<ol><li>Real World Application</li></ol>During the Primary Phase of Single Blind Experimentation conducted in March 2019, they denied the administrative custody of the defunct and illegally occupied Patwarkhana situated in Kathera village. Moreover, they falsely implicated another government agency to legalize and conceal their collective negligence as the defunct building was constructed in early 2000s. Afterwards, in the secondary phase of the Single-Blind Experimentation conducted in July 2019, initially they pretended to take immediate necessary action but gave the same evasive response on January 2021, thereby dismissing their own directives and entrapping themselves. By doing so, they also exhausted their threshold limit, as retracting from the repeated official statements became impossible for them. The Tertiary Single-Blind Experimentation triangulated the experimental subjects and created a Prisoner’s Dilemma, which coerced them to admit their fault and they confirmed that the building was in the administrative custody of revenue department and has started functioning on 31 march 2022. However, the post experimental monitoring phase, which lasted more than 2 years, revealed that building is merely functional on paper and is actually defunct. Therefore, the official confirmation provided by the experimental subjects regarding the functioning of Patwarkhana also proved to be false.This Project revealed that the government revenue department Kathua, despite being highly organized group, has consistently demonstrated inaction and professional misconduct and negligence due to a deteriorating departmental culture stemming from a lack of accountability and supervision. It also revealed that the revenue functionaries are entrenched in a culture of indiscipline, apathy, and nepotism, perpetuated by the lack of effective oversight and the absence of consequences for their wrongdoing. This has led to the normalized culture of unaccountability, where malpractices are tolerated and even institutionalized.Besides, research also revealed a reversal of the fundamental management principle, where authority flowed downwards, but responsibility did not flow upwards. Instead, responsibility was conspicuously absent, perpetuating a culture of unresponsiveness and reinforcing the need for a management overhaul. Dichotomy observed in their behavior revealed that the group member presents a façade of accountability to the outside world while maintaining a hidden dynamic among themselves by operating on two distinct levels: a public façade of accountability and a private reality of collusion.Alarmingly, senior officers from the Indian Administrative Services and Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Services, who were expected to uphold the highest standards of conduct, have systematically violated their official conduct and service rules over the past five years, thereby betraying the trust and integrity expected of their positions. Thus, it is naïve to expect rogue officials to submit honest self-performance appraisals that may incriminate themselves. This highlights a critical flaw in the evaluation process, which relies on self-assessment rather than objective metrics or independent evaluations.It is pertinent to mention here that the organizational work culture is always inherited by the successors. Thus, the consequences of complacency or negligence by incumbents are inherited by successors, who face challenges in publicly criticizing their predecessors due to departmental loyalty and affinity. Over time, predecessors having climbed the career ladder, becomes seniors, making it more difficult for successors to assign blame, as the passage of time limits the scope of accountability.The persistence of such work culture permeates the vertical and horizontal structure of the department and causes normalization of unhealthy behaviors, reinforcement of harmful norms, difficulty in introducing reforms or changes, and ultimately a steep decline in overall performance and effectiveness. Consequently, public suffers because the public issues remain unresolved thereby diluting the public trust in institutions as the public perceives huge contradictions in the planning and working of the government. This inflicts a “social psychological scar” causes a permanent shift of the public’s psyche.Such phenomenon does not remain restricts to a particular area and engulfs the entire country in the long-run. Generally, Individuals born and grown up in such society tend to wear a mask of intellectual and moral integrity to gain entry to the powerful positions, aiming to achieve success and security even if it means compromising the well-being of others. Eventually, this leads to the emergence of a society where ulterior motives become the norm and the evolution of a hypocritical social system.Therefore, the onus of responsibility is on the lawmakers and policy makers to make accountability and performance an integral part of the government services. It is essential to foster the competitive work culture and to ensure the optimum utilization of the resources of the country. To discourage professional misconduct and negligence, there must be no state-sponsored protection or immunity granted to the officers at all levels. Errant functionaries must be relieved immediately without burdening the judiciary. Any delay or complacency in implementing such reforms will cause irreparable damage to the institutions and bring detrimental consequences for the country.7.0.1 Replication of ResearchThe detailed methodology and the field work conducted during this research are crucial tools for the research fraternity. They enable us to document the natural behavior of the experimental subjects and can serve as a bait for the researcher. Regardless of the power wielded by the influential subjects, they won’t be able to outsmart the researcher. Their overconfidence will become their collective enemy.For future researchers, replicating this study would require a considerable investment of time, resources, and serious endeavor coupled with intrinsic motivation to unravel the organizational dynamics. Employing Single-Blind Experimentation is recommended to achieve similar results. However, conducting such original research has potential dangers from the biased deviant subjects, as they may harm the investigator to conceal their corrupt actions. Therefore, due caution and safety must be exercised while carrying out such work.Moreover, it is essential that the investigator is not a public servant, a research fellow of a publicly funded university, or on a government grant, as these positions are bound to compromise and curtail the independence of the researcher. Faculties in the universities often do not permit such works that could cause any trouble for them in their service or livelihood. This study requires total independence or autonomy to ensure unbiased results.Additionally, the researcher must be genuinely interested in the public interest and should have an assertive, fearless personality. Besides, he/she/they must have advanced knowledge in public administration, law, geography, politics, social psychology, cartography, and sociology, and be savvy in computer-applications in research.It must be remembered that the consistency of the results depends upon the role of confounding variables. In the current research, the critical confounding variables are the lack of effective oversight, accountability, and elected government. Research scholars are likely to see similar results if they conduct research with the same methodology in countries with a colonial past, especially in South-East Asia.7.0.2 Critical Qualitative Data of the Research Project<img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrq92l0001c7lfconft8r8">Figure: 76 Source- Human Rights Pledge Certificate obtained by the Research Practitioner on July 29, 2019<img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrqa2a0003c7lf5956lvpw">Figure: 77(a) Printed Government Acknowledged Copy of the Tool used in the Primary Phase of the Single-Blind Experimentation Source- <a href="https://jkgrievance.in/AwazAAwam/index.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Jammu and Kashmir Government Grievance Cell (jkgrievance.in)</a><img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrqb8n0005c7lfgtsbmnrv">Figure: 77(b) Printed Government Acknowledged Copy of the Tool used in the Primary Phase of the Single-Blind Experimentation Source- <a href="https://jkgrievance.in/AwazAAwam/index.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Jammu and Kashmir Government Grievance Cell (jkgrievance.in)</a><img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrqbhi0007c7lf5ckqlfxn">Figure: 78 Response of the Experimental Subjects during the Primary Phase of the Single-Blind Experimentation Source- <a href="https://jkgrievance.in/AwazAAwam/index.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Jammu and Kashmir Government Grievance Cell (jkgrievance.in)</a><img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrqc8s0009c7lffu0syq01">Figure: 79 (a) Printed Government Acknowledged Copy of the Tool used in the Secondary Phase of the Single-Blind Experimentation Source- <a href="https://jkgrievance.in/AwazAAwam/index.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Jammu and Kashmir Government Grievance Cell (jkgrievance.in)</a><img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrqd7q000bc7lfr858xyit">Figure: 79 (b) Printed Government Acknowledged Copy of the Tool used in the Secondary Phase of the Single-Blind Experimentation Source- <a href="https://jkgrievance.in/AwazAAwam/index.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Jammu and Kashmir Government Grievance Cell (jkgrievance.in)</a>Important NoteThe experimental subjects suppressed the official records depicted in [Figure No. 77(a), 77(b), 79(a), 79(b)] and did not provide the printed and certified copies during the Tertiary Phase of Single-Blind Experimentation. At the same time, the feature to view and download these records was not available on the website interface of the Jammu and Kashmir Government Grievance Cell until May 10, 2022. The web screen recording uploaded on YouTube confirms this limitation, and anyone can verify it by clicking on the link <a href="https://youtu.be/X0Wd2Sfl1lU" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">https://youtu.be/X0Wd2Sfl1lU </a>However, the website later added this feature, enabling the Research Practitioner to retrieve these documents.<img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrqdy0000dc7lfseq3zt2h">Figure: 80 Response of the Experimental Subjects during the Secondary Phase of the Single-Blind Experimentation Source- <a href="https://jkgrievance.in/AwazAAwam/index.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Jammu and Kashmir Government Grievance Cell (jkgrievance.in)</a><img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrqeyk000fc7lfq24duvk6">Figure: 80(a) Case-Diary Number 10384/IN/2020 obtained from the National Human Rights Commission-New Delhi on July 13, 2020<img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrqg0v000hc7lf9vvgk0ec">Figure: 80(b) Case-Diary Number 10384/IN/2020 obtained from the National Human Rights Commission-New Delhi on July 13, 2020<img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrqgxm000jc7lf7z5pegwf">Figure: 80(c) Case-Diary Number 10384/IN/2020 obtained from the National Human Rights Commission-New Delhi on July 13, 2020<img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrqhry000lc7lfey6bns0q">Figure: 80(d) Case-Diary Number 10384/IN/2020 obtained from the National Human Rights Commission-New Delhi on July 13, 2020<img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrqi5u000nc7lf86p5a4wk"><img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrqidg000pc7lfmlb6pbjd"><img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrqir7000rc7lfzy08j0bn"> <img src="https://science-octopus-publishing-images-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/clyxrqiyc000tc7lfuic1ubb8">

"Single-Blind Experimental Case-Study on the Deviant Functionaries of the Revenue Department in the District Kathua-184101, Jammu and Kashmir, Republic of India February 2019 - May 2024”

“Single-Blind Experimental Case-Study on the Deviant Functionaries of the Revenue Department in the District Kathua-184101, Jammu and Kashmir, Republic of India February 2019 - May 2024”

Single-Blind Experimental Case-Study on the Deviant Functionaries of the Revenue Department in the District Kathua-184101, Jammu and Kashmir, Republic of India February 2019 - May 2024

1 Rationale:This research project aimed to open the defunct and illegally occupied building of Patwarkhana (Office of the Village Revenue Accountant in the Village Kathera) in the public interest. Because the residents of the main village Kathera, Kumri, Androt, Fafal, Sangan, Punwari, Bhed Blore, Tipri, Alari, Dral, Sher Kotla were forced to travel to the main town of Kathua to avail of the revenue-department-related services. To achieve the aim warranted the completion of the Basic Research. Besides, it was crucial to document the natural conduct of the functionaries of the revenue department in real-world settings to investigate the underlying factors responsible for the hierarchical negligence exercised by the revenue department that led to the defunct and occupied building of Patwarkhana since its construction.Additionally, it was the only way to check the authenticity of the compiled evidence-based basic research report compiled by the different research methods. Moreover, it was interesting to document the group behavior to see whether the senior revenue officers would take disciplinary action against the errant functionaries and to assess their nepotism, process-oriented or result-oriented work culture.Achieving this required sharing the evidence-based research report with the officials of revenue department and prompting them to respond called Single-Blind Field Experimentation because the experimental subjects were unaware of the ongoing study. It was bound to generate additional qualitative evidence derived from government sources. This project adheres to the Sustainable Development Goal No. 16, which aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions.&nbsp;1.2 Ethical Considerations:The study employs a single-blinded research design. Hence, the experimental subjects were unaware due to the secretive nature of the study. Maintaining secrecy on the project was critically important to allow them to act naturally thereby gaining profound insights into their work culture and assess their empathy for others. This research work is self-explanatory as all the pieces of qualitative evidence are embedded in this publication.Although, the experimental results alone are enough to prove the findings. However, the secondary data impart a deeper and more holistic understanding about the professional misconduct of the experimental subjects and helps to corroborate the research findings .The contents derived from the different sources amounts to fair usage and do not cause any copyright infringement since the purpose is to enhance the context and provide additional evidence for the scrutiny of critics. All the data sets used in the study have been acknowledged by citing their sources. However, the data belonging to third-parties and its availability and accessibility on the internet cannot be ensured by the researcher. The readers while clicking the hyperlink of any Uniform Resource Locator are requested to exercise due prudence as the mentioned hyperlinks are beyond the control of the research author.The research practitioner obtained the consent of the Community of Interest for their participation in the project and assured them that their identities would be protected and shall only be used with the government alone and would not be circulated to the General Public. During the research, it was the responsibility to protect the identity of the participants. Now, after the completion of the project, the concerned stakeholders of the Union Government of India and the research fraternity shall be ethically responsible to uphold the same commitment.

“Single-Blind Experimental Case-Study on the Deviant Functionaries of the Revenue Department in the District Kathua-184101, Jammu and Kashmir, Republic of India February 2019 - May 2024”Pursued solo by: - Ishu Upadhyay, Research Practitioner and Director, Department of Research at Council for Research on Sociological Problems and Mitigation Studies (www.crspms.in), Kathua-184101, Jammu &amp; Kashmir, Republic of India.<ol><li>Research Problem:</li></ol>In February 2019, the researcher discovered a dilapidated and defunct Patwarkhana (Office of the Village-level Revenue Accountant) situated in the Government-declared backward Village Kathera of the District Kathua illegally occupied by a migrant labor supervisor and his family. The district Kathua falls under the administrative jurisdiction of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Republic of India. The research project aimed to make the office operational in the public interest as the residents of the village Kathera, Kumri, Androt, Fafal, Sangan, Punwari, Bhed Blore, Tipri, Alari, Dral, Sher Kotla were forced to travel to main town of Kathua for availing the revenue-department-related services. Prerequisite to achieve the aim required completion of the basic research. To investigate the underlying reasons for the inoperative Patwarkhana required conducting a Preliminary inquiry, Participant field ethnography, collecting qualitative evidence, Analysis of the Landscape on the problem, Cartographic depiction of the Bystander effect, Analysis and Segmentation of the stakeholders into different Groups based on their common characteristics and sanctioned power relative to the Problem causal group to understand the power dynamics responsible for sustaining the problem for years as the building was constructed in the early 2000s and remained defunct since then. Over the years, some miscreants stole the water tank placed on the terrace of the building and decamped with the water pump installed at the bore well. The combined results of all the research methods provided clear evidence and established the hierarchal negligence of the revenue department. The defunct and illegally occupied Patwarkhana was caused by the persistent hierarchical negligence aggravated by a lack of accountability and an ineffective supervisory mechanism. These findings led to the completion of the basic research.&nbsp;Afterwards, the researcher prepared an evidence-based survey report and shared it with the district administration of Kathua in March 2019, and demanded the opening of the Patwarkhana. It led to the culmination of the primary single-blind experimentation phase to document their natural response to investigate the department culture, level of nepotism, and the group affinity in the department. In March 2019, during the primary phase of the single-field experimentation, the experimental group exhibited highly deviant group behavior to shield their collective negligence by implicating another department to legitimize and cover up the illegal occupation of the building. They used psychological tactics involving careful use of the circumlocution, double-bind communication and arbitrariness to evade their accountability and falsely denied the administrative custody of the building. Subsequently, research practitioner inquired the custody of the building from the Block Development Officer, Kathua and compiled the supplementary survey report. In July 2019, the supplementary survey report was presented to the experimental subjects. The report reiterated the earlier findings and contested the biased and evasive response of the experimental subjects and employed “Naming and Shaming” strategy to prompt them to open up the defunct and illegally-occupied Patwarkhana. Following this, the Deputy Commissioner Kathua directed the Tehsildar Kathua to take immediate necessary action on July 2019. However, they continued to exercise inaction and the same was documented during the monitoring of the implementation phase. On January 1, 2021, they cited the previous response given by them. In this way, the Deputy Commissioner Kathua contradicted himself by recommending the necessary action in July 2019 and later colluding with his colleagues by pasting the old response. Thus, experimental subjects deliberately chose to linger on the problem. By doing so, they exhausted their threshold limits and option to exercise arbitrariness. Because retracting from their official responsible became impossible for them. Additionally, the researcher employed more independent variables and identified the confounding variables affecting the desired experimental outcomes before beginning the tertiary experiment in February 2022 to increase the efficacy of the experimental-embedded treatment. It involved demanding evidence from them including their predecessors and incumbents for their professional misconduct and negligence by creating a Prisoner’s Dilemma for them and they had no other option than to open the Patwarkhana. It triangulated and forced them to admit their lies and open the defunct Patwarkhana in March, 2022. However, they suppressed the official records to protect their collective interests and departmental image. Concluding the project based on the official confirmation provided by the experimental subjects in the light of their deviant behavior and professional misconduct was unscientific. Therefore, the post-experimentation monitoring phase lasted for two years (April 2022- May 2024) which established that the Patwarkhana is merely operational on papers only and is still defunct. The illegal occupants (Family members of a private labor supervisor) vacated the building after the road construction in the mid-2021). Moreover, the field functionaries posted in the revenue office continues to mark their attendance by corrupt means under the patronage of the senior officers. Throughout the project (February 2019- May 2024), the departmental negligence and professional misconduct of the subjects including the predecessors, successors and the incumbents in the revenue department remained constant which proves the degradation of the department culture plagued with indiscipline, falsehoods, nepotism, absenteeism and process-oriented corrupt work practices. They are eroding the strengths of their institutions and damaging the public trust as well by their complacency and biased workings. This project has highlighted a real-life scenario involving a problem causal group trying to solve the problem and adjudicating the same too with sheer impunity. No research project can run forever and is bound to cease after considerable time. This research project was culminated in February 2019 in the erstwhile princely state of the Jammu and Kashmir and witnessed the bifurcation of the state into the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh following the abrogation of the Article35-A, Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. The Union Government passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 and it became applicable on October 31, 2019 thereby ending the special status and dividing the state. What did not change was the apathetic and deviant behavior of the experimental subjects despite the evolution of the State into a Union Territory. Therefore, this project stands concluded in May 2024 and is based on the repeated experimental results and secondary qualitative data sourced from the government records and other sources which triangulates and corroborate the research findings. It is up to the decision makers of the country to imagine the repercussions when the government officials entrusted to safeguard the public property and maintain public order turns hostile and begins performing contradictory functions swayed by their selfish interests and group affinity? Awarding impunity to the negligent and biased officers would turn disastrous in the long-run and is likely to cause irreversible damage. Therefore, the research recommends making accountability an integral part of the government service at all levels with robust supervision and regular performance appraisal based on the real output for the optimum utilization of the public funds and ensure its usage on the well-being of the people. The concluded project has demonstrated the triumph of the scientific method over the collective arrogance of officers performing roles in contradiction to their assigned duties with impunity. When a solitary research practitioner can arrest the deviant behavior of influential subjects through the application of the scientific method in one district, one can only imagine the transformative potential the Government holds with its vast prestige, power, and resources.

Ishu Upadhyay

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