The Ingenious ‘Upayas’ In The Arthashastra Could Still Be Used In Administration Today By Sumedha Verma Ojha

Snapshot

• The management of foreign policy and external relations could well take a leaf out of the Arthashastra and use all the four devices or ‘upayas’ to achieve diplomatic objectives.

In an earlier article on the Arthashastra, ‘artha’ was explained as one of the goals of individual human existence. Understood in an extended universal sense, it assumes the form of the desire for well-being in general, which can be made possible only by the state. The state has the two-fold aim of palana (administration) and labha (acquisition of territory) if this well-being is to be achieved.

In the context of the second of these two aims, Kautilya’s Arthashastra deals with defence and external relations of the state at length. Defence and foreign relations are intertwined; if the vijigishu, the all-conquering king with a powerful army (as envisaged in the Arthashastra), wants to extend his territory and expand his influence — how should he interact with other states? Foreign policy is summed up in the famous ‘rajamandala’ theory, which details the way to conduct relations with each type of constituent of the ‘circle of kings’. These relations are established and carried on with the help of envoys, and policies can be classified into six gunas; sandhi (the policy of peace), vigraha (the policy of hostility), asana (the policy of remaining quiet), yana (marching on an expedition), sanshraya (seeking shelter) and dvaidhibhava (combined policy of sandhi and vigraha).

Intimately connected with these are the four means, or upayas, which can be used to make an antagonist bend to the will of the vijigishu; saman, dana, danda and bheda, translated as conciliation, gifts, dissension and force. They appear to be even more ancient than the concept of the six gunas and more universal in their application, although there are clear similarities between them and the gunas. Saman is a policy of peace similar to sandhi, danda is vigraha combined with yana.

The gunas are applicable only to foreign policy while upayas have a wider application and can be used to secure the submission of anyone, be it a recalcitrant son, brother or kinsman, or a rebellious chief, a neighbouring prince or foreign chieftain. It is mostly bheda and, tangentially, the other three upayas that we shall look at here, leaving other topics for a future exposition.

The upayas are defined in Book Two.

Saman or ‘conciliation’ can be achieved in five ways, praising merits, mention of relationships, pointing out of mutual benefits, showing advantages and placing oneself at the other’s disposal.

Dana consists of conferring benefits of money.

Bheda or ‘dissension’ is creating apprehension and reprimanding.

Danda or ‘force’ is killing, tormenting and seizure of property.

Each earlier one in this group is less forceful than the succeeding ones. Conciliation is one-fold; gifts are two-fold, being preceded by conciliation; dissension is three-fold, being preceded by conciliation and gifts. Force is four-fold, being preceded by all the other three. This is the natural order of using these means — saman, dana, bheda and danda. However, they can be used in many combinations — as per the situation— and against the natural order, if necessary.

Using the means singly and in different combinations yield 15 ways of using them in the natural order and a similar number of ways of using them against the natural order; 30 combinations in all!

They are to be used as per the situation and the targeted party — saman could be best for enemy officers mistrusted by their king, dana for winning over the treacherous from their sovereign, bheda would break up confederacies most effectively while danda should be used against a stronger enemy.

Although all the means are discussed in the text, it is bheda which crops up the most often, in keeping with Kautilya’s predilection for intrigue and espionage. Sowing dissension through the spy network and then reaping the benefits is a cheap and bloodless way of conquest, saving the kosh or the ‘treasury of the state’ for other uses. This upaya is discussed mainly in Books 7, 9, 11 and 12. We shall consider all of these keeping the most detailed, Book 11, for the last.

Book Seven, which discusses the measures of foreign policy, also has a discussion on the means of achieving these through the means or upayas. When in conflict, saman and dana should be used against weak kings and bheda and danda against stronger kings. If the opposition consists of a confederacy of kings, bheda is but the most natural method of breaking up this enemy confederacy.

A most interesting example of the breakup of a confederacy is found in the Mudrarakshasa, a historical play written by Shudraka in the fifth century CE, about the ascension of Chandragupta Maurya to the throne of Pataliputra and its aftermath. Faced with a confederation of five kings led by the Paurava Malayketu, ready to march against the newly-installed Chandragupta and reinforced by the defection of the former Prime Minister of Magadha, Rakshasa, to its side — Chanakya uses bheda masterfully. Mistrust between the constituent kings is created through misinformation, confusion and lies till the confederation breaks up. Again, this play is also an example of bheda used against Rakshasa to manipulate him into joining forces with the Mauryas, and agreeing to become Chandragupta’s Prime Minister. It is a most entertaining example of this upaya playing out in a real-world scenario.

Book Nine: If, as a measure of foreign policy, the vijigishu has decided to employ yana and march on an expedition against an antagonist, there are certain precautions to be taken and thought to be put into it. The king has to consider the relative strengths of power, place and time and various dangers of conspiracy and revolt from all sides, from officers, traitors, enemies, etc. There are dangers which bring advantages or disadvantages or uncertainty with them and the thoroughness with which they have been dealt with is a lesson on comprehensive defensive thinking. This book, on the activities of a king about to march on an expedition, discusses how to overcome these dangers using the four upayas in different combinations, as most appropriate to the given person or situation.

As always, secret agents are a weapon to be deployed to create dissension among conspiring elements, be they internal or external, single or in groups. The skilful use of rumours of poisoning and assassination, false remarks against a conspirator supposedly by a co-conspirator, inducements to betray, gossip, sending of forged letters, honouring one conspirator to inspire jealousy and anger in another; all these are to be cleverly used. There is no end to the deviousness and manipulation. The methods and combination of using upayas mentioned above are explained clearly in this book.

Book 12: This deals with a situation where the vijigishu finds himself attacked by a stronger king; in such a case again, the use of three upayas — saman, dana and bheda is recommended to be used.

Book 11: Sanghas, or oligarchies, were the proto-democratic republics of ancient India. They were forces to be reckoned with not only in the post Vedic Mahajanapada period but also in the Mauryan age. An echo of the prestige and power attached to them lingered till the Gupta period when Chandragupta I issued a special coin on his marriage to a princess of the Licchhavi sangha.

According to Kautilya, the gain of a sangha as a friend is best among the gains of an army and an ally; for they, being closely knit, are unassailable for enemies. He mentions the Kambojas, Surashtras, Ksatriyas, Srenis and others who live by an economic vocation and the Licchhavis, Vrijjis, Mallas, Madrakas, Kukuras and Kurus and Panchalas and others who make use of the title of kings.

He advises the vijigishu that he should win over those of them who are friendly with saman and dana and those hostile through bheda and danda. The stealthy use of force, upamsudanda is also recommended.

These sanghas were characterised by collective leadership and the idea was to sow dissension amongst the chiefs, weaken and divide them. After this, the weaker elements were to be removed and settled away from their territory.

Strife between chiefs was to be fomented by many different methods, for instance, secretly killing one chief and blaming it on another. Murder could be made plausible by provoking lust for the same woman— a secret agent— and exploiting the resulting jealousy. Multiple scenarios and methods for achieving this end are drawn up and explained. Arousing ambition and using it against the sangha members is also described. For instance, the ambitious son of a chief could be told that he was actually the son of a king but kept hidden for fear of enemies; he could be convinced to fight with the sangha members to achieve kingship.

The understanding and exploitation of human nature at its most stark is on display in this section.

After fomenting strife and internal fighting, the vijigishu is advised to assist the weaker party with money and arms, make him fight with the hostile group and urge him to kill his rivals.

Once the sangha becomes weak with infighting, it is easy for the vijigishu to take it over. The Arthashastra is a compendium of political and economic theories; which includes precepts of earlier teachers and gurus who are mentioned through a critique of their pronouncements. The section on oligarchies is a good example of the incorporation of possible pre-existing theories which were based on the extant political formations. During the time of the Buddha, predating the Mauryas and the Kautilya Arthashastra, the most powerful Mahajanapadas were Magadha and Vaishali which were in a constant state of war with each other— a war of attrition neither could win.

In the sixth century BCE, Magadha was a monarchy ruled by Bimbisara and, later, his son, Ajatshatru, while Vaishali was the capital of the Vrijji Confederacy which consisted of a number of sanghas. The Licchhavi sangha was the most important constituent of this confederacy and had to be broken up if Vaishali was to be conquered.

Ajatshatru tried to defeat Vaishali on many occasions but failed. The city was almost invincible. He finally sent his minister Vassakara to ask Gautam Buddha for advice. The Buddha responded by saying that as long as the Vrijjis followed the Seven Conditions of Welfare ( ‘satta aparihaniya dhamma’) no one could defeat them. Most important amongst these were meeting in concord, rising in concord, carrying out all undertakings in concord and acting in accordance with the established institutions of the Vrijjis; in other words, cleaving hard to their unity.

Rightly and shrewdly inferring that the unity of the sangha had to be broken, Vasskara and Ajatshatru made use of the upaya of bheda.

King Chetaka, who Ajatsatru had been unable to defeat, was leading the confederacy defending the impregnable city of Vaishali. Using the services of the ganika Magadhika, the monk Kulvalaka was enticed into betraying Vaishali.

He then entered the city disguised as an astrologer, sowed ferment and dissatisfaction amongst the sangha members, convinced some of the townspeople to uproot the chaitya devoted to the deity Munisuvrata and helped Ajatshatru and his forces to enter the city in the confusion. Vaishali was conquered through the use of bheda and danda.

Another version of this legend has Ajatshatru accomplishing the end of breaking up the Licchhavi chiefs’ unity through his own intrigues with the leading ganika of Vaishali, Amrapali.

It seems clear, therefore, that the importance of confederacies and sanghas predates the Mauryas and some of the political precepts explained in the Arthashastra have roots in earlier political formations. The significance of the sanghas was, of course, to endure for many centuries after Ajatsatru.

The four ‘upayas’ of the Arthashastra had a precise political application and have been explained with examples from politics and history of the first millennium BCE. Further consideration will also yield the fact, however, that these ‘upayas’ are applicable to many modern situations as well. The management of foreign policy and external relations could well take a leaf out of this book and use all the four means to achieve diplomatic objectives.

In multilateral fora such as the World Trade Organisation or the United Nations, where groups of countries with common interests vote together, these means can be used to break up those groups and attract support for India’s policies. In corporate battles, in annual general meetings and boardrooms, too, Chanakya’s four upayas can be at the side of the one who wants to conquer, ready to show the way.

These means are nothing but the way to shape the external environment to be more amenable to one’s own will and desire; be it an individual or a nation, and can be used as such. However, a note of caution: it would be prudent to not take the Arthashastra too literally in this modern age. Assassination and poisoning would definitely not be approved of whether in a corporate boardroom or the United Nations General Assembly.

About the Author:
After two decades in the Indian Revenue Service Sumedha Verma Ojha now follows her passion, Ancient India; writing and speaking across the world on ancient Indian history, society, women, religion and the epics. Her Mauryan series is ‘Urnabhih’; a Valmiki Ramayan in English and a book on the ‘modern’ women of ancient India will be out soon.

Article courtesy:

https://swarajyamag.com/culture/the-ingenious-upayas-in-the-arthashastra-could-still-be-used-in-administration-today

How Kautilya’s Arthashastra Shaped The Telling Of Ancient Indian History by Sumedha Verma Ojha

• The Arthashastra gave in-depth examinations on matters such as history, economics, politics, management, among many other subjects.
  It has often been cited as an important source for understanding Mauryan times.
  Beyond the controversy of the date and time of the Arthashastra, it can be read simply for its sheer brilliance in the area of statecraft and economics.

The Arthashastra is so much a part of modern Indian vocabulary on politics, economics and society that it is hard to imagine that this was a book unknown to the English-speaking world until an old manuscript was discovered in 1904. It was translated and presented to the world by R. Shamasastry of the Mysore Oriental Research Institute in Sanskrit, in 1909, and in English in 1915.


It created a storm for all the wrong orientalist reasons— similar to the upheaval caused by the discovery of remains in Harappa and Mohenjodaro. In that case, history was known to have begun with Alexander’s arrival in India. So what was to be made of the spectacular ruins on the banks of the Indus and lost Saraswati, dating to millennia before 323 BCE? Similarly, to find an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft and economics upset the ideas of the rulers about the uncivilised and unsophisticated nature of the colonised Hindus.


Since then, the Arthashastra has enjoyed a revival of sorts with its precepts being used and quoted in books on history, economics, politics, management, religion, spirituality and any other subject on which books are written in English. A cursory search of the internet will throw up pages of purported quotes from Chanakya, many of them being untrustworthy.


What Exactly Is The Arthashastra?
It is a treatise on artha written about 2,300 years ago and attributed to a person named Kautilya. It consists of 15 adhikaranas or books, mainly in prose, with 380 shlokas occurring at the end of the various chapters. The first sutra contains the statement that the Arthashastra was composed by bringing together all treatises on this subject written by earlier authors. It is, therefore, a compilation.
It can be thought of as an encyclopaedia of information on the ancient Indian world, the subjects ranging from kings to spies and ministers, from cotton to spices and pearls, from inheritance to divorce and municipal law, foreign relations to forts and cities, magic incantations to justice and political administration.


It has most immediately been associated with the Mauryas. Lengend has it that Kautilya or Chanakya, a pundit, was humiliated by the Nandas and took an oath to extirpate them. He sees the qualities of kingship in a young goatherd, adopts and brings him up to be a warrior and a statesman and then, when the young boy reaches adulthood, the two of them together establish Mauryan rule over Jambudwipa. The young boy was, of course, Chandragupta Maurya.

Legend also has it that he explored the science of the Arthashastra to make it a weapon against the Nandas and wrote it during the long years before he finally overthrew the Nandas with Chandragupta, and the nucleus of an army collected from Swat. Interestingly, the Sanskrit play Mudrarakshasa by Vishakhadatta (fourth century CE), which tells the story of Chandragupta’s accession to the throne, describes events which could be straight out of the Arthashastra playbook of defeating enemies— if we indeed accept it as a historical play based on Mauryan times.


Along with the Indika and the inscriptions of Ashoka, the Arthashastra has often been cited as an important source for understanding Mauryan times. As is often the case with ancient Indian history, which is a battleground for different ideologies and persuasions, the date and authorship of the Arthashastra is also the subject of many controversies. Who was it written by and when? Does it describe Mauryan times or not? What kind of society is it set in?


Answers for these questions range across a spectrum with the date of the Arthashastra being posited from as early as 600 BCE to as late as the fourth century CE, and the book being attributed to a person named Kautilya, or someone else, or to multiple others. A useful way to look at this is in the words of the 17th century German Indologist, H. Jacobi:
Without weighty grounds, one must not push aside the unanimous Indian tradition; else one practises scepticism not criticism. 

Notwithstanding this advice about accepting Indian historical tradition, most Indologists have followed it only in the breach, as will be the case when an imported historiography is followed without any criticism. There have been repeated attempts to provide “evidence” to “prove” that the Arthashastra was not written by Kautilya but by many others, that it has nothing to do with the Mauryan period and so on.


R. P. Kangle’s seminal work on translating and studying the Arthashastra, in 1965, remains the gold standard on this issue and has, in Volume III of the series, comprehensively addressed and proved the Indian tradition. Various theories have been floated after that too.


An attempt was made by Thomas Trautmann in 1971 to “prove” that different people had composed the different parts of the Arthashastra by counting the number of times “or” and “and” were used in the different books, on the basis that different writers would throw up different numbers of these frequently occurring words. Trautmann himself admitted that this could be tested but not proved. The efficacy of this method; in general, and specifically for analysing a book written in archaic Vedic Sanskrit with pre-Paninian grammar, is still the subject of controversy and can only be negligible as was effectively demonstrated by S. N. Mittal. It was seen that the number of these words differed, according to context, and often within different chapters of the same book.


There have been new attempts by Patrick Olivelle and Mark McClish to place the book during the Saka Kushan period and understand the Indian tradition as a branding exercise by the Guptas who wished to project themselves in the mould of the Mauryas. A detailed critique of this exercise will have to wait for a future article; suffice to say that much evidence had been misread and leaps of faith have been taken which mar some of the insights provided by this new translation. If the views are framed in binary terms of “exploiter” and “exploited” with the “Brahmanical” order as the villain of the piece, the conclusions are bound to be biased.


An oft-repeated objection is that the only mention of a connection with the Nandas, not even the Mauryas, is in one of the concluding shlokas which says that this treatise was composed by the one who rescued the shastra, the weapons and the land from the Nandas. There is no mention of Chandragupta or the Mauryas or Pataliputra. To expect any such mention is to misapprehend the text, which is a theoretical work, and mentions people and places merely as examples, it does not set out to describe the Mauryas of Pataliputra.


For instance, Madurai is mentioned in connection with cotton, Nala and Udayana as illustrations of kings who recovered a lost kingdom. Udayan, the king of Koshambi was a famous and much-written about king of the sixth century BCE or thereabouts. An example of the ideal romanticised monarch, he is the hero of the famous story cluster of the Brihatkatha of similar antiquity and it seems that the ubiquity of his fame included the Arthashastra.


For the confusion between the names Vishnugupta, Chanakya and Kautilya the explanation is simple; the first was his given name, the second his patronymic and the last was the gotra name.

Let us now move on to a consideration of the book itself. The Arthashastra begins with an invocation to Brihaspati and Shukra and is concerned with the study of artha which is the “sustenance” or “livelihood” (vrittih) of men. It is the science which is the means of the acquisition and protection of the earth.


Artha is one of the goals of individual human existence— dharma, artha, kama and moksha. Understood in the extended sense of the earth where men live and seek well-being, it assumes the goal of the well-being of men, in general. Since it is the state alone which can make such general well-being possible the protection of the earth and its acquisition, which are an essential part of state activity, are declared to be the province of the shastra.


Thus, the Arthashastra has a twofold aim, palana or “administration of the state” and labha or “acquisition of territory” which would include foreign policy considerations. In other words, it is the science of statecraft or of politics and administration. Arthashastra and Dandaniti or Nitishastra have the same scope but the origins of this shastra are obscure.


An account of its supposed origin is found in the Shantiparvan of the Mahabharata. When human society became chaotic and anarchic from its previous idyllic state during Satyuga, the gods approached Brahma and he wrote a treatise on nitishastra to guide humanity— having almost one lakh of chapters. This was reduced to 10,000 chapters by Lord Sankara as the Vaisalaksha Shastra, then to 5000 chapters by Lord Indra as the Bahudantaka Shastra, to 3000 chapters by Brihaspati as the Barhaspatya Shastra and then by Usanas to 1000 chapters as the Ausanas Shastra.

  Shantiparvan recites a theory of governance and duties of a leader, as explained by a dying Bhishma to Yudhishthira. 

 

 

Shorn of the celestial connections, it gives us references to historical persons also referred to in other works of antiquity. Brihaspati and Usanas/Shukra were the prototype purohitas, for the devas and asuras respectively and, therefore, expected sources of niti or arthashastra for kings. There are numerous references to Brihaspati and Shukra in many early sources such as the Rigveda. The Arthashastra frequently mentions Visalaksha and Bahudantiputra so they are likely to be real people and early theorists of arthashastra as well.


Kautilya’s Arthashastra is the oldest work on the subject that has come down to us but it is a culmination of older traditions and schools of thought which are often referred to in the text. Kautilya enumerates the views of the old school and then critiques and offers his own opinion on the subject. Following R.P. Kangle’s translation, the treatise itself can be described.


The Books Of The Arthashastra
It consists of 15 adhikaranas or books, the first five deal with tantra or the “internal administration of the state”, the next eight deal with avapa or its “relations with neighbouring states” and the last two are miscellaneous in character.


The first book deals with the training and equipment of the king as a ruler; and being a “Kautilyan King” is no mean task. He cannot sleep for more than four hours a day and has a full and punishing routine for the rest of the rest of the 20 hours.


Book Two deals with the activities of the state in various fields. 34 departments are described with activities ranging around the fields of agriculture, forestry, cattle, horses, elephants, yarns, liquor, army, issue of passports, trade, customs, shipping, etc.


Book Three sets down a code of law, the fourth deals with the suppression of crime, kantakashodhan, and the next book deals with some miscellaneous matters including an interesting list of the salaries to be paid to royal officials. The high and the mighty like the purohita and the queen were paid 48,000 panas while palace servants received 60 panas and spies received between 500 and 1000 panas depending on their rank. Those aspiring for high or royal positions could read this book and would have received good advice on how exactly to achieve their ambition.


Moving to the section dealing with external relations, Book Six defines the seven necessary constituents of a state— the king, the minister, the country, the fortified city, the treasury, the army and the ally. This book also includes the famous “rajamandala theory.”

The next book discusses the six gunas or measures of foreign policy to be used in different situations. Since the goal of foreign policy for the king, the conqueror or vijigishu, is conquest of the world, there is a description of various ways in which rivals may be outwitted by stratagems or overcome by force.


Book Eight is concerned with vyasanas, that is, calamities which have to be overcome before any aggressive activities can be taken.


Book Nine deals with preparations for war and Book ten with fighting, describing the army, battle arrays and various modes of fighting. The next book explains how to subdue sanghas.


Book 12 tells a weak king the ways in which he can defeat a strong king.


Book 13 is concerned with the conquest of the enemy’s fortified capital and how the conquered territories should be ruled.


Book 14 deals with occult practices and secret remedies and Book 15 defines and illustrates from the text itself the 32 tantra yuktis or “methods of treating a subject.”


Kautilya is, above all, a practitioner of realpolitik and power. He is a close observer of the minutiae of society, polity and economy and its enumerator to an exhaustive degree. Few aspects of life have escaped his eagle eye. Everything is classified, listed and detailed in what are extremely tedious chapters— part of the Indian obsession with classification seen in many archaic and medieval works.
It is not possible to deal with the voluminous material in any detail in an article, the reader is invited to read the Arthashastra for herself; this article will conclude with an interesting description of the role of spies in upholding the Kautilyan state.


Kautilya is often portrayed as unscrupulous and “crooked”, supposedly the root for his name, kutil, from whence is derived Kautilya. Unnecessary and misplaced comparisons with Bismarck and Machiavelli may have contributed to this perception. The treatise is relentlessly focused on power and how to wield it; how to acquire territory, bring economic gains to the state through extension of agriculture, taxation etc.


However, it never loses sight of the fact that artha is rooted in dharma and in the welfare of the subjects lies the welfare of the king. “Praja sukhe sukham rajnah prajanam cha hite hitam” is a famous maxim from the Arthashastra. The approach is ruthless and unsentimental but the goal of dharma is never lost sight of.


The System Of Espionage
It describes a voluminous bureaucracy to control the behemoth state for the good of the praja. An omnipresent, ubiquitous and powerful secret service of spies is the mechanism for controlling this behemoth.


In the first book itself, there is an extensive description of the appointment of different kinds of spies. There were special rules for them and the occupations and an enumeration of the social categories from which they should be drawn, which was pretty much all sections of society; pupils, monks, householders, traders, ascetics, bravos, poison givers, nuns et al. These were stationary or roving spies and kept an eye on everyone.


High officials were set to spy on each other and tested before, after and during their appointment by other roving and stationary spies. Common citizens and householders were also spied upon. Households, bedrooms, kitchens, shops, dancing houses were all to be infiltrated and information collected and analysed. In the enemy’s country, double agents were to be established and used especially before military campaigns.


These spies were to be trained in the special sciences of the interpretation of marks, touch of the body, magic, creation of illusions, omens and the art of association amongst men.The last has an interesting echo of social, even behavioural, psychology. They were to be proficient in the art of disguises and the secret language of the spies. Interestingly, this language consisted of signs, songs, recitations and writings concealed in musical instruments. An example of this will be found in the Mudrarakshasa.


These were days much before the explosion of media and its use for monitoring and manipulating public opinion but this vast network of spies was used in a similar manner; planted amongst the populace to praise the king and forestall any criticism for instance, or to gauge public opinion. This was done not only in Mauryan times but also before in Valmiki’s Ramayan where spies appear at a very important juncture. Recall the meetings of Lord Ram with his spies in the Uttar Kaand of Valmiki’s Ramayana to get an idea of what people in his kingdom thought and felt. It was based on their inputs that he arrived at the infamous decision to exile Sita from Ayodhya.

A final fascinating aspect of this sinister spy system was the role of women in this. Women made the best spies, according to Kautilya, and were fully utilised in the network. Wandering sanysinis, both Hindu and Buddhist, as well as poor and widowed Brahmin women and women skilled in the arts were to be employed. Ganikas, actresses, story-tellers, singers, musicians, daasis, were all to be pressed into the service of the state and be its eyes and ears. They were well-paid and important employees of the state. It was easy for them to infiltrate the houses of the high officials in different roles as servitors, spiritual preceptors or simply friends of the wives of the officials. Ganikas played especially important roles in this area including extension into clandestine interactions with other kingdoms.


The different role of women in the society of the time is worth noting. The closest ring of the king’s security guards was also to consist of specially-trained women soldiers. From the section on salaries, we note that the queen mother and the queen were also two of the highest paid personages in the kingdom, at par with the senapati and the purohita in the receipt of annual salary. Women could own property and pass it on to their heirs, under some circumstances, as per Book three on law, and were also allowed to divorce their husbands under some specific conditions. They also contributed to the state economy by working in the craft guild especially as weavers.


The complex society of the time and the categories of economic activity are extensively described and merit an in-depth examination. Other subjects dealt with in this comprehensive and wide-ranging treatise will be dealt with in further articles. Above and beyond the controversy of the date and time of the Arthashastra, it can be read simply for its sheer brilliance in the area of statecraft and economics— much that is useful even today.

Article Courtesy: https://swarajyamag.com/culture/how-kautilyas-arthashastra-shaped-the-telling-of-ancient-indian-history?fbclid=IwAR0AexUcNnecSF_W4-csZEhFy0sTvvOWTuc4P5Pbm-Mhw18KmFmzKLBaWBM

 

How Chanakya Dealt With Fake Currency And Corruption By Sumedha Verma Ojha

• Chanakya ultimately faced the same problems as the current government is facing in the present with corruption, counterfeiting and tax evasions. Flooding the economy with fake coins would have the same deleterious effect as fake currency has today.
  The state has to work towards nation building with the help, as imperfect as that may be, of its citizens. It can only be what its citizens want it to be and what they contribute with their hard work; today, as it was in the past.
  

The demonetisation of 500 and 1000 rupee notes on the 8th of November has unleashed a furious debate in India on taxation, corruption, the informal cash economy, counterfeiting of notes and so on. There are different theoretical views on the pros and cons of this measure.


In this context it will be interesting to see what the most seminal Indic theoretician of politics and economics, Chanakya, has to say on these issues in his magnum opus, the Arthashastra.
While looking for insights from this ancient theoretical work it behooves us to be cautious in drawing parallels as the structure and organization of the economy today is very different from what it was two and a half millennia ago.


As has been pointed out earlier in this column, ‘artha’ is one of the goals of individual human existence— ‘dharma’, ‘artha’, ‘kama’ and ‘moksha’. Understood in the extended sense of the earth where men live and seek well-being, it assumes the goal of the well-being of men, in general. Since it is the state alone which can make such general well-being possible, the protection of the earth and its acquisition, essential parts of state activity, are declared to be the province of the shastra. So says the Arthashastra.


The state manifestly needs resources to fill its ‘kosh’ or treasury to realise the objectives of palan(administration) and labh (acquisition of territory). These resources come from the economic surplus created by the people within the kingdom.


Chanakya advocated oversight and control of economic activity to safeguard and support sources of income for the state.

Incomes were classified as coming from the city, country, mines, irrigation works, forests, cattle-herds and trade routes. Economic activity was state run as well as in private hands and arrangements were made for both sectors.

The ways in which incomes from these sources were appropriated included ‘mulya’ or price at which state goods were sold, ‘bhaga’ or state share of private goods, ‘vyaji’ or sales tax, ‘parigha’ or protective duty to safeguard state goods, ‘klipta’ or port duty, ‘rupika’ or surcharge on manufacture and ‘atyaya’ or penalty.

This practical classification of sources of income was in use during the Mauryan period but has its roots in practices going back into the past. It may be noted that there were certain exceptions made on different bases for different groups of people so the impact of taxation was not as dire as it may seem, Chanakya was anyway of the view that tax should be extracted unobtrusively as the bee extracts honey from flowers and returned in as spectacular a fashion as the rain falls from the skies.

Taxation was one of the biggest sources of income for the state and there was a complex and widespread bureaucratic machinery in place to keep strict vigil on economic actors and appropriate the share of the state from their produce whether in the cities or the countryside, trade or agriculture.
34 departments with ‘adhyakshas’ or heads, and officials to assist them are described in the Arthashastra. One of the main functions of the heads of departments was to see that incomes and expenditures of their departments were correctly estimated and the correct tax levied; there were penalties for levying both too much and too little tax.

There was a separate accounts system with an ‘akshatpataladhyaksh’ or what we would understand as a Comptroller and Auditor General. There were strict guidelines for preparing the accounts and for auditing them.

Most of the officers worked in the smaller cities and the countryside and were enjoined to keep an eye on those who were too extravagant or too miserly as also those setthis ( rich merchants or guild masters) who buried their wealth or hid it in hollow pillars. Those city rich who passed on their money to be stored with villagers as also those who sent their riches to be hoarded in foreign lands were also to be guarded against as they were antithetical to the prosperity of the kingdom.

Corruption amongst officials was a persistent worry; Chanakya trusted no one and had an elaborate system of spies in place to keep an eye on the entire official machinery and spies to keep an eye on the spies themselves! As he said, it was as difficult to check how much money royal officials were misappropriating as it was to find out how much water a fish drank as it swam around in the river. There are elaborate shlokas on ways of corruption in the bureaucracy, how to recognise them and deal with them.

Let us now take a look at coinage. During Mauryan times the move from exchange in kind to exchange via coins was not complete and many transactions were still in kind. Coins have been mentioned in the Rig Veda and punch marked coins had already been introduced centuries earlier in the age of the sixteen great Mahajanpadas. It was the Nandas, the predecessors of the Mauryas, however, who had first tried to systematise and centralise the minting of coins as a state monopoly as opposed to guild issued punch marked coins.

The Mauryans took it further and the Arthashastra has guidelines on the exact composition of silver and copper coins (no gold coins are mentioned or found in any of the coin hoards dating from Mauryan times), mints are run only by the state and there are fines and punishments for anyone else attempting to mint and issue coins, similar to modern centralisation of currency issue although not as perfect, obviously. There was a rupadarsaka or mint master in charge of circulation of coins and he was liable to punishment if irregular coins were found in circulation.

The move to trade and exchange with coins led to a quantum jump in the monetization of the surplus in the economy and was the basis for the famous prosperity of the Mauryans, the basis of their fearsome army and far reaching influence.

What parallels or insights can we draw from this relevant to the situation today?

As far as taxation and the economy outside of it are concerned the issue remains the same; How to achieve maximum coverage and catch revenue from all economic activity in the tax net. Filling the treasury was and remains, even today, an essential part of nation building and the welfare of the people.

Penalties and fines were then, as now, levied for tax evasion.

Corruption and hoarding of wealth were issues too. People who buried wealth in the ground and those who stored it outside the country are exhorted to be guarded against. Some things do not change over the centuries!

Counterfeiting was equally a problem. Debased coins of the Mauryan era have been found with a smaller component of metal in the coins. It may point to the royal mints themselves debasing the coins in order to be able to make more of them or to counterfeiting by others. A coin of copper with an overlay of silver dating to the reign of Ashoka has also been found, a technological marvel of that age in the matter of counterfeiting.

Flooding the economy with fake coins would have the same deleterious effect as fake currency has today.

There were fines for dealing in counterfeit currency and it may be noted that the punishment for the introduction of a counterfeit coin into the royal treasury was death.

Problems of economic and social behaviour remain broadly identifiable across the centuries, theoretical formulations have tried to address these issues but there is no final solution to the problems that arise from human behaviour.

The state has to work towards nation building with the help, as imperfect as that may be, of its citizens. It can only be what its citizens want it to be and what they contribute with their hard work; today, as it was in the past.

About the Author- After two decades in the Indian Revenue Service Sumedha Verma Ojha now follows her passion, Ancient India; writing and speaking across the world on ancient Indian history, society, women, religion and the epics. Her Mauryan series is ‘Urnabhih’; a Valmiki Ramayan in English and a book on the ‘modern’ women of ancient India will be out soon.

Article courtesy: https://swarajyamag.com/culture/taxation-corruption-counterfeiting-and-chanakya

Town Planning and Public Administration - Arthashastra : By Radhakrishnan Pillai

Background of Kautilya’s Arthashastra
Kautilya (also known as Chanakya and Vishnugupta) has done a massive contribution to humanity through his famous work named Kautilya’s Arthashastra written in 350 BC i.e. nearly 2400 years ago. He is well known as a strategist, and expert in political science, Law and order, crime detection, town planning as well as good governance.
This book’s principles and strategies were studied, applied and practiced by rulers for many centuries namely Chandragupta Maurya, Emperor Ashoka, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj amongst others.
The following paper throws light on a few areas of Town Planning, public facilities, maintenance of Law and order and as it is applicable in today’s world.



FOUNDATIONS OF ARTHASHASTRA
The central theme of Kautilya’s Arthashastra is:

“Prajasukhe Sukham Raja, Prajacha Hite Hitam..”

“In the happiness of the subjects lies the benefit of the king and in what is beneficial to the subjects is his own benefit” – (1.19.34)

Kautilya believed that good governance comes from understanding the benefit of the citizens. Even kings are adviced to take into consideration this aspect before they get into any decision making process. In the well being of its citizens and in their happiness lies the benefit and the happiness of the ruler, advices Kautilya.

Find below a few areas which may be beneficial to NGOs, social workers, public servants and decision makers.


NEW SETTLEMENTS

Kautilya visualizes the expansion of the state into new settlements and makes provisions to help them settle in new places and also financially help them with facilities for easy payments.

“He (the king/ruler) should favour them with grains, cattle and money. These they should pay back afterwards at their convenience” (2.1.13-14)

Application in today’s scenario
Today every town is getting over crowded due to rapid population growth. The government should make policies and strategies either to encourage reverse migration to villages or look out for new land where the population can stay rather than getting concentrated in one place. In order to encourage them, they should be provided with the basic raw materials needed to start new industries which should be given at low interest rates, tax benefits and easy repayment schemes.


2. PROVISION OF WATER

Water is life. All living creatures depend on water. Hence settlement of people is directly connected with the availability of water. Hence Kautilya recommends,

“Storage reservoirs were to be built using natural springs or water brought from elsewhere” (2.1.20)

Application in today’s scenario
Wastage of water should be totally prevented. Schemes like Rain water harvesting, building of public water reservoirs should be implemented. Especially in the rainy season plans should be made at local level to store water for the whole year. The public should be made aware of the need of controlling water wastage.


3. BUILDING ROADS
Roads are the lifeline of any nation. Building of roads, connecting the same to the remotest corner and also maintaining its beauty is of prime importance to Kautilya.

“The king was also to help people volunteering to build reservoirs by giving them land, building roads, or by giving them grants timber and other implements (2..1.21)

The king was also supposed to directly help the people to get better connectivity by providing them required raw materials used for this particular purpose.


Application in today’s scenario
 
The government should give emphasis on building and maintaining good roads. We see that this public property is being misused by hawkers in a big way. Local authorities have to take strict action against such persons. The public support also has to be taken for this purpose.


4. VOLUNTARY SERVICES WAS APPRECIATED

Kautilya specifically states that people shall obey the orders of anyone who brings about an activity in which there lies everyone benefit. Good local leaders who voluntarily bring out new projects and initiatives have to be encouraged. And pubic should obey the words of such leaders who work for the benefit of all.

“They shall obey the orders of one who proposes what is beneficial to all” (3.10.39)

Application in today’s scenario
 
We find that the local leaders, especially the youth, are very conscious of their commitment to preservation of public places and utilities. Youngsters should be encouraged to take active interest in such work. Instead of discouraging them they should be encouraged by giving training and necessary powers to take corrective actions at the local level. More and more volunteers should be called forward to take such initiatives under the guidance of able local leaders.


5. CONSUMER PROTECTION

Consumer protection is another area which receives elaborate treatment from Kautilya. Black marketing, adulteration, manipulation in selling goods is highly discouraged. Preventive actions need to be taken.

“The king should prevent thieves and thieves such as traders, artisans, actors, mendicants, jugglers and other from oppressing the country” (4.1.65)

“Fine is prescribed for cheating the consumer” (4.1.28)

Application in today’s scenario
 
Direct thieves (who conduct robbery) and indirect thieves like traders (who sell goods above the prescribed MRP), artisans (who over charge the customers), mendicants (who cheat the public in name of superstition); jugglers (gamblers) should be discouraged. Usually these kinds of people have a direct or indirect connection with the enemies of the nation. This will finally lead to the loss for the country. Hence strict action should be taken against them.


6. CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Crisis management is another area in which we find Kautilya was a master mind especially during the natural calamities.

“Distribution of food at concessional rate to public, seeking the help of friendly kings, shifting the people to neighborhood, migration and additional cultivation of coping with the emergency” (4.3.17-20)

Application in today’s scenario
 
Whenever any natural calamity (like floods, earthquakes etc) occurs immediately everyone has to get into action. Support from neighboring places should be asked. If necessary shifting of the public should also be done in order to get quicker relief work done.


7. CIVIC AMENITIES AND COMMON FACILITIES

A lot of emphasis has been laid down to provide and protect pubic amenities in Kautilya’s Arthashastra.

“Shades, courtyards, latrines, fire places, places for pounding grain and open spaces were to be used as common properties” (3.8.28)

Application in today’s scenario
 
The common public needs to be provided with public amenities and facilities like shades, natural surroundings, latrines, warm places and open areas like playground and gardens in order to have better health and hygienic conditions for the welfare of one and all.



8. ATTENDING TO PUBLIC PROBLEMS

Kautilya explicitly states that a king should be accessible to his petitioners and should not make-them wait at the door for the redressal of their genuine grievances.

“He (leader) should allow unrestricted entrance to those wishing to see him in connection with their affairs” (1.19.26)

Application in today’s scenario
 
Government servants, Public administrators need to have an open door policy. Many key decisions get delayed either due to wrong or due to lack of information. This can be solved by letting people come and express their problems directly to the concerned authorities. Moreover it will help people to feel more safe and comfortable while dealing with government officials.


9. KEEPING REGULAR INSPECTION
No rule can be fully beneficial if regular inspections are not conducted and reports are not been monitored. Hence Kautilya suggests that,

“He (leader) should constantly hold an inspection of their works, men being inconstant in their minds” (2.9.2-3)

Application in today’s scenario
 
It is quite natural for a person to slip into complacency if the boss does not take regular inspection. Over a period of time the work is taken for granted. Hence strict daily and hourly productivity records have to be maintained. A good MIS (Management information system) has to be produced. Only then can we have an efficient system.


10. ART OF PUNISHMENT

Another name of Kautilya’s Arthashastra is Dandaniti, meaning the book on the - Art of Punishment.

“If the rod is not used at all the stronger swallows the weak in the absence of the wielder of the Rod” (1.4.13-14)

“The king severe with rod (punishment) becomes a terror. A king with mild rod is despised. The king just with the rod is honored” (1.4.8-10)

Application in today’s scenario
 
If strict action is not taken the law of the jungle will prevail in any place. However the leader should not become a terror with his punishment. At the same time he should not become too soft. The punishment should be just and balanced. Such a punishment and punisher is always respected. Only if punishment is carried out will there be seriousness in the work. If not slowly corruption will set into the whole system.


CONCLUSION
 
Kautilya’s Arthashastra is one book that is applicable even in today’s world. The principles in the book are eternal. Our country can once again use this text as a roadmap to rebuild a model town which is the dream of every citizen by providing them the basic necessity of life. This should be supported by an effective Law and order machinery. It will help each individual to feel safe, secure and also contribute to the nation building process.



Article courtesy: https://www.esamskriti.com/e/History/Great-Indian-Leaders/Town-Planning-and-Public-Administration-~-Arthashastra-1.aspx

UN Public Service Awards Initiatives: Citizen Service Delivery at the Door-steps Gandhinagar District Collectorate

A. Problem Analysis

1. What was the problem before the implementation of the initiative?

The initiative of “Administration at your door-steps” addressed three major social groups: I. Students Every year several thousand students approach the district administration to get the certificates for Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) and / or Socially & Economically Backward Caste (SEBC). There are related requirements of certificates for (1) Income, (2) Domicile as well as (3) Non-Creamilayer status. These certifications are necessary to claim admissions on preferred basis or to qualify for financial grants or assistance at the institutions for higher and professional education. The time gap between the announcement of examination results and application for admission is hardly 2-3 weeks. As a result, the students have to rush to the administration immediately after the announcement of examination results. The students from the remote rural areas had to go to the district or tehsil headquarters. Quite often, due to lack of awareness many of them were not able to fulfill the procedural requirements and had to go through lot of inconvenience and costs. The district administration had to handle unprecedented high number of applicants in a short span of two weeks. They had to experience lot of pressure to serve the applicants while ensuring due compliance for the important aspects of caste status. Inconvenience and associated costs, Panic and in rare cases negative impact on academic career opportunity were the problems to students. Whereas, work pressure and related extra care needed for accuracy were the concerns for the district administration. II. Illiterate & Poor Citizens residing in Rural Area The poor and illiterate rural masses are often deprived of the very benefits which are actually for them. This is primarily because of lack of awareness on their end about the concerned administration, the procedure, the requirements of documents, etc. Addition of new-born and newly-married family members in the ration card, benefits to widows and physically handicapped citizens are among important such schemes from the government. At times, even where the prospective beneficiaries are aware of the benefits, they lack confidence in the administration. They do not risk the costs of travel to the district office nor they risk the loss of their daily earnings for the day(s) they have to spend for the paperwork. They may even have to make back and forth journeys to fulfill all the statutory requirements related to the application submission. Lack of awareness backed with lack of confidence in the system causes the real beneficiary to not apply for the benefit they deserve. III. Senior Citizens There are special government privileges and schemes for senior citizens (aged 60 and above). It is always welcome to reach out to them and offer them instant & on-spot services rather than expecting them to go through multiple visits to the Government offices.

B. Strategic Approach

2. What was the solution?
Gandhinagar Collectorate proposed “Services at your door-steps” initiative to solve the problem mentioned above. The initiative was as follows: To address the needs of the school students, the administration launched one or two day service delivery camps at schools. The dates of the service camp were proactively planned even before the examinations. The onus of ensuring a complete application of a student was passed on to the school authorities. These authorities were trained by the administration well before the date of the camp. The school authorities and teachers passed the information to the students. The students with the help of their teachers and parents filled-up the application papers. The representatives from the administration pre-verified the paperwork. On the day of the camp, the tehsil and district authorities and service staff visited the school campus to complete on spot issue of the certificate. The related services such as photocopies, attestation, verification and instant photo, etc. were also handled on spot. The applicant students or their parents did not have to visit any offices or wait in any queues or face any rush. The authorities had sufficient time to ensure all compliances before the issue of important certifications. To reach out to the illiterate and poor citizens in the remote rural areas, the administration launched service delivery camps in the villages. The decision making authority, supporting staff remained present at the village. In most cases the initiative was held at the school premises along with the issue of the caste certificates and other documents to the students. In some cases the village panchayat hosted the camp. The application forms and related information were pre-distributed to the applicants through village level volunteers and local administration. The documents were verified at the camp. Necessary stamp and attestation were done during the camp. The applications were submitted to the state level citizen service delivery system software through Internet connectivity as well as State Wide Area Network. The computer generated acceptance notes / acknowledgement were given to the applicants to assure them that their part of the work is successfully completed. Later, within the stipulated time limits, after due diligence at the back-end, the final grant orders, etc. were issued to the applicants. Several old citizens, Helpless old people, widows, illiterate families came forward to receive the benefits they deserved. They could avail the same without any loss of their daily labour, at minimal costs and without travelling to any offices. In both the cases the key objectives of citizen service delivery were achieved successfully. The initiative was very well supported by the school staff, local volunteers. Leading personalities of the area blessed the events and expressed their deep satisfaction. To a good extent, the citizens felt empowered and their faith in the administration was improved significantly.
3. How did the initiative solve the problem and improve people’s lives?
The initiative was creative & innovative in the following ways:  Instead of applicants approaching an administration, the administration approached applicants under this initiative. This overwhelmed the citizens.  The citizens & students came forward and derived the benefit as they faced no uncertainty related to the paperwork process. In some cases, the same citizens had avoided visiting the district offices for several years.  The initiative has been a real example of “Technology for People”. The laptops, internet and S-WAN connectivity were utilized to serve otherwise unaddressed people.  The events were of local nature (instead of typically at the government office). So, local volunteers and people participated with great joy.  Most of the paperwork formalities were completed well-ahead of the camp day. As a result the officers only had to scrutinize completed papers. This could be handled with much greater efficiency.  The justification of the initiative was on basis of the effort and costs to the administration vis-à-vis the gross sum of efforts and costs to the citizens. This made the initiative an all-out winner!

C. Execution and Implementation

4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
Doorsteps delivery – The strategy & its implementation Process: • The administration prepared the general guidelines for the participant school or village communities. The guidelines included list of preparations expected on their end, paperwork formalities, connectivity infrastructure, etc. • On the other end, guidelines were prepared for the administration including the officers, the service provider staff. Delegation of powers and responsibilities were also a part of this process. Awareness: • The local participant organizations were trained by the administrative authorities and staff. The training was to explain the procedure to be followed by them. • The participant organizations conducted an awareness campaign for the beneficiaries. The media advertisements, press notes, local announcements and bulletins and hoardings were published. • The schools and local panchayats distributed relevant forms and information to the prospective applicants. Preparation and ground-level work: • Local people with the help of the representatives of the civic centre guided the applicants to fill-up the forms and prepare enclosures. • The supportive services such as instant photo, photocopies, attestation, lamination, etc. were made available at the camp site. • The school principal and senior staff verified the caste and birth records of the students and endorsed the authenticity of the applications in case of students. • The completed and verified applications were available to the officers for their final scrutiny. • The eligible applications were granted and the certificates, orders were generated. Outcome & Reforms: • Caste, Income, Domicile, etc. Certificates were issued to the students. Grant, Assistance orders were issued for the eligible applicants. Ration-card amendments were carried out. • During the doorsteps delivery camps, suggestions and feedbacks from all the stakeholders were sought. The same helped further improvements of the services. • The success of one event attracted its repetition at the next location. • Complete documentation including photographs, feedback notes, etc. was maintained. The documentation shall help replication and sustainability in an effective manner.
5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
The major stakeholders involved in implementation are: • School Students • School Principal • School Staff • Citizens at large • Village Panchayats • District Administration (Collector, Tehsildar, Area Development Officer, etc.) • Civic Centre Staff • Local volunteers • Leading citizens and NGOs • Network Administrators (NIC) The district administration facilitated the intiative. They also assured the availability of officers, staff as well as information. They coordinated with all the other stakeholders to ensure effective service delivery at the doorsteps. The school authorities, staff and Village Panchayat administrators provided help at local level. They provided the furnished space, data connectivity and basic amenities. They also extend required assistance and information to students and applicants. Students and Citizens at Large are the primary beneficiaries. Students get the required certificates in quick, convenient and in-expensive way. Citizens get the government services in an assured manner. They save time and costs to avail benefits intended for them. Civic Centre staff delivers the services. They interact with the applicants. They verify the filled-up application forms. They handle the entry of the application data into the computer system. They carry out printing, lamination etc. services and deliver the reply to the applicants. Leading Citizens and local volunteers facilitate the awareness of the initiative. They motivate the citizens to avail the benefit of the opportunity of services at the doorsteps. They assist the applicants, service staff and administrative authorities on the day of the event. They also contribute in any other ways they possibly can.
6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
The project was an extension of the citizen service delivery administration already in place at the district level. The state has set up a reliable, high speed wide area network to facilitate connectivity from rural areas. So there were no significant infrastructure costs. The event related costs were incurred by the host school or panchayat. Most of the awareness and assistance related work was handled by the volunteers and local people at no charge. The processing fee of Rs. 20 per application was recovered from the applicants. This fee covered the service delivery costs of the civic centre staff and other overheads. The entire initiative was facilitated in a revenue neutral manner. However if the cost savings to the citizens is considered, the initiative offered huge cost benefit. Hundreds of students and citizens saved the costs of travelling to the concerned offices. They also saved their valuable time.
7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
Convenience to the students: The students no longer have to stand in queues and experience any delays or uncertainty. Their work gets ready ahead of time. Such a service to the citizens of tomorrow is a matter of great satisfaction for the administration. Reaching out to the under-privileged citizens: Helpless old people, Physically challenged citizens, widows and hundreds of illiterate citizens residing in rural villages hardly come forward to seek the benefits meant for them. They either do not know about those or they lack assurance about their success in tapping these benefits. Delivery at the doorsteps comes to them as a big blessing. They have hardly anything to lose or risk. Such a successful reach is also a success for the government. Participation & Involvement of Stakeholders: As the service delivery event is focused for the local people, volunteers contribute their best to the event. The event in true sense becomes of the people, for the people, by the people. Cost & Time Benefit to Citizens and Administration: Students & Citizens save lot of time as they receive benefits without having to visit a government office. They don’t have to go back and forth for paperwork compliance. The poor and deprived beneficiaries save their hard earned money. The administration on the other end achieve greater level of efficiency due to pre-verified, completed paperwork and instant disposals. Faith in the Government Administration: As the government administration reaches out to the people, a positive feeling prevails among the citizens. They are inspired to expect more from the government. Their faith in the administration gets a boost.
8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
Presence of Senior Officers at the Camp: Every camp was attended by a senior government officer. The district collector himself attended most of the camps. This helped in boosting the confidence of all the stakeholders. The beneficiaries and the officers had highly effective interactions. The officers also derived the first hand information through the events. Documentation & Phases: As the events were carried out in a routine and regular manner, the procedures were formalized. Several phases including Promotion of Awareness, Involvement of local people, Planning & Preparations before the event, Paperwork formalities on pro-active basis, Approvals & Decision making and Distribution of Certificates & Awards, etc. were defined and time tagged to streamline the proceedings. Delegation of Roles & Responsibilities: The officers, Service delivery work force as well as the host institutions were conveyed their roles and responsibilities. This ensured a healthy teamwork leading to the success of the initiative. Criteria for Success & Report: The objective focused on both the qualitative & quantitative ends. We tried to involve as many citizens as we could. More the beneficiaries, greater the success of the initiative. We also tried to cover more and more services as we progressed. The involvement of local stakeholders was also a parameter to consider for success. The feedbacks and suggestions were crucially important for future events. The formalized reports helped the evaluation of the success of the initiative.
9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
The main obstacles against implementation of the initiative were as follows: Response of the Beneficiaries While the school level events met with good success since the start, the citizen services took a while to succeed. For a common citizen it was difficult to believe that he / she does not need to travel to a government office to get the work done. It was difficult for them to accept that the volunteers and service staff will handhold them to complete the paperwork. As the initiative progressed from village to village, more and more people turned out to avail the benefits. At some of the places, the event sustained two days beyond the date of the camp. Involvement of local hosts: As the initiative was proposed by the government administration, some of the schools expressed reluctance to participate. They were likely to have anticipated some inspections and audit as a result of the visit of senior officials. After the initial experiences, a wave of comfort prevailed and the local bodies started expressing their enthusiasm to host the event. Availability of Services: The facilities such as photocopiers were not available at some of the villages. People had to visit near by places to get those done. Later a portable copier was added along with the computer equipment for the camps. This resolved the problem. Similarly, the stamp papers were not available as there were no vendors in those villages. The Tehsildar arranged to have a stamp vendor from the headquarters to remain present at the camp. Network Connectivity: Initially the work was handled off-line due to lack of computer network connectivity. Later with the availability of S-WAN and mobile internet, the problem was resolved.

D. Impact and Sustainability

10. What were the key benefits resulting from this initiative?
Citizen Empowerment, Public-Private Partnership (Teamwork), Efficient Operations, Technology for People The initiative of a government administration to deliver services at the door-steps of the citizens was welcomed by the citizens. Many of these citizens had avoided approaching the administration for the benefits they really deserved. They were not sure that they would qualify for the schemes. They were not aware of the offices they needed to go to. They did not know which forms to fill-up and what to enclose. In case of some of the common services like ration card amendments, etc. where there was a greater level of awareness, the citizens were hesitant to spare 2-3 days for the procedural work. They had to lose their daily earnings and spend for the travel in order to visit the district or tehsil offices. Yet, they were not sure of the completion of the paperwork. At times they had to count on touts or agents to get the work done. “Services at the doorsteps” resolved all these issues. Citizens derived a great sense of satisfactions as they were served at their home place without any time delays or travel expenditure. Citizens had the taste of the power of democracy where they felt that the administration was really meant for them. Citizens felt empowered. More and more services were covered in the “door-steps” initiative. The local people realized the value of the initiative. They appreciated the effort and formed a positive image of the administration. They welcomed the effort and participated by offering their infrastructure and support. At Patnakuva village, the primary school teachers offered their computer lab for printing of the certificates on spot. The initiative reflected a good example of Public-Private Teamwork. The students did not have to face any panic or rush to avail the required certifications within a small time period. They did not have to stand in queues and wait for hours to get their work done. Their parents appreciated the initiative. While the government administration had to incur the additional costs of travel and temporary set up of infrastructure, people at large benefitted much more. Hundreds of students saved hundreds of rupees of travel and related expenses. Hundreds of citizens saved time and money. The value of small amounts to poor people was far more than that absorbed by the administration. The initiative guaranteed and justified the cost benefit. With the availability of ICT, the initiative clearly expresses relevance. The data required to process an application is always available locally. It can easily travel to the servers located remotely. So it makes all the sense if services are catered at the door-steps instead of expecting the beneficiaries to travel to the central place. This was a perfect example of use of “Technology for People”.
11. Did the initiative improve integrity and/or accountability in public service? (If applicable)
“Citizen Service Delivery at the Doorsteps” has elevated the expectations of the citizens. Driven with success, the replication is obvious and natural. The beginning was from the district administration. However the village or local NGOs would invite the administration to come to their locality for doorsteps services. Ultimately, Citizens, the prime beneficiaries shall sustain the initiative. The doorsteps services initiative has been an “All-Win” initiative. Every stakeholder is a gainer and there is no loser. Citizens and School Students & Parents are the prime beneficiaries. They have so much to gain and nothing to lose. They save costs and time. The local schools and NGOs and leaders are more than happy to host the camps. They feel proud to be a part of the service that benefits their community. All they have to spare is their existing infrastructure and their time. They do so with pleasure. The government officers see their success in the initiative as they find the benefits reach to beneficiaries in the most efficient and effective manner. The technology beautifully ties up all the wings of the citizen service network. There are practically no additional costs or investments. As there are schools in every part of the country and the needs of the citizens in the rural areas are similar in nature, the initiative has a tremendous scope to replicate. Over the replication, the initiative shall further mature. More and more G2C services and some B2C services may get included with the spread of the initiative.
12. Were special measures put in place to ensure that the initiative benefits women and girls and improves the situation of the poorest and most vulnerable? (If applicable)
The district administration derived great satisfaction through the “Citizen Services at the Doorsteps” initiative. The officers and the ground level staff enjoyed serving the people. As we served people, we could see them on the same side of the fence. The organizations and volunteers participated with enthusiasm. People appreciated the care and concern the administration offered to them. As all the energies align, the positive outcomes multiply. Such “All-win” initiatives can establish the faith of the citizens in the governing bodies. Empowered citizens and Efficient Administration can be pillars of a healthy democracy. We sensed that cost is practically a no factor. As all stakeholders offer what they can, no single stakeholder bears the burden. The administration may only serve as a trigger and play their formal role. Later people catch up and enjoy serving people. While the initiative may sound creative and innovative, it also seems natural and obvious. The technology has removed the place barriers. So it makes all the sense to serve people where they are. While we shall make every effort to spread the initiative within our administration, we shall also make efforts to publicize so that the same gets replicated. We find it our responsibility to further fine tune the initiative. We expect to add more services including B2C services. We expect to launch services on wheels so that the administration can reach out to every citizen in every corner. Such models of distributed service delivery should be studied collectively to prepare a model for the nation. Through the policy support, the model should be replicated and spread in every part of the country.     Article courtesy:   https://publicadministration.un.org/en/Research/Case-Studies/unpsacases/ctl/NominationProfilev2014/mid/1170/id/2795