“Which is the missile that India has built that does not work and cannot be fired? The civil servant.” That’s just one of the many jokes on our babus doing the rounds.

But on the 7th Central Pay Commission’s recommendations our IAS officers are certainly firing on all cylinders, up in arms against the suggestion that the top posts at the Centre should be opened up to 11 other services including Indian Police Service (IPS) and Income Tax Service. The Pay Commission’s recommendations include pay parity among the various services and calls for an end to superiority based culture and shift to a performance-oriented one.

Logic dictates that the Secretary for Environment and Forests should be an Indian Forest Service officer, and the revenue secretary should be from the Income Tax service and perhaps the Home Ministry should be steered by an IPS officer. But a vice-like grip has been maintained by the IAS in these posts. So tight is their stranglehold that even the practice of inducting non-career bureaucrats laterally — Manmohan Singh, who served in the finance ministry, is a notable example — has stopped now.

It’s not surprising that the IAS officers who consider themselves highest in the caste hierarchy that persists within the bureaucracy want to protect their turf. IAS officers contend that their edge should be maintained as they get the service by virtue of being top rankers in civil services entrance exams. However, racehorses are picked for the elite service but over the years they turn into mules.

The IAS may still manage to retain its edge, but it’s time that the bureaucracy in India is shaken out of its stupor. However, given the fact that it is the babus themselves who frame the policies, the odds are they will manage to nip these suggestions in the bud. As another joke goes: “What does a civil servant do when he sees the light at the end of the tunnel? He builds a longer tunnel.”

, Editorial Consultant

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