Service Delayed is Service Denied

I spend a lot of time travelling by bus .. advantage is one gets time to think .. wandering in mindville is a welcome distraction from the monotony of travelling in a crowded bus ..

I was thinking about Rajiv Gandhi's famous 19 paise statement. "Out of every 1 rupee spent on rural development, only 19 paise reaches the poor man" Ordinarily while someone would sigh at the extent to which corruption has spread in the country, I took time to dwell upon this statement and apply mind to it.. only 19% .. what would be the break up of the remaining 81%..

I dont think the Sarkari babus and the NGOs are so foolish to actually swallow 81% of the funds .. thats like killing the golden goose .. Indians are too smart to do something like that ..

I think a major chunk of the money is swallowed by delay .. usually, the budgeted administrative expenses are 30-40 % of the project expenses. 60-75% of the administrative expenses are in the form of salaries.. So, 18-30% of the total project expenses are in the form of salaries to various staff ...

That is, if the project is competed on time ... but, take into account the delays that are so common and the culprit that stole the 81% of the money meant for poor becomes clear ..

Thats one reason i believe that service delayed is service denied ... i think the five of us who missed out on the IDS scholarship might agree ..