South Block’s plan to bring experts from outside the foreign service will pay off, but only if the Ministry of External Affairs is flexible enough to welcome new consultants who have different skill sets and fresh ideas
Foreign policy requires a deep knowledge and understanding of history, recent and ancient, of each and every country around the world. It requires in-depth familiarity with bilateral and multilateral policies of one’s own country and those of others, of international developments and economic, social and political trends around the world.
All this and more comes packaged in various degrees that go by the doughty title of ‘International Studies’, offered since 1955 by Jawaharlal Nehru University’s oldest School of International Studies in New Delhi. It comes as no surprise that the bulk of those who qualify for the Indian Foreign Service, are products of this or another school that offers the subject. The JNU School’s faculty is impressive — there are more than 75 professors of varying seniority who have, according to the School’s own website, ‘contributed to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge in International Studies, through teaching and research’. And by ‘publishing books and journal articles.’
For others, who made the grade to India’s foreign office but did not come armed with a degree in International Relations, the School provides a three to four month training course for IFS probationers to ‘give them the necessary orientation for their diplomatic career’. Now all this is very impressive.
But who gives fresh graduates of ‘international studies’ hands-on social and cultural experience, intimate familiarity with the quirks and foibles of day-to-day life, conversations on public buses, hot local topics of discussion and debate in faraway metros, the social mores and peculiarities of communities in those faraway countries and continents that they will make their homes for several years at a stretchIJ
Is it enough to travel to a country as a representative of your own, armed with a degree in say African studies, an Master of Arts in Russian studies, several research papers in East Asian studies, and a doctor of philosophy in latin American studiesIJ Isn’t breaking the ice with a John Doe, an aam aadmi, of a priority at least equal to, if not greater than, bookish knowledge of Doe’s ancient past, which even he may not be endowed withIJ Is a research paper in ‘Afro-Asian resurgence and the relevance of Non-Aligned Movement to Africa’ enough for a diplomat trying to break the ice at a bull-jumping ceremony of the Ethiopian Hamer tribe and win their confidence enough to push some other, important bilateral economic deal throughIJ Or, can an IFS-wallah who has authored a tome on Power Politics in the Xiongnu Empire, confidently snip off a lock of a kid’s hair at a Mongolian Daah Urgih ceremony and win the hearts of his hosts IJ
Now don’t get me wrong. Our IFS-wallahs are excellent. But ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over (and immediately embarked on his Around-The World-in 1825-Days programme), Jawahar Bhavan and South Block are grossly over-worked and understaffed. But Mr Modi, known to be a one-man Government, must have cannily recognised the fact that it takes more than degrees and IFS Mussoorie training alone, to penetrate various ‘iron curtains’ and to get what India wants. Consequently, a recent announcement by the Ministry of External Affairs inviting non-IFS consultants to swell manpower in the the hallowed corridors of South Block, came as a pleasant surprise.
But wait, what is the one qualification that the MEA insists upon in the advertisement on its website and in absolutely unambiguous termsIJ An MPhil in IR!
There are tens of thousands of loyal, patriotic Indians both in the country and around the world with deeply intimate knowledge of and comfort-zone-level familiarity with international mores, norms, practices and cultures. There are curry stall owners outside whose shops the most influential executives of New York’s Madison and Park Avenues queue for hours at lunch time. There are grocery merchants, taxi drivers, second and third generation lawyers, doctors, sailors, teachers and mechanics who can rattle away in alien tongues ranging from Neolimeño to Upper Bavarian, from lower Navarese-lapurdian to Tok-Pisin. Many of their clients are among the richest and most powerful around the globe. Some global blue-collar workers of Indian origin may not hold even a primary university degree, but for that, they have the precious wealth of old friendships and intimate closeness with those who matter in many countries: A plus that it would ordinarily take an IFS fresher decades of his career to build up and sustain.
Of course such ‘freelancers’ could never be a replacement for our superlative, highly educated, erudite and canny diplomats. After all, they made the grade of a tough, all-India entrance exam and they will remain crucial as the outward face at all negotiations and discussions with other countries.
But then, the MEA did say ‘consultants’, right IJ So why this cautionIJ Why this play-safe, return to age-old practices followed by the MEAIJ What are MPhil scholars going to teach other Mphil scholars that they don’t know alreadyIJ
To be fair, a fear of adventure, a step towards the untried-and-untested, a hesitation to veer a single inch away from that laid down in stone, no matter how outdated and whether reflective of ground reality or not, is not a trait peculiar to India.
Some years ago, I had the misfortune of meeting a German ‘inter-cultural expert’ on India, who growled a series of questions on ‘Indian customs’ at Indian trainees seeking to join his ‘inter-cultural training group’ on Indian soil, demanding always ‘just two words’ as a response. He barked down their responses ludicrously and brutally.
No, it was not a scarf to cover her shoulders that a German woman venturing into a place of worship in India should keep handy, but pepper spray to protect herself. No, it was not the ‘innovativeness’ (jugaad) inherent to Indians, that German businesses came here for. They came to look for people to serve. No, ragpickers do not recycle, neither did the Indian middle-classes in the 1960s and 1970s. Indeed, India does not know how to spell the word. India is a dirty place which only knows how to litter surroundings. It was the most ridiculous and suffocating session of ‘inter-cultural’ training I had ever witnessed in my life.
This is not to draw a parallel between a clueless idiot and our very erudite diplomats. But I must point out the dangers in resorting to hackneyed methodology, instead of taking a calculated risk, which, given the advertisement’s content which balances hiring-and-firing entirely in the MEA’s favour, may not even turn out to be one at all.
Dear South Block: Your new foreign policy under Mr Modi has woken out of its lengthy slumber, its nine-year long paralysis induced by pull-me-push-you coalitions of the past. It has struck out with nimbleness and foresight in all directions, trodden essential paths — like the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Sri lanka in more than 25 years.
This, your new initiative, will pay off too. But only if you shake off the frozen rigidity of the old boys’ club at the MEA, show flexibility and use your immense experience to screen and assess each applicant for the post of consultant uniquely and individually. Don’t crawl back into an old box. Think outside it. The results may yet surprise you.