STEEL FRAME FACES THREAT OF IRREPARABLE DAMAGE

THE civil service of the country, often referred to as the steel frame, has endured several political upheavals and uncertainties in the past seven decades.

- K JAYAKUMAR

THE civil service of the country, often referred to as the steel frame, has endured several political upheavals and uncertainties in the past seven decades.

Although the All India Services and Central Services may not have always performed at their peak capacity given the challenges they faced during the course of our variegated political history, they have managed tolerably well. Our bureaucracy is permanent insofar as every succeeding government does not induct its set of people to run the official machinery.

That implicitly means that government servants at all levels owe their allegiance to the Constitution of India. They carry out the orders and decisions of the elected governments regardless of the politics and policies of the party in power.

As long as those in power appreciate the independence of the bureaucracy and use it for legitimate development and enforcement, this arrangement is perfect. However, human frailty is bound to disturb such theoretically perfect arrangements. This was first evident during Indira Gandhi's term as prime minister when she extolled the virtues of a 'committed civil service'.

She perhaps tried to rationalise commitment as dedication to development and people's causes. But the bureaucracy read the exhortation for a 'committed civil service' as the demand for loyalty to the party and leader in power.

Commitment in the bureaucracy has preceded Indira Gandhi in the form of the service organisations that segregated employees on political lines in several states and in major organisations at the Centre.