Bhavdeep Kang > Quotes

“Krishnan and Somanathan once commented that the IAS can be divided into three groups, ‘the wives (who are attached to one party), the nuns (officers who remain unattached to any party) and the prostitutes (who attach themselves to whichever”
― Bhavdeep Kang, Just Transferred: The Untold Story of Ashok Khemka

“Unlike most of the bureaucracy, he does not believe in segregation of responsibilities. The government, in his view, must function in a holistic manner. This is only possible with cooperation and exchange between departments. So, if there is shady dealing in one department, he has a moral responsibility to point it out. After all, his ultimate accountability is not to the state CM, but to his appointing authority: the President of India. The political class and its bureaucrats, on the other hand, love compartmentalization. As long as one department does not know what the other is doing, it is always possible to pull off a scam. In the DLF–Vadra case, for example, the Town & Country Planning department was merrily issuing licences without checking with the revenue departments responsible for enforcing land laws.”
― Bhavdeep Kang, Just Transferred: The Untold Story of Ashok Khemka