The ministry has picked Drinking Water Project for Small Towns, Mid-Hill Road constructions, Housing Program for People, Rani Jamara Irrigation Project and Hulaki Road constructions for the purpose. Ministry officials say the allowance will be released only after assessing the performance indicators. The decision is in line with an announcement made by Finance Minister Surendra Pandey in his budget speech.
It´s too early to say if such allowances will improve performance at the projects or whether it will play a role in reducing corruption. Empirically, pay level and corruption do not have a strong correlation. If that were not the case, the developed countries would have been free of the scourge of corruption. Corruption arises primarily due to greed and the absence of moral fiber. Given such factors, no raise in salary or allowance would stop corrupt practices, as has been amply demonstrated by corruption cases and financial scams in the corporate world globally.
But it would be wrong to argue that there is absolutely no correlation between incentives and rewards. When people´s hard work is appreciated and rewarded, it motivates them to do more. Remember that there are always good people, in almost any field and almost every office, who work sincerely and hard irrespective of incentive or reward. For them, their work itself is the best reward in life, and they will not compromise on the sincerity and devotion that they put into it. But even for them recognition does matters, and if recognition comes in terms of better allowances it is just as well. And given that perks and benefits in government service are so low, it makes sense to offer something extra to those who work hard and bring results.
Let´s take it this way: It´s an experiment. It may work or it may not. But there is nothing wrong in experimenting and since the performance allowance has been introduced only in a small number of projects the cost in case of failure will not be too high. The civil servant unions, which have been protesting the allowance arguing that it is discriminatory against other employees, definitely have a point, but since it is at an experimental phase they should withhold their planned protest to see the results of this endeavor. If the allowance improves performance dramatically, the practice can be expanded to other projects and sectors, and eventually the perks and benefits of each of the employees can be tied up with their performance.
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