A galaxy of distinguished civil servants – past and present— including former Cabinet Secretaries, Secretaries, Chief Secretaries of States and senior officers from various Ministries of Central and State Governments were present among others on the Civil Services Day function held in New Delhi. The institution of civil services was actually incepted by the British during the days of the Raj. The British, initially ruled the vast Indian Empire through highly qualified, experienced and capable British civil servants brought from Great Britain. With the passage of time, the British realized that efficient governance demanded that civil servants should be fully knowledgeable about India, her people, their language, culture, history and geography. This necessitated the inception of Indian Civil Service (ICS) which was the highest level in the hierarchy of administrative system in India. At the time of departure of India, the ICS cadres played crucial role as the country had to be divided, assets and liabilities had to be divided and the horrendous issue of migration of millions of citizens from one domain to the other domain, mostly attended by violence and barbarity, looked straight into the eyes of Indian leadership. It was owing to the highly efficient and capable ICS cadre bureaucracy that those hard challenges were met and overcome. It is said that soon after independence, media people put a question to the then Deputy Prime Minister, Sardar Patel– who was also the Home Minister–, what treatment would he meet out to the ICS cadre bureaucracy as the cadres were notorious for pro-colonial tendencies. The Sardar gave them a stunning reply and that reflected the entire spirit of Indian bureaucracy in making. He said,” I would like to shunt them out one and all but who will run the Government?” Subsequently, ICS was Indianized and renamed as Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Now we have various branches of highest administrative cadres like IFS, IPS, etc. manning many branches of administration.
21 April is observed as the Civil Services Day. By civil services we don’t mean only the IAS, IFS et al cadres but also the entire structure of services. It is a huge and gregarious structure, the one that runs the administration for a country of 125 crore of people. We need not emphasize the importance, relevance and efficiency of the services. If these are not of a high standard, this country cannot progress and prosper.
Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Modi has touched upon some crucial points in regard to services. Though, he did not speak in detail and only hinted in very subtle words, the take was clear that civil servants had to think, act and perform as the part of the vast Indian society and for the Indian society. During the British rule, an artificial gap was created between the ruling apparatus and the ruled. Bureaucrats were actually conveyers of the policy of the rulers and not part of it. This culture has to change and a transformation has to be brought into the working of Indian bureaucracy. The civil servants are the engines of change. The Prime Minister said that civil servants need to redefine their role, and move beyond controlling, regulating and managerial capabilities, and think of themselves as change agents. He urged civil servants to build teams. He said that his mantra of “Reform to Transform” should be interpreted by civil servants as “Reform to Perform to Transform.” He said if civil servants were able to perform, the transformation on the ground would be evident. Civil servants needed to engage with the people and evaluate their performance so as to know how delivery can be improved and made more efficient.
The Prime Minister said that the civil servants had been playing their role with dedication and great sense of responsibility. Identifying themselves with the people of the country and with the aspirations of the people would be something unique which they could give to the nation. 74 success stories were shortlisted for consideration for awards this year, which represents a substantial jump over previous years. Nevertheless, this represents only about 10 per cent of India’s districts. The Prime Minister urged all districts to become more proactive in this regard. If our country is to move forward, our civil servants have to shun insensitivity and respond to the demand of the time. They have to be courageous and bold in taking initiatives and making experiments and not remain confined to the routine. Taking initiative and inducting experiment infuse new energy in the entire bureaucratic structure and that is what the country needs to do.
We highly appreciate very realistic and pragmatic approach of the Prime Minister to the question of prompting our civil servants to come forward with renewed pledge of serving the people of the country and considering themselves as the servants and not masters.
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