Ground Realities
Before we land on the ground from the new found flying experience given to the officers it is time to get back to the basic needs of the officers working on the ground. It's the pay packets of officers from the revenue department. Of late there is a trend emerging with many officers of excise and customs looking for greener pastures. Even officers from the IRS brigade have put in their papers. Government puts in enormous effort to recruit some of the best brains from varied educational backgrounds to man the economic frontier of this country and it is painful to see this brain drain in the revenue. One obvious reason is the compensation. Unfortunately revenue officials are treated like any other government servants and their pay packets are ritualistically fixed. Can you imagine the officials to manage their lives with the meagre salaries in metros and at the same time be honest and ethical? Compare it with the US Customs and Border Protection officials' lives, our officials are poor cousins and truly third world. Even the revenue officials of our neighboring countries are paid well. It's Christmas time and DDT takes this opportunity to remind the Government to play Santa when the time comes to review the salaries of these hapless/'hope' less officials.