The Spell Of Specialisation

THE INDIAN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE NEEDS AN URGENT REJIG. THE KEY TO SPEED AND EFFICIENCY LIES IN PUTTING AN END TO A GENERALIST APPROACH AND IN GOING FOR A NEW SERVICE.

- TCA Srinivasa Raghavan

MANY MEMBERS of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), past and serving, are likely to read this. In order to avoid the usual IAS ploy of “how many centuries have you scored” to pooh-pooh critiquing, let me set out my qualifications at the very start.

At one time, no fewer than eight of my close relatives, including my father and his brother, and my brother-in-law, were in the IAS. My brother and cousin were in the Indian Foreign Service (IFS). And many others were in the other services. My closest friends from school and college have been members of the IAS, Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Allied Services. So, while I may not have worn the shoe, I do know how it fits.

THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE (ICS)

The IAS is the successor service to the ICS, which was meant to serve the British Empire in India. Until the 1870s, British administrators comprised mainly of freebooters from England, who ran things with the help of the military.

But, after 1860, when governance was taken over by the British government, there was a dramatic improvement in the quality of officers, who were now drawn overwhelmingly from Oxbridge. This was the first generation that absorbed the liberal values of fairness, equity and justice. Their story has been told by many, but the most readable account is in Phillip Mason’s The Men Who Ruled India.