Civil Servants and Uncivil Masters : Different coloures of the IAS Officers.

This is an interesting article by Dr NC Saxena, who retired as one of the senior most IAS officers. Dr. NC Saxena belongs to the rare breed of civil servants who also became one of the best public policy experts in the country. I know him for several years as he was also an adviser to the UN India after he got retired. He has written several books and research papers on public policy and a scholar on social and economic development and planning. Another great officer I know is Dr. Madhav Godbole ( resigned from the post of Home Secretary of India - in protest against the failure of the then government to protect Babri Masjid despite all his advice) - who in fact helped us( when I was at the National Centre for Advocacy Studies) to prepare a very good draft Right to Information Bill in the mid 1990s. His book on Governance is an important work for any civil servants or civil society activist. Dr. Sharad Behar is one of the best officer- activists I have come across. Great human being too- and made significant difference with his life and work- and helped poor to get land rights and also worked on education for several years. Dr BN Yugandar - former member of the Planning Commission of India ( now he is also know as the father of Sathyan Natella, CEO of Microsoft) is also one of the best and empathetic officerx I came across. Dr. SR Shankaran is another one. I also know great officers in the IFS and IPS. Of course, two of my good friends Thettalil Sreenivasan andJacob Punnoose are indeed great officers with tremendous leadership capacity and great human beings. When I got a chance to work closely with Dr. Niveditita P Haran , I was impressed by her professionalism and integrity. And we also know many great young officers including Prasanth Nair, Ampady K and many others who joned the service with great commitment and enthusiasm .
The long and short of it is that there are several great officers who made a great difference with their life and work.

I have also seen so many excellent and honest IAS officers feeling suffocated and not in a position to quit due to different reasons. I have also worked closely with several former IAS officers who were brave enough to quit the service and make a great difference in the society without fear or favour. Aruna Roy, Harsh Mandir, Ajit Joy, GM Pillai are few of them. I also had several colleagues who left civil service and chose to work within the UN System.

But then I also happen to see so many officers really known for their sheer bureaucratic arrogance. Some of them expect subservience or carry a feudal mentality. In a large world, many of them behave as if they are the local chieftains. Who cares ? Times have changed and people expect everyone to be professional- and no one gives a hoot simply because someone happened to pass an exam and got a service due to some ranking system. But people respect good human beings and officers who really seek to make a difference with the life and work and see it as a mode of true public service rather than a chair of power to show off.
Any way, Dr NC Saxena knows the in and out of the civil service in India as he occupied almost all senior positions in the Government of India.

In many countries all over the world, Civil Service consist of two streams. One that comes via the entry level civil service exams and the other stream consists of top subject experts with specific national and international expertise and domain knowledge. These two streams give a good mix in many countries. Of course, like the UN System, most of the subject experts join mid-career with with a minimum of ten to fifteen years experience in one area with proven leadership track record.

"Despite initial competence and enthusiasm, the hard reality is that many civil servants in the course of the 30 years of their career lose much of their dynamism and innovativeness, and end up as mere pen-pushers and cynics, with no faith in their own contribution to public welfare."

THEPRINT.IN

IAS officers see tremendous growth in two areas: Ignorance and arrogance

Most IAS officers end up as pen-pushers and cynics, with no faith in their contribution.