During this life, my future was perhaps decided the day I was born. My father did it for me. He himself had fulfilled his father’s dream of becoming an engineer, and now, in turn, he wanted his son to join the ‘elite’ Indian Administrative Service (IAS) observing the respect and recognition accorded to the IAS officers. Therefore, the decision to join the IAS wasn’t originally mine. I made my father’s dream my own and made an effort to fulfil this dream.
Having completed my innings in the Indian Administrative Service, I love to look back upon the years gone by with utmost satisfaction. I loved every moment of it. There were indeed ups and downs (perhaps more ups than downs)— handling of the Babri Masjid agitation, the excitement and satisfaction of rolling out the National Health Insurance Scheme (RSBY), sorting out the ‘Coal’ mess and grappling with education mafias are a few of those. And, that made life interesting. However, if I were to be born again and if I could make it (with the increasing competition and fewer vacancies), I would like to be an IAS officer yet again. The reason is simple. No other job on the earth gives you this much freedom and these many opportunities. This is one of those rare jobs where you can afford to remain honest in an increasingly vitiated socio-political environment. The Indian Administrative Service provides tremendous avenues for working towards public welfare and deriving immense satisfaction that more than compensates the comparative disadvantage in financial terms vis-à-vis a lucrative private sector assignment. I use the term “kick” in my recently released book, “Ethical Dilemmas of a Civil Servant” to describe the enormous sense of satisfaction that one can derive, as I did, out of helping the helpless and the poor who still repose a lot of faith in civil servants. One has the opportunity to serve the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor.
Despite certain developments in the recent past, there is still a lot of authority vested in most of the positions occupied by an IAS officer during the course of her/his career. It is a different matter that some officers choose to abdicate this authority in lieu of some gain elsewhere. Whether they actually gain (at the cost of the service) or finally lose out is a moot point.
Each officer also has the option of joining politics post retirement. Many do join. Some do it even while in service but do so discreetly even though it entails some risk and reap the “benefits” while in service and a lot more post-retirement. Some can even get away with a few wrongs as they know how to be on the right side of politics. It doesn’t really matter to such officers because they are so focussed on their own good that they are oblivious of the damage they cause to the so-called steel frame. They couldn’t care less as the IAS offers an opportunity to thrive to them as well.
IAS officers can also afford to be just honest and do nothing beyond just being honest. They can treat honesty as an end in itself. They can distrust everyone else and treat the rest of the world as dishonest. They can consciously choose not to appreciate the difference between “accommodation” and “compromise”. For them all accommodation is a compromise. They also survive. Some of them even thrive in their own misery as they wear their misery (that includes the number of transfers) as medallions.
Ironically, the Indian Administrative Service has also the potential of shielding the corrupt. A few years ago, it was believed that the high and mighty could not be brought to book. However, thankfully, on account of informed public opinion and media glare, things are changing and at least some such bureaucrats are on the run.
The inefficient too can survive and even thrive. Once they pass the exam and keep their boss and/or those in power happy (not necessarily with good work), their promotions are secured. Though they may not reach the top (perhaps they may), they can still enjoy life, play badminton (now, golf) or indulge in some other activity till 0900 hours, arrive at the office at 1030 hours, take a lunch-break for a couple of hours and return to the office after a ‘well-earned’ siesta and then sit till late in the office to impress upon others how hard they have to work. In many states, some smart ones are able to retain the official, earmarked residence for years in a city even as they occupy another house in another city consequent to their transfer. There would be many more such illustrations. Fortunately, very few bureaucrats fall in this category but the fact that some of us do enjoy such privileges indicates towards the availability of such options. No other service offers such ‘facilities’.
All said and done, the Indian Administrative Service provides you an option to seek your own road to salvation. In fact, you can not only choose your own road; you can redefine ‘salvation’. You can perform and exist; you may do nothing but still exist. You may survive if you are honest, you may survive even if you are dishonest. Which vocation officers so many options!
Yes, there are a lot many, including those that have enjoyed the “fruits” of being in the IAS, that condemn the service. There are others that criticise, sometimes for good reasons, what has become of the service but if I were to be born again, I would still love to live the life of an IAS officer, in the manner in which I did in this life, all over again. Nothing like deriving a “kick” out of serving the needy, the helpless and the poorest of the poor. And, it would not be my father’s choice, but mine.
Anil Swarup has served as the head of the Project Monitoring Group, which is currently under the Prime Minister’s Offic. He has also served as Secretary, Ministry of Coal and Secretary, Ministry of School Education.