Impact of Viruses and Lessons Learnt

Impact of Viruses and Lessons Learnt

-Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia

Disclaimer: The purpose of this article is just to spread awareness about health issues. No content is written to harm others. It is a must to consult doctors and medical experts before adopting any advice-driven from this article.

Ideas for post Covid recovery of Indian Economy

The seven points agenda for recovery of Indian Economy after Corona period, is working well. The Indian citizens who love nation are committed to use these seven formula to put the economy again in double digit economic growth.

Vaccination to cure Corona Covid-19:

The countries around the world used vaccination to stop the Covid and covid variants. However, it was observed that the rich countries ordered more vaccines than their requirement to face the pandemic.  

The vaccination is proved as a boon to safeguard from the viruses, however the threats are still there about the long term use of vaccine to safeguard from the Corona virus.

While the poor countries faced dire shortages of the vaccines. But experts advised not to forget that even if the pandemic stays in poor countries, it is adverse for all countries in long run. Therefore, there is a need to spend more on medical research especially to fight against the Covid variants. The Delta and Omicron variants of Corona affected more adversely than its earlier Alpha, Beta, Gamma variants. 

Those who followed the SoP for preventing Covid remained successful by just washing hands and using Sensitizer in these five rounds of mutation, however, the virus is expected to spread again and again, even today. The history tells the viruses are not dead instead they become inactive for few years and again reactive for the destruction to the mankind. 

Whether Covid Vaccine are permanent Solution or not

The vaccination campaign around the world safeguarded human beings from Covid-19 and its Variants. However, the persons who had been vaccinated, also be affected by Covid after the Vaccination. The overall protection was the immunity level of the body. The vaccine also tried to boost immunity.

 

In such circumstances, the suspense was not ended on how to safeguard from not being affected by Covid. How to stay safe, is still a question mark and the world is witnessing the third wave of the Covid-19. It is a must to understand the pandemic, the reasons behind it, and how to safeguard:

What to do if someone in the Family is infected from Covid Corona?

The WHO issued the above-mentioned precautions.

Do you know?

At a restaurant, you should wash your hands after ordering. The menu is generally the dirtiest thing you can touch! It means each minor step, a person is taking, needs to be a thing again whether it is an invitation to a non-hygenic environment or not. 

As per the history book, there had been a lot of pandemics happening in the world before the COVID-19, it explained that the Antonine Plague came in 165 AD and killed over 5 million people at that time. Thereafter the Bubonic Plague killed 25 million people in 541 AD and over 100 million people from 1346 to 1353 AD. In the 19^th Century, from 1852 to 1860 nearly 1 million people were killed with Cholera, and the same again killed over 8 Lacs from 1910 to 1911. Even Flu which spread due to Influenza killed over 1 million from 1889 to 1890, over 20 million in 1918, over 2 million from 1956 to 1958, and over 1 million in the year 1968. From 2005 to 2012, HIV- AIDS killed over 36 million people, and now the COVID-19 of the year 2019, affected crores of people around the world.

Omicron - New Variant of Concern

In November 2021, the cases of one new variant of Corona virus identified and it is given the name 'Omicron'. It is third variant of Corona Virus. The Covid-19 followed by Delta Variant affected the world and be cause of deaths during 2019 to 2021 and in the year 2022, it is expected that Omicron will be the new threat. The medical science is doing research and it is less tracible as on today. 

Viruses:

Just for the sake of humor, I would recall the scene of the 3 idiots movie in which a student named his teacher "Virus" by looking at his nature to affect others and change the philosophy for making successful by ensuring excess than required discipline. Excess of everything leads to some crisis. The attack of deadly coronavirus is due to the excessive dependence of humankind upon non-vegetarian food without knowing the drawbacks of what they are eating. The deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) as per the findings became viral due to eating bats which are a host of various categories of viruses. Each virus requires its own treatment in allopathy and experiments are required to find out the anti-dot of the same. Just a few times back, there was an attack of the deadly Nipah Virus.

The National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) worked to provide training to the doctors and health workers for dealing with the cases of dangerous viruses including the Nipah virus. The N95 and three-layer masks are used to prevent the disease from being viral. The viruses are active particularly due to a lack of immunity and the viruses target the weak persons first. New research by Australia's Griffith University found Cancer, Chronic Kidney Disease, Diabetes, and Hypertension; the four main comorbidities leading to deaths from Covid-19. The research took a sample of 3,75,859 persons from 14 countries to find out the common medical problems in the patients affected from the Covid-19. Persons with hypertension and diabetes are found at higher risks to be affected by the viruses.

The target of Viruses:

Human bodies are usually targeted by viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Unfortunately, everyone is not aware of such infections and usually becomes targeted. Thereafter a lot of medicines are required to cure the diseases that originated from the infections. On 31^st December 2018, The Hindu newspaper reported that “a 19-year old donor, whose HIV-infected blood was transfused to a pregnant woman from Virudunagar district, died at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH)”. It happened because the staff at the hospital’s blood bank failed to identify the HIV and Hepatitis B infections in his blood. It is a must to understand the viruses, bacteria, and parasites so that everyone can take care and stay healthy forever. In this article, we will understand each point in very simple terminology.

What is a virus?

In science, we studied that viruses are not visible to human eyes and the microscope is used to see the viruses. The viruses have no cells and they depend upon host cells to survive. Till the time, host cells are not in touch with the viruses, they stay inactive and after the contact of host living cells, they become active and start to reproduce themselves.

Whenever a disease that is spread by viruses is diagnosed, the first thing, the doctor recommends i.e. clinical test to check whether there is an infection by a certain virus or not. Various types of fevers are diagnosed by checking the presence of viruses. Other diseases like smallpox, polio, NIV, HIV, etc.; are originated from certain types of viruses. It is a must to understand how to stay far from such infections.

How does a virus infect?

Due to life without cells, a virus in itself cannot be considered a living thing. A virus cannot multiply and reproduce until having contact or touch with a living thing. For example, a virus identified in pig farmers in 1999, later it is found that it had been originated from pigs affected with mild disease. Out of 300 people, 100 died due to such infection. The investigation found that the pigs were affected by Nipah Virus (NIV). Similarly, other viruses, infect humans through transmission from animals or other living things.

Later on, it is found that the pigs in the case of NiV were the intermediate host to carry the virus and the origin of the NIV was infected fruit-bats. The NIV infection can be prevented only by staying far from the infected living things. The farmers died due to infection from the sick pigs. The pigs were the intermediate hosts and the fruit bats were the natural hosts of the NIV.

Nipah Virus (NiV) in Kerala, India:

Recently, in 2018, three persons died due to infection of NiV in Kerala. In this case, the persons have taken water from a wall in which a fruit-bat died. The water was contaminated due to sick fruit bat affected by NIV. The virus could affect more people but it was controlled.

In the case of NiV infection, fever and vomiting with nausea are usually noticed in a patient. The first thing to prevent the virus from being spread is adopting healthcare precautions including avoiding the touch or contact of NiV affected persons, wearing masks and gloves, etc. As per the report of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Nipah Virus is emerging as a new epidemic and it is a must to understand this new virus and stay protected. The natural host for NiV is fruit-bats.

 

Why natural hosts do not die from infection?

For most of the viruses, there are natural hosts who carry the viruses. For example, in the case of NiV, the fruit bats are natural hosts. In the case of HIV, the natural host is Gorilla. It is interesting to know the origin of HIV; which is the main cause of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). In 1981, HIV-1 was identified in wild-living chimpanzees and gorillas in west Africa. Even today, HIV infection is common in the people of West Africa. The people having contact with chimpanzees in Africa suffered from this virus and then the virus is spread further to other people.

Hepatitis Virus:

There are five types of Hepatitis Viruses i.e. A, B, C, D, and E. The Hepatitis A virus is transmitted through the oral route and Hepatitis B, C, and D are transmitted through the blood or semen of the infected person. The Hepatitis E virus is transmitted from the dirty water supply, which is contaminated.

What is Zoonosis?

 The virus and bacteria are transmitted through contact with infected humans and animals. The disease which is suffered from such infections of viruses is known as Zoonosis.

Bacteria and Parasite:

Like viruses, bacteria are also seen only by using a microscope. These are formed of a single cell. However, the bacteria may also be beneficial and help in improving digestion. The parasite is multi-cell bacteria and they are dependent upon the natural host for their survival. The tapeworms, protozoa are examples of parasites. Bacteria and Parasites both negatively impact the host cells and spread their infection. The diseases like cholera, smallpox are spread with the help of parasites.

Ways of transmission of viral diseases:

There are three ways i.e. through viruses, through bacteria, and through parasites.

(i) Transmission through virus:

In the case of diseases transmitted through viruses, the virus can sustain inactive for a long term and be activated whenever they gain contact with a living organism generally animals and birds. Thereafter, they became activated and transmitted diseases such as HIV, NiV, etc. These diseases are sometimes very dangerous and incurable. With fast transmission from human to human, the disease took the form of an epidemic. The best way to prevent such diseases is to avoid touch and physical contact with animals, birds, and other human beings. It is also a must to be pure vegetarian and eat fresh fruit and vegetables only.

(ii) Transmission through Bacteria:

The bacteria are found everywhere and sometimes beneficial and sometimes harmful. The bacteria also transmit diseases and they can also be originated inside the body. For example, various types of T.B. is originated from bacteria and are also transmitted through bacteria. The plague is also transmitted through bacteria carried by the mice.

(iii) Transmission through parasite:

The parasite cannot survive without the support of host living organisms and the host living organisms transmit the parasite from one to another. The worms inside the human body depend upon the food taken by the person and affect negatively by decreasing the immunity power. Such worms are parasites which are originated due to many reasons including intake of low-quality food. Similarly, the nits and lice usually stay on the scalp of the head and do not drift out of hair. They took blood from the human body and in case, they are taken from the head and thrown away, cannot survive for more time. They are also a parasite, negatively affects the human body. Ringworms, bedbugs, pinworms, etc. are the types of parasites.

Value of Good Health during Pandemic

Every one of us realized the value of good health during the pandemic of Covid-19. The eating of junk food and drinking of cold refrigerator water automatically stopped in the homes, cafes, and hotels. The inhaling of steam and drinking hot water, improved the health of people to fight the Covid-19 virus. Each item is selected carefully in the food so that the immunity boosts further.

Value of positive thoughts during Pandemic

 Not only the Government, even the personalities, film stars, news channels, etc. started to share video clips to stay positive and how can we fight the virus by keeping hands clean and wearing masks. The Yoga and Meditation exercises were adopted suddenly by most of the people who were not believing in such practices. The positive thoughts on social media platforms, infuse energy to fight the pandemic.

Resilience

The schools and colleges were closed during the pandemic period, an entire lockdown was announced in India and each person followed the advisories. Instead of too many constraints in living smooth life, everyone compromised with the free lifestyle. Even most people come ahead with creative solutions to overcome the difficulties of life. Students started to learn online and schools also adopted a pattern to teach online which was never thought of a few years back. The examinations are conducted in the online form without physical proximity and the students made full cooperation in it. The technology uses improved to a great extent and Zoom application offered free of cost. Instead of too many cases of covid-19 positive in nearby locations, everyone stayed firm to remain positive.

Appreciation to people doing welfare activities

During pandemic times, the people who were involved in welfare activities to prevent Covid-19 were called Corona Warriors and appreciated by each citizen, government, and even expressed with words thanking on the social media platforms. The first time, when the Covid-19 outbreak happened nobody was aware of how dangerous it is. But everyone kept working to fight its symptoms and also help others to follow the guidelines of the Government. The cleaning of homes, especially cooking vegetables, sweeping of roads, picking up garbage, almost everything becomes fast in a way to restrict Covid-19 to impact upon more lives. Everyone became conscious to look after the health and comfort of life.

Rich people realized the value of Poor people

In industrial cities, the laborers started to leave the cities for saving their life and suddenly the Government and people of industrial cities tried to stop them to go from there. It is realized that the poor people who belong to labor categories are the foundation on which the economic prosperity and quality of life depend. 

Life is full of happiness and sorrows, the more we learn to tolerate the both, maturity comes in the actions. It's must to learn lessons from the viruses as well.

 *Copyright © 2021 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved.

This content was written by Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia; a renowned author and trainer. He completed his Doctorate in Commerce from Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra and MBA in Information Technology from GJU, Hisar. He also wrote two books, 15 research papers, and organized more than 200 Training Courses during his working period since 2006 in Haryana Institute of Public Administration, Gurugram. The article was published on 1st November 2021 and last updated on 1st November 2021. The writer can be contacted on lalitkumarsetia@gmail.com 

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Payments in Government e-Marketplace (GeM)

 Payments in Government e-Marketplace (GeM)

-Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia

The GeM buyers are usually notified in the login that the payments to sellers or service providers are still payable. Most of the time, I receive queries regarding practical problems in making payments of GeM purchases. This content, I hope will help the readers to understand how payments are processed on the GeM portal.

Approvals for purchases in GeM

In Government, for each purchase, two approvals are generally sought i.e. Administrative approval and financial approval. GeM also considers both the approvals in the process at the initial stage of purchases by the Buyer. For getting financial approval, there is a need to have a budget provision in a specific head of budget during the financial year in which the purchase is required to be done.

e-Signing of Contracts in GeM

The sellers require a sanction order which is generated by the GeM portal, further, the supply order is e-signed by the buyer. While making payment of a particular purchase, the sanction order/supply order is always available to the user ‘payment authority or DDO’ in the GeM portal.

Payment by DDO/PAO/PA

This is the duty of the primary user to supervise the activities of secondary users as per the rules of GeM. The Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) or Principal Accounts Officer (PAO) in GeM, is the secondary user for the organizations, who opt for connecting PFMS in GeM for payment purposes, generally in the case of departments. For organizations other than the Government department connected with PFMS; the paying authority is responsible for making payments.

What to do if the amount is blocked or not provided due to Budget restrictions

In Government, there are chances or practical problems that the amount is sanctioned initially but at the time of payment, the specified budget head is blocked to release the payment. In such circumstances, the participants are curious to know the optimum solution.

The sellers/service providers are bound with the terms and conditions of the contract with the buyers. In case, the payment is delayed due to blocking of the budget head, the sellers/service providers expect amendment in the contract to avoid the loss or cancellation of the contract if required. The GeM portal automatically provides options to select, for making such decisions in the login of DDO/PAO/Paying Authority.

Payment using Public Financial Management System (PFMS)

Within 10 days after generation of CRAC or deemed CRAC; the buyer prepares the ‘payment advice’ and the GeM portal generates claims for payment. The same is available when the DDO user login on GeM. The DDO generates the bill and forwards it to the PAO/PA for payment of the purchase.

Payment Using other modes

In Haryana and other state governments, the organizations are not connected with PFMS. The payments can be made as in cases of purchases without using GeM. However, if the payment is required to be made using direct payment in the bank account of the seller/service provider; then the details can be entered in GeM's online payment method. In cases when the buyer wants to make payment by using any application such as e-Billing in Haryana; then also the payment can be made. However, in such cases, it is required to ensure TDS or any other deduction before making the payment. After making the payment, the details should be entered in the PAO/PA login of GeM.

What to do if the bill is returned?

The PAO/PA is responsible to ensure accurate payment to the seller/service provider. In case, there are discrepancies in the purchase, the same may be pointed out by the PAO/PA and the bill is returned (after taking approval of competent authority) to the DDO (in case of PFMS) or Buyer (in case of organizations not connected with PFMS).

Who is responsible for the delay in payment on GeM?

The terms and conditions of GeM, states that there should be timely payment of purchases to the seller/service provider. After generating CRAC, within 10 days the payment should be made. For fixing the responsibility of delay in the payment of Buyer or Consignee or DDO or PAO or PA; the time limit of 10 days is further segregated as under:

Buyer – 2 Working days

Concerned DDO – 1 working day

Concerned PAO/PA – 2 working days

In case of return of Bill – 1 working day to DDO/Buyer

Again concerned PAO/PA – 1 working day.

If there are still discrepancies – 24 hours to sort out issues at a higher level.  

In the entire process, a total of 10 calendar days (including holidays).

If you still have any queries, then kindly raise your query in the comment box. All the best!

*Copyright © 2021 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved. 

This article is written by Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia; a renowned author and trainer. He completed his Doctorate in Commerce from Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra and MBA in Information Technology from GJU, Hisar. He also wrote two books, 15 research papers, and organized more than 200 Training Courses during his working period since 2006 in Haryana Institute of Public Administration, Gurugram. The article was published on 28th September 2021 and last updated on 28th September 2021. The writer can be contacted on lalitkumarsetia@gmail.com 

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How does Unique Code of Payee work?

 How does Unique Code of Payee work?

-Dr. Lalit Kumar

In Government, it is expected that the payments are made directly in the bank account of the beneficiaries/payees. This is implemented in Government to contain corruption. However, there are transactions where the instructions for making direct payment to the account of beneficiaries/payees are not being compliant. For example, a few departments are maintaining bank accounts with the title of ‘Designation’ of Head of Department or Head of Office and use these bank accounts to transfer money to the beneficiaries/payees. Firstly, the funds/money are drawn from treasuries and deposited in such bank accounts and thereafter, it is transferred to the accounts of beneficiaries/payees with the help of Demand Draft or Cheque or EFT.

Why it is wrong to maintain Bank Account by Government Offices?

Let us understand it with the help of an example. Suppose it is required to make payment to Mr. A by the Government from time to time. The right way is to transfer the amount directly from the treasury to the account of Mr. A whenever there is a need to make the payment. But the Head of Office started a bank account and draws the money from the treasury and keeps it in the bank account. Whenever it is required to pay an amount to Mr. A, then it is paid directly with the help of a cheque/demand draft/EFT from the bank account. Why it is wrong? The Financial Rules of Government restrict for parking of funds in a bank account even for a small-time duration i.e. the duration from the day the amount is drawn from the treasury to the day it is paid to the beneficiary/payee. The accurate method is to form a Unique Code of Payee (UCP) of the beneficiary/payee which will be used to identify the correct account to transfer the amount directly from treasury after processing of payment from DDO to Treasury Officer and from Treasury Officer to Treasury Bank.

Exceptions, where it is required to maintain Bank Account by Head of Office

The Government through Finance Department may consider the exceptional circumstances where it is required to open and operate a bank account in the name/designation of an Officer for certain specific transactions. The detailed proposal may be sent by the office where it is required to open and operate a bank account with details of circumstances. In Haryana State, such instructions were issued on 2^nd December 2011 for the closing of bank accounts that are opened without seeking permission of the Finance Department Haryana.

Electronic Payment System (EPS)

For implementing Electronic Payment System (EPS), it is required that all the beneficiaries/payees have their bank accounts and the details are communicated to the treasuries so that a Unique Code of Payee (UCP) is issued to the payee. It is most important to ensure that accurate PAN number and banking details are entered in each UCP, to safeguard the system from frauds on part of concealment of income from the income tax department, a UCP without PAN number may be allotted only in cases where the annual income of the payee is not made him liable to pay any income tax and provisions of TDS are also not attracted in payments to the payee. Such declaration should be done by the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) before allocating the UCP without mentioning the PAN number.

Unique Code of Payee (UCP) for containing Corruption

In January 2012, the Haryana Government ensured proper implementation of the Electronic Payment System (EPS) and directions issued to the treasury officers to pass the bills to the extent possible with using EPS instead of the issue of cheques. However, where the EPS is not possible due to any fault in the system or other reason, the cheques may be issued.

For containing corruption, the payees are asked to open a bank account and provide the details to the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO). The DDO provides the banking details of the payees for allotment of UCP in the system. It is the responsibility of the DDO to ensure that correct details of PAN, PRAN, and GPF numbers are provided by the payee. In October 2011, the Haryana Government beautifully implemented the UCP in most of its treasuries and sub treasuries.

Payment of NPS Contribution through EPS

In July 2012, the Haryana Government decided to transfer the NPS contribution through EPS instead of the cheque to the trustee bank of NPS. The NPS ‘Subscriber Contribution Form’ is attached with the NPS bill and a token of the bill is given in Form Code 14 in Pension Module. The unique code of the trustee bank is CN0L1O generated in DDO code 0765. After the transfer of the NPS amount, the treasury officer follow-up the status of the file on the site of NSDL.

*Copyright © 2021 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved. 

This article is written by Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia; a renowned author and trainer. He completed his Doctorate in Commerce from Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra and MBA in Information Technology from GJU, Hisar. He also wrote two books, 15 research papers, and organized more than 200 Training Courses during his working period since 2006 in Haryana Institute of Public Administration, Gurugram. The article was published on 24th September 2021 and last updated on 24th September 2021. The writer can be contacted on lalitkumarsetia@gmail.com 

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Beware of Unethical Practices in Government

Beware of Unethical Practices in Government

-Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia

The Financial Rules in each Government whether it is Central Government or State Government; restrict the Officers of Government from misusing their position for gaining private gain. How a Government Officer can misuse his/her position?

Coercion:

The influence of power affects the functions of an officer. When there is any power in the hands of an officer, everyone who can take benefit from that power, try to make the officer happy. In case, the Officer is also of a similar nature, then everyone tries to get their work fulfilled. The Officer may try to misuse his position to persuade the persons under his/her control, to do something by using force or threats. The effort to realize something by using force or threats is coercion. Once, Twice, Thrice, and then it may become a habit or practice of getting work done forcefully.

It is usually come in the news that a person tried to get something done by using the approach of an officer. No doubt the persons who are using the powers of officers to get their personal work done, are also involved in crime.

Endorsing any product or service or enterprise:

The independent family members of an officer can indeed do their own business; can sell goods and services. But the Government Officers are not expected to endorse any product or service or enterprise of any family member, relative, or even of an unknown person. Endorsement is considered unethical and unfair in the financial and administrative rules applicable to the Government Officers.

Use of Public Office, Stationary, Official Assets for Private Gain:

The Government in most States, notice whether the offices are being used on Sundays, Holidays for the private gain of the employees or not. The use of public office including Air Conditioners, other Electrical Appliances, Government Vehicles, Assets of Government; for any private gain to the employee; is always considered wrong.

In case, an asset is allotted to an employee for official work, that should be used only for the same official functions for which they are issued; in case, there is another official work, the permission for another such work should be taken first. The use for private gain, if proved, may make the integrity doubtful of that employee.

Misuse of Official Title:

The Doctors, Teachers, Engineers, other professionals even IT professionals; cannot use official title or position in their personal capacities, to promote their products and services. However, there are a few exceptions to this principle, the government employee if writing his biographical details anywhere, then he can mention his official title, in case of writing of articles and research papers; the Government employee can use his title in connection with an article or a research paper published in a magazine or newspaper or journal.

Sanctioning expenditure for own advantage:

In Haryana, the Rule 2.10 (4) of Punjab Financial Rules states that a Government employee cannot use his financial power for himself. “No Authority should exercise its powers of sanctioning expenditure to an order which will be directly or indirectly to its own advantage”.

Suppose there is any approval to expenditure which is for own advantage, then the officer is supposed to get the expenditure approved from an authority empowered to approve the same expenditure instead of approving the expenditure on his own level.

Here, one point is important, that if an authority has already issued an order under which an officer is making an approval or order which is making him benefited, then such orders can be issued concerning the rules or order of senior authorities.

Misuse of Office Time for Personal Gains:

During the office time, an employee should perform only official functions. No personal Whatsapp chat, no dissemination of personal messages, no promotion to any charitable event or causes, no commercial activities including personal business or share trading, etc.

Even the official time of subordinates and other employees should not be used for personal gains. “Personal Activities should not be conducted during Duty Hours”.

Prohibition on disclosing official information without the consent of authorities:

On whatever post, a person is working; it is not desirable to disclose confidentially official information to someone else without the prior consent of the authorities. Even the information which is supposed to be provided under ‘Right to Information Act’; should not be provided without the consent of the authorities. The authorities have the right to decide whether to give the information or not.

Disclosing any contract’s bid may lead to significant loss to the Government, disclosing of personal information of the employees may lead to criminal’s attacks on their residence or during the travel of the employees; the personal information cannot be provided, even the ‘Right to Information Act’ has provisions to restrict sharing of such information with outsiders.

Adopt right approach in procurement of Goods and Services at Workplaces:

With Grace of God Almighty, on behalf of HIPA; I organized my 19th workshop in series on 'Online Procurement using Government e-Marketplace GeM portal' on 13th and 14th December, 2022 and delivered sessions with demonstrations solving practical problems of Sub Divisional Officers of UHBVNL Panchkula, Sub Divisional Magistrate Sirsa, Government Colleges and Irrigation and Water Resources Department of Haryana. 

I am grateful to constantly guide the officers in improving the procurement systems as per the latest instructions and rules. If anyone is interested to participate, just inbox me to know the procedure to get enrolled in such workshops already scheduled in near future. 9416382720 - Dr. Lalit Setia.

Https://facebook.com/ffmhipaggn 

*Copyright © 2021 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved.

This article is written by Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia; a renowned author and trainer. The article was published on 4th September, 2021 and last updated on 4^th September, 2021. The writer can be contacted on lalitkumarsetia@gmail.com 

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and

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Uniformity in Accounts of Haryana Government

 Uniformity in Accounts of Haryana Government

-By Dr. Lalit Kumar

Statement of Purpose:

The uniformity in accounts is generally ensured by enforcing the Accounting Standards and the purpose is improving financial reporting. In India, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (C&AG) constituted Government Accounting Standards Advisory Board (GASAB) on dated 12th August 2002 and the GASAB is working as a nodal advisory body to formulate and improve standards of government accounting, financial reporting, and enhance accountability mechanisms. As per a document compiled by GASAB entitled, “Primer on Accrual Accounting”, there should be a transition to an accrual-based system for improving financial reporting. Government Accounting is primarily concerned with the recognition, measurement, and reporting of transactions undertaken by governmental entities and it is quite different in many aspects from business and commercial accounting. Government financial information is used by a wide range of stakeholders, all of whom have an interest in the financial health and management of public resources.  For improving the quality of the information on which basis the decisions are usually taken by the Authorities of Public Sector Organizations, it is desirable to adopt uniform and comparable accounting practices. The Robust and Uniform Set of Accounting Standards can bring greater stability in the economic system; enhance the accountability and efficiency to govern. It can become a basis for evaluating the financial positions of the organizations easily and support the effective decision making.

Accounting is an effective tool for improving the finance function in Government and there is need for both uniformity and transparency by following standards, rules, regulations etc. It is well-known fact that the functions of Government Organizations by nature are diverse and there are numerous legal and fiscal constraints under which the financial operations must be conducted. Due to this limitation, the financial reporting also becomes different and the particulars of receipts, payments, accounting principles, and financial statements also differ from one organization to another as per the nature of the functions.

With the help of uniform accounting, the Administrative Officers, Finance Officers including Accounts officers not only summarize the financial accounts in terms of income statement and balance sheet but also make decisions with a comparison of the figures with greater transparency. Arthur Stone Dewing rightly said, “All decisions are financial decisions.” Critical analysis and evaluation is used as a base to take effective decisions in organizations and financial management is a yardstick used to judge most of the operations and projects of an enterprise.

Aims and Objectives:

The main objective of this research is to examine and evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of uniformity in Government Accounts and how it affects the financial management, decisions of the Officers relating to the financial health of the organizations.

Review of Literature:

Amyas Morse (2013) in his report examined how far finance is at the heart of decision-making in government. He emphasized the importance of effective financial management in supporting sound decision making, facilitating accountability, improving and refining planning, and enabling an organization to devise its strategy and manage risks. He explained how the government has made some significant financial management processes more coherent and simplified reporting at three stages i.e. plans, estimates, and expenditures outturns. In the research, various strategic challenges for financial management have been identified including cost reduction, strategic planning, prioritizing in the allocation of resources, difficulties in rendering local public services, and lack of skills associated with effective financial management. It is concluded that the government has succeeded in a number of areas in controlling spending however it still faces a significant challenge in redesigning and transforming public services.

Government of Haryana (2016) describes the accounts of government companies audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India under the provisions of Section 619 of the Companies Act. The report detailed the performance audits on the functioning of DCR Thermal Power Plant, Yamunanagar, and RG Thermal Power Plant at Hisar and pointed out an amount of nearly five thousand crores related to avoidable expenditure, non-compliance of rules, directives, and procedures. There are 30 Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in Haryana including 25 working PSUs and 5 non-working PSUs. The government exercises control over the affairs of the PSUs through its administrative departments. The State Legislature monitors the accounting and utilization of invested amounts in the PSUs. The total investment in the form of Capital and Long-term Loans was Rs. 40,984.19 crores as of 31^st March 2015. In the report, it is found that the DCR Thermal Power Plant and RG Thermal Power Plant incurred avoidable expenditure towards penalty imposed by ECL and kept excess inventories than the normative limit set by HERC. There was an unfruitful expenditure of Rs 6.4 crores in December 2009 on the Computerized Maintenance and Inventory Management System (CMIMS) which had not been made operational till June 2015.

Vishal Gupta, Swanand Kulkarni, Naresh Khatri (2018) explored the key managerial challenges faced by the leaders and managers of public sector organizations. They used an open-ended questionnaire to gathered data from 42 senior managers of PSUs from various industries representing 12 Indian states in different regions of India. On the basis of in-depth qualitative analyses, they tried to find the ground realities of Indian Public Sector Undertakings and what they found that there are three key managerial challenges i.e. political interference and lack of autonomy, rigid rules, and HR practices, and lack of employee motivation. Finally, it is concluded that there is a dominant role of Indian cultural and political contexts in influencing the experiences of leaders working in public sector organizations.

The review of literature reveals that the decisions of the Government are affected by the level of uniformity in the accounting of organizations. There are few research studies in the areas of uniformity of accounting and it needs to relook this area of research with consistent changes in the accounting systems and new approaches in Accounting and Finance. The present research will bring useful results for improving the financial decisions of the Government because the quality of financial reporting is a factor for fixing the responsibilities of the concerned Officers/Officials. It will determine the effect of uniformity in enhancing public finance accountability management.  

Research Methodology:

The research is descriptive and data will be collected firstly from secondary sources, thereafter if required, from the primary sources using a survey with a pre-determined structured questionnaire. The primary data will be gathered through the questionnaire method and also with the help of discussions and interviews covering both personal and telephonic interactions. The targeted population will be Finance Officers including Chief Accounts Officers, Senior Accounts Officers, Accounts Officers, Section Offices and Accounting Staff working the Haryana Government Organizations. Adequate Sample units keeping in view the constraints of time and cost will be selected using the Simple Random Sampling method. The data collected from Secondary and Primary sources will be analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods. The research is descriptive and data will be collected firstly from secondary sources, thereafter if required, from the primary sources using a survey with a pre-determined structured questionnaire. The primary data will be gathered through the questionnaire method and also with the help of discussions and interviews covering both personal and telephonic interactions. The targeted population will be Finance Officers including Chief Accounts Officers, Senior Accounts Officers, Accounts Officers, Section Offices and Accounting Staff working the Haryana Government Organizations. Adequate Sample units keeping in view the constraints of time and cost will be selected using the Simple Random Sampling method. The data collected from Secondary and Primary sources will be analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods.

References/End Notes:

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[i] The information of GASAB is retrieved on http://gasab.gov.in/gasab/about.aspx.

[ii] A document is retrieved from the portal of GASAB i.e. http://gasab.gov.in/gasab/pdf/Primer.pdf

[iii] ICAI (2017), Government Accounting System in Developed and Developing Countries – A Comparative Analysis retrieved from https://cpfga.icai.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Government-Accounting-System-in-Developed-and-Developing-Countries.pdf

[iv] This information is retrieved from the lesson, “Government Financial Operations: Accounting and Reporting”, retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/government-financial-operations-accounting-reporting.html

*Copyright © 2021 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved.

This article is written by Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia; a renowned author and trainer. The article was published on 1^st September, 2021 and last updated on 4^th September, 2021. The writer can be contacted on lalitkumarsetia@gmail.com