A study shows the All India Services (AIS) examinations are the toughest to crack. In 2016, 11,36,000 candidates appeared at the civil services examinations. Only 1,209 examinees could fit into the jobs. The IAS cadre never exceeds 180 posts ever.
The most elite Indian Civil Service (ICS) was instituted by the British masters, then called the Imperial Civil Service, which remained in force between 1858 and 1947. These top bureaucrats administered and oversaw 250 districts that comprised the British India. The ICS was headed by the Secretary of State for India, a member of the British Cabinet. Legendary VP Menon, who drafted the ‘Instrument of Accession', was the Secretary of State during Partition under Home Minister Sardar Patel. He had risen to the lofty position from an ordinary clerk. Those days, talent mattered the most. One could rise to highest positions of authority from the lowest rung in Government job cadres.
At the beginning, almost all the top thousand ICS members were British who had been educated in the best British schools. The All India Services were designated as Central Superior Services in 1924. After 1939, the number of Indians in the service increased because of non-availability of Europeans. By 1905, five per cent were from Bengal. By 1947, there were 322 Indians and 688 British members. After Independence, the ICS became the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1950.
Over the years, particularly after the British left India, IAS officers turned rather arrogant due mainly to the illiteracy of politicians and their sharp knowledge of basic things. Most politicians, until recently, depended heavily on the skills and knowledge of the IAS officers. Even the other civil services, officers including the IPS and Allied cadres are literally controlled by the IAS community. The system is such as to make it irreversible today, and for good reasons. This situation turned some IAS officers very arrogant and insensitive to public sentiments. Absolute authority made some of them absolutely indifferent to public problems. But as time rolled by, literate people entered mainstream electoral politics; and the arrogant bureaucrats began mellowing down in their conduct. It is also true that politicians assumed enormous powers and started calling all last shots. Without much fear, the majority of them engaged in amassing ill-gotten wealth, mostly bribe. They forced fallible bureaucrats to connive with them to make benefits. So, unethical bureaucrats fell in line and guided the rogues so as never to get into trouble with law. This culture remained live for long.
Eventually God became kinder in good time; and now, Indians have a good number of compassionate and highly motivated IAS and other civil service officers who are making waves across the country. India is heading for better times than ever before. At least one in twenty IAS officers is making a huge difference in public service. He is unfailingly putting his foot down when political crooks happen to persuade him or her to abuse public office for private gain.
Some of these young officers are now models for the entire nation, especially youths:
A devoted pair of civil servants in Kolkata decided to get married in office to keep the wedding event ideally simple. IAS officer Tushar Singla and his partner IPS officer Navjot Simmi signed their marriage certificate at Singla’s office recently. This great thing happened at a time when public officials including Ministers splurge millions in feasting and show of glitter. Singla is a 2015-batch West Bengal-cadre officer currently SDO at Uluberia, and Simi, a 2017-batch Bihar-cadre IPS officer posted as DSP in Patna. The couple has promised friends a good dinner after the West Bengal elections are over.
When most people with money and authority shudder at the very idea of sending their children to Government schools considered poor in standards, in Chhattisgarh, Balrampur Collector Awanish Sharan got his daughter admitted into a Government school. While Sharan feels it was not at all newsworthy, he has in a way set a trend and attracted great attention from the media and other well-meaning bureaucrats. He is known for his commendable job in uplifting the education system in Balrampur district in last two years of his posting. Inspired by his act, a Parliamentarian, Shivshankar Paikra, has got his son admitted in a Government school in Jashpur district of Chhattisgarh.
A very dynamic lady IAS officer, R Lalitha, put her daughter in a Chennai Corporation primary school. Lalitha, Deputy Commissioner (Revenue and Finance), Greater Chennai Corporation, is proud that her daughter is enjoying her time at the school as she herself did at a Government school during her student days. Lalitha says the facilities in the corporation schools are absolutely at par with private schools in terms of joyful learning and other group activities. Lalitha’s husband E Sumanth, an aviation specialist, has wholeheartedly supported her initiative. Lalitha has made many people willing to send their kids to State-run schools to avoid blood-sucking private institutions.
A young Andhra Pradesh IAS officer, L Shiva Shankar, Project Officer of ITDA, sent his son to the local Anganwadi Centre at Seetampeta, a tribal hamlet. The toddler, he says, is enjoying his time at the humble school learning Telugu and English alphabets and rhymes while mingling freely with his classmates. He drops the boy on his bike at the centre. The teachers have been sincerely requested by him not to pamper the kid or give any special treatment. Shankar’s wife is also an IAS officer. The parents even celebrated Sohan’s birthday at the Anganwadi Centre rendering the entire region inspired. They believe the child should grow as an ordinary student so as to pick life skills faster.
Similarly, when Government-run healthcare facilities are perceived to be substandard, dirty and not fit to deliver quality service, an Odisha-cadre bureaucrat put his wife in a Government hospital when he could have got her admitted into a swanky corporate healthcare facility without difficulty. Malkangiri district Collector Manish Agarwal’s wife Sonam delivered a boy at the District Headquarters Hospital on July 4 in 2019. Doctors performed a caesarean section on her. Most senior officers go away to nearby Visakhapatnam for even having a sneeze problem fixed. Malkangiri is a remote Maoist-infested, tribal district. Manish, despite all the apparent odds, opted for the Government hospital only because he wanted to send out a strong message. He dispelled the common belief that Government things are all bad, unacceptable. Health facilities, especially SNCU, at the Malkangiri DHH are way better compared with the neighbouring districts. Manish, as the principal district administrator, has ensured that ordinary people get extraordinary service at Government facilities.
Times are changing. Corrupt bureaucrats are reforming themselves; and more significantly, highly sensitive young people are entering the top service. Besides, amazing technological developments have made everything so transparent! No one can do much by hiding. Erring crooks are visible anyway.