed in a scene that shall ensure accountability of employees. Like right to information act, customer/citizens shall get the right to question if it delays unwantedly. Additionally, government should  take initiative to declare a time line/notification/guideline regarding the same. So citizens can aware about the time required to get their rights and needs.

Manpower shortage, insufficient infrastructure facilities and lack of ample training are serious issues these days. Key interventions from Government is required to stop such unfavorable systems. This can be solved only with the development of better infrastructure. A revolutionary development in infrastructure especially in Information Technology is the need of this hour to make our offices free from files and red tapism.