Expressing his disappointment at bureaucratic non-performance, in a longish speech in Parliament, on 10 February 2021, PM Modi broke an unspoken taboo, by questioning the operational capability of IAS officers. Actually, much before the PM noticed the declining efficiency of Government servants, citizens had often suffered when Government machinery failed them in crunch situations. Even after the PM’s tongue lashing, things are no better; one gets the distinct impression that tragedies like armed clashes in Manipur, riots in Haryana or floods in Delhi could have been handled much better.

On Independence, after the British left, and after the myriad rajas and maharajas had been pensioned off, the country expected that able men and women would take over the reins of administration and lead India to glory, but administrators of the requisite calibre were hard to find, in a newly independent country. Realising that the British had successfully administered India through the minuscule Indian Civil Service, the Indian Army and the Indian Police, Sardar Patel, decided to continue with these institutions ~ much against the wishes of his cabinet colleagues, including Pandit Nehru.

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Imbued with a sense of patriotism, and the heady feeling of independence, the Indian bureaucracy fully justified the Sardar’s confidence. Acknowledging the contribution of civil servants in nation building, Sardar Patel stated in the Constituent Assembly: “I wish this to be recorded in this house that during the last two or three years if most of the members of the services had not been serving the country efficiently, practically the Union would have collapsed.” Sadly, post-Independence, a new generation of bureaucrats with totally different values, are in office. Under the guise of Indianisation, timeless values of honesty, integrity, and responsibility have been discarded ~ to be replaced by a culture of brazen commercialism and avarice.

The same bureaucracy that was credited with rendering stellar service to the nation seventyfive years ago, now stands accused of runaway corruption and inefficiency. The primary reason for the diminishing performance of civil servants is the interference of politicians in bureaucratic decision-making. Before Independence, bureaucrats were accustomed to exercising unbridled power, but after Independence, real power passed into the hands of ministers, who came from a different milieu, and had a vastly different set of values, so conflicts developed between politicians and bureaucrats.

Soon, civil servants understood that circumspection rather than pure efficiency was needed to make things work, and politicians realised that civil servants, with their vast knowledge of procedure, were vital for any initiative to succeed. Therefore, peaceful co-existence and collaboration became the operative mantra. The bureaucratpolitician partnership smoothened administrative wrinkles and could have been transformative for the country, had it not been mostly used for ulterior purposes. Over the years the bureaucratic machinery has become increasingly slothful and corrupt; most Government schemes fail to deliver desired results because they are implemented by ill-trained and lethargic bureaucrats ~ who treat Government employment as a sinecure ~ making the common man the worst sufferer of bureaucratic non-performance. Worse still, Government servants often engage in pursuits they are duty bound to prevent, for example, policemen are often found involved in offences like robbery and extortion.

Similarly, a number of bureaucrats and bankers have been charged with bribery, defalcation of public funds etc. In fact, in a viral video, policemen are seen running, with the CBI team in hot pursuit ~ a case of cops and robbers both being policemen. One wonders, if the police cannot prevent their own colleagues from engaging in criminal activities, can a common man hope that the police would prevent criminals from targeting him? Similarly, if bureaucrats are on the side of dishonest contractors, smugglers and tax evaders, then who will work to augment Government revenue?

Forgetting official statistics, if one goes by newspaper reports, criminals of all hues ~ cyber criminals, extortionists, vigilantes, murderers and thieves ~ appear to be having a field day. Again, through newspaper reports, one gathers that the administrative and police machinery is in deep slumber, waking up only to collect hafta or at politically opportune times e.g., to demolish the houses of suspected criminals. No wonder, the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) that ranks 215 countries and territories on six dimensions of governance viz.

Voice and Accountability; Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism; Government Effectiveness; Regulatory Quality; Rule of Law; Control of Corruption, placed India at 68th place with a meagre score of 48.9 out of 100. WGI attracted the ire of the Indian Government. Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran found the World Governance Index “… purely based on the subjective opinions of some so-called expert institutions which do not have presence on the ground …” Some years ago, the Principal Economic Advisor in the Ministry of Finance, gave a presentation on ways to improve India’s ranking in WGI, which emphasised on countering the “negative commentary on India by think tanks, survey agencies and international media” ~ but not by improving governance.

The days seem long gone when a few upright men of sterling character, with meagre resources but full determination, could provide good governance to the entire country. The present lot of administrators is much better placed in terms of resources ~ financial, infrastructural and technological ~ yet the output is definitely poorer, with good reporting substituting for good governance. With time, the public has lost all hope in a system in which administrators blame politicians and vice versa, and both curse the elements, foreign powers, or even Jawaharlal Nehru, when things go wrong. Just before the elections, on 11 February 2024, the Supreme Court directed the State Bank of India (SBI) to supply details of donations received through Electoral Bonds (EBs) to the Election Commission by 12 March 2024.

After much hemming and hawing, SBI provided lists of donors and donees,’ but without the crucial unique identifier which could connect donees and donors. After another dressing down missing, details were furnished and donors and donees were linked ~ the entire process, which the SBI averred would take months, was completed in a few days. This sequence of events is a sorry reflection on the morality and truthfulness of India’s leading banker. Once details of donations through Electoral Bonds were published, more damaging conclusions were postulated; it appeared that some companies had donated money after the visit of enforcement agencies. Others had donated money, before or after award of lucrative government contracts.

Surprisingly, some companies had donated money many times in excess of their net worth, pointing to those companies being fronts for others, indicating violation of both taxation and electoral laws. Instead of initiating penal action against the erring corporates and political parties, several members of the government denied any wrong-doing, going so far as to say that the country had been pushed towards black money in elections, after the Supreme Court scrapped the Electoral Bonds scheme and that on honest reflection, “everyone will regret it.” The actions of enforcement agencies appear so one sided to laymen that at election time, the PM is being forced to defend their impartiality. This is a sad commentary on the working of our premier organisations.

Recently, the Election Commission has drawn flak for failing to act firmly against apparent violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The credibility and purity of the electoral process could have been preserved, if, befitting their exalted status, our top bureaucrats had been blessed with more spine. Looking at the bureaucratic efficiency displayed during the much-reviled Emergency, when targets were met, trains ran on time and officers were available in office during office hours, one easily concludes that wielding a big stick is required to make government functionaries perform. So, the middle and lower rungs of bureaucracy, who are the first point of contact for citizens, can easily be reformed by streamlining the convoluted procedure to book delinquent officers.

However, top bureaucrats are reined in only by their conscience; acting in cahoots with politicians they are capable of inflicting immense damage on the body politic. As Goswami Tulsidas wrote in the Ramcharitmanas, centuries ago: “If influenced by greed or fear a guru praises his shishya unnecessarily, then dharma is destroyed, likewise if a physician does not tell the truth to his patient, then the body is destroyed, and if a minister does not give true advice to the King, then a kingdom is destroyed.”

(The writer is a retired Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax)