It is to be noted that, not too long ago, the salaries in the private sector was not as attractive as they are now. Many of the serving government officers have joined the service when they were having other options also. They should not be punished nor made to regret for having chosen to become a public servant than serving some only profit motivated private enterprises. The Govt. official also have to live, bring up and educate his children among those who are employed in the private sector or well paid public sector organisations. At present for even a Group A officer it would be difficult to afford to send his child, to an IIM or any other premier institute, which is sponsored or established by the Government itself, whereas those who being less competent were not able to make it to the Civil Services, and hence joined the public or private sector, would be able to provide quality education for their children. Regarding other benefits such as promotional avenues also, the private sector, has emerged as much more attractive. In the private sector (especially in software, banking, Telecommunications, Insurance etc.) a qualified employee gets promoted to the next level in about three years, whereas in the government the same takes many more years. This will definitely demoralize the presently serving officers, and would fail to attract the cream of talent to join also. In fact there has been only a reduction in the facilities provided to the Govt. employees. Suspension of LTC a few years back is an example. For the new entrants to the service, even the pension, which was once considered as an attractive factor in the Govt., has been made contributory, resulting in an actual decrease of 10% in the net salary. Even their savings through the Provident Fund attracts 0.5% less interest, than the private sector. (The govt. incurs huge loss to provide for this higher interest to the private sector). Moreover, the salary of the Govt. employee is as such subject to income tax, whereas in the private sector, they split the salaries in to components and reimbursements so as to avoid income tax to the maximum. The bureaucracy being adequately paid is, in fact, in the interest and for the welfare of the large sections of the community, and promotes equity and social justice, for the reasons including the following: a) It is the Govt. machinery, which has to formulate and implement schemes and programs for the welfare and benefit of the larger community. Hence it is necessary that the Govt. machinery be manned with people with ability and quality. b) Govt. provides and ensures employment opportunities for the talented among the under privileged sections including SC/ST, OBC, physically handicapped, etc. The well-paid jobs in the private sector, by and large are accessible to the convent / public school educated elite layer of the society. There are no prescribed criteria for the recruitment in to the private sector employment. So the Govt. sector remains the only avenue available for the children of the ordinary man, to come up in life by ones own effort. If salaries in the Govt. are not made at par with that of the private sector, it only adds to widen the gap between the elite and the poor sections of the society. c) Being underpaid would demoralize the public servant, which in turn would slow down the process of development. d) An adequately paid civil service would be less or not corrupt, which again is beneficial for the community.
