Replace sattabhogis with karamayogis

The Indian bureaucracy has been magnanimously rewarded not for its sanguine success but facetious failure.
Union Public Service Commission (Photo | PTI)
Union Public Service Commission (Photo | PTI)

There is no solution to death. But bureaucratic cryonics keeps India in deep freeze. Our pachydermatous panjandrums have no intentions to perish. Albert Einstein made a profound and prophetic statement saying, “Bureaucracy is the death of any achievement.” Yet Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to believe that bulging bumbledom can be transformed into a productive asset. Taking forward his penchant for novel innovative initiatives, he has given babudom spiritual indemnity. Recently, he launched yet another digital mission named iGOT-Karmayogi.

According to the government, “Mission Karmayogi aims to prepare the Indian Civil Servant for the future by making him more creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling, transparent and technology-enabled. Empowered with specific role-competencies, the civil servant will be able to ensure efficient service delivery of the highest quality standards.” It has been billed as the new administrative architecture known as “National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB).”  

Excessive corporate jargon only reflects the government’s ultimate objective. It expects civil servants to adopt the corporate culture and its tools. Though the Mission is expected to enhance capacity, it creates more posts and institutions. For converting a Sattabhogi (power hungry) civil servant into Karmayogi, the new ordinance envisages multiple new agencies such as the PM-led HR Council, a capacity building commission and a government-owned Special Purpose Vehicle for data collection and management as well as a coordination unit headed by the Cabinet Secretary. This mandarin mantra reflects the government’s resolve to ensure a role-based and not a rule-based delivery system. Ample infrastructure and financial support has been made available so that the process moves faster than the files. The NPCSCB’s intent and content is quite laudable. 

However, Mission Karmayogi suffers from the same defects as India’s economic policy. For the past 40 years, the country’s monetary and fiscal policies have been driven by supply side economics. Since 1991, almost all the parties, barring the Left, have been blindly endorsing excessive capacity building. Four decades later, the economy is in doldrums due to a lack of demand. By over-emphasising the need for capacity enhancement of the existing humungous establishment, the NDA government has fallen into the trap of the nefarious civil service. The new framework hardly expects accountability and a time-bound delivery system.

Sadly, the survival of the Indian economy and its efficient administration depends on the quality and commitment of its 20 million public officials, who are controlled by around 15,000 IAS officers. Though babus report to the Prime Minister, Union ministers, Chief Ministers and other democratically chosen representatives, they are rarely held accountable for the full and honest implementation of policies and projects finalised by the elected executive.

Even if PMs and CMs are ousted by voters for perceived non-performance, the DMs get promoted. The Indian bureaucracy has been magnanimously rewarded not for its sanguine success but facetious failure. Since they are first to access any information, they often use it against the political leadership to retain their posts. Nicknamed the Indian Automatic Service, its members are assured of not only time-bound promotion but also protection against punitive action for inefficiency.

India is already burdened with an avaricious babudom. A wily public servant is always opposed to any change or constructive disruption that restricts his power play and forces him to pay for his follies. The Prime Minister struck the right cord when he promised that his government would ensure maximum governance with minimum government since he knew that India has a bloated establishment. As Gujarat’s chief minister, he was aware of the damage they could do to his dream projects.

Five years later, he has been advised to concentrate more on enhancement rather than contraction. If rural India, after 75 years of de-colonisation, lacks an all-weather road, a primary health centre, a properly equipped school and clean potable water supply, who should be held responsible? The fault isn’t the politician’s alone. Enough funds have been allotted in successive state and central budgets. But no answerability from bureaucrats for the non-utilisation of funds is demanded.

Rajiv Gandhi had revealed that out of a rupee allocated for development, only 15 paisa reaches the people. When the CAG points out financial irregularities in projects and purchases, why should elected representatives alone face judicial wrath and punishment? The file pushers, who habitually concur with every word written on the files that move from one table to the next, seem to get away scot free.

The British left behind an administrative architecture that reports to none other than itself. Only an IAS officer is entitled to select other IAS officers and decide on their posting. Mostly, it’s an IAS officer who leads the UPSC, which is responsible for holding examinations and selecting All India Services officers. The Secretary of the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet is always from the IAS.  RBI Governors and other directors as well as heads of banks, chiefs of the Intelligence agencies and bosses of PSUs are drawn from this lofty pantheon.

It’s an irony that an ordinary graduate or post graduate is considered superior to those with superlative professional qualifications. It was a cruel joke that an IAS officer was chosen to draft the first New Education Policy. Yet another retired IAS officer is picked up to decide on the fiscal and other implications of loan interest waivers, while the professionals are mere members. An IAS officer has often been chosen to lead Air India but never has a pilot become the Civil Aviation Secretary. As part of the reform process, India accepted the international practice of setting up regulatory bodies to protect consumer interests. A majority of these regulators are retired civil servants who rarely favour the consumer.

Under the Right to Information Act, both the Centre and the states have created Information Commissions with a total annual outlay of Rs 5,000 cr. Again, a large majority of the members are from either the IAS or other Central Services. According to available records, the numbers of secretary-level posts have tripled during the past two decades. Over 100 retired desk jockeys found better re-employment. Even the current format of Mission Karmayogi has been crafted in such a way that it opens up more opportunities for the mighty babus.  

The bureaucracy has sabotaged yet another attempt to ensure the selection of the best officer for a post. Modi introduced a 360-degree selection process to select outsiders and insiders to handle sensitive posts. But the IAS lobby ensured that most of the selectors were from their fraternity. 

In fact, India would get better officials if the offices of the Prime Minister and Chief Minister are manned by outside professionals who can tame the insiders. Unless the pernicious character of the bulky bureaucracy is altered, no mission with even a vision can bring about better governance. The taming and training of the men in safari suits needs an iron hand. Indian beadledom needs dehancement and not enhancement of the bureaucratic clout to operate a responsive conveyor belt of karma yogis.    

prabhu chawla
prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com
Follow him on Twitter @PrabhuChawla

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