‘Little other than a red tape talking machine,
And unhappy Bag of Parliamentary Eloquence’
The above lines reflect the utter discontent of a famous Scottish historian & satirical writer, Thomas Carlyle, with regards to the exasperating official inertia that could be traced back to 16th century during the times of Spanish administrator Charles V.
Rolling official documents with a red tape, that can even be seen as a ceremonial practice to this very day, has remained a common practice in the government offices.
However, this practice soon became synonymous with obduracy and dispirited approach of the government officials who at times purposely delayed the initiation of developmental projects besides even the redressal of public grievances.
This issue of Red Tapism in Jammu and Kashmir gained much hype soon after the conclusion of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs’ visit to twin Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
The members of the panel were informed by various delegations about the perpetual delays in various developmental projects pointing towards the potential Red Tapism being practised in the region.
The Committee members held ‘bureaucratisation’ in the Union Territories as a prime reason impeding the much awaited development. The committee headed by Congress Rajya Sabha Member Anand Sharma pointed towards a possible monopoly being in vogue over releasing the funds.
No doubt there exists a positive side of Red Tapism that involves requisite scrutiny and watchfulness but sooner the absoluteness brings more harm than benefit as it has enough potential to sow the seeds of corruption that remains exclusive to a chosen lot.
In a democratic society everything needs to be put under check and that’s why our country’s political and economic system is simultaneously centralised and decentralised between the central government and the state governments.
