K B Jandial
Every year, on 21st April, India celebrates National Civil Services Day since 2006 to applaud civil servants who are working tirelessly to run India’s administrative machinery in service to the people. On this day, the civil servants, judged the best in three categories, are decorated with the PM’s award for Excellence in Public Administration, a rare honour for a bureaucrat. The officers of J&K Govt of the erstwhile State too have bagged this coveted award.
There are in all, 23 All India and Central Govt Services divided into Group A and Group B; the most inspirational, prestigious and powerful among these are IAS, IPS, IFS, and Indian Foreign Services (IFS), the IAS being the successor to the colonial era’s ICS. The President of India appoints Group A officers while he has specified the authorities for appointment of Group B officers.
The word ‘Civil Service’ dates back to the British time when the East India Company’s civilian staff were involved in administrative jobs, known as ‘Public Servants’. Its foundation was laid by Warren Hastings and later, more reforms were undertaken by Charles Cornwallis, Governor of Bengal Presidency who is known as the ‘Father of Civil Services in India’.
The Government of India Act 1919 had split the Imperial Services headed by the Secretary of State for India, into two- All India Services and Central Services. The All India and Central Services (Group A) were designated as Central Superior Services as early as 1924.From 1924 to 1934, the Administration in India then comprised ten All India Services (including Indian Education Service, Indian Medical Service) and five central departments, all under the control of Secretary of State for India, and three central departments under the joint Provincial and Imperial Control, headed by the Viceroy and Governor-General of India.
The origin of Civil Services Day is linked to the address of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on April 21, 1947, to the probationers of Indian Administrative Service at the All India Administrative Service Training School at Metcalfe House, Delhi. In this landmark address, he empowered the Civil Servants to adopt the true role of national service leaving behind the colonial baggage of British rule. It was in this inspiring speech Sardar Patel called the IAS officers as the ‘steel frame of India’. The Iron Man of India said, “You are the pioneers in the Indian Service, and the future of this service will depend much upon the foundation and traditions that will be laid down by you, by your character and abilities and by your spirit of service.”
Sardar Patel listed five characteristics of the IAS officers exemplified by their work. These were Impartiality and Incorruptibility (don’t take part in politics or communal wrangles); Integrity (cultivate an ‘esprit de corps’- a feeling of pride and mutual loyalty shared by them); no expectation of extraneous rewards (organise rescue operations, relief camps and contribute to them); Sovereignty (epoch-making change in service for own people) and Spirit of service (Change from service to masters to people in a spirit of service). These continue to be relevant today also. He had pinned high hopes from these iconic officers to be the pillar of free India’s administrative structure and uniting force of pluralistic and diverse poverty stricken India by discharging their assigned service rising above political consideration.
Notwithstanding the current plethora of shortcomings and growing public perception of abuse of power, arrogance, politicalisation and seekers of petty favours, the fact remains that India’s bureaucracy had managed to row the boat over turbulent waters of abject poverty, socio-economic disparities, non-existence of infrastructure and amenities and communal strife, at least, in the first decade of post-independent India when the civil services were deficit in strength due to departure of a good number of civil servants of British origin.
Sharing this concern, Sardar Patel had said in his speech on October 15, 1947, “You can realise what a year-old government has to do to maintain peace and bring about prosperity. The steel frame on which India relied so far is now broken….50% of which was foreign went across the seas. Partition further weakened it… We have only a small number of civil servants left…outsiders cannot appreciate their work. Many of them loyal workers and patriots are working with us night and day. All we have been able to achieve whether be in the sphere of states or in Kashmir or in any other theatre, have been possible only because of their loyalty and wholehearted support.”
Analysing the critical role of the civil services in steering post-independent India, one can easily say that it wasn’t an easy feat by any standard, but Indian civil servants, especially the Indian Administrative Services (IAS), have managed to do it with great conviction. Fortunately, the country had Sardar Patel on its side, and he went on to build a new steel frame of the country, which is still the backbone of Indian administration today.
Historically, the civil servants played the part of a “servant to their lord”. Similar officials, known as rajukas and adyakhshas, were in charge of similar governance in the Mauryan administration. The East India Company had Government servants who served the crown. There was a paradigm shift from promoting British interests to work for the socio economic and developmental needs of the newly created democracy and loyalty to the people of India in discharge of every duty. Unlike members of the judiciary and defence services, the members of the civil services who do not take any pledge to the ruling party, are constitutionally tasked to implement the policies and programs of the party in office.
On the flip side, not many civil servants today qualify to Patel’s principle of ‘incorruptibility’ which is the biggest desired virtue for a civil servant. They are expected to demonstrate impeccable integrity as a corrupt system erodes the vitality of a robust country. Common man should never be allowed to feel that the much avowed ‘steel frame’ has got rusted or bent.
While a growing public negative discernment on the integrity of civil servants exists, G. V. Venugopal IAS (Odisha 1986) sought to minimize it by accepting existence of a few “black sheep’. But when it comes to running a nation, the IAS led civil service is still the most dependable part of the system despite increasing number of cases of civil servants functioning more as card holders of the ruling party rather than public servants. Unbecoming conduct, first by the Chief Secretary of West Bengal and a year later by Punjab CS in showing disrespect to the PM by toeing the line of anti-Modi CMs of these states, are the tip of the iceberg, revealing that the ‘steel frame of India’ is fast bending. In this unsavoury background, two IAS veterans have presented diverse views on the debate, “Has IAS failed the Nation”?
Duvvuri Subharao, former RBI Governor holds a view that IAS has failed the nation, saying that it’s not all politicians’ fault – “Public perception-IAS is an elitist, self-serving, status quo- They are out of touch with reality. They wallow in their privileges and social status and have lost the courage of conviction to stand up for what is right.” In an article in a national daily, he wrote that it wasn’t in the seventies when in any talk of scams, the CM or PM would stand in the Legislature to announce the appointment of an IAS officer to enquire into the charges, it used to be accepted. Today, the CM & PM would be jeered on such announcement and an enquiry by a ‘cage parrot’ is publically unacceptable. Why? It is because the IAS officer is perceived to be a part of political Govt. The UK investigation into party-gate is a glaring contrast to the Indian bureaucrat’s reputation. Boris Johnson’s ‘party-gate’ is being investigated by an officer equivalent to the Indian cabinet secretary but none raised suspicion about its fairness. Can it be said about India?
As a successor of Colonial era’s ICS, the IAS was groomed to be the home grown answer to the challenges of rebuilding India from agriculture to education; Health care to infrastructure development, IAS officer was seen to be the performer. But IAS has lost its sheen and reputation over the years. Still, it attracts some of the best talent in India even though the service rewards and mediocrity and award of incentives and penalties flawed.
Deepak Gupta, former chairman of UPSC, strongly contested Subharao’s views claiming that the perception has no evidence. Articles against bureaucracy hold most of the ills of the administrative system at the doorstep of the IAS. His poser is that if we abolish the institution of IAS, would India’s all problems disappear? He quoted a survey conducted in 2017 on the effectiveness of the IAS and said that the outcome was that the service was outstandingly effective in preserving national unity and constitutional rule. One has to compare it with Pakistan. He quoted the 1997 World Development Report and World Bank studies of state reforms and improvements in public service delivery in 2006-07 and concluded that the IAS remained the best positioned to lead India’s developmental efforts and play the role visualised by Sardar Patel. He also quoted Sardar Patel in his address to the first batch of IAS- you must do public service because in no other manner will they fit into the scheme of things.
The current system may not be able to go on for a long time and that the new India would demand an updated and pro-people bureaucratic system. Thus, the time is high for a proactive, imaginative, responsive and highly technology-savvy bureaucracy.
(feedback:kbjandial@gmail.com)
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