The Hindu Business Line : IAS forever?

EVERY section of opinion in the country has looked askance at the Indian Administrative Service, the successor to the "heaven-born" Indian Civil Service (which Jawaharlal Nehru once castigated as being neither Indian, nor civil nor service!), centred round the concept of generalist-bureaucrats, for as long as it has existed. Not one public meeting, seminar or gathering of any sort passes without at least one participant having a dig at the mess in which the country has been landed thanks to the bungling by bureaucrats!

The IAS is also seen as a self-serving, clannish bunch, intent on denying others outside their charmed circle a fair chance for furthering their career prospects and actualising their potential to the maximum extent possible.

Another criticism is about the members of the IAS being treated as versatile know-alls, fit for a wide spectrum of responsibilities from agriculture to aviation to education to industry to health. The old shibboleth "Experts should be on tap, and not on top" is still ruling the roost, although it has no place in the age of specialisation. The IAS has thus continued to retain its stranglehold on top slots in the Central and State Governments, while persons of technical, scientific, literary and professional accomplishments find themselves unable to get full scope for their talents.

Political parties too have not taken kindly to it, looking upon it as obstructionist and rule-ridden, dragging its feet on schemes drawn up for ameliorating the lot of the people, and acting as a brake on the country's progress. Foreign commentators also have been blaming bureaucracy, with the IAS at the head, for India's slow pace of economic reforms and blackening its image.

Even as early as mid-1960s, the election manifesto of the CPI had demanded abolition of the IAS, with the States given the right to appoint persons of their choice to man the districts and departments. There has been no such demand from political establishment lately, but the feeling of alienation no doubt persists under the surface. Prominent business leaders have occasionally been plugging for high-level appointments in government being made on contract strictly pegged to performance; but the snag here is that the eagerness to have the contracts extended may make the appointees succumb to pressures.

While the debate rages, IAS marches on.

B. S. Raghavan

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