Editorial
Curbing bureaucrats' trips abroad
Examples should be set by those at the helm
The government has finally taken the matter of foreign trips by bureaucrats seriously. That is certainly encouraging news owing specifically to the fact that there has been a growing trend among government functionaries --- right from the top of the administration --- to undertake frequent trips abroad. In the process, it has been the image of the officials as well as of the government in the public eye that has taken quite a battering. While this penchant for travel among people in the government has been there for years, it has especially been in the past twenty months that there has been a flurry of foreign travel on the part of both advisers in the present government and senior civil servants. With advisers weighed down by the responsibility of having to deal with two or three ministries each, such trips have a telling effect on decision-making in the government.
Which takes us to the very important thought of examples being set by those at the helm of affairs. Precepts alone are unimportant if they are not lived up to. What we have noticed lately is that a culture of truancy seems to have gradually developed, to a point where going out of the country on real or imagined business has turned into something of an obsession for a particular class of individuals. In a very large number of instances, such travel puts the country's diplomatic missions abroad, especially in western capitals, in a quandary because they are forced to provide protocol to these visitors from home. That not only detracts from the actual work of the missions but also adds to the expenses, in terms of vehicle use, et cetera, incurred by the missions as a result of these trips.
Quite often, officials are seen to obtain invitations for themselves (when such invitations should in fact be going to the department which in turn will choose the relevant official or officials for the visit) and then are only too ready to travel by economy class on flights when their position demands a higher entitlement. There are examples aplenty of invitations meant for mid- or junior-level officers being appropriated by senior officials who simply cannot resist the temptation of making yet one more trip abroad. In the process, the image of the country is tarnished.
It is against this background that restrictions on foreign travel, for everyone involved in government, must come into place. The fact cannot be ignored that these trips, unnecessary as they are, not only lead to sloth in the administration but also give rise to resentment among officials at various levels, which too does not bode well for administration.
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