There are three pillars of our constitution, legislature, executive and the judiciary. The legislature consists of elected representatives, also called ‘lawmakers,’ and are the top rung of the three. The executive consists of officers of various branches, like the IFS, IAS, IRS, IPS etc. Though IFS is considered crème de la crème, the officers are mostly on assignments abroad or assigned to various external affairs desks in India. The judiciary’s role is to interpret laws and deliver justice when needed, and in exceptional cases, strike down laws considered violative of our constitution.
Periodically the question arises as to the role of the civil service officers and if their quality has fallen in the nearly last seven decades of independent India. The answer is a mix, as I have had the opportunity to work with many officers in various capacities. IAS continues to be a much sought after job with the most brilliant minds in India. However, the excitement soon fades when they have to stand before corrupt politicians, who have one key for taming the officers, compulsory waiting, or transfers to most obscure posts and locations. Their dream of changing India soon evaporates.
Therefore, one can only view any fall in the standards of IAS with a corresponding fall in the quality of politicians, many with pending criminal cases ranging from murder to rapes. It is the officers whose signature validates any and all acts of commission and omission. A former Bihar CM could not have amassed his wealth and plundered the treasuries had not the officials collaborated with him.
In another case, a senior police officer, personally known to me, was harassed to no end for exposing corruption. In this case, building a bridge where existed no canal or river. I was in the minister’s room when he gave a dressing down to an officer who stood ashamed and quiet. That was also when I decided my children would never appear for the UPSC. The corruption machinery by politicians have only been oiled and polished like never before.
Notwithstanding these, the role of the IAS officers in our nation-building has been phenomenal. But fewer officers would dare to point to the ministers of their lapses or refuse to toe their political bosses.
If the lateral appointments in Indian bureaucracy are the new norm, weeding out the most corrupt is the onus of the officers. The officers in Uttar Pradesh, if I remember, used to vote the most corrupt in their cadre, which was a unique way. The judiciary’s role as for administration is concerned could be minimal, to enforce and ensure compliance of laws. However, the judiciary has not done enough to book erring politicians, which is also a root cause of the wider malice.
I knew of a senior bureaucrat who disclosed once that for non-performance, one does not lose jobs, but one must be careful not to get caught red-handed. Not to confront politicians is the preferred survival link for many officers, who manage to survive until they are posted elsewhere. Merely claiming cirrhosis of the liver without admitting that the system is addicted to corruption would mean only scapegoating the IAS.
In the end, India must learn to weed out corruption from all the three pillars of our democracy to survive and grow.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
