Mussoorie's misfortune

We need more civil servants with values rather than ambitions and expectations

- K.M. CHANDRASEKHAR

IN A LETTER to prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru on April 14, 1948, home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel wrote, "I need hardly emphasise that an efficient, disciplined and contented service, assured of its prospect as a result of diligent and honest work, is a sine qua non of sound administration under a democratic regime even more than under an authoritarian rule. The service must be above party, and we should ensure that political considerations, either in its recruitment or in its discipline and control, are reduced to the minimum, if not eliminated altogether. The Constitution is meant to be worked by a ring of service which will keep the country intact." This ideal remained with the civil service for long, although it cannot be said there were no aberrations.

We joined young; I was barely 22 and straight from college when I went to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie. A couple of months into my probation, I was tasked to write a paper on integrity. I recall I wrote 26 pages, basically stating that corruption arises when the demand for goods and services far exceeds supply, when the moral fibre is weak and when the political and social framework is riddled with deception and duplicity. The directors and faculty of the academy were also formidable people and exhibited values that a faithful public servant must possess.