Nuts and Bolts

There is a machine; one of the biggest machines in one of the biggest factories in the world. It was set up at a time when the world, along with the factory, was 50 years younger.
After it was set up, with its sparkling parts and nuts and bolts, it was the cynosure of all eyes at the factory. People marvelled at its majestic structure as it moved with a quiet hum of efficiency.
Years passed. Everything changed, but the machine didn't. Once the star performer, it was now the laggard, the bottleneck in a factory that had otherwise moved ahead with the times.
The factory manager, a man experienced in the ways of factories and machines, stood before the ailing machine, wondering what to do. He had been ordered by the senior management to spruce up the machine at minimum cost, following complaints that production was getting delayed because of its slow speed.
1. It performed an essential function of the production and so dumping it and getting a brand new one was out of the question.
2. If sold, it will be equivalent to scrap and the new machine will cost hundreds of crores of rupees, which the senior management was not willing to invest in.
3. Identifying the parts that were responsible for the overall slowdown of the machine and replacing them will also not work as spare parts of the machine are no longer available in the market today.
Then the factory manager hit upon an idea. Smiling to himself, he filled out a requisition form for the requirements.

The next day two men appeared, carrying toolboxes bearing the logo and name of the machine manufacturer. As the factory manager watched, they carefully removed all the nuts and bolts of the machine, all dulled by age and some rusted, and replaced them with brand new nuts and bolts. The entire job was done meticulously and efficiently, and was completed in 2 hours.
The factory manager was very satisfied with the work and immediately sat down to write a report on the job, to be submitted to his superiors: "The nuts and bolts, dulled and rusted by age, have been identified as the root cause of the inefiiciency of the machine. They have been duly replaced and therefore the machine can no longer be considered as a bottleneck."

To all those wannabe civil services officers and "I am the change I want to see in India" crusaders, it will be prudent to understand that you are but the nuts an bolts of an ancient machine well past its prime. Far from changing the people holding the administrative machinery together, an overhaul of th entire system is the only sustainable solution.

Till this realisation hits our very educated and accomplished factory manager, we salute your sincere efforts of make a better India.