November 13, 1965 T H E E C O N O M I C W E E K L Y

LIC's investment of Rs 4 to 5 crores in the last two months to support stock exchange prices without assert­ing its bargaining position was highly creditable and useful indeed; in the long run, it would be profitable too. But in the final analysis, LIC has to be judged by the expansion of its life business.

Jute Industry's Problems F U L L Y eighteen years have passed

since Bengal was partitioned, along with the Punjab, when India won independence in 1947. Nevertheless we are still deficit in raw jute which sup­plies the raw material for India's pre­mier export commodity—jute manufac­tures. Much progress has been achiev­ed in growing more jute in India but even in 1964-65 we had to import al­most three lakh bales to supplement our own crops which had suffered due to bad weather. The balance sheet of the performance of jute goods ex­ports in 1964-65 must include this im­port to arrive at the net contribution to India's export earnings.

In the early summer of this year there were misgivings about the 1965-66 crop too, because of weather con­ditions in the sowing season. While these anxieties are now somewhat less, the recent countrywide emphasis on growing food crops must have its im­pact on jute. Earlier the Government of India had fixed a target of 11 mil­lion bales of raw jute for the Fourth Plan—to be achieved by 1970-71. In August last the Government set up a high-powered committee under the chairmanship of B P Patel, Chairman, State Trading Corporation, to suggest measures to increase supplies of raw jute. This committee is composed of senior officers of the Government of India and concerned State Govern­ments. It has also been asked to exa­mine the quality of raw jute produced in India.

The problem of productivity will as­sume very serious proportions in the drive to increase jute production as there is the competing demand for land to grow foodgrains. Obtaining higher per acre yield is a problem which has been examined in detail by several expert panels in the last de­cade or so. But from the actual pro­gress made it appears that in the im­plementation of the various schemes formulated and experiments made, much remains to be desired. The total effort needed is of very substantial di­mensions, and unless that is put in, no progress can be expected. An Illus­

tration of this is the recently report

1686

ed decision of the Government of West Bengal to multiply at least 5,000 maunds of improved jute seeds in its district farms when the State's require­ments are nearly sixteen times as much.

At a recent meeting of the Jute Textile Consultative Board at Calcut-ta, the Government assured the indus­try that in order to step up the tempo

of modernisation, expansion and diver­sification of the jute mills it would be prepared to consider the self-financing scheme of importing such machinery and equipment as are not indigenously manufactured, to the extent of Rs 10 crores. Further the Jute Commissioner has been entrusted with working out a scheme in consultation with the IJMA and jute mill machinery manu-

T H E E C O N O M I C W E E K L Y November 13, 1965

facturers in India for a five-year hire purchase scheme under which banks would advance a five-year hire pur­chase loan to the industry for purchas­ing indigenous machinery. Such sche­mes are already in existence for cotton textile, cement and certain other types of machinery, in the production of which Indian enterprise has made not­able advances. Banks too can obtain certain refinancing facilities for such business from the Industrial Develop­ment Bank. An extension of this faci­lity to jute mill machinery should not prove too difficult.

Prospect of Administrative Reform T H E R E is much for the pruposed

high-powered commission on ad­ministrative reforms to do. The Hoover-Commission's labours in the US have had far-reaching impact on the Ame­rican administration and have attracted considerable attention outside the US. But if it is to produce worthwhile re­sults the commission must proceed with a clear understanding of the key issues to be tackled. The Home Min­ister has informed Parliament that the commission will make a "deep and comprehensive" inquiry into practically all aspects of administration. It is, however, possible that armed with a wide mandate the commission might plunge into irrelevant details like, for instance, reduction in staff of govern­ment departments, a task that legiti­mately belongs to 0 and M experts, In fact, there is a good case for farm­ing out detailed studies, whenever these are called for in view of their bearing on larger issues, to academic men and professional consultants on an ad hoc basis. This approach will te preferable to entrusting such work to the Administrative Reforms Division of the Home Ministry, which one may expect is what will be done. The A R D lacks the appearance of being objective which is necessary fur pub­lic confidence in the deliberations of any administrative reforms commission.

Coming to the vital issues on which the commission will do well to cun-ctfitrate, two aspects of administrative procedure bearing on the citizen's dealings with the administration need emphasis. First, common red tape or administrative delays — in the absence of any statutory safeguards, the citizen now manages to get his work done by payment of what has come to be known as speed money or by resorting to other expedients. In the US the Admi­nistrative Procedures Act of 1946 sets down the guidelines for dealing with

the citizen's demands on the adminis­tration. For instance, the Act lays down the outer time limit for dealing with a request from the citizen. It puts the responsibility on the adminis­tration to explain any delay beyond the prescribed limit. In India there has been much discussion on this subject, one section of opinion favouring a ge­neral Act applicable to all Acts and another advocating specific provisions incorporated in each Act. This is clear­ly an issue which the cum mission ought to take up in the interests of eliminat­ing one of the breeding points of cor­ruption.

A second issue is that of providing an independent appeal system in the administration. At the moment, ex­cept in very few cases. there is no provision for appeal Lo an independent higher authority against the decisions of the administration. The citizen has, of course, the facility of appealing Lo a higher authority within the department. This is a procedure which Lord Den­ning has rightly dubbed as a system of appeal from Caesar to Caesar. It larks the appearance of impartiality which is necessary if the administra­tion is to have the confidence of the citizen. Too often, the higher authori­ty within the department is more an­xious to protect and justify the action of his subordinate than to mete out justice to the aggrieved citizen.

In this context, ii is welcome to note Nanda's assurance that the admi­nistrative reforms commission wi l l also deal with the question of setting up an ombudsman to hear public griev­ances against the administration. The ombudsman's role as a grievance-man has rightly attracted wide publicity, but there is another aspect of his work­ing which is not widely known. The ombudsman can act as a standing one-man administrative reforms commis­sion. This he has done in countries where he has been functioning by con­stantly drawing the attention of the administration to defects brought nut in the course of his working, His close study of the working of different agencies of Government has been of much value in improving departmental standards in these countries. This is the sort of function the Comptroller and Auditor General performs with re­gard to financial administration in India and elsewhere.

Indian Publicity Abroad A Correspondent writes :

EVERY time the foreign press cri­ticises Indian policies or actions

such as on Goa, Kashmir or in the

recent war, we attribute it to the fail­ure of Indian missions abroad Lo per­form well their job of presenting the correct image of the country. Recently, after the Indo-Pak hostilities, an ex­pert committee has been appointed to investigate the working of the Indian missions, The Prime Minister has, however, sought. to exonerate the mis­sions of the charge of failure and has attributed the unfavourable reactions abroad to the prejudices of the vari­ous countries.

In all this discussion the very im­portant issue of the relations beween Indians abroad and our diploma­tic personnel is forgotten. The firmer are frequently eulogised as the "unof­ficial ambassadors" of India but: their dealings with the Indian embassies and consulates are generally marked by a complete ahsence of cordiality and a good deal of mutual disgust. As a re-sulr, the so-called unofficial ambassa­dors who can potentially he a very effective channel for expounding the Indian point of view are completely isolated from the Indian diplomats and are denied adequate information on developments at home.

This handicap arises partly from the fact that no Indian daily issues an air mail edition. Some publish weekly air mail editions but they reach Indians abroad days after crucial events Lake place at home. And, most unfortunately,. Indian embassies supply virtually no factual information to Indian nationals. A recent experience during the early stages of the conflict with Pakistan i l ­lustrates the point. At least a majo­rity of the non-official Indian delegates who were in Yugoslavia for two inter­national conferences in September found the Indian embassy in Belgrade unable or unwilling to acquaint them with the situation at: home. The tele-tape made available to them was edit-ed to remove all war news. The dip­lomatic bag was said to arrive only once a week and so no Indian news­paper giving news of the developments since September 1 was available. While the Press Officer was reported to be "on tour", the embassy stall itself was said to be depending on the B B C broadcasts for its information!

On the other hand, the full teletape could be read at the American embas­sy; and the Pakistani delegates receiv­ed all available details from their em­bassy. Perhaps in this contrasting beha­viour of the embassies of the two coun­tries is the explanation for a British cor-

1687