The Indian Administrative Service — IAS — a convenient punching bag for politicians from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, is turning out to be the principal resistance force in India’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
These IAS officers are not in news. They are not supposed to be. They must work behind the scenes to tackle the public health crisis while their political masters play antakshari or attend wedding ceremonies.
Frontline against coronavirus
If it is principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, P.K. Mishra—assisted by Union health secretary Preeti Sudan who calls up state health secretaries every day—at the Centre, there are many unsung heroes in the states.
In Maharashtra, for instance, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray along with state health minister Rajesh Tope surprised even their political detractors with their efficiency and dedication in dealing with the coronavirus crisis. People in the know, however, attribute the political leadership’s success to state chief secretary Ajoy Mehta’s stewardship of the administrative response mechanism. Incidentally, Mehta’s six-month extension, given during Devendra Fadnavis’ years, ends in March, and the Thackeray government has now written to the Centre for another extension to the chief secretary.
In Rajasthan, additional chief secretary (medical health and family welfare) Rohit Kumar Singh is at the forefront of Ashok Gehlot government’s fightback against the coronavirus. In Odisha, it’s V. K. Pandian, private secretary to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Odisha was the first state to go for a 40 per cent lockdown following an analysis of the geographical spread of people who came from abroad in March.
Also read: Exams or exercise, it’s all happening inside hostel rooms for IAS and IPS trainees
In Punjab, it’s Suresh Kumar, a retired IAS officer who was appointed special principal secretary to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. In Karnataka, three IAS officers are leading the fight in their capacity as in-charge of three war rooms — personnel and administrative reforms secretary Munish Moudgil, labour secretary P. Manivannan and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a former ‘Sushasan Babu’, was very late to wake up to the Covid-19 threat but has now constituted a team of senior IAS officers to try to contain the virus’ spread that could spoil his re-election prospects in the October-November assembly elections.
It’s the same story in other states where IAS officers, from secretary to district magistrate levels, are staying on the grind to become the pillars of strength to their chief ministers—as also the Prime Minister at the Centre—who can’t bank on the ministers whose induction in the government was dictated by political compulsions and not by administrative considerations. No wonder, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman was, last Tuesday, clueless about the composition of the task force headed by her—about a week after the Prime Minister announced it and barely 48 hours before she was entrusted to declare the Rs 1.70 lakh crore economic package for India’s poor. Not many were, therefore, surprised when she evaded repeated questions about where this money would come from.
Most of the ministers even at the Centre spend most of their time tweeting and retweeting every word of PM Modi and works of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), while bureaucrats sweat it out trying to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Not that these ministers were doing a great job before the virus arrived in India. When was the last time you heard telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad speak about the AGR crisis in the telecom sector? Or about the sufferings of thousands of MTNL/BSNL consumers due to their services crashing?
As India witnesses the sad spectacle of thousands of migrant daily wagers and labourers trudging for hundreds of kilometres to try and reach home, try recalling the name of the labour minister. You may have a degree in mnemonics if you remember it. He is Santosh Kumar Gangwar, minister of state (independent charge), Ministry of Labour and Employment. By the way, last week, he did issue an advisory to all states to transfer money into the accounts of construction workers. Nothing more, nothing less.
Also read: This is the team advising PM Modi in India’s battle against coronavirus
Comeback of the IAS officers
When Narendra Modi took over the reins of the country in May 2014, IAS officers were largely happy. They were no less fed up with the policy paralysis during the latter part of the UPA-II government. And they were thrilled when they saw the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) calling them up directly, with ministers signing on dotted lines on the files without a whimper. Many others (including yours truly) thought it was a good move, given the massive talent deficit in Modi’s ministerial team. The dream run was, however, short-lived.
The bureaucracy soon realised that the new government put a premium on loyalty, and not talent.
It was different in Nehru’s case. As Ramachandra Guha writes in India After Gandhi, there was a time when Nehru had “little but scorn for the bureaucracy” and wrote in his autobiography that few things were more striking in India “than the progressive deterioration, moral and intellectual, of the higher services, more especially the Indian Civil Services”. But that was 12 years before India’s Independence when these services were instrumental in putting freedom fighters in the jails. As Guha points out, 16 years after he wrote that, Nehru entrusted the same bureaucracy—and chief election commissioner Sukumar Sen, an ICS officer—with the gigantic task of holding the first elections in Independent India, comprising mostly illiterate voters. India’s first prime minister’s views had to have changed after its success.
Also read: To break IAS grip, Modi govt is picking more non-IAS officers for top jobs
Time for a re-think
The Narendra Modi government has, however, gone about undermining the IAS, chipping away its exclusive rights and privileges one by one. First, it was the introduction of the 360-degree appraisal system for empanelment of bureaucrats at the joint secretary level at the Centre and then for their promotions. Their annual confidential reports (ACRs) were no longer the main factor. What mattered was the ‘feedback’, ostensibly from a bureaucrat’s seniors, peers, juniors and even those outside the service—essentially, and practically, to determine the political leanings and loyalty of the candidate under consideration.
In subsequent months and years, the IAS fraternity saw other alarming signs—lateral entry of professionals into the government as joint secretaries, attempt to change recruitment rules, forced resignations by senior bureaucrats, misbehaviour by ministers with senior officers, et al. It was no solace to IAS officers that officers of the Indian Police Service or other civil services found the going equally tough.
That’s the reason not many IAS officers are very keen on coming to Delhi on deputation; many sought and got repatriation to their home cadres, on one pretext or the other.
It is in this backdrop that the coronavirus has revalidated the strength and relevance of India’s steel frame—the IAS. For one IAS officer who might have hit the headlines for evading quarantine orders in Kerala, there are thousands of others who are working day and night in offices, risking their own lives to protect people. Once the novel coronavirus is beaten back, Modi government may like to re-think its understanding and definition of a committed bureaucracy.
Views are personal.
Totally misleading article based on congress and left agenda . For god’s sake let media be independent of political flattery
Who if not IAS are managing India in its fight against corona? The inefficient private sector? Those guys who take lakhs and lakhs of salaries are now “working from home” while the IAS are single handedly leading the nation
Just let us know what the so called Bureaucrats have done from January ? Did they anticipated this ? What steps they have taken to tackle this ? Let us know the suggestions or plan given by them before shutdown ? How supply chain is going to be maintained by them ? How People need to be transported ? Whether do we have PPE’s in place ? Why PPE’s were exported till March 20 ? Why Doctors and Health Care Workers were not given proper equipments to handle this crisis ? Why makeshift hospitals were not planned ? All these were failure of Bureaucrats and Rulers . If any Secretaries have pointed out this and given action plan then we are ready to salute them . Shame on you to write these kind of articles . We acknowledge the work being done by them now 24/7 , but what have they done proactively to manage this crisis .
Unnecessary evil that made the poor to walk through states. This horrible state of affair is all due to the failure of these tactical managers.
And what Mr.Oldie you have done for those poor, people like you go on supporting their leader of own caste and then prefer 5 star services.
This article shows how much ambitious the IAS lobby is in India. They have training to pretend as Rulers behind curtain. We were pondering as to how and why the Modi’s Government is successful. This Article has revealed the secret that replacement of professional with the IAS is key behind impartial, successful governance. The countrymen should appreciate our Prime Minister for breaking the myth that Two colonial states i.e. Pakistan and India is run my military and Bureaucracy respectively. One shocking aspect is that the IAS or IPS who are having terminology of Public Servants have mutated themselves as Bureaucrats. The phrase Bureaucracy sounds like metaphor of Feudal lords in former civil administration. These public servants are key factor for rampant corruption and rotting of administration in India. If we see the Chinese model, the key behind their success is crushing of Corruption. Our country has great potential to become Global Power given the fact that the bottleneck created by these public servants are crushed to a logical ends.
If these public servants are claiming good performance as shown in this Article, they are not doing any favour to the nation for the reasons that they are getting top class facilities on the cost of taxpayers of this country. We support the policies of our Prime Minister for replacing them with professionals in as much as these so public servants pretending to be the bureaucrats are actually “Jack of all Trades and Master of None”. It is well established fact that the ” Jacks” have limited role and the decisive roles are always played by “Masters”. Therefore, there is nothing wrong if the lobbying system in our country is crushed.
Why are you feeling the heartburn? Dude, get a life, do something worthwhile with it and stop being so frustrated. It will do your body good ?
It is not about heartburn it about the failure of the state of which the administrative service is a part in meeting the expectation of the people. IAS failed us, it bred elitism in the system.
Mohanish, you have problem only with elitism of the IAS. This means you are jealous to the core. As simple as that. Had you worked hard in your prime days, you wouldn’t have whined now. Take care!
If this the attitude all the Civil servants have then only god can save the country, You somehow seem to believe that slaving enough to get in through the ranks of civil service should be enough to confer them the privilege for life with little or no accountability.
I’m sorry to disappoint you majority of the population these people are supposedly to act as “servants” for did not seem to be impressed by the said attitude.
This article and the comments -both are self-explanatory about the perception of the people about IAS. It is no generalisation but the fact remains that most of them are rather incompetent and are exposed now because once you have people like Modi and Yogi ( nothing to do with a political party) who demands accountability and are accessible to people through various portals or otherwise, The bureaucracy remains exposed. In this fight against CORONA, the medical fraternity is at the front and bureaucrats are supposed to coordinate their efforts. You can see what is happening at various levels, internal migration is one such exposure, enforcement of lockdown is another …so many parts of the country, lockdown just do not exist, putting the lives of others at risk. Now you see Nizamuddin episode – Is there local administrative machinery existing? If we get CORONA explosion in the country, rest assured it will be because of poor implementation of lockdown. IAS is to be blamed for that. I will be happy if the IAS Association can take cognizance of this article and comments, so as to institute the remedial measures.
Agreed
Mr. Kumar if I may –
Mr. Modi’s biggest failure last six years is his inability to take on the power of the bureaucracy in Delhi. He underestimated it. Gujarat was one small state after all. He needed a team, it was not to be the work of one person.
At the same time, he enabled the IAS to become even more powerful with his paranoia about other political leaders
Haha Modi and Yogi asking for accountability, you seem to be an avid watcher of the late night shows at Indian news channel that deify anything that corresponds to PM Modi and blind followers like you have created that mess of the country that people in history would surely know you as crackpots.
Let us not patronize the IAS ….. what they are doing today is their job.
1. Their children study abroad … they do nothing for the Indian studying in India.
2. Even if their salaries are Rs. 500k per month, how they can afford the fees is anybody’s guess . Further sending kids abroad is not a new phenomenon
3. They are not business enablers. Their procedures act as an impediment increasing the cost of doing business
4. They are indifferent – anectodal – I was once discussing the state of bad roads with an IAS office – his repose – bad roads cause fewer accidents
5. India is still poor – they were not good enough to stall bad policies instead they most probably stalled good one.
6. Their good and priorities always appear to be in contradiction with the good of people who they are meant to serve.
7. Delhi and the state Capitals refuse to decentralize
8. They are not responsible for their actions. Some I know will argue of they being unfairly targetted and put to jail by the political class – and I do not support that, but as a pattern, their jobs are secured even if they do not perform
9. Recently, they understood the migrant crises from abroad, and they acted well, but internal – we should not ignore this glaring mishap – sitting in Delhi what more can we expect
Try saying the same thing about doctors? They’re not doing something great but only their job
You could have added the defense too to it. I have my views, on the defense and the medical profession, but I can point out one critical difference immediately. Both defense, in general, and doctors today are risking their lives. The system, therefore, needs encouragement.
IAS as a group is unwilling to risk its reputation or retirement benefits even for the right reasons. And that to me is their job. IAS is just a service and a job after all managed by people who are good at giving an exam and maybe with a good memory.
Mohanish, what type of retirement benifits is being referred to? Maybe you’re not that aware but pensions have been done away about 2 decades back. Keep yourself updated. All the best for your future man!
What government officers(may be IAS also) do not admit it, they do not carry any credibility with their subordinates. They have lost mutual trust. Subordinates brazenly disobey the seniors , unless they can show a carrot. Stick has lost its value with its unfair usage. Those who are eyeing to enter the system are plain self-seekers, without any public service ethics. A system based on public service ethics with more transparency in advancing the merit and stalling the mediocre is needed. Perhaps that is too much to expect from any herd promoting culture, that of IAS or ‘experts’
Imposing 144 and locking down people with police danda is the biggest contribution to Covid – 19. This is all the innovative ideas with which steel frame could come with. And now they started chest thumping to protect their privileges.
Could anyone or any print media for once praise the doctors ? They are fighting the battle head first with minimal facilities. I see no one praising them or hailing them for their work. Instead many are being chased away from their rented homes . India doesn’t deserve doctors.
This is such a biased and tbh disconnected from reality propaganda article I just read haha sometimes personal rigidity of opinions can make people blind, it’s okay. Also so funny how all the opposing forces are trying their level best to undermine the excellent leadership of Modijee with all sorts of things but getting it backfired by the public opinion because let’s face it, truth is felt by all 🙂
{oh btw wrt the reply i just wrote- “views are personal” xD }
Indian government machinery is absolutely incompetent and thoroughly corrupt. It is incapable of handling any crisis, leave alone a pandemic of such humongous proportions. The government should utilise the ex-servicemen and commitment NGOs to provide support. The babus should take a break and not mess up the crisis….
I think you are living far from realty… seeing the bureaucracy from the spectacles given to you by ill-informed people like you.
It is political class which is responsible for all the inefficiency of bureaucracy. If political class is honest enough towards well being of people…..they should give a more independent space to bureaucracy and then see the change bureaucracy can make to the society.
Have some complete knowledge about something 1st and then give your expert comments.
Very brave effort by D K Singh to justify the absolute and complete incompetence of the IAS
You’re so frustrated and incompetent at basic comprehension
They have all the state power in their hands. So they are supposed to be greatest force behind fight against coronavirus. So what is the big deal about all this?
Pandering to the IAS IPS babus has its own benefits. What a sorry farce of an article. Name-dropping qualifies as journalism. Just underlines how deep the IAS rot is in the country. Only complete disbanding of the IAS IPS clique of ruffians is the solution to fixing governance problems. How conveniently the writer forgets to mention what Ajoy Mehta was up to during repeated Mumbai floods.
Mr Reporter, Are you using this time to help your friend in the IAS. The ones who used to give you information and stories. C’com, is this the time to run this story? The IAS is just like any other institution in India. The IAS officers get paid very well….they are just doing their job. Let’s see how this pans out first before beating up their drum, please!
What would be the affect in the policy making ability of politicians if all the IAS Officers resign at one go?Will these politicians be able to run the country without them(IAS)?
Okay…let me elaborate it. We people elect our representative who is according to democracy, an IAS’s boss. We elect an IAS’s Boss. An IAS’s political master is our elected representative. We are being irresponsible in choosing our representative past 70 years. So Mr. first learn to choose your representative wisely.
And second , An IAS or An IPS Lead 10,000 government officials and for that He/she is getting Somewhere around 1,00,000 (starts with 56100) and some Amazon/etc/etc. site head leads 2000-2500 well educated well resourced staff, get paid 1,00,00,000-2,00,00,000 per month just in case you want to understand multi-dimension of word”well-paid”.
Next time choose your representative wisely. One who is more focused on developing nation not Some populist.
The main battle is being fought in at district level. How many government officials they are coordinating? Not more than 300, if you include all heads of deptt at the district level and taluka level. They do not go below that. It is coordination and not leading. In Corona battle,
As told by Ex-President Mr.Pranab Mukherjee in near past, “Bureaucracy “ is the biggest hurdle in the development of India.
Yes they only know to interfere in everything & giving orders to others without any knowledge.
This British made system (IAS) was to Rule & make fool the people of India. And unfortunately it is still running in India !!!!!
But found no where in he World… not even in London.
This was one of the greatest mistakes of Nehru besides many.
And yes Controlling “Corona “ is mainly by efforts & advice of Health care professionals ,researchers & our strong PM , not by any IAS officers.
This is the time they want to become highlighted with Media besides their huge collection of Black money.
This article is really embarrassing…..
India will always be indebted to the services of the ever hardworking IAS who at meagre salaries and compromised personal lives are always at the forefront to serve India. Thanks #IAS
Meagre salaries? ?
The educational background and the grinding process through which IAS come, if put in the private sector can make one VP/CEO at the least. No wonder because of their talent private firms are hiring IAS post retirement and not the inefficient dumbs who populate the private sector by getting jobs not on basis of education or hardwork but by a system of references and connections. No wonder India Inc is under so much NPA. Their staff itself is a NPA!
There are many others from other services who are slogging day and night, to contain the spread of Corona. A bureaucrat at the top is as effective and efficient as active and motivated is team below. While all the laurels are cornered by top ranking IAS, their less fortunate subordinates from other Services holding middle management posts are the real force behind. Will someone ever recognize their contribution.
Jai hind.
So now media is handing out certificates to IAS ? I swear these paid stooges of Congress are so judgemental that 24×7 they keep on giving judgements on every matter under the Sun. Invariably Modi is at the receiving end of all these judgements even though that man is trying hard to not let the Corona issue go out of control. But the amount of constant criticism dripping from these Lutyens lobby is really disgraceful and disgusting. Shame shame.
It’s revealing that The Print is only a platform of and for the IAS and it’s “exclusive” rights and privileges!
Another blind bhakt spotted who would go on to defend his master even if he is the main perpetrator of the whole mess.
Even your god cannot save you from your vehement stupidity.
Dk singh you are a liar. beauracrcy is curse of this country..you are using this crisis to prop up this devious group of people.you will not succeed.
All Indians need to fight the Corona virus together. No exception to this rule. This fight can’t be won if even few Modi haters don’t follow the lockdown. If Modi haters think they can defeat Modi by encouraging flouting the lockdown, they must know that Corona virus is a true secular creature. It will not spare them just because they hate Modi.
We were waiting why IAS has not started claiming credits still…here it is
IAS officers are a privileged lot enjoying too much facilities and power. Some of them are very corrupt. They play to the whims of their political master all the time. How else do you explain the poverty level in India after seventy years.
This is a completely ‘sponsored ‘ article
Wonder who DK Singh is and what’s the motivation of writing thus st scribe when the IAS have completely sold itself to political whims, lost their independence and completely failed to lead.
The response to the PANDEMIC is so poor, it’s laughable. Have you seen what they have done to support the health system and frontline workers / NOTHING
bureaucracy is steel frame of india.
Prime Minister Modi is right. IAS cadre is the enemy of the state. Its officers have been jailed in every known scams and cases. The IAS Association is the biggest organised mafia in India and has been abrogating power to itself. The service serves only itself and not India and its citizens.
In the civil service system, only an IAS officer can be empaneled/promoted to Joint Secretary in GOI rank/post just after 15 years of service. Whereas, it takes 25+ years in Indian Forest Service, 27+ years in Central Secretariat Service and 31+ years in Indian Railway/Telecommunication/Engineering Services. It almost takes 35+ years to get promoted to Major General in Indian Armed Forces.
In the Ministry of Personnel in GOI, Establishment Officer and the Secretary in the Ministry – both are IAS. They only favor IAS cadre for foreign training and education abroad (both for long term and shoprt term). Indian Forest/Police and all Central Service including Central Secretariat Service dont even get a chance. It is sad and pathetic how IAS only favors IAS and undermine the intelligence of other cadres and other services.
The precursor ICS was pathetic which was responsible for massive loot of India and dropping India’s GDP from 32% of the world to less than 1% of the world. IAS the sucessor is much more arrogant, elite, corrupt and have low IQ among the promotees into it.
The article lacks research and just to say one thing (IAS) good unnecessarily calls the other thing (Political bosses) bad. These are the work force and need no recognition. That is part of their job. It should also be noted that when schemes or suggestions of IAS’ fail, the burnt is faced by the Politicians only. They are shielded by the political bosses of their mistakes. So they are not required to get public credit for good works.
I read Print since long and note that you write with only one motive that is to create a negative image of the ruling gov. and the PM even in cases where they do well. In cases where they do well you try to find out someone involved in the process but not the captain. This is going against the protocol and creating a sense of uneasiness for the citizens.
Poor journalism.
Prime Minister Modi is right. IAS is the enemy of the state. Its officers have been jailed in every known scams and cases. The IAS Association is the biggest mafia in India and have been abbrogating power to itself. The service serves only itself and not India or its citizens.
In the civil service system, only an IAS officer get empanelled/promoted to Joint Secretary in GOI just after 15 years of service. Whereas, this takes 25+ years for Indian Forest Service and 27+ years in Central Secretariat Service and 32+ years in Indian Railway/Telecommunication Services.
If you see DOPT where the Establishment Officer and Secretary in the Ministry is IAS, almost all foreign trainings (long and short term) goes majorly only to IAS, not other services (including all Central Civil Services and other two All India Services IPS and Forest Service).
Entire Civil Services suffer only because of half baked education of IAS. I can bet the writer of the article is either a serving or a retired IAS officer.
Sir,
The IAS officers are the 1st class citizens of India. They enjoy enormous privileges that are rarely available outside that hallowed portal. By being at the forefront in the fight against Korona they are not doing any favours to the people. Your article smacks of condescending jibes at politicians. But at the first available opportunity likes of you hop on to the political band bandwagon to become Ministers. That our Ministers keep low profile while keeping the Govt ticking is no matter of shame. If Rabi Shankar Prasad has not been able to make any progress in the matters of AGR woes it is some one like you didn’t read the notes put up by an Assistant in the Secretariat carefully and didn’t understand the enormity of the consequences of the words put in the license document. Government was caught unaware when Audit raised a valid point about revenue loss and the entire telecom sector went into a tail spin.
Are the above actions of IAS babus not their duty. Maybe they have got so used to not doing their duty that now they want appalause for what they are already getting paid for. What shameless people. No different from political communists who are making best of misery of the nation.
What a stupid article. DK Singh is well aware how the IAS fellows try to hold on to their turfs,take all the credit,maintain large colonial bungalows
in the districts,throw their weight about. They are not doing any favour – they are drawing huge salaries and perks & so should work.
All IAS officers should work for 2 years with army regiments in Drass or Thar Desert and learn leadership qualities from army officers before
they are confirmed.
It is very important that lateral entries take place and professionals inducted.
Ram Dev
I think for once DK Singh has got it entirely wrong. While it may be true that some of the senior bureaucrats are perhaps working hard, but that is because for one they are the shinny chosen ones from the vast pool of abject mediocrity and second they are working right under the senior political bosses.
The vast majority of IAS officers are lazy, corrupt, inapt unimaginative, paper pushing pencil head sycophants with a colonial outlook and who couldn’t manage a team of one!!
There pompous noses are the up in the air as opposed to being on the ground and that is why they come up with policies, procedures, systems which are impractical and create more problems than solving any!
Their entire approach is based CYA (cover your ass) and always absolve themselves of all responsibility.
Bharat is today suffering because of these people. If Bharat has to progress then we either need to get rid of them or do massive reform
What an ideotic article. Praise the commendable efforts of IAS officers all you want. But there is no comeback of any kind. Irrespective of the slightly higher numbers of empanelment of non-IAS officers at the centre or the meagre 10 lateral entrants, the IAS still occupies the overwhelming majority of posts both within the cadre and outside including constitutional and regulatory bodies. The ones at their current posts are doing their jobs. That’s it. The absence of credentials of the author of the article and the disclaimer leaves room for doubts on whether he is either a serving or retired member of the IAS itself. Fanning inter service rivalry at such a critical juncture through an ill-advised, misinformed and misleading article is highly deplorable.
Yes. The police are beating up people. Transport has been shutdown. Migrant workers are on the streets. Vegetable and food produce are reduced to waste. Government hospitals are in shambles. Brutus was an honourable man!
You can’t do with them, you can’t do without them!
The article is misleading…the chaos due to labour migration is due to this irresponsibility of ias … moreover, they are the one who brought corona into the country…this article is written to undermine the reformative steps taken by PM…what about police , railway or other sectors ? …do you want to say that other departments are not doing anything…be honest at this time please…
Time and again allegations have been made against the IAS cabal that its sole interest is in maintaining its turfs and denying other cadres/services their rightful dues. This article by Mr. DK Singh simply buttresses the point. The IAS indeed is solely concerned about protecting its turf or what it conceives to be its turf.
Ias ,no doubt is the strongest pillar …they are working on grass root level but no one admire them ..they are taking so much pain in managing and advising the people of their districts ,states but .They are the only one behind implementation of every schemes with all difficulties ..Now they are the only one who are giving theirs days and nights to make the environment peaceful when the country is full of chaos …salute
It is the DUTY and RESPONSIBILITY of bureaucracy to be commited – its is not a FAVOR or a GIFT. This is why they are given so much power and privilege .
Your views are repulsive – the IAS is not doing the PM a favor by doing its job. Indeed they have been blessed to earn their keep…
These IAS Officers should keep in mind that this is the time to deliver and not toss the file back to the subordinate by putting an observation “PLEASE SPEAK” or raise an irrelevant objection or toss the file to the other ministry.
It is the bureaucracy through which the policies of the government are. implemented.
In India the policies are executed by the many civil services , the foremost being the IAS just as it was the Indian Civil Service during the British rule and in independent India in its initial days. When Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Home Minister decided to retain the remaining officers of the ICS, it surprised many that he should rely on the very service which was vehemently criticised by the Congress party.
I do not agree with your view. BUREAUCRACY has not planned the lock down the way Delhi crowd and poor people are running heltar keltar. Home Ministry had taken action against your officers including two Arcs. It is a media hype to promote PK Mishra and company who are only promoting IAS officers incompetence.
YOUR. THINK IS UNNECESSARY , YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT IAS OFFICERS. HOW could YOU think about IAS OFFICERS/ weaker sections bureaucracy at this type , This time is think about doctors and nurses and police . Any ias can’t control this situation . It is time to push best doctor should be health secretary of India. not a genelist knowless IAS OFFICERS . PLEASE STOP UNNECESSARY THINKING OK SIR
कृपया बताएं कि corona virus से ग्रसित अधिकांश मरीज हमारे अस्पतालों से ठीक होकर अपने घरों को कैसे जा रहें हैं,जबकि corona virus का anti dose medicines अभीतक नही बना है।ऐसे समाचार विभिन्न tv channels पर हमेशा प्रसारित हो रहें हैं। ऐसी परिस्थिति में या तो यह बीमारी ठीक से डिटेक्ट नही हो पा रहा है या यहcorona disease नहीँ है,ऐसी संभावना हो सकती है। क्योंकि बिना इसके medicines बने यह बीमारी ठीक होना संभव नही है।
Once again a comment which is highly biased in favour of the IAS. In most of the cases, these officers have a tendency of taking credit if the things go as these are supposed to and to point fingers at other services/ experts if things go astray. There are very few officers who are guided by their conviction and conscience and take action accordingly. Most of them toe the line of political bosses in their own selfish interests. These are not the times to criticise some section of government machinery or eulogize the others. But in any emergency situation, the main action is taken by and the maximum efforts put by the frontline staff, whether police men, or doctors and nurses in the present circumstances. Similar is the case in other national calamities where mostly army and paramilitary forces face the front. I am also aware of several very able and dedicated IAS officers but they are exceptions. Most of them are interested in self promotion and narrow selfish interests.
Funny article. At no point has the PM sidelined the IAS cadre although he has tried to make some administrative changes.
IAS=Indian Administrative service-what wonder if they administer good and worst times? They are supposed to administer best even at normal times! was that happening ? 90% IAS are spineless, inefficien t& corrupt is a well known hard afct with public & IAS fraternity! They are now only working as everything comes out in media in crisis! I saw all as poor from Rural Tamilnadu, worked in Delhi and now working from Dubai! So,Thanks but no thanks!-Honest Rajan, Dubai
This is a disaster of epic proportions. Now, the migrants will be taking the infection to villages, towns and cities, where adequate medical facilities are not available. They simply are not equipped to handle the surge of Wuhan virus cases. Also, those medical personnel are not trained to handle the safety precautions associated with containment leading to further spread. The sarkari babus in the Health Ministry, the Task Force, ICMR and NIV are directly responsible for this disaster. They failed in sanctioning adequate number of test kits, still purposefully sitting on regulatory licenses of Indian diagnostic companies, failed to conduct community wide testing, and failed to anticipate the migrant aggregation. Those sarkari babus have failed the nation again and again, in spite of common people sacrificing and bearing so much pain. The real pain is still to hit them! Now, only the Gods can save the people!
I find this rather strange- All this while we were told that the Modi government relies too much on the bureaucrats and is giving them more teeth and in some cases also promoting them where they dont deserve to be (RBI Governor) and in this article the author says that they were marginalized, ignored, punched etc… Oh yeah i forgot, views are personal… “cognitive bias”? 🙂