Recently, there was an article in Niti Central by Kiran Kumar
assessing the performance of Rahul Gandhi as an MP. The gist of the
article was that Rahul Gandhi has failed miserably in his duties as MP.
This was due to the fact that his attendance in Parliament was low, he
didnt ask too many questions or participated in debates. Also, his
constituency of Amethi has very low human development index measures.
After this the author goes on to ask if we would "dare to promote him to
a higher responsibility role?" The response to the article in the
comments section was overwhelming. But, I feel that the author and others have
either not heard or have forgotten Dilbert Principle.
Scott Adams himself explained Dilbert Principle as
That in many cases the least competent, least smart people are promoted, simply because they’re the ones you don’t want doing actual work. You want them ordering the doughnuts and yelling at people for not doing their assignments—you know, the easy work.
The present UPA government has been following the Dilbert Principle for almost all major promotions. Nobody is sidelined for incompetence, corruption or any misdemeanors. They are simply removed from the productive flow by promoting them. There are lot of examples regarding this. Lets look at some of them
Example 1: Pranab Mukherjee (Hon. President of India)
Previous Job: Pranab held portfolios of Finance, Defence and External Affairs in UPA-1 and UPA-2. He also was the leader of LS from 2004-2012.
Assessment of previous jobs:
When his candidature was declared, Ram Jethmalani came up with two articles listing out why he didnt deem Pranab to be the President of India. (Link 1 2) The charges levelled by Ram Jethmalani vary from Emergency time acts to shielding Hasan Ali and others having black money. Even if we dismiss these claims as political in nature and without proof (which I think we should not), there is no escaping the fact that Pranab's tenure as Finance Minister has been disastrous for Indian economy. Levying of retrospective taxes, huge spending on doles, no action taken on black money issue, lack of vision while planning for the future, policy paralysis, etc. are some of the examples of the unsatisfactory performance of Pranab Mukherjee as Senior Minister and virtual number 2 in the Government. Also, there is the case of the controversial confidence vote of UPA-1. Pranab Mukherjee as the leader of the house is accountable for Cash for Vote as well. His conduct in that confidence vote shows how much respect he has for democratic institutions.
Reward: So, what was the punishment for making so many mistakes and failing as Leader of House and Finance Minister and tanking one of the fastest growing economies of the world? Promotion to President.
Example 2: P. Chidambaram (Minister of Finance)
Previous Job: Minister of Home Affairs. Minster of Finance (2004-2008)
Assessment of previous jobs:
His first tenure as FM coincided with 2G Scam, Coal Scam and a host of other scams which were directly linked to Finance Ministry and government policy. Also, the burden on the Indian treasury due to populist schemes like NREGA and Farm loan waiver happened under his watch. (For those interested in how NREGA is damaging the food security of India, please read this article on Centre Right India). So, to punish him for all this, he was made the Home Minister. His work as HM was as worse as his work as FM.
He failed to take any significant steps towards solving the Naxal problem. There has been no respite from bomb blasts which showcases failure of intelligence gathering. There is a clear trust deficit between state governments and central governments on a host of issues like NCTC, GST, etc. Chidamabaram is also responsible for the bad law and order situation in Delhi as Delhi police comes directly under Ministry of Home Affairs. Crackdown on Baba Ramdev and his supporters and arrest of Anna Hazare happened during his tenure as HM. Also, instead of tackling cross border terrorism, he was more interested in trying to find a saffron angle to every bomb blast.
Reward: Continues to be FM.
Example 3: Kapil Sibal ( MHRD, Communication and IT Minister)
Previous Job: Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences
Assessment of previous jobs:
In his present term as MHRD, Sibal has made no efforts to tackle the real issues plaguing the system. On the contrary he is destroying the roots of the education system in India. Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation system in schools and the change in the admission process of IIT-JEE are two prime examples of this. And how was he rewarded for these? By being given the additional charge of Communication and IT.
As Minister of Communication and IT, he is working on a single point agenda of stifling any opposition voices. To do this, he blocked twitter handles of many users, search queries for Assam on Facebook and Twitter and even Indian Army Fan page on Facebook. He has also talked to ISPs about the feasibility of banning social networking websites in entire states.
And to add to it all, he comes with great theories like the zero loss theory in 2G.
Reward: Continues to hold two very important portfolio.
Dismal state of power sector. Majority of the states are power deficient. Transmission and Distribution losses are high. Still a large number of villages are not electrified. No onus on non-traditional forms of power.
Reward: Promotion to Home Ministry (Ironically this promotion took place just after the collapse of Northern and Eastern Grid)
Example 5: Vilasrao Deshmukh
Previous Job: Chief Minister of Maharashtra
Assessment of previous jobs:
He was the CM of Maharashtra at the time of 26/11 attacks. He is also one of the accused in Adarsh Scam. Farmer suicides in Vidharbha, increased attacks on North Indians, no improvement in infrastructure of Mumbai and large scale corruption are some other salient features of his tenure as CM.
Reward: Was asked to resign after 26/11 attacks but was reinstated as a Union Cabinet Minister. Held important portfolios like Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Heavy Industries, Science and Technology.
Example 6: Prithviraj Chavan
Previous Job: Minister in PMO, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Department of Atomic Energy, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Ministry of Science and Techonology
Previous Job: Minister in PMO, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Department of Atomic Energy, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Ministry of Science and Techonology
Assessment of previous jobs:
He was minister in charge for the Antrix deal and Thorium Scam. Also, it was during his time in PMO that 2G scam took place in which there have been serious questions raised against PMO.
Reward: Made CM of Mahrashtra
Example 7: Praful Patel (Minister of Heavy Industries)
Previous Job: Civil Aviation Minister (MoS with Independent Charge)
Assessment of previous jobs:
Biggest achievement of Praful Patel as Civil Aviation Minister is the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines. According to an Economic Times report before merger, the combined losses of the companies was around 770 crores in 2006-07 which skyrocketed to 7200 crores in March 2009. He presided over the national carrier's decline and benefited from it.
Reward: Promotion to full Cabinet Rank
There are many such examples (Veerbhadra Singh, Shivraj Patil, etc.) wherein incompetent persons have been promoted/rewarded. As a result, there are many who are trying to outshine each other in uselessness. So, if Rahul Gandhi has to become PM candidate he has to beat the incumbent one. So lets review MMS to ascertain if Rahul Gandhi is ready for the top job.
Manmohan Singh (Hon. Prime Minister of India)
So much has been written about Manmohan Singh in the recent past that there is no way I can write something without being accused of plagiarising. But, still there are a lot of persons who swear by his integrity and knowledge of economy. To all of them, I would like to point out that many scams have taken place in his reign. Also, the overall parameters of Indian economy are down. There is policy paralysis. Now, either he knew all this and allowed situation to get so bad or he was ignorant. In either case, he has proved his incompetence.
Beating Manmohan Singh and other cabinet members was not easy. Apart from these, Rahul Gandhi also had to showcase that he is worse than Digvijay Singh, Manish Tewari et al. It took him 8 long years, continued absence from Parliament, silence on each and every issue of national importance, failures in UP and Bihar, many evidences of his low IQ (he once said Gujarat is bigger than UK in size), but I believe he has finally proved that there is no one who is more useless in Indian politics than him. So, in accordance with Dilbert Principle, he has really earned the right to be UPA's PM candidate.
Previous Job: Civil Aviation Minister (MoS with Independent Charge)
Assessment of previous jobs:
Biggest achievement of Praful Patel as Civil Aviation Minister is the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines. According to an Economic Times report before merger, the combined losses of the companies was around 770 crores in 2006-07 which skyrocketed to 7200 crores in March 2009. He presided over the national carrier's decline and benefited from it.
Reward: Promotion to full Cabinet Rank
There are many such examples (Veerbhadra Singh, Shivraj Patil, etc.) wherein incompetent persons have been promoted/rewarded. As a result, there are many who are trying to outshine each other in uselessness. So, if Rahul Gandhi has to become PM candidate he has to beat the incumbent one. So lets review MMS to ascertain if Rahul Gandhi is ready for the top job.
Manmohan Singh (Hon. Prime Minister of India)
So much has been written about Manmohan Singh in the recent past that there is no way I can write something without being accused of plagiarising. But, still there are a lot of persons who swear by his integrity and knowledge of economy. To all of them, I would like to point out that many scams have taken place in his reign. Also, the overall parameters of Indian economy are down. There is policy paralysis. Now, either he knew all this and allowed situation to get so bad or he was ignorant. In either case, he has proved his incompetence.
Beating Manmohan Singh and other cabinet members was not easy. Apart from these, Rahul Gandhi also had to showcase that he is worse than Digvijay Singh, Manish Tewari et al. It took him 8 long years, continued absence from Parliament, silence on each and every issue of national importance, failures in UP and Bihar, many evidences of his low IQ (he once said Gujarat is bigger than UK in size), but I believe he has finally proved that there is no one who is more useless in Indian politics than him. So, in accordance with Dilbert Principle, he has really earned the right to be UPA's PM candidate.
Jai Hind
