India’s steel frame stands at the crossroads

Satya Mohanty

Former Secretary to Govt of India

FORMER RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao’s recent statement that “the IAS has failed the nation” is most probably a statement of anguish, perhaps meant to spur members of the IAS to introspection and self-correction. But all statements of anguish, unfortunately, touch the truth only partially, while providing ammunition to the adversaries.

India is essentially an underachieving country in every segment of governance. Certainly, the IAS has failed just like every other institution, including the judiciary, corporate leadership, the police, the Army and all civil services at large. The most resounding failure has been that of the political class. It is evidenced by myriad economic woes, social blight and a poor deal to the indigent and vulnerable. But the thing one cannot take away from the IAS is the quality service delivery by several members despite resource crunch and upholding the democratic principle of conceding primacy to the political executive while being the major prop of rule of law. Meanwhile, respect for politicians has declined rapidly and now they have a vested interest in demoralising members of the service.

In a democracy, games are set, rules are changed directly, covertly and insidiously by the political class. Only the well-functioning institutions and a modicum of ability to absorb dissent make the decisions robust, policies crony-proof and implementation broad-based. Unwillingness to accept an alternative point of view has not only weakened the quality of policy-making, but also melded all inputs to subserve the dominant narrative. This happens more often than not even if it works to the detriment of the large proportion of the people, particularly the poor; correctives are often avoided to permit it to reach a point where it can be blamed on the civil servant. The political class has a different relationship with the armed forces compared to the civil service. To paraphrase political scientist Steven Wilkinson, the interaction with the armed forces goes like this: “So long as you accept our primacy, we would not expose you and take the blame on your behalf.” As far as the civil service goes, “Since the system concedes primacy to us, we would put the blame on you for your and our failure.”

In this background, what started as a risk-averse approach in the system in the mid-1970s became a fine art later. The perverse incentive system created a role model which meant if one plays ball with the politician, rewards will be waiting for you. Try to be conscientious, the punishment, both instant and long-term, will follow. As rational actors, all civil servants sense their risk and reward framework and work out their coping mechanism. This becomes egregiously prominent when the system will not stand up to speak for a person even if actions are defensible. When the number of those not playing by the normative rulebook started increasing, it reached the tipping point after some time. Suddenly, the picture looked different and civil servants no longer remained the bulwark against the self-serving and rapacious political class but many became its handmaiden. The redlines defined by the system got blurred and everyone was trying to draw his own redlines. Finally, the politician had triumphed.

In a political administrative system, politicians saw the civil servants as adversaries, not co-workers. Anyone trying to point out the downside was taken as a ‘naysayer’ and even as a roadblock. Part of strategy adopted for handling them was to force them to follow the political line. In the Government of India, where the tenure was sacrosanct earlier, there are examples where a civil servant has been packed off home for expressing his reservations. In essence, the work has been reduced to producing relevant paperwork as per instructions from the politician. They have hit at the trunk of the tree and the branches are falling off on their own. Make no mistake, it is the beginning of a simultaneous attack on other civil services to capitulate and comply. The highway of constitutionalism is neither desired not encouraged. What is encouraged is to join the political forces without demur. An Odia proverb goes: “Whenever a branch of a coconut tree falls, it becomes a laughing matter for the lower branches. The upper branch, while falling, says, ‘wait dear, your time will come sooner than later’”.

Given the zero-sum game of playing one against the other that the politicians introduced, others view it as the rewards in store if they spot discomfiture in one part of the civil service. But rewards are meant for pre-selected favourites and for that to happen the flagellation of other systems would have to happen without fail.

The recruitment system is also insidiously changed to help overaged and non-trainable cohorts to come in. With the age well past 30 or 35, the recruits can’t be melded. Gaming of the system, having a comfortable relationship with the political class and sharing its venality become the de rigueur of the system. The system has been flailed from all sides and a strong case for lateral entry becomes kosher if they have right and expedient credentials.

Abhijit Nascar, celebrated neuroscientist and author of When Humans Unite, has termed civil servants as the first defenders of democracy against crooked politicians as well as an angry and mindless mob. Otto Von Bismarck had gone to the extent of saying that with good civil servants, even if laws are bad, it is possible to govern, while the reverse is not possible. But with questionable laws, not-so-edifying judiciary and self-serving politicians, the civil servants are bound to be flailed as well as their moral compass called into question. But it will be more a case of being flailed than having failed.

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