Are governments NPOs? (NKF inspired)
The NKF issue has mushroomed into something larger than I originally thought it would. When I learnt today that NKF featured high in the pecking order on Technorati, I decided to scribe something and attract some traffic to my blog.
I have never donated a paisa to charity. I've helped random people who looked like they needed a meal more badly than I needed an ice-cream in sultry Mumbai summers, but I've never, so to speak, ever made a cash donation to any organisation that had taken it upon itself to do public good with public money. That is what governments are for, I believe.
Flogging dead horses might get you into trouble with the SPCA, but having done my bit for the animals by taking in a mangy kitten and feeding it, I may just venture to be so audacious. The Durai chap got lambasted by the junta for having a juicy wage, flying first class and having expensive faucets (which tabloid reporter unearthed this, I wonder), and inspite of NKFs support, the entire board resigned. I believe the org has lost some of its prestige in the public eye, with reports of people cancelling their monthly donations in the papers.
But I wonder, if civil servants and ministers are paid handsome wages to encourage them to be fully dedicated and honest in the discharge of their duties to the junta, why not charitable foundation top cats? The belief that generous monetary recompense for law and order officials, civil servants and ministers goes a long way in ensuring a high quality of public service stands vindicated in the example of more than one country in the world. While it's romantic to expect the public servant to be this kind of self-sacrificing do-gooder that works tirelessly for a pittance for the public good, such an implementation lacks merit, and nowhere is a better example of it found than in India.
I can say with no uncertain shame that I have greased the palms of a few public servants to expedite certain matters that do not require divulgence, I tend to agree that in the long run, it does the junta on the whole more harm than good. So a fat cheque at the end of the month is a good prescription for corruption, I conclude.
While I know enough about the NKF issue to not pronounce judgement on any of the parties involved, it seems ridiculous to me that people that justify the fat salaries of civil servants should be thrown at the knowledge of such practices happening in non-governmental non-profit organisations as well.
After all, a government is supposed to be a non-profit organisation too, no? Well, not exactly, but from the perspective of the citizens that vote a government into power, it should. A government should derive profit from its dealings with other governments that result in profits made by businesses operating under the auspices of the government, but I am uncertain as to whether a government would or should aspire to make profit from the public which it is elected to serve. In my opinion, it should not, because if a government is of/for/by the people, then making proft from the people would create an institution that actually generates wealth from nothing, no?
Bottomline being, just as a proficient government run by highly paid officials shouldn't bother the junta, so shouldn't proficient charitable organisations run by highly paid executives.
The NKF issue has mushroomed into something larger than I originally thought it would. When I learnt today that NKF featured high in the pecking order on Technorati, I decided to scribe something and attract some traffic to my blog.
I have never donated a paisa to charity. I've helped random people who looked like they needed a meal more badly than I needed an ice-cream in sultry Mumbai summers, but I've never, so to speak, ever made a cash donation to any organisation that had taken it upon itself to do public good with public money. That is what governments are for, I believe.
Flogging dead horses might get you into trouble with the SPCA, but having done my bit for the animals by taking in a mangy kitten and feeding it, I may just venture to be so audacious. The Durai chap got lambasted by the junta for having a juicy wage, flying first class and having expensive faucets (which tabloid reporter unearthed this, I wonder), and inspite of NKFs support, the entire board resigned. I believe the org has lost some of its prestige in the public eye, with reports of people cancelling their monthly donations in the papers.
But I wonder, if civil servants and ministers are paid handsome wages to encourage them to be fully dedicated and honest in the discharge of their duties to the junta, why not charitable foundation top cats? The belief that generous monetary recompense for law and order officials, civil servants and ministers goes a long way in ensuring a high quality of public service stands vindicated in the example of more than one country in the world. While it's romantic to expect the public servant to be this kind of self-sacrificing do-gooder that works tirelessly for a pittance for the public good, such an implementation lacks merit, and nowhere is a better example of it found than in India.
I can say with no uncertain shame that I have greased the palms of a few public servants to expedite certain matters that do not require divulgence, I tend to agree that in the long run, it does the junta on the whole more harm than good. So a fat cheque at the end of the month is a good prescription for corruption, I conclude.
While I know enough about the NKF issue to not pronounce judgement on any of the parties involved, it seems ridiculous to me that people that justify the fat salaries of civil servants should be thrown at the knowledge of such practices happening in non-governmental non-profit organisations as well.
After all, a government is supposed to be a non-profit organisation too, no? Well, not exactly, but from the perspective of the citizens that vote a government into power, it should. A government should derive profit from its dealings with other governments that result in profits made by businesses operating under the auspices of the government, but I am uncertain as to whether a government would or should aspire to make profit from the public which it is elected to serve. In my opinion, it should not, because if a government is of/for/by the people, then making proft from the people would create an institution that actually generates wealth from nothing, no?
Bottomline being, just as a proficient government run by highly paid officials shouldn't bother the junta, so shouldn't proficient charitable organisations run by highly paid executives.
