Scholar-administrator of a bygone era

Amitabha Bhattacharya
Former bureaucrat

BACK in 1979, while serving in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, I attended a meeting in Hyderabad to which young officers of other districts were also invited. A lanky officer mesmerised us with his inspirational address, encouraging the district officials to initiate new programmes, especially poultry farming, so that the cost of eggs could soon equal that of tomatoes. Forty years later, his exhortation remains etched in our memory. 

In a span of over 80 years, Bukkapuram Nadella Yugandhar packed so much into his life that his demise on September 13 is being mourned with an intensity that seems unprecedented.

His beginnings were rather modest. But he was born with a talent that no adversity could diminish and a sensitive mind that enabled him to acquire the best from his surroundings. He had the ability to internalise experiences, get enriched in the process and draw appropriate lessons that he could profitably employ in public service. He joined the IAS in 1962 (AP cadre) after working as a lecturer in economics at Sri Venkateswara and Madras Universities. Informal in bearing, but passionate in work, he was genuinely civil in his conduct and a true servant to the public cause.

In 1976, when I reported at Srikakulam district for training, every official there was still in awe of how admirably Yugandhar, as a District Collector in the late sixties, handled the Naxalite problem in Parvatipuram and adjoining areas (Much later, he would volunteer to rescue SR Sankaran and other officers from the clutch of Naxalites). Batch after batch of IAS officers recalls with gratitude how Yugandhar inspired them at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie, where he had served as a deputy director in the early seventies and later as a director (1988-93). 

In the mid-seventies, he became a reckonable figure in the Planning Commission while working with the then Deputy Chairman PN Haksar and, later, as one of the ablest members of the commission (2004-09). But his contribution as Union Secretary, Rural Development, and in the Prime Minister’s Office during PV Narasimha Rao’s tenure caused a transformational change in the way pro-people programmes were conceptualised and executed. Yugandhar was so effective because he could bring to bear on his work his deep insights about rural India and human psychology which he could combine effortlessly with the best global practices. His experience at the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP), Bangkok, came in handy.

At LBSNAA, various facets of his personality were revealed. He worked with the system to bring the academy under ‘Plan’ scheme, developed its modern infrastructure after the old buildings were gutted in a devastating fire, set up centres for grassroots research so as to impregnate the training curriculum with the research findings, and facilitated fundamental changes in the content and approach to training. 

He made the institution a place for serious study and introspection and created an atmosphere of freedom and inquiry. An avid reader, he was always up to date with the latest happenings: from the exploitation of bonded labourers in Bihar to the drafting of the five-year plans. He read Daedalus meticulously and knew what the finest academicians had to say. He also published, with Amitava Mukherjee and others, a number of books on subjects such as decentralised planning and land reforms. 

Two civil servants who made a decisive impact on him were PN Haksar and Abid Hussain, though for different reasons. He was a chela of AN Jha, ICS, and the influence of Jawaharlal Nehru on his thinking was palpable. Yugandhar absorbed some of the best traits of these men which informed his humane and compassionate world view.

Here is one example: Yugandhar noticed the sufferings of the academy staff during the harsh winter months. The heating facilities were so inadequate that even some senior faculty members used to store firewood, meant for heating classrooms, which they would carry home for use during the night. He took all action to ensure that everyone could afford to keep their homes warm during winters. Such stories of his empathy were legion. His quiet contribution, financial and otherwise, to NGOs was not inconsequential either.

Yugandhar did not care to be politically correct with everybody. He warned the probationers that he had advised the chief of an investigating agency to keep track of their marriage functions in order to ascertain if any dowry had changed hands. His contempt for young officers exhibiting their newly married wives ‘bedecked with gold jewellery’, disdain for the snooty public-school-educated ‘Boy Scout’ kind of officers or irritation with those resenting the pressure of training didn’t make him popular with certain sections.

Once a probationer asked an Army Chief how much money was made in the Bofors ‘deal’, and on another occasion, one wrote in the weekly feedback that the director and the course director should be examined in a mental hospital. Yugandhar decided not to intervene, anticipating that any heavy-handed measure to discipline such officers would undermine the spirit of freedom in the academy.

As a great enthusiast for the civil service, he once persuaded an outstanding probationer not to accept the offer to join as a Young Professional in the World Bank, on his belief that no service in the world offers as much challenge and opportunities for growth as the IAS does, especially during the first decade at the districts. Yugandhar never cared for glamorous posts; he sought to lift the posts he adorned to his own stature.

During his membership of the Planning Commission, he had differences with the Deputy Chairman and reportedly offered to resign. However, he had no rancour and remained a magnanimous optimist till the end. His lone offspring Satya Nadella’s ascension as the CEO of Microsoft made him happy, but did not affect his composure. The demise of his wife, together with his illness, reduced lately his interaction with his friends and countless admirers. But he lived life on his own terms and enjoyed it to the brim.

Posterity will perhaps remember him as a scholar-administrator with few equals in independent India.