HYDERABAD: Referring to the Narendra Modi regime’s circular instructing bureaucrats to highlight the government’s achievements last year, former Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao on Wednesday said that civil servants should not be used as publicists for political mileage.
Speaking at the launch of his book “Just a Mercenary?: Notes from My Life and Career” here on Wednesday, Subbarao said: “The deciding line is very thin. It is a line that both politicians and civil servants have to be conscious of and respect.”
He opined that there should be a “cooling-off” period before IAS officers and diplomats take the political plunge. According to the former RBI governor, civil servants have to stay anonymous and unbiased. It is essential that civil servants keep their ears to the ground, he said.
The former RBI Governor said that tensions between the government and Central bank are hardwired into the system. These tensions are a function of the chemistry between the Union finance minister and prime minister on one side and the Governor on the other, Subbarao added.
Stating that the RBI has become more independent over time, he said that the “impressionistic” view that the Central bank’s independence is being curtailed was shaped by “sensational” and “misleading” news.
Speaking to TNIE on the sidelines of the programme, the former RBI governor said that while India’s projected rise to the third-largest economy was quite possible, the real challenge is to ensure that the benefits of growth are widely shared. Stating that growth rose to 7.6% from 7.2% last year, Subbarao said that India was projected to overtake Germany and Japan soon.
“Ensuring that the benefits of growth are widely shared, particularly among the bottom segments of the population, is important to sustain the rate of growth,” he said.
Subbarao pointed out that India is a large economy and a poor country at the same time. The idea must be to increase per capita income, he added.
Advocating for reforms in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examinations, Subbarao said that the number of chances to take the examination should be reduced to save the time and energy of the youth. However, he suggested that candidates from SC, ST and OBC communities may be exempted.
Prior to his stint in the RBI, Subbarao held positions such as Finance Secretary to the Government of India and Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council.