Indian bureaucrats are solely responsible for our chaotic unaccountable administration because they never bothered to even see why institutions with whom people have to interact regularly for disposal of their routine grievances like Police stations, tehsils, development blocks , supply office , and such other offices are so corrupt that nothing gets done without paying bribes or doing sifarish? When everyone is aware of the all- pervasive corruption all around, why do our present and past Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers, Ministers, and all other elected ruling class still act blind or refuse to notice the humongous cesspool of corruption all around, writes former IAS officer V.S.Pandey
After I joined the IAS in 1979, I found those around me discussing the lack of accountability and widespread corruption prevalent in the system. I superannuated after thirtyseven and half years in service – even now the system is roiled by humongous corruption and brazen lack of accountability and my peers are still animatedly debating on how to resolve this age old problem. Are we waiting for Godot? Or are we blind to the elephant in our room?
After a few years in service, it was clearly apparent, even to us juniors- that everyone in the bureaucracy- from the highest to the lowest babu -was immersed in giving lip service to the idea of accountability and integrity- but only a select few were truly honest and had the requisite moral fibre. The bureaucrats, who proclaimed themselves to be ‘honest’ and were occupying senior positions of responsibility – lacked the courage to even say “No” to their Bosses- leave alone check or stop wrongdoing. They avoided saying no to decisions which were prima facie blatantly wrong and violated laws, rules and laid down policies- which they ought to have refused to give effect to. The other group which was already in cahoots with the political class were absorbed in amassing wealth several times beyond their known sources of income. The civil servants belonging to this category had never possessed any scruples so they had grown more shameless and thick skinned, impervious to any aspersions cast on their integrity- honoured to be leading the gang of predators. The natural result and ill impact of this continued apathy/contempt towards principles of accountability and rules governing honest performance of duties on the part of the bureaucratic structure is now visible in every atom of our governance structure.
The trillion dollar (not the usual million dollar) question is- who is responsible for the collective mess we are in? As a nation we are languishing amongst the poorest on this planet, we are bracketed as the ‘most corrupt’nation in the world and also are one of the most inequitous countries. To top it all our big businesses , instead of investing in ventures in India are pouring billions of dollars into their off shore ventures and our high net worth individuals are now joyously deserting our beloved “Bharat Mata” and leaving India in thousands annually. Again the salient question confronts us -who failed our nation ? Who was responsible for ensuring accountability and enforcing integrity in our governance system?
The answer to this trillion dollar question is plain, simple, and unambiguous. The answer is written large from page one to the last in our constitution -the political executive – political class- opposition parties all included. This will raise another pertinent question -why only the political class, why not the bureaucracy topped by IFS, IAS, IPS , IFoS IRS, ICCE and such others who are responsible for and man important positions in the governance system. Yes they also share the burden for our systemic failure but -“ Those who wield power , take the blame”, so the political executives who have been bestowed with all the powers related to governance of the Indian state, need to be held accountable for failing to provide honest, efficient and accountable governance to our people. They are solely responsible for our chaotic unaccountable administration because they never bothered to even see why institutions with whom people have to interact regularly for disposal of their routine grievances like Police stations, tehsils, development blocks , supply office , and such other offices are so corrupt that nothing gets done without paying bribes or doing sifarish? When every one is aware of the all- pervasive corruption all around, why do our present and past Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers, Ministers, and all other elected ruling class still act blind or refuse to notice the humongous cesspool of corruption all around?
They are wilfully blind because our political culture is totally immersed in the divisive politics of caste, religion , language etc. and black money flagrantly rules the roost in the electoral field- then why should they bother about mundane issues concerning the people and their problems. When elections can be won on caste/ religious considerations and spending crores of rupees then why should our political class need to bother about questions relating to integrity , honesty , accountability .
Another alarming trend in political discourse is to blame the past dispensations for all the current wrongs. Nobody is talking to power – why are the present ones not doing anything to undo past mistakes? Why are the same age old policies being scrupulously followed even today which , according to the current ruling class” were responsible for the backwardness of our country and the corruption afflicting our administrative culture?
The Issues facing our nation are not insurmountable, they are easy to fix. If we just take one example – ease of doing business in india – one must ask why have we not fixed this problem even after nearly eighty years of independence? It is so because the powerful people want patronage dispensation rather than a rule based system where rules actually facilitate honest,lawful activities- as is the case in the developed world. Why can’t we learn from the successful experiences of other nations and set our house in order? Surely it can be done but then our political class will have to jettison the divisive politics of caste and religion and shun the use of tons of black money and muscle power. Democracy weakens not when leaders abandon ethics but when we ,the people ,stop enforcing it . What is morally wrong can never be politically right – and we have been empowered by our Constitution to enforce and ensure principled accountable governance .Let us do so .
(Vijay Shankar Pandey is former Secretary Government of India)
