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CHANGING
FACE OF THE IAS
1854
The Burra Sahibs: Coming from elite backgrounds, the majority of the
Indian Civil Service officers studied abroad. The preferred universities
were Oxford or Cambridge. The trainees went through a series of courses
including those on table manners, etiquette and horse riding. Their chief
job was mainly to preserve law and order and collect revenue. And above
all, to preserve the Raj.
1948
The Mai Baaps: The Indian Administrative Service has traditionally
been dominated by the upper-class English speaking elite of the country.
Educated in the liberal arts from the best colleges of the country-like
St Stephen's in Delhi and Presidency in Calcutta. Has a mindset of absolute
power and status and is a demi-god in the district.
2000
The Samaj Sewaks: Now come from humble, rural backgrounds, studied
mainly in regional colleges with the majority majoring in engineering.
Are being taught in training to shed the mai-baap image and instead become
facilitators and disseminators of information.
VIEWPOINT
NIRMAL
MUKARJI, ICS
Wind up the all-India services
It would
not be incorrect to say that the common man today considers bureaucrats
to be as responsible for the sorry plight of the country as the political
class. The civil service, of course, blossomed when the East India Company
moved from the arena of commerce to governance. An all-India service called
the Indian Civil Service (ICS) was in tune with the times since the business
of governance was centralised and everything existed for the common purpose
of preserving the Raj.
Today, that
no longer holds. We are a federal democracy and our bureaucracy must be
in conformity with this reality. The upper froth of our civil services-or
what is called the all-India services-are completely detached from what's
happening on the ground. The business of governance is still carried out
by the patwari, the thanedar, the tehsildar and the state civil services.
And not by the all-India services who are a burdensome problem and have
become a cadre for themselves, by themselves and of themselves. It is
high time we wound up the all-India services.
(The author is a former Union cabinet secretary)
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METRO TODAY
Forget
endology, writes INDIA TODAY Senior Editor S. Prasannarajan. Celebrate
2001, celebrate the future in 