The nation celebrates 31st October, the birthday of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Iron Man of Bharat, as National Unity Day, to honour his stupendous contribution in integrating our nation. However, only a few know that on 29th October, 1951, the All India Services Act came into existence, laying the foundation for the Indian Administrative, Police and later on, the Forest Services. Sardar Patel is also remembered as the chief architect and father of this Act, and the consequent All India Services.
The nation is in the Amrit Kaal and working towards achievement of the vision of Viksit Bharat @2047. The civil services will have to play a vital role in fulfilment of this vision while following the dual strategy of achieving "Atmanirbharta" with "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas" through Sabka "Prayaas". It will be worthwhile to provide an insider's perspective on the contribution made by civil services in nation-building.
Post-independence, India achieved self-sufficiency in food grain production primarily due to the successful implementation of the Green Revolution initiated in the 1960s. The initiative involved widespread adoption of modern technologies including high-yielding varieties, chemical fertilisers and irrigation. While it is to the credit of our agriculture scientists to have developed varieties and appropriate technologies suited to our domestic needs, their wide-scale adoption was possible through the extension machinery working at the grassroots level. The gram sevaks and the block development machinery, who were the backbone of the extension machinery, in collaboration with our agriculture scientists, worked tirelessly with the farmers to achieve this behavioural change.
It was during this period that the pre-independence regulation-oriented civil services, typified by the Indian Civil Services, were transformed into a citizen-centric and development-oriented one. The office of Collector and District Magistrate was reinvented as the District Officer in charge of development programmes.
Although subsequent to the enactment of the 73rd and 74th amendments, there was a major devolution of powers to the panchayats and local bodies, the office of the District Officer has remained a fulcrum of the development administration. This was evident when, under the directions of our Prime Minister, the NITI Aayog entrusted the task of transforming the aspirational districts to the district administration.
The results have been significant, with substantial improvements witnessed in indicators related to health, education, nutrition, financial inclusion and basic infrastructure. The leadership provided by the District Officers, enabling inter-departmental synergies, breaking silos and fostering innovations, has significantly contributed to this transformation. The concept has now been expanded to aspirational blocks and, more recently, the PM Dhan Dhanya Yojana, covering a hundred districts with low agricultural productivity, cropping intensity & credit.
The Government's agenda of technology-driven good governance, which aims at improving quality of services, reducing corruption and preventing leakages at grassroots level, has been successfully implemented by the administrative machinery at the State/ District level. The achievements under the Targeted Public Distribution System, Direct Benefit Transfer of welfare benefits, Digitisation of Land Records and the Digital Public Infrastructure of Agriculture are a few such illustrations. It has drastically changed the way citizens interact with Government and has made the experience more transparent and satisfying.
The universally acclaimed management of Maha Kumbh Mela held recently in Uttar Pradesh is an apt illustration of Governance excellence achievable when the leadership, vision and will of the political executive are matched by the sincerity and commitment of the civil service. The flood plains at Sangam were converted into a mega city in a span of just two months. The tented city had all modern facilities like electricity, roads, drinking water, sanitation, solid waste management, etc to serve the millions of pilgrims gravitating towards Prayag to undertake a holy dip at the confluence of the holy rivers of Ganga, Yamuna and the invisible Sarasvati.
This fascinating transformation and high-quality service delivery experienced in the mega event, recognised nationally and globally, was a Governance feat wherein the civil services worked as a well-knit team under a high-pressure environment.
The management of the COVID-19 global pandemic had been a major challenge for the Governance machinery of all countries, including India. The civil services in India rose to the challenge and remained at the forefront of this fight. The political leadership at the Central and State levels had driven the strategy and policy, and the Medical and Health system worked tirelessly to fight the pandemic through Test-Trace-Track. The administration at the State and District level worked as a team to implement the measures, which included strict enforcement of lockdown, strategically regulated phase-wise unlocking, awareness generation, and house-to-house surveillance. The entire machinery right till the village level was galvanised to support the Medical & Health and Medical Education departments in this fight.
Consequent to the lockdown, the large-scale movement of migrant labourers from one part of the country to another could have snowballed into a major humanitarian crisis. However, deft and coordinated handling by the Union and State Government agencies ensured their seamless movement. The administrative machinery led by the District Officers took care of these migrant citizens by managing relief camps, screening and proper quarantine of suspect persons. Subsequent to the process of mapping, the unskilled were employed through the then operative MNREGA; while the skilled workforce was employed in the industry facing labour shortage.
Free and fair elections are a cornerstone of our democracy. One of the noteworthy achievements of the civil services is the conduct of the election process, which has been acclaimed globally. Since Independence, based on the people's verdict emerging through the election process, the nation has witnessed peaceful transfers of power from one political dispensation to another at the federal and the State level.
One of the significant contributors to this robustness and maturity of our democracy has been the integrity of the election process. The backbone of this process has been the civil services at the district level down to the polling station level, led by the District Collector as the District Election Officer, working under the supervision and control of the Election Commission of India.
It goes to the credit of the Civil Services that the election machinery has, by and large, conducted itself in a very objective and impartial manner. It is fascinating that the machinery, which at one point in time is working under direct supervision and control of a political dispensation, comes under the control of the Election Commission of India for a period of a couple of months to ensure a level playing field for all political parties contesting the elections. It performs in an impartial and fair manner, well aware that its control will revert to the political dispensation after the election process is over.
The performance of the civil services has to be judged not by the involvement of a few officers in corruption and misconduct, but in a more holistic way by assessing their overall contribution to nation-building.
Despite the ubiquity of social media, anonymity remains a virtue for the bureaucracy. Self-projection by individuals is neither an expected trait of civil services nor encouraged even by the peer group.
There are numerous examples of officers who have tirelessly, in anonymity, contributed by being part of policy-making, implementation and service delivery. The stories of their professionalism, commitment and impartiality often remain in memory as anecdotal accounts or hidden in files of the Government.