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The global economic crisis has turned a harsh spotlight on the role, accountability and transparency of banks and their leadership. In the outside world, public confidence and support is at an all-time low with far-reaching questions about the social utility of banks. On the inside, banks face complex challenges as they adapt to new regulatory environments and seek new ways to function as a profitable motor for the economy.
In this radically different operating landscape, the drive to rethink conventional business models is gathering momentum. This is further accelerated by big data, integrated analytics and new technologies that are transforming how banks and financial services go to market. Innovative renewal is needed if banks are to retain their central place in the payment system.
This session will bring stakeholders from different sectors together to identify options and best practices for a sustainable financial architecture that meets the needs of the economy, shareholders, entrepreneurs and the public.
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Indian Bureaucracy has received worldwide attention during our Commonwealth Games scams, and what used to be a local embarrassment for me became a talking matter since then. Our Bureaucracy is not the best. That is known. But what are the issues? The real problem with bureaucrats is not just about caste and reservation. It is about accountability and responsibility. The pay structure of our Bureaucracy is such that officers get little salaries and large perks and amenities in form of bungalows and servants. In many cases, they occupy the same bungalows that the British left in 1947. And they do not do their job responsibly.
How do we solve this issue? A simple answer would be to take away their comfortable lives and zap them into an accountable system, take away their amenities and force them to work. But that is not a plausible way. We need to understand that Bureaucracy entails a lot of responsibility. N Vittal, the former Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) used to say that corruption in India is a low-risk, high-profit game. When the risk of being caught is low, the tendency of corruption is high.
We had a healthy discussion on various online fora, and here are some very concrete steps that can be taken to increase accountability in our Indian Bureaucracy. Numerous ideas are taken from the private sector, and since our Modi government is all about privatization, we are emboldened to propose the following as a possible improvement in the Indian policy regarding bureaucrats:
Project-level ownership and accountability: Transfers of bureaucrats every 2-3 years dilute their responsibility as they are not in touch with any given region for long enough. We should assign an officer to a project – who is responsible for its success and failure. Officers are rewarded on the basis of their success in projects. They also need to be enabled to have complete power over the execution of a project.
Peer feedback system: Consider this system something like Google’s PageRank algorithm (not the exact thing, but this is a good starting point). Every officer can give anonymous feedback/rating to every other officer. The weight each officer’s ratings have on the person being rated depend on the rating officer’s ratings. So if an employee rated 4.5 stars rates another employee 3 stars, it carries more mathematical weight than a 2-star employee handing out a 5-star rating. Another system for citizens to rate the officers could also be introduced. Transparently declare these ratings on a website, and use these as a basis for promotions. I strongly believe that some form of peer rating system can be initiated and would be very helpful in bringing transparency to the performance of a civil servant. And why shouldn’t there be transparency? The government should give an impression of being accountable to ensure people have faith in it.
Lateral hiring from the private sector: Plenty of 40-something aged executives in the private industry have excellent intelligence and execution skills and are financially stable. They’d be happy to contribute to the society by the way of participating in government projects, which have enough scale and complexity to be considered challenging and interesting.
Reduce fixed components of salary and more performance-linked components: These could be linked to a project’s execution score – the number of parameters on which a completed project meets or exceeds its objectives, and the peer feedback system. I am pretty sure if we have mathematicians/game theoreticians design such ratings-incentives systems we can form them in a manner that encourages performance and minimizes abuse.
Consider hiring government officers a liability: We’re already going in this direction. The government should outsource everything they can, especially menial tasks like facilities management, payroll management, peons, security for non-critical infrastructure etc. You need to look at MNCs and see how they outsource stuff – security, facilities management, HR, event planning, payroll – everything is handled by third parties. Only executives, engineers, designers, etc. are recruited directly by them. Privatize all PSUs. The common argument for PSUs is that you need them for projects that cost more than the value they provide but need to be provided in any way. In such cases, just award a Viability Gap Funding to private companies undertaking such projects. Passport Seva Kendras are an excellent model where routine data collection and form filling is done by private employees. Only the final approval is given by government officers.
Empower Lokpal/Vigilance Divisions: It is that simple, really. All we need to reduce corruption is will at the top. The only reason a lot of these agencies are toothless is because everyone from the MLAs to the CMs depends on the corruption ecosystem to fill their pockets, fund their elections, run their corrupt businesses and keep them in power.
Transparency: To fix the entire system, from chaprasi to the head babu, we shall also put an ERP system for the file work in place. Every person has to check in and check out files. All modifications, permissions, rejections, fines, awards, everything gets logged. That’s it. Give a public UI for this system and watch things change.The roadblock will come from the government itself, and the problem (read it in Sir Humphrey’s voice) is this:
“My dear Bernard, if we start instituting transparent processes, one day we might become transparent!”
And that is it. I do not claim to have made a perfect set of guidelines, and this is surely not the expected tone of such reforms. But I am not the one making the reforms. I am here to have a discussion on the matter. Let me know your thoughts.
Photo: Hindustan Times
The post Making Indian Bureaucracy Accountable: Insight and Ideas appeared first on The Rolling Indian.
Throughout the month of February, the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force is hosting four community forums across the city to provide residents the opportunity to speak or submit written comments on improving the accountability, oversight and training of Chicago’s police officers.
This is photographs from Tuesday, February 2.
Hosted by Mt. Vernon Baptist Church
JLM Life Center
2622 W. Jackson Blvd.
More info: chicagopatf.org/events/
Alexis, Daryn & Sher'ai share how The ULTRA Teen Choice HIPREP program is making a difference in their lives.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf speaking with the press. With overwhelming support among school districts for his charter school accountability plan, Governor Tom Wolf visited J.P. McCaskey High School in Lancaster today to discuss his bipartisan proposal that saves an estimated $395 million a year. Lancaster, PA – June 01, 2021
I need a kick in the pants. And a better scale, apparently. Anyway, this is my official start date and weight.
I'm still trying to decide if I should join WW online. We get 50% off membership through work, but I don't know if I will be able to spend so much time obsessing over points. But maybe I need to.
On 3rd and 4th of June, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia hosted the European regional conference of “Open Government Partnership” (OGP). On the conference the participants discussed topics such as: Innovation and accountability in OGP, coordination within the government for open government partnership, importance of e-governance, e-resources and open data, legislative openness, public involvement, access to information, OGP working groups, direct country support, etc.
Photographs from IACL Conference: Accountability for Transnational Counter-terrorism Operations that took place under the auspices of the National Security Law Research & Policy Initiative (@nsl_rpi) at The Dickson Poon School of Law on 10-11 March 2016.
Dorcas Pewee, Ben Cleeton, and Jim Tuttle interview the final contestant Comfort Nimley in Buchanan.
Risks arising from internal processes, people and systems can have catastrophic effects. How can an one prevent these?
The Beluga whales are beautiful, mesmorizing, playful, and unfortunately endangered because of environmental pollution. If humans would be more mindful and accountable for our actions we can make the Beluga population rise once again.
NIR's partner in Nepal, CAHURAST, has trained local people in Dhading and Gorkha districts in social accountability and community monitoring.
This image is excerpted from a U.S. GAO report:
www.gao.gov/products/GAO-24-106343
Cybersecurity: Implementation of Executive Order Requirements is Essential to Address Key Actions
Two Rallies at the same time. One was the usual Resist Trump Tuesdays which protests the policies and actions of the new president and his administration. The other rally was about establishing a civilian accountability board to oversee the Chicago Police Department.
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POPE ARMY AIRFIELD, N.C. --
The 43d Air Mobility Operations Group held a Wingman Day here Nov. 9, giving Airmen in the group and opportunity to come together and focus on wingman qualities like getting involved, staying alert and knowing their fellow Airmen, taking appropriate actions which enhance mission performance and enhance unit cohesion. Wingman Day activities emphasize
awareness, accountability, team-building, and communication through
interactive activities and discussion. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Cody Bailey)
More than 700 Canadian Army Reserve, active duty U. S. Army and Army National Guard personnel were welcomed to Fort Pickett Feb. 18 as the installation conducted a reception exercise for units participating in Exercise Southbound Trooper. Formally known as the Joint Reception, Staging, Onward Movement, and Integration, or JRSOI, the process makes sure that proper accountability of personnel and equipment is established when additional forces came into the state, as well as assessing any training and logistical needs for the units. (Photo by Cotton Puryear, Virginia Department of Military Affairs)
Media Arts Center San Diego (MACSD), in partnership with San Diego Foundation, is celebrating the completion of an intensive filmmaking fellowship program for 12 local youth filmmakers called “THROUGH OUR LENS.” The program asked participants to create short films highlighting local expanded learning initiatives, or after-school opportunities for K-12 students that enhance educational standards and introduce alternative methods of instruction that create well-rounded, civically engaged, and resourceful students. Themes covered in the videos include community sustainability and accountability, environmentalism, music, dance, and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics).