By Aruna Sharma

Between the hype around the lateral entry of professionals into the IAS and the news doing the rounds about forced early retirement of above-50-year-old bureaucrats, is the entire middle rung of the IAS being unduly given a bad rap? If it seems that administrative officers are nothing but pen-pushers and pursuers of their own personal goals, there is strong need to introspect.

The good work done by civil servants is often remembered by people. The systems set are worked upon for years, with improvements over time. So, while it may be fashionable to be critical of the bureaucracy, it would be unwise to throw the baby out with the bathwater. While criticism is important, it is equally important to protect good and efficient officers, especially against cynical members of the tribe.

There is, however, an urgent need to look inwards, and see clearly howthe bureaucracy has been hamstrung by the machinations of some of its own. One can’t deny that many IAS officers have reduced themselves to being little else than acolytes of their political bosses. There is also a sizeable group that, having failed to compete with more efficient officers, has preferred to ruin the careers of others by creating a bogey of complaints. There are, probably, an equal number of honest and efficient officers who have withstood pressures and have been successful despite hurdles created by their colleagues.

Take the National Informatics Centre. This institution has been effectively used to utilise IT for efficient governance, its models replicated across the country with minimal cost. Here, this maybe a case of depending on the government unit as it constant evaluates. The entire Direct Benefit Transfer mechanism, linking the treasury to the individual beneficiary’s account across different banks and post offices, has been effectively developed by them, as have been other governance software. There are similar case studies where sectors had turned around because of a bureaucrat’s ability to be open to stakeholders’ ideas. A bureaucrat doesn’t bring a team with her, but wide perspectives. A good one will get deliverable from existing teams.

However, if the civil servant loses her status of being ‘fair’, ‘just’, ready to take up a cause and withstand pressure, then there is a serious problem. The need of the hour is to make a beginning by rewarding the efficient and identifying the penpushers. In this endeavour, lateral entry alone will not resolve the issue.

We must ponder if the percentage of ignorant, arrogant pen-pushers is increasing. Have we incentivised such a state of affairs by taking cognisance of their attempts to create false complaints against performing officers? While there is astrong need to bring in efficiency, protecting performing officers within the system is paramount.

(The writer is secretary, ministry of steel, GoI)