Progressive Bureaucracy In Bangladesh : An Untold Story

Bureaucracy is the most essential part of the political system in the modern world.It is also the part and parcel of modern administrative system of a government.According to Max Weber,German sociologist,bureaucracy is the most efficient way to set up an organization and administration.

As Bangladesh is a democratic country according to her constitution,after every five years an election is held.So government is changed.But the bureaucrats are not changed.They remain the same.Bangladesh is such a developing country,where the bureaucrats usually come of middle or lower-middle class family.They has experienced a poverty-prone environment.So when they achieves the power of a government official, they become untouchable.They become unmindful about providing the essential services to the mass people.The major problems of Bangladeshi bureaucracy is created by our bureaucratic culture which we got from different colonial periods.However,the matter of relief is that,the situation is changing though the process is a bit slow.While Bangladesh is being featured in most of the global medias for having poor and inefficient bureaucratic system,the country is undergoing through a trans-formative positive change- a story that is little heard of.The story is about the beginning to break the old norms of the Bangladesh civil service which is surrounded by old colonial norms and rules.In short, civil service used to be more about administration and less about service improvisation.But that is not the case anymore i think.As the question is changed from “what do you want?” to “how can i serve you?”.Though i have a few experiences with Bangladeshi bureaucracy,i’m going to share a story of my uncle as the story is more recent.

My uncle,who lives in a remote union named Chandrokona which is under Nakla upazila in Sherpur district.He bought a piece of land in the union and wanted licence for the land.As there is a union sub-center in Chandrokona ,he was suggested to visit the office.It’s a fully government owned organization.He asked to the officials to get a license for the land he bought.The officials gave him a date .And it took only two weeks to get the licence.It was actually a matter of surprise for my uncle.Because even 10 years ago,he would have to travel at least 2 or 3 hours to reach at the land registry office which is situated in the district and to wait for hours as officials reluctantly sifted through piles of records to find the deed of the land.He had to go through too much hassle to get the papers of the land.Also there had been a chance to be a victim of corruption.That day,however,he just had to walk for half an hour for the possible procedures for the newly bought land.So we can clearly see that,the scenario of this particular service is changing gradually.My uncle’s experience was pretty positive.He was actually astonished by this quick response and professionalism he got from the officials.

Now if i want to relate this experience with a theory of public administration,the very first theory comes into my mind is Max Weber’s “Ideal type bureaucracy theory”.The German sociologist,Max Weber,was the first to formally study bureaucracy and his works led to the popularization of this term.According to him the ideal type bureaucracy is characterized by some specific characters.The experience shared above is related with some of the characteristics of Weber’s ideal type bureaucracy.The characteristics are:

1. A fixed area of activity:This means,work is to be done by specialists,and people are organized into units based on the type of work they do or the skills they have.The sub-union center ,stated above is an example of an organization which has specific and specialized works and responsibilities.The bureaucrats of this organization has a fixed area of activity.this organization has all information about lands of a particular area and provides service to the people who need it.
2. Regular and continuous execution of assigned tasks: The regular activities required for the achievement of the goals of a particular organization is mandatory.The tasks are divided among officials as per their own abilities.So relatively,the union sub-center has some regular activities and services to be provided to citizens.
3. Management by rules:The management of the office follows general rules,which are more or less stable,more or less technology-based.Knowledge of these rules represents a special technical learning which the officials possess.According to my uncle’s story,the union-sub center has some sort of ability to provide more clear and efficient data and service.Because the management of the office is technology based.The officials has technical learning.

So this is my uncle’s story and i have somehow tried to relate this with a theory.While writing this blog i felt that actually the behavior of our bureaucrats is one kind of dilemma.Because it is not true that everyone experiences the same as the story told above.But again you can’t deny that the situation is changing gradually.I think these kinds of positive experiences should be shared more and more along with the negatives.These untold stories can provoke the sense of responsibility of our bureaucrats to some extent.That’s all.I’ll wait for your reactions.So please make comments and let me know the mistakes i have made.