This is a memoir of an officer about his professional experiences in a government organisation, which the Supreme Court once termed as one of the most three corrupt departments in India. The book is a revelation of the difficult situations that an honest officer typically has to face. Due to his bold and blunt behaviour, he has to face five transfers in a span of a decade and, finally, the authorities bring him to the head office. He has to stay his twenty remaining years of service here, where no officer wants to work; the job he is assigned is dry and drab to others.
The author gets his first posting after his training at a gate where he has to check the vehicles to prevent tax evasion. Very soon, he realises dealing with real-life situations i totally different from the induction training imparted in the institute. He wonders how his education, a Masters in History, his studies of Marx and Hegel, Russian and French Revolutions or Indian history, help in dealing with truckers, antisocials and tax evaders. The training imparted in no way helps one in the field when a goon brandishes a knife and threatens him to take his life. At one place, a few people barge into his room forcing him to do unethical things; the MLA pressurises on behalf of a BDO with whom he is hands in glove to do something beyond rules and procedure. He has to handle these situations.
Not only in the field but his seniors and colleagues in the office are also no help. The concern of the people he has to work with is primarily to please the boss and earn by fair or unfair means. Their rent-seeking attitude is in conflict with the author’s nature and they do not miss an opportunity to put him in a soup. His seniors, not being satisfied, harass him for he does not collect booty and share with them. He has to deal with these elements in administration.
Being part of the policymaking, he has been an integral part in the formulation of policies in the State in both the tax systems, VAT and GST. He is associated with reforms in indirect tax system in the State and country, involved in drafting and implementation of VAT in 2005 and, subsequently, GST in 2017. He has firsthand knowledge of making the law. Though the law is passed by the legislature after approval of the GST Council, that is, Ministers of the States and Centre, the law is in reality drafted by the officers. The tax officers’ main objective is to maximise taxes and protect their fraternity, not to see the interest of the taxpayers and often to ignore the business interest and taxpayers’ comfort. The result: the GST Act and Rules have been amended forty times within first two years of implementation. The Council is yet to make a simple return form.
The memoir is, in fact, an inside story told by an insider. The author is an acclaimed writer; he writes fiction and non-fiction, both in Odia and English. He has used his skill of being a fictionist in writing his memoirs that will be read like a novel and appreciated by all sections of the society. Lucid language and reference to day-to-day life are the USPs of this book. The book divulges some aspects of administration, particularly tax systems, usually not known to the general public. The book is an interesting read.
(Deepa Nayak is a writer and a translator)