Minimizing Need for Middle Men - Addl Inputs

Dear Friends:

Below are some of the key issues, root causes and solutions as identified by you to minimize the need for middle men in India.

Please review and if you have any additional inputs, kindly share. When posting your comment, please identify what you are sharing (Issue, Root Cause or Solution) with a prefix to the comment.

We will soon be compiling the whitepaper on the subject to be submitted to PMO and other key ministries that can drive the implementation of these solutions.

Thanks for your participation!
Rajendra Pratap Gupta

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Minimizing the role of Middle Men in India

Solutions Identified:
1. Centralized systems should be set up at various locations to collect food grains & various commodities from the farmers
2. Distribution systems should be developed at various locations like fair price shop.
3. The shops purchasing material in large quantity should be given a rebate on the materials purchased, similar to big super markets
4. Officials should be made accountable and penalized for delay/failure in delivery of service within stipulated timelines
5. The names of the officials responsible for any procedures should be publicly available and they should be held accountable for their work or lack of it
6. All RTO and Passport offices should ban entry of agents in their offices
7. Information on Government procedures should be made easily available (online and offline)
8. Dedicated helplines should be set up to answer any query that a person might have
9. All Government procedures and permissions should have a stipulated time limit
10. Introduction of a public relation desk in every Government department
11. Computerise the systems and tasks and make paper work as less as possible to minimize need of middle men
12. The tendering qualification and bid process for every Government department should be automated and made online to minimize human intervention

Root Causes Identified:
1. Most people do have not proper knowledge of processes at Government Departments
2. Most corporates and citizens don't have much time to spend on long and hectic processes
3. Government Departments do not have any Key Performance Indicators (KPI/KRAs). They don't take any responsibility to improve Turn Around Times (TATs)
4. E Governance is not popular yet
5. Lack of transparency in law
6. No commitment for completion of jobs by Government officers
7. There is a strong nexus between Government officers and these middle men
8. A lot of middle men also have political contacts
9. Through the middle men channel, the Government officers don’t take bribe directly from citizens but get the bribe indirectly
10. Middle men manipulate the law of supply and demand to their favour
11. There is a lack of awareness among common people
12. The only motive of the middle men is to earn more and more money out of a transaction
13. Middle men know how to get things moving and what is absolutely required for things to happen fast
14. Middle men are not afraid of law as they are used to bribing and getting let off
15. No stringent measures/law against the presence of middlemen

Issues Identified:
1. In India middle men are involved in almost all the sectors
2. Middle men lead to an increase in the prices of goods
3. Middle men charge a commission
4. Government officers themselves point customers towards the middle men so that they could make money without taking bribes themselves
5. Middle men are involved in hoarding
6. Middle men lead to increase in the time taken for the goods to reach the end consumer
7. Middle men increase the turn-around time of the service delivery
8. In some Government departments, you just cannot get work done until you go through a middle man
9. Middle men exploit the knowledge gap of the consumer
10. Some middle men mislead and take advantage of the situation more