“Be the
change you want to see in the world”, this quote of Mahatma Gandhi in my
view is not just applicable to individuals but to government as well. Before
government burdened by the philosophy of ’Welfare State’ seeks to inflict any
change in the lives of the countrymen, it needs to first repair itself. Reputes
of governments both at centre and in states have touched nadir in recent times
thanks to innumerable scams and scandals. The million dollar question is
whether the self-preserving governments can ever introspect and fall in line
with the tide of time. Governments are like quasi closed control systems in
which feedback mechanisms are leaky which brakes the process of self-correction.
That’s the reason why changes are slow to come by in governments. In fact the
words ‘Government’ and ‘Change’ have been oxymoron since the advent of
political science resulting in social revolutions time and again around the
world and consequent establishment of new set of systems uprooting outdated age
old decaying yet stubborn systems. Jasmine revolution in Arab world, Anna
Hazare movement and rise of Aam Adami Party (AAP) in India in recent times are
response to similar inactivity shown by the governments over last many decades.
Being a civil servant, the question of snail pace of the delivery and dead slow
changes in quality of governance does put me at unease. But being an optimist,
I see this unease as a window of opportunity where I can contribute my bit in
times to come. So when I was made district nodal officer for monitoring prices
of fruits and vegetables in district Kangra, I sensed an amazing opportunity to
experiment and contribute.
District Kangra is the most populous
district of Himachal Pradesh and “Sabzi Mandis” in the district are mostly fed
by imports from adjoining Pathankot district of Punjab. Local produce is
miniscule and is mostly sold out of Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC)
purview by small time vendors. Partially due to lack of monitoring or lack of systems
in place and partially due to topography, retailors of fruits and vegetables
had been charging unreasonable prices to the customers with profit margins as
high as 150 to 200 % in certain fruits and vegetables. Retailors especially in
slightly elevated areas of Dharamshala, Mcleodganj and Palampur had been making
merry at the cost of helpless customers. I was asked to research and come up
with a comprehensive system of monitoring prices within the legal ambit and as
per the guidelines and notifications of government on the subject matter. After
studying the systems being put in place in other districts like Mandi, Kullu
and Chamba under Himachal Pradesh Hoarding and Profiteering Prevention
Order, 1977, I gave a presentation to an audience comprising of Deputy
Commissioner, ADC, ADM, all SDMs of the district, secretary APMC and secretary District
Food Supply. It was very important to get SDMs and Secretary APMC and DFSC on
board as they were to form the backbone of the entire exercise in future.
Our first challenge was to fix the
maximum and minimum retail prices of each fruit and vegetable every day before
10:30 AM and put this information in the public domain accessible by customers
before they hit the market for purchases. Information regarding Maximum and
Minimum Retail Prices would give a fair idea to customers about the range of
prevailing prices for the day for an item and also some sort of bargaining
power. When produce is auctioned in APMC mandis, the seller of produce is
issued R-forms stating the rate and quantity of fruit or vegetable by the
commission agents. Three R-forms are generated, one is handed over to producer,
second to APMC and third lies with the commission agent. When the commission
agents further sale this produce to retailors they issue Q-form stating the
price, quantity and commission to retailors. Again three copies of Q-form are
generated, one is given to retailor, second to APMC and the third one is
retained by commission agents. The prices mentioned for a particular item being
supplied by producer and sold further to retailor by commission agent is same
in both the R-form and Q-form. Only difference in Q-form is the commission
charged by the agent which is mentioned separately. Given the multiplicity of
producers and different quality standards of a single item being sold by
different producers, a range of prices are obtained based on the R and Q-Forms.
Suppose two farmers auction
different qualities of potatoes in APMC Mandi. Let farmer F1 sells it to
Commission Agent C1 at the Price INR 10/Kg after auctioning. So F1’s R-Form
will mention INR 10 in price column. This produce is subsequently sold to let’s
say retailor R1 by C1 at the same price plus the commission decided by
government (In Himachal’s case 5%). So the Q-form generated will mention INR 10
in price column and INR 0.50 in commission column. This way prices in R and
Q-forms are same.
Now suppose farmer F2 sells better
quality potatoes to Commission Agent C2 at price INR 12/Kg after auctioning. In
this case F2’s R-form will mention INR 12 in price column. This when
subsequently sold to retailor R2 by C2 will generate Q-form with price column
quoting INR 12 and commission of INR 0.60. But what has happened due to these
two transactions is that a wholesale price range of INR 10-12 has been obtained
for potatoes which would further translate to a maximum and minimum range of prices
for retailing purposes.
The first step of filling up R and
Q-forms were made mandatory for the Commission Agents and same had to be handed
over to Secretary, APMC as soon as generated. Secretary, APMC would then
prepare a list mentioning the lowest (X) and highest (Y) auction rates of each
vegetable and fruit based on R-forms which are available with him latest by
8:30 AM daily after the auctioning is mostly over.
On X and Y a
margin of 45 % is added for Maximum Retail Price on Perishable items.
A= X + 45% (X) aka Minimum Retail Price
B= Y + 45% (Y) aka Maximum Retail Price
For
Non-Perishable items:
A= X + 30% (X) aka Minimum Retail Price
B= Y + 30% (Y) aka Maximum Retail Price
These profit
margins take into account Commission Agents’ fee (5%), Market fees (1%) for
Government, Misc. of 4% (Transportation charges, Packaging, Distribution,
Display) and Wastage (10%) and profit margin of 25 % on Perishable and 10 % on
Non-Perishable items. These various margins are as per the various
notifications and guidelines issued by Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer
Affairs Department, Himachal Pradesh from time to time.
The prices A
and B are being daily updated on the website (http://hpkangra.nic.in/pdf/fruitpricedshala.pdf)
of the district Kangra for the information of consumers. Display boards
mentioning these prices have been put up in conspicuous part of the markets by
DFSC and daily prices A and B are being written on them for the benefit of the
consumers. These notices boards have the phone numbers of ADM, DFSC, Secretary
APMC and Police who can be contacted in case of violation. Consumers can also
demand Q-forms from the retailor to cross check the prices while making
purchases.
Retailers
after adding 45% or 30% (Perishable/Non-Perishable) on the prices mentioned to
them in Q-form have been asked to promptly display it in their shops in
following format:
Shopkeeper Name
and Phone Number
|
|
Date
|
|
Item
|
Price
|
1
|
|
2
|
|
..
|
|
n
|
|
Phone Numbers
ADM/DFSC/Police
|
Signature of
Shopkeeper
|
The public awareness
was the most vital part of the campaign. They were informed through press
releases by district administration in local newspapers. When we were placing
the price boards in various part of the district where major retailing take
place, it generated lot of interest in the public.
Random checks
but on regular basis by SDMs, DCFCS&CA (i.e. DFSC) and Police officers
above the rank of Sub-Inspectors was undertaken to keep check on the adherence
levels by the Shopkeepers. A few examples of confiscations were published with
the help of local newspapers to project the seriousness of administration in
the matter. I personally as SDM, Dharamshala for a brief time went out on
regular inspections and challaned many erring shopkeepers.
But the most
challenging part was to get the various departments of government on board for
success of the whole exercise. It involved commitment of APMC, District Food
Supplies, Administration (SDMs) and the District Information officer (DIO).
APMC gives the prices and DIO puts them on website daily before 10:30 AM. Food
Inspectors and SDMs have been regularly monitoring and inspecting the retail
markets. All Departments had their inertia to begin with and it took some time
and patience to get the ball rolling.
Next challenge was to get the
commission agents generate R and Q-Forms and provide the same to APMC. The
whole exercise would result in loss to them in terms of time and margin so they
were reluctant to generate these forms to begin with and were coerced into it
after the notification by the district administration as they stood to lose
their licenses. Retailor Association was the most reluctant group in the whole
episode. Retailors so far were charging exorbitant prices as per their whims
and fancies. After their profit margins got fixed and maximum retail prices out
in public domain they were ones to show the strongest reactions. Some of our
Price boards in district were vandalised. But since these prices are available
on the website of the district they could no longer prevent customers from
demanding reasonable prices.
As long as I was spearheading the
exercise, it was running smooth and fine. It brought relief to consumers at
large. Soon I was assigned others roles as per my training requirement. The
whole exercise lost its steam in my absence. Prices which were being daily
updated on boards in markets were stopped. All that remained was the price
update on district website. This brings me to an interesting conclusion.
Anything automated in government using technology might still be sustainable
and lasting but any manual procedure established may vaporise in absence of
motivation and push factor. Downsizing of the government and induction of
technology driven automation in governance delivery is the need of the hour. This
will not only bring efficiency in delivery but also make it sustainable by
getting rid of the lethargy in the system. This brings me to the opening remark
again, “Be the change you want to see in the world”.
