In his first book, Journeys Through Babudom and Netaland: Governance in India, former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian had given a candid and insightful account of the evolution of governance in independent India. Written nearly a decade later, his latest book, India at a Turning Point: The Road to Good Governance, essentially takes that theme forward.
The author had an illustrious and successful career in the Uttar Pradesh cadre of Indian Administrative Service and retired as cabinet secretary in the Central government. Thanks to a five-year foreign posting that ensured him a pension much higher than the Government of India’s pension for 33 years of work, he didn’t have to court anyone in the establishment for what are euphemistically referred to as ‘post-retirement benefits’. His essays on what has gone wrong with India’s government are, therefore, merciless without any trace of spite. They give valuable perspective on the who’s who of India’s powerful. The content is direct, bold and rapid-fire, but with a charming turn of phrase.
The book opens with Plato’s famous assertion that ‘‘things are not always what they seem” and goes on to show how activity is being treated as substitute for action and the imperative of image projection has replaced reality. To illustrate, Subramanian wonders why N D Tewari took every opportunity to visit Bangkok as an external affairs minister, ‘‘where after a busy day he would invariably dismiss his security detail, no doubt to contemplate important policy issues of a pressing nature.” The author also wonders why George Fernandes visited Siachin so frequently. ‘‘Was he doing research on high altitude warfare? Was it just macho to show the army, or the people of India or Pakistan, or even to himself how seriously he was defending our borders?”
The culture of governance that has evolved in India, Subramanian regrets, presumes appearances are more important than real work on the ground. Substance be damned—so long as the administrator shows he is very active, that’s enough, no real action is required.
The author says the book is neither about the bureaucracy nor about politicians. It is about how 70 years after Independence, we have not been able to reach the poorest, give them a reasonable chance to get education and work. However, by virtue of his postings at India’s top administrative level, Subramanian has had an opportunity to have a closer look at some of the men and women who have played key roles in shaping the policies of India. And his observations seem canny. For instance, he considers Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the ultimate demonstration of the Peter Principle. He narrates an interesting conversation with the then deputy secretary in the finance ministry, who attended the junior ‘lunch club’ in North Block in the early 1970s when Manmohan Singh as deputy economic advisor used to attend the same lunch club.
“My friend, the then deputy secretary told me later that the lunch club knew even then that Manmohan was destined for ‘greatness’ and that he would go ‘far.’ They had assessed that Manmohan would quickly and shrewdly grasp what the boss wanted—the additional secretary or the finance secretary or the minister as the case may be—prepare a case for ‘approval’ by the boss of exactly what he (the boss) wanted even before he articulated it, couch it with arguments replete with economic theory, make it sound profound and put it up for the boss’s approval, before finally announcing the policy as emerging from the boss, which indeed it actually did.”
Similar observations dot the narrative, making the book an absorbing read. While being anecdotal, the author has been prescriptive as well, recognizing the failures of a political, bureaucratic and social system straining to find the balance between the numerous contradictions of India.
The presentation, in elegant and near-Wodehousian language, is mostly subtle and occasionally hilarious. With his brand of humour, Subramanian mixes personal experience with public commentary, frustration at all the wrong turns with hope for a better future.