Race Course Road

India Today
November 2, 1998

RACE COURSE ROAD
No Prime Minister

Bureaucrats stymie Vajpayee's revamp attempts

Prabhu Chawla

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's war against the bureaucracy has been pretty much of a rout over the past five months with our own Sir Humphrey Applebys winning it decisively. With the prime minister unwilling to go for the jugular, senior civil servants have successfully blocked virtually every measure aimed at getting rid of the black sheep and non-performers among their own tribe. No wonder, the bureaucrats have been able to sabotage or put on hold the few administrative, economic and legislative initiatives taken by the blundering BJP Government. Consider these:

Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha had in his budget speech announced that the Government would disinvest in Indian Airlines. But the ministries concerned are yet to move a file, even after four months.

In his address before the Confederation of Indian Industry in August, Vajpayee had declared that proposals for fresh investment would be cleared within 30 days. Over 150 projects are still pending with various ministries.

The high-powered group on information and technology, headed by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh, made 108 recommendations about two months ago. The Government is yet to implement about 70 of them.

The Government was expected to announce new policies in the agriculture, media and education sectors. Civil servants are still collecting various background papers to prepare draft documents for the approval of their ministers.

Over 50 board-level vacancies in various PSUs have not been filled for the past six months because the administrative ministries are yet to begin the head-hunting exercise in earnest.

Vajpayee and his cabinet colleagues are obviously responsible for this growing defiance by the civil servants. Since a majority of the 100-odd secretaries, over 200 additional secretaries and about 300 joint secretaries owe their current appointments to the previous Congress and United Front governments, they are suspects in the eyes of the current dispensation. In fact, some of them are so well-connected that various attempts to transfer them even by the prime minister have been stymied by their senior colleagues in the Government. At one stage, Vajpayee directed his principal secretary Brajesh Mishra to prepare a plan for revamping the bureaucracy to enable it to respond to the needs and demands of the BJP Government. The prime minister had at the same time made it clear that he would not like any witch-hunt and would prefer that those whose loyalties or integrity were suspect be sent back to their states. But before he could fully implement his plans -- he did make a start by reshuffling 17 secretaries at the Centre -- Vajpayee found himself entangled with sections of the Sangh Parivar and recalcitrant allies. Once again, babudom escaped the proverbial axe.

The primary reason for the bureaucracy being so non-responsive is the infighting within the ruling alliance. For example, three senior ministers have not been able to get officials of their own choice because the current incumbents flaunted their political and corporate connections to stay in office. While these powerful officials continue to cock a snook at the Government, it is the prime minister who is at the receiving end.

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