Grievance redress mechanism is part and parcel of administrative machinery--Naveen Jain

There is a need to redress public grievances in an atypical way by thinking creatively and freely while maintaining the status quo of ‘work-ground’ because it would be a herculean task to confront the changes to fundamentals of a government’s administrative working platform, said senior IAS officer Naveen Jain, currently Secretary to Government, Planning, Statistics Department, Rajasthan, while addressing the Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS) probationer officers at the Harish Chandra Mathur Rajasthan State Institute of Public Administration, Jaipur (HCM RIPA) commonly known as Officers' Training School (OTS).

To bring in the desired results the communist approach conveniently advocated total changes to the ‘work field’, which is similar to running the roller on the agriculture field and re-sowing for a new harvest, but IAS officer Naveen Jain addressed the issue with an eye on the democratically run ‘working fields’ and focused on the operational challenge and the implementation part, which he said, “should be approached by ‘out of the box thinking’ by moving out of the ‘comfort zone thinking’. While showing concern that some people aren’t clear about what the box is all about, and what it means to think outside, he emphasised that breakthrough thinking and creativity often come when we start thinking outside the box.

Without getting into the jargon of “management in governance” and taking a cautious and selective approach towards innovation, he made a distinction between ‘down-to-earth’ innovation and ‘fashionable coloured lens” innovation. The fashionable innovation, Naveen Jain said, is only good to find a place in a journal or to get instant praise as a mere lecturer because in the real world, you have to deliver and live up to the expectations and if it remains unattained you can imagine where you will stand.

Naveen Jain called for a supply-inclined innovation, which in itself might not create the demand until it improves by making your supply relevant to satisfy the end-user. But once it does, it can then be thrust upon the end-users (the public). In a scenario of un-separated relationship between demand-driven and supply-driven innovation problems may surface if one side is isolated and not given full attention. It has to be seen as dependent on the right balance between demand and supply factors, he added.

“At this stage supply would have created its own demand. Initially, there was no demand but with a mix of innovation and out of box thinking the public received something that made them say, ‘not bad at all’, and then with a little bit of modification and by triggering the evolution process (slow and steady change that cannot be observed) what you churned out as supply converted into ‘in-demand’ with slight modification. Now you put the supply on because the individual end-user is now profoundly affected by its disappearance, so you have changed your supply-inclined innovation to the demand side. If the supply is interrupted it will create problems. Now people are demanding it. And this is success”, Secretary Naveen Jain said.

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Auther is a senior journalist and has been on the news desk of prominent newspapers in Hong Kong, India, and the UAE.