Journey through Netalands and Babudom
It is my immense pleasure to present you today’s “episode” (as one reader called it) as “Gyan For The Day” achieves a milestone – the 25th Article in this series. It is really heartening to see this initiative crossing the boundaries of companies and states as people, not only from Infosys but also from other organizations like IBM, Geometric, situated at different locations across India and the Globe look forward to the article everyday (342, to be specific). This is just a humble note of thanks to all of you for your support, encouragement and suggestions that has kept my spirit afloat to write everyday!
Recently, a couple of news caught my attention. One was about the Netas accepting bribe to ask questions in the parliament. As expected, it has created a lot of brawl these days and more food for the News hungry media. And I’m equally sure that it’s just a matter of time that the dust would soon settle down and the Janata would forget about all that happened. The other news that did not quite appear on the first page was about the IAS officers getting appraised at certain points (15, 25 years) of their career. This was under consideration for a long time to instill some efficiency in the “Sarkari” organization. The news headline read something like “Now, Babus won’t afford to relax” or something on the similar lines.
Incidentally I happened to read a book titled “Journey through Netalands and Babudom” penned by T.S.R. Subramanian who himself has served the Indian administration through his stints as a district magistrate, State Secretary, Cabinet Secretary at various stages during his career.
T.S.R. Subramanian is a Math Graduate from UK and joined Indian Administration as an IAS passout of the 1972 batch. During his interview, the panel of judges asked him why he wants to join IAS service. TSR replied,” I want to serve India” A clichéd answer today but it appealed the panel back then and TSR joined the UP cadre. I wonder who would believe to that answer today, however genuine it may sound!
The book, then, takes you from places to places where the author was posted to perform his duty and you get to see how rotten the system has gotten over the half century or so. Anecdotes portraying the first hand experience the author has gained make you wonder how India has survived for these many years. An amusing, yet disturbing story goes like this.
Generally, the rookie officer was used to get a posting as additional district magistrate in his early days. During his tenure, TSR took special efforts to see to it that the pending cases are quickly cleared. Most of the cases were petty land disputes and could have been judged without much hassle. He did manage to decrease the number of pending cases drastically, by giving just and quick decisions, taking into consideration plea of both the parties.
Soon, he got promoted to some other district. The Bar council organized a function to felicitate TSR. The president of Bar Council was lavish in his praise saying he hasn’t seen such a great magistrate in his own life and that all the lawyers would remain in debt for all of theirs. Other members promptly nodded in agreement. TSR was touched by this gesture, thinking that, at least, these people understood and appreciated his efforts to clear the pending cases. The president then further went on to say,” Thanks to the District Magistrate’s quick decisions, we lawyers have found new opportunity to earn more. Hurt by the decision, one or the other party would surely appeal to the higher court. There, it would remain for years to come and would insure a steady income for all of us. If it hadn’t been for TSR, we lawyers wouldn’t have seen such a golden harvest!”
TSR had to see more of the bureaucracy in his coming years. He would see thick skinned politicians who would not let go any single opportunity to take advantage of the situation or to promote their yes – men. He would also see good, upright officers getting transferred and failing prey to the dirty politics so many times that they would eventually quit, leaving the system to get even worse. Although, the author puts across what he saw of the system in his tenure, the tone is not complaining – rather sarcastic and humorous.
Later, getting promoted, he got to see the likes of Sucheta Kriplani, Indira Gandhi, Channa Reddy et al. He also served in UN as a representative of the Ministry of Commerce and would get more insight into the International Politics. During the NAM movement and the later years, India enjoyed the leadership position of most of the developing and Asian countries. Indian bureaucrats were respected and feared for their rationality, ability to lead the debate and fighting for just demands of the developing countries, without getting bogged down by the stance of the Developed countries. But this edge was soon lost due to the lack of political determination and vision during the coming years. He would also get to see how developed countries use their positions to pretend their generosity in helping the third world countries to progress. And at the same time, they would forcefully or otherwise make the developing countries sign treaties and pacts. Spineless people would get promoted to represent India at the forums like UN just because they had absolutely nothing much to do in India and foreign postings would serve as a safe way to cut them off from the system back home!
After coming back to India, TSR was made the Chief Secretary of UP State Government during Mulayam Singh Yadav’s administration. During this tenure, he was to handle the Babari Masjid disaster. He worked hard to maintain the Law and Order situation but the politicians managed to depict a different picture altogether for their own petty benefits. In his book, TSR has also appreciated the then Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for his administrative capabilities. I would like to share a quick anecdote TSR wrote: A conclave of all the IAS officers, who had served and are serving the UP state, was arranged. Addressing the audience filled with these men, Yadav said,” You all are the brightest minds of India. Your education so far has made you intellectually higher than any other officer or politician in the country. You have the managerial and administrative potential and the constitution has empowered you with the authority to change India for good.” And then he asked, “Then why do I get to see these officers coming to me asking for some petty favour!? I’ll surely grant it because then even I can force you to dance on my tunes later on! It is really disgusting to see such bright and upright minds compromising with their values…”!
With the I.K. Gujaral and Devegowda government coming into power at the center, TSR was handpicked for the post of Cabinet Secretary. I’m not sure if it’ll be appropriate to put TSR’s political views in a forum like this but the essence remains that politicians successfully manage to manipulate the system and every next government tends to undo, be it for good or bad, whatever the earlier administration has done. So in short, it’s like 2 steps forward and a step backward!
TSR also compares post independence era with the good old British days and comments that back in those days, the officers were paid handsomely and given a free hand at putting their plans in practice for a longer duration. The high wages insured that they won’t need to compromise with their values for quick money and longer tenures would make the officers learn the system first and implement the changes they want to see in the system.
The author summarizes his experience in the form of 4 Laws of Administration:
1. Administration is conducted for the benefit of the administrators.
2. In a conflict between private interest and public interest, the former shall prevail.
3. The country belongs to the “haves” and the “have nots” do not exist.
4. A public servant's work output and rewards are inversely related.
Well, I still wonder what makes India survive and progress at such a rate in spite of the rotten system of administration and lack of political will power. And, all I can think of is a slogan I had read at the back of a truck (They are, in deed, quite an interesting piece of literature!J)
“Sau (100) meinse nabbe (90) beimaan…phirbhi Mera Bharat Mahan”
Regards,
Abhishek
P.S.:
Let’s go East tomorrow…
Recently, a couple of news caught my attention. One was about the Netas accepting bribe to ask questions in the parliament. As expected, it has created a lot of brawl these days and more food for the News hungry media. And I’m equally sure that it’s just a matter of time that the dust would soon settle down and the Janata would forget about all that happened. The other news that did not quite appear on the first page was about the IAS officers getting appraised at certain points (15, 25 years) of their career. This was under consideration for a long time to instill some efficiency in the “Sarkari” organization. The news headline read something like “Now, Babus won’t afford to relax” or something on the similar lines.
Incidentally I happened to read a book titled “Journey through Netalands and Babudom” penned by T.S.R. Subramanian who himself has served the Indian administration through his stints as a district magistrate, State Secretary, Cabinet Secretary at various stages during his career.
T.S.R. Subramanian is a Math Graduate from UK and joined Indian Administration as an IAS passout of the 1972 batch. During his interview, the panel of judges asked him why he wants to join IAS service. TSR replied,” I want to serve India” A clichéd answer today but it appealed the panel back then and TSR joined the UP cadre. I wonder who would believe to that answer today, however genuine it may sound!
The book, then, takes you from places to places where the author was posted to perform his duty and you get to see how rotten the system has gotten over the half century or so. Anecdotes portraying the first hand experience the author has gained make you wonder how India has survived for these many years. An amusing, yet disturbing story goes like this.
Generally, the rookie officer was used to get a posting as additional district magistrate in his early days. During his tenure, TSR took special efforts to see to it that the pending cases are quickly cleared. Most of the cases were petty land disputes and could have been judged without much hassle. He did manage to decrease the number of pending cases drastically, by giving just and quick decisions, taking into consideration plea of both the parties.
Soon, he got promoted to some other district. The Bar council organized a function to felicitate TSR. The president of Bar Council was lavish in his praise saying he hasn’t seen such a great magistrate in his own life and that all the lawyers would remain in debt for all of theirs. Other members promptly nodded in agreement. TSR was touched by this gesture, thinking that, at least, these people understood and appreciated his efforts to clear the pending cases. The president then further went on to say,” Thanks to the District Magistrate’s quick decisions, we lawyers have found new opportunity to earn more. Hurt by the decision, one or the other party would surely appeal to the higher court. There, it would remain for years to come and would insure a steady income for all of us. If it hadn’t been for TSR, we lawyers wouldn’t have seen such a golden harvest!”
TSR had to see more of the bureaucracy in his coming years. He would see thick skinned politicians who would not let go any single opportunity to take advantage of the situation or to promote their yes – men. He would also see good, upright officers getting transferred and failing prey to the dirty politics so many times that they would eventually quit, leaving the system to get even worse. Although, the author puts across what he saw of the system in his tenure, the tone is not complaining – rather sarcastic and humorous.
Later, getting promoted, he got to see the likes of Sucheta Kriplani, Indira Gandhi, Channa Reddy et al. He also served in UN as a representative of the Ministry of Commerce and would get more insight into the International Politics. During the NAM movement and the later years, India enjoyed the leadership position of most of the developing and Asian countries. Indian bureaucrats were respected and feared for their rationality, ability to lead the debate and fighting for just demands of the developing countries, without getting bogged down by the stance of the Developed countries. But this edge was soon lost due to the lack of political determination and vision during the coming years. He would also get to see how developed countries use their positions to pretend their generosity in helping the third world countries to progress. And at the same time, they would forcefully or otherwise make the developing countries sign treaties and pacts. Spineless people would get promoted to represent India at the forums like UN just because they had absolutely nothing much to do in India and foreign postings would serve as a safe way to cut them off from the system back home!
After coming back to India, TSR was made the Chief Secretary of UP State Government during Mulayam Singh Yadav’s administration. During this tenure, he was to handle the Babari Masjid disaster. He worked hard to maintain the Law and Order situation but the politicians managed to depict a different picture altogether for their own petty benefits. In his book, TSR has also appreciated the then Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for his administrative capabilities. I would like to share a quick anecdote TSR wrote: A conclave of all the IAS officers, who had served and are serving the UP state, was arranged. Addressing the audience filled with these men, Yadav said,” You all are the brightest minds of India. Your education so far has made you intellectually higher than any other officer or politician in the country. You have the managerial and administrative potential and the constitution has empowered you with the authority to change India for good.” And then he asked, “Then why do I get to see these officers coming to me asking for some petty favour!? I’ll surely grant it because then even I can force you to dance on my tunes later on! It is really disgusting to see such bright and upright minds compromising with their values…”!
With the I.K. Gujaral and Devegowda government coming into power at the center, TSR was handpicked for the post of Cabinet Secretary. I’m not sure if it’ll be appropriate to put TSR’s political views in a forum like this but the essence remains that politicians successfully manage to manipulate the system and every next government tends to undo, be it for good or bad, whatever the earlier administration has done. So in short, it’s like 2 steps forward and a step backward!
TSR also compares post independence era with the good old British days and comments that back in those days, the officers were paid handsomely and given a free hand at putting their plans in practice for a longer duration. The high wages insured that they won’t need to compromise with their values for quick money and longer tenures would make the officers learn the system first and implement the changes they want to see in the system.
The author summarizes his experience in the form of 4 Laws of Administration:
1. Administration is conducted for the benefit of the administrators.
2. In a conflict between private interest and public interest, the former shall prevail.
3. The country belongs to the “haves” and the “have nots” do not exist.
4. A public servant's work output and rewards are inversely related.
Well, I still wonder what makes India survive and progress at such a rate in spite of the rotten system of administration and lack of political will power. And, all I can think of is a slogan I had read at the back of a truck (They are, in deed, quite an interesting piece of literature!J)
“Sau (100) meinse nabbe (90) beimaan…phirbhi Mera Bharat Mahan”
Regards,
Abhishek
P.S.:
Let’s go East tomorrow…
posted by Gyan for the Day! | 7:21 pm
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