The opposition parties in Odisha are raising a buzz over the regular visits to different parts of Odisha by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s longstanding Private Secretary and 5T Secretary VK Pandian. Many do not even hesitate to label Pandian as a man of extraordinary influence and a replacement of Naveenbabu. Opposition parties broadly Congress and BJP approached the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Government of India, by citing the violation of service conduct by the CM's Private Secy. In this connection, the DoPT issued a notice to the Chief Secretary of Odisha to verify the complaint against “An IAS officer”. The entire controversy spins around a traditional concept i.e the current assigned role of the bureaucrat which defies its prescribed official role.
Bureaucracy is all about rationality and calculability. It is an essential condition for democratic exercise of power. Bureaucracy attracts equality and it is a threat to arbitrary treatment. As a sociologist, I understand that bureaucratisation is an unavoidable process in postmodern society, but it must be a people-centric approach calibrated with liberty and honesty. Considering political leaders and society as stakeholders, the bureaucratisation process in India had originated with an agenda to make our democracy as a skill as well as politically neutral ,which need to be practised very meticulously.
The ideal type “ Bureaucracy" has two controversial aspects such as politicisation of bureaucracy and bureaucratisation of politics. Politicisation of bureaucracy means unnecessary political influence in the governance due to nexus between bureaucracy and politics. It reflects on the biased and corrupt Government appointment in higher and powerful positions. An unwritten unholy nexus between the Netas and Babus has been started. Furthermore, the irony is that Indian society tolerates as well as subscribes to this association.
Bureaucratisation of politics refers to the process where bureaucracy enters into politics. Bureaucrats during their tenancy dabble with the political domain in regular activities. It is to note here that, India sees a large number of bureaucrats joining politics after their retirement or leaving their job. It implies the insidious political doctrine inherent within bureaucracy whereas the Civil Service Code of Conduct says that Civil servants must be impartial and neutral towards political system.
We understand that bureaucracy thrives under the cloak of ministerial responsibility. But It has been alleged that same is not happening in Naveen Patnaik's good governance formula. Top and influential bureaucrats operate without any form of accountability to the electorate. Even many argue that bureaucrats have hijacked the powers of Ministers in Odisha. There are two probabilities which instigate CM of Odisha to put his Ministers below the bureaucrats or giving a right to act as people's representative. Firstly, his Ministers might be corrupt if given more powers in the governance. Many Ministers have been dropped from his Council due to corruption charges. Secondly, the CM wants to delimit the sycophant Ministers in his council.
In a book “Max Weber’s insights and Errors” Stanislav Andeski , a critics and sociologist, has analysed the notion of bureaucracy in a distinct way. He emphasised the meaning of bureaucracy as a web of relationship which is hard to unfold. Further the amount of power bureaucrats exercise and hold is more than the power of leaders or holders of authority. Andreski’s notion on bureaucracy is not a good sign for democracy where bureaucrats hold more power.
Max Weber, a sociologist, says that bureaucracy is an ideal type. It means it is an action, a philosophy and a vision which cannot be seen but can be conspicuous. Weber’s bureaucracy model dubs bureaucrats as administrators and implementers. It means politicians rule and make policy and bureaucrats obey and execute those policies. But post- modern bureaucracy definition takes Weberian model in a different way. It contradicts with conventional bureaucratic methodology. Further it says that both politicians and bureaucrats should participate in policy making, implementing and monitoring. In my personal opinion, VK Pandian fits in the role of post modern bureaucracy. Here, a delegation of power is not handed over to him; rather, he is assigned to oversee the development works. The CM's Private Secretary follows the instructions with an altruistic attitude towards selected developmental work rather than intervening on inter or intra department policy affairs.
It is the media which highlights Pandian's visit and places him as an alternative of CM. The confusion appears due to the judgement in his role perception, i.e. how people interpret his roles as a bureaucrat and his current role enactment.
Nehru in his autobiography says, “Few things are more striking today in India than the progressive deterioration, moral or intellectual, of the higher services, more specially, Indian Civil Services. This is most evident in the superior officials, but it runs like a thread throughout the services”. This piece of comment by Nehru on Indian bureaucracy is also relevant today. The public image of many bureaucrats in Odisha is connoted as inaccessibility, poor quality, sluggishness, corruption-proneness, arrogance and unaccountability to the results. If Pandian is having qualitative community outreach, listening to public grievances and getting people- centric, then he should not be subjected to criticism.
PM Modi in his speech on Civil Service Day emphasised on the pattern of participation and getting the things done by civil servants . He said there are two philosophies. The first is active; the second is passive. The person who believes in the first philosophy believes in change; others maintain the status quo. PM's speech reminds two types of bureaucrats such as obedient and proactive. Obedient are good for the Ministers and the departments and proactive are essential for people and leaders. A proactive bureaucrat like Pandian is never a replacement of CM Patnaik as he understands that he is a cog of the wheel.
(Dr Parida is an Assistant Professor in Sociology. email id: abash.parida@gmail.com)