The Hindu Business Line : In bureaucrats we trust

POLITICIANS are supposed to believe in doing good to the public and accordingly lay down policies while the salaried bureaucrats are expected to implement them without fear or favour. This is yet another postulate which works in theory, and perhaps in theory alone. Unlike his predecessors, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, himself a technocrat turned bureaucrat, appears more comfortable with bureaucrats, particularly those in their twilight years, than his cohorts from politics.

In the context of his earnest desire to carry out reforms for improving delivery of public services, he may well recall what Eugene McCarthy, an American politician famously said. "The bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status".

Perhaps Dr Singh is guided partly by George Van Valkenberg, a New York politician of the 19th Century, who said that: "Government servants like to solve problems; if there are no problems handily available they will create their own problems".

But, for now, hopes have been kindled, even among hardened cynics, that government servants, be they administrators, judges, policemen or clerks, will turn altruistic, at least collectively.

However, for this to be sustained, the impression left by the archetypal bureaucrat has to be erased. People believe that it will be quite out of character for a government servant not to enjoy the power vested in his position and his department. At any event, the sole aim of a bureaucrat is to safeguard his career, however low and humble it may be, as it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

The best strategy to achieve this would be to exercise utmost caution to ensure that the security of tenure remains unaffected, no matter what happens. In fact, a dyed-in-the-wool type knows to keep his distance from persons who strive for high ideals and are full of heroism.

Listening to everyone is the key to existence and recording information gathered then, helps fill up the files. Later, such information and opinions can be used to make it appear as though one can argue equally persuasively from both sides of any issue, a la Sir Humphrey Appleby of Yes Minister.

The work ethos of ritualistic discipline rather than result orientation is best imbibed as second nature to be at peace with oneself. Bureaucracy, for all its sham and drudgery, is still a beautiful system for which no substitute has been invented so far.

R. Sundaram

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