Case 9.9: Top of the table
- Hypothetical case
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Syllabus point
- 4: the Gita: nishkama karma, duty and fruit
- Values and laws tested
- Selfless action (Gita 2.47), equanimity (Gita 2.48), integrity, honesty of data; Conduct Rule 3(1)
Illustrative exampleTop of the table
Madhu is a Sub-Divisional Officer in a district of Rajasthan. The state has begun a "ration card Aadhaar-linking campaign" and a table of districts comes out every Monday. Madhu's sub-division insists on house-to-house verification, so its percentage is slow and it sits near the bottom of the table. A senior says on the phone, "Elsewhere the staff just enter the thumbprints themselves. It will affect your annual report. Raise the figures, however you do it." Some subordinates say, "Madam, for half a per cent we will sit all night." Madhu is anxious, because she knows that proper verification will actually link many widows and persons with disabilities, but it takes time. The table is sent to all district officers, so everyone's position is visible to everyone. Two colleagues from other sub-divisions have already reported 100 per cent, which Madhu privately doubts.
- Stakeholders
- widows, persons with disabilities and other eligible families (the weakest party), the staff, the seniors, the department, Madhu.
- Issue
- honest, correct work against the position in the table and fear for her own appraisal; worry over the fruit against purity of action.
- Options
- A. Enter false thumbprints and climb the table (rank and safety; but forgery, genuine beneficiaries are left out later, a breach of conduct). B. Stay wholly unconcerned, go slow and say "what is the result to me" (a clear mind; but an escape from responsibility for the target, and a wrong reading of the Gita too). C. Keep the quality of verification and raise the pace: more camps, village-wise teams, home facilities; write to the senior with the true position and reasons, and show "verified" and "pending" separately in the indicator (more effort; but the action is honest and the result comes from effort).
- Best
- C. Gita 2.47 speaks of the right to action and freedom from attachment to its fruit; Gita 2.48 calls equanimity in success and failure yoga. Conduct Rule 3(1) demands integrity at all times.
Lesson
Action: Short term: more camps, home verification for the disabled and the old, a true report to the senior, motivate the staff. Long term: columns for "verified" and "quality" in the table, praise for those who do it right, resources along with targets.
Practice Questions
Practice questionabout 100 words
(10 marks, 100 words) What should Madhu do? Solve with the five-step card.
Model answer
The stakeholders are widows, persons with disabilities and eligible families (the weakest), the staff, seniors, the department and I. The issue is honest action against fear of the table. I have three routes: enter false thumbprints, go slow and ignore results, or keep quality and raise the pace. The first is forgery; the second misreads the Gita. I choose the third, because Gita 2.47 teaches purity of action and non-attachment to fruit, and Rule 3(1) demands integrity. I would add camps, verify at home and send the senior a true report. Long term I would ask for a quality column in the table.
Practice questionabout 50 words
(5 marks, 50 words) Give the right and the wrong reading of "do your duty, do not worry about the fruit" in this case.
Model answer
Right reading: full effort, clean means, no anxiety or greed over the result. Wrong reading: ignoring results.
Practice questionabout 50 words
(5 marks, 50 words) Suggest long-term steps to balance targets and quality.
Model answer
Indicators for both quantity and quality, resources, praise for honest work.