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Government Information System and Bureaucratic Decision-making

From LDC to NIC by Shahed Latif
L youthful hedonism Net ther It Is sustere living full of agonising mlwrwt Reality to utter boredom of routinised living Any high level government bureaucrat should think of hlmaell exactly like this. Oet up in the morning. cup of hot tea. bath and off to the office. "Fortunately". 'here to ample time to read the morning newspaper in the office rather than al home - again wtth a steaming cup of tea
The telephone starts ring Ing. first (rom home and then friends drop In; the telephone rings again Promptly the reply goes. Sahib is busy in a meet Ing". If such Is the time, how can the lunch be lar behind
This is of course not the way of the bureaucrats all the time Sometimes may be. and relaxation is necessary for the arduous task of decision making The inevitable "Adda" termed as meetings on the tek-phonc break up for serious business of attending to the piled up files, papers under disposal, summary for the Cabinet etc.. Lunch is still far away which to usually a quick affair within the office room
Officials do work no doubt But the thoughtful reflections on Issues and problems, the enquiring mind to probe deep into the matters of concern arc lacking or atteasl not vtol-ble to the extent desired. The bureaucratic system is such that It does not encourage innovative thinking and welcome the organised routine and repelation of decisions made in the past. Precedents have a tremendous influence and as proposed" is what the senior bureaucrats often write on the file. This is the reality which is Indeed utter boredom of routinised living. (
Electronic Data Communication
Such realities arc however the death knells of development administration. One of the serious limitations Is the utter lack of development of a government information system. In the age of computers and electronic data communi cation, the administration has been left far behind sleeping at the post. Tako for example. September-October period in the Ministry of Agriculture and what the responsive Information system could do. Aus crop has been harvested, trans plan tation of aman is complete and Lhe monsoon water levels arc
tn the high marks Given this scenario, computerised Infor mation system should enable the ministry to reflect on HYV aus acreage. its yield, why area has Increased or declined, rea sons lor tow and/or high yield and what has been the acreage under mixed aus aman which 11 toss than the previous years Is good for the coming rabl crops since more land would be available for pulses and oilseeds without any reduction of paddy production Aus in pure stand would yield as much as combined aus/aman. By the end of September, the acreage under transplanted aman can be finally determined. and what are the waler levels — to what extent flood levels affected the trans-Ktented HYV aman acreage.
rom upaztlas such data should be directly transferable to the mainframe computer located al the Ministry of Agriculture while the required programme already fed to the computet should automatically prepare the spread-sheets, charts, graphs and pie -diagrams at any desired level of aggregation. Thus the computerised Information would provide very timely analysis of outputs of aus. prospects of the main aman crop, land likely to be available for the dry season crops — for example. Irrigated boro rice, wheat and the tradl ttonal rabi crops; fertiliser and seed requirements as well as the preparatory actions to be taken by November for the maximum Irrigation coverage during the 1991-92 irrigation season.
5s regards the 1992-93 agriculture year, significant highlights for immediate programming purpose could also be obtained al this time There arc already on record the land capability survey maps in U-rrtis of potential HYV aus and aman lands classified according to land development units. The computer can immediately Indicate the lagging areas in terms of potentialities yet to be realised. Field Investigations should then concentrate on those upaztlas where greater efforts arc necessary and identify specific actions to be taken for the purpose. Thus a disaggregated programming approach could be adopted. More
supplementary irrigation may be required In one area, al other places shortage of critical inputs should be removed or It could be shortsupply of agricultural credits in certain other areas. There could be numerous factors, each of varying degree of importance al upazila level. It to of utmoal importance to Identify them adequately and address them with specific actions in order lo maximise production in the next year
Performance Evaluation
Another significant dimension of the computerised information system would be its use to design the appropriate performance evaluation system for the field extension staff Simultaneously, there must be a system of compensation and reward for those staff who have
done better through salary In crease and/or cash rewards. A system lo generate the enthu elastic response of the field staff Is critical for the growth of the agriculture sector
For the Ministry of Food, the estimated aus production, stocks tn hand and prospects for aman should determine the amount of rice and wheat to be released for open market op-eraUons till the main aman crop arrives Into the market beginning late November or early December depending on the transplantations already completed, and information In that respect to already available tn the computer. The daily price data collected from 00 leading markets of the country Is another valuable source of information which the com pulcr can analyse, as directed. In order lo project future price trends and the extent of government Intervention desired al the market place. September-October is the lean period in terms of food supply in Bangladesh. Careful analysis of price and supply data would enable determination of the desired procurement price of aman paddy beginning December each year.
Water Control
Rivers In the country are tn the grips of high flow in the
months of August through October. Data on waler levels, rainfall including prospects thereof in case of tale monsoon in particular, should enable de termination of the priority waler control programmes during the forthcoming dry season beginning November Preparations of work orders for digging channels, building protective embankments and water control regulators should all be issued by October so that limited work days of the dry season are fully utilised and wastes arc minimum due to early rains during Monsoon 1992. In this respect computers are very useful In preparing the civil engineering designs, tender specifications, analysis of Quotations offered and timely issue of work orders. More significant is the fact
that computers would not accept any bribe. As a result, ll-k-gai bias that have been built-in could be avoided. Moreover, by means of simple hook-up, several computer work stations could be exposed to the same outputs and entires for the purpose of control and cross-check as well as Integra Lion of the work being done In piecemeal at several locations to feasible.
Computers arc therefore powerful tools for decision making. A great deal of data gel collected by various agencies but they are never analysed in a manner useful for de-ciston making. It to now high time that a responsive and widely used government information system Is developed without any further delay. In the planning from LDC to NIC. Information is the most decisive factor and It to not only collection of Information but Its quick and timely analysis that should efficiently provide the various options for decision-making.
Decision delayed is often decision denied. It Is not often realised that timeliness is more Important than perfect accuracy of decisions. If delayed. perhaps all the errors could be avoided but such delays might render the decision
useless or obsolete. Its efier live ne ss could be seriously undermined. Here computers can provide invaluable support Programmes can be developed with built in safeguards for au tomatlcaliy correcting the errors. No doubt modern information technology is of deci slve importance for our onward journey from LDC to NIC Not only data and Information can be communicated from upaztlas in matter of seconds, errors can also be detected so that sources are immediately advised to check and rrchcck In order to come up with the corrected Inputs. Thereafter, compilation processing and analysis are activities carried out by the computers in matter of minutes Thus timeliness is ensured and at the same time quality decisions are possible these days.
Hypothetical Example Let us consider a hypothetical example — suppose the September-October analysis of state of the crop agriculture reveals not a very happy aus harvest, delayed aman trans plantation so that yield would decline and HYV aman could not expand due to relatively high waler levels. Immediate decisions for the open market sale of government food stock*, stock taking of available irrigation equipment, reordering levels for their spare-parts, orders for fertilisers and fuel to factories and refinery. import orders for pcstl rides. seeds — ail these decisions could be made tn preparation for the intensification of crop production during the hazard free dry season. This to not advance planning but timely decision making.
A dilemma faced by the government Is whether to tm port more foodgrains or the Irrigation equipment for greater irrigation coverage and produce the foods ourselves. Obviously. any nation geared to achieve sell-reliance would support the second alternative. In Bangladesh we had however tn the past adopted th$ first option — the path of least resistance or the soft option fully satisfying our aid dependency . syndrome as well as our narrow perceptions to generate
the cownterpart fund* to Mito to support the budgetary shortfall*. The information system that to being discussed here would toe to a position io analyse the taiptocation* of the alternatives in a very thoroughgoing manner, leaving no option at the end but to adopt the self reliant approach. Lack of analysed information to the prime cause of the conspicuous absence of correct and growth Inducing decisions.
System Must Change
Inevitably, the existing system must change. Perhaps the most significant management neglect to-day to the conspicuous absence of any regular macro-economic management system which monitors the changes In the critical economic variables like savings, investment, merchandise exports. Imports, foreign ex rates etc., on a continuing basts. Not that these informations are not collected; they are available but may not be on lime and most Important, analysis of the Information to ascertain the state of the economy at regular intervale are not carried out.
There should be macro-economic management team, perhaps the general eco nbmics division of the Planning Commission could be renamed and assigned the task of weekly economic analysis for the consideration of the economic Committee of the Cabinet; or perhaps the full Cabinet should be appraised of the state of the economy on a weekly basis. Political authorities must not only know but they should be fully exposed to the realities of the state of the economy which Is more often rather bleak than bright
Government Information system is a continuous, ceaseless operation and It strengthens decision making capacity In a continuing manner. The accumulated information for short-term decision would over time open up the vital Opportunities for medium to long-term projections and refinement of decision*.
Information* are like the flow of water in the river — cease le** and everlasting — over which should sail the boat of progress and economic growth. The world ha* graduated from the industrial to the information age — why should we be left far behind?