The Service of the State

by Bhaskar Ghose

Is the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) still the most appropriate institution to govern twenty-first-century India? Should a cadre of generalists head organizations as complex and diverse as industrial units, museums and rural development boards? If it had to be replaced, what is the best alternative? Drawing on his experience of thirty-six years in the IAS, Bhaskar Ghose addresses these and other major questions regarding the role, relevance and effectiveness of India’s long-established but often controversial system of state administration in The Service of the State.

Ghose argues forcefully that the IAS is still the best option and one moreover that substantially fulfils its functions—and fulfils them well. Though its once sterling reputation has been tarnished by allegations of corruption, political subservience and declining standards of efficiency, there are still sufficient numbers of dedicated public servants. These administrators, spanning diverse social backgrounds, seniorities and regional profiles, draw on established traditions of duty and of cooperation within the service to deliver—to the best of their ability and often in the face of considerable odds—the goods of development.

This reflective and luminous memoir is not only a portrait of a lifetime’s service to the state; it is also a timely and persuasive argument for a system of governance that has had a critical impact on India since Independence.

Genres: Nonfiction, India, Biography

ebook

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Bhaskar Ghose was educated in Mumbai and Delhi and joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1960, retiring from it after thirty-six years. He served in various capacities both in the government of West Bengal, the state to which he was assigned, and in the Government of India. He has held the posts of Director General, Doordarshan, Secretary, Department of Culture in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, and Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. He has been a visiting fellow of Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford. For the last fourteen years he has been a writer and columnist, and has written regularly for a number of major Indian newspapers and journals, among them The Pioneer, Delhi, The Telegraph, Kolkata, and the Hindustan Times, Delhi. He presently writes a column for Frontline. He has been involved with theatre for the last fifty years and has acted in and directed over forty plays. His first book Doordarshan Days was published by Penguin/Viking in 2005.

Reviews

[Shadin Pranto · Rating 4 out of 5]

আমলাদের নিয়ে আমি বরাবরই আগ্রহ অনুভব করি। বিশেষত প্রশাসন ক্যাডারে যারা কাজ করেছেন, তাদের স্মৃতিকথা অন্যরকম ঘটনায় ভরপুর থাকে। সেইসব ঘটনা পড়তে আলাদা একটা আনন্দ আছে। ভারতের প্রশাসন ক্যাডারের সদস্য ভাস্কর ঘোষের কর্মজীবন নিয়ে এই স্মৃতিকথা একটি অসাধারণ গ্রন্থ। ভদ্রলোক মাঠপর্যায়ে আসানসোলের মহকুমা অফিসার, কুচবিহারের ডিসি, জলপাইগুড়ি বিভাগের বিভাগীয় কমিশনারের দায়িত্ব পালন করেছেন। ছিলেন প্রতিরক্ষা মন্ত্রণালয়ের যুগ্মসচিব, রাষ্ট্রীয় টিভি চ্যানেল দূরদর্শনের ডিজি এবং তথ্য মন্ত্রণালয়ের সচিব। বেশ হাই প্রোফাইল এই কর্মকর্তা অনেক কথাই খোলামেলা লিখেছেন।

আইএএস কর্মকর্তাদের প্রশিক্ষণ হয় মুসৌরির আ্যকাডেমিতে। ষাটের দশকে কোনোএক সন্ধ্যায় পরীক্ষার ফলাফল পান। পুরো ভারতে দশম হয়েছিলেন। এক শীতের সকালে পৌঁছালেন মুসৌরিতে। আ্যকাডেমিতে ক্যাডারদের প্রশিক্ষণের একটি চমৎকার বর্ণনা দিয়েছেন ভাস্কর ঘোষ। পড়তে গিয়ে নিজেকেই মুসৌরির আ্যকাডেমিতে কল্পনা করছিলাম।

পশ্চিমবঙ্গে প্রথম পোস্টিং হলে সঙ্গী হিসেবে পান কয়েক ব্যাচ সিনিয়র আইএএস এস এম মুর্শেদকে। মুর্শেদ সাহেব তখন পুরোদস্তুর কর্মকর্তা। ঘোষবাবুকে কর্মকর্তা বানানোর দায়িত্বটি মুর্শেদ সাহেব ভালোই পালন করেছিলেন। জেল পাস নিয়ে একটি বিব্রতকর কিন্তু মজার ঘটনায় মুর্শেদ সাহেবের ভূমিকা ছিল অনবদ্য।

আইএএস কর্মকর্তাদের নিজেদের মধ্যে অন্যরকম একটি রসায়ন কাজ করে। তখনও বামফ্রন্ট ক্ষমতায় আসেনি। কুচবিহারের ডিসি থাকাকালে বামনেতা বিমল গুহকে ঘর থেকে বের করে দিয়েছিলেন ভাস্কর ঘোষ। তখন বিমল গুহ ঘোষবাবুকে কুচবিহারে অবাঞ্ছিত ঘোষণা করে আন্দোলন শুরু করে। প্রশাসন বাধ্য হয়ে দিল্লিতে বদলি করে ঘোষবাবুকে। কুচবিহারে বন্যায় সময় বিমানবাহিনীর একটি হেলিকপ্টার থেকে ফেলা ত্রাণে কয়েকজন নিরীহ জনতা নিহত হয়। তা নিয়ে ডিসি বিচার বিভাগীয় তদন্ত কমিটি গঠনের ঘোষণা দিলে স্বয়ং বিমানবাহিনী প্রধান এসে ডিসি ভাস্কর ঘোষের সাথে কথা বলে মীমাংসা করেন।

মুখ্যমন্ত্রী সিদ্ধার্থশঙ্কর রায়ের সচিব ছিলেন ভাস্কর ঘোষ। তার কর্মকুশলতা নিয়ে অনেক কথা লিখতেও নকশালপন্থিদের দমনে রায়ের ভূমিকা নিয়ে নিশ্চুপ ছিলেন। ভাস্কর ঘোষের লেখা পড়ে মনে হলো আমলাতন্ত্র কখনোই বামপন্থাকে সইতে পারে না। এটিকে তারা সামাজিক বিশৃঙ্খলা মনে করে। তাই বামফ্রন্ট সরকারের অধীনে বিভাগীয় কমিশনারের দায়িত্ব পালন করলেও বামপন্থাকে একহাত দেখে নিয়েছেন তিনি।

তিনি প্রতিরক্ষা মন্ত্রণালয়ের যুগ্মসচিব থাকাকালে সেনাবাহিনী অফিসারদের অহংবোধ এবং জোর করে লালকেল্লাকে দখলে রাখার চেষ্টা কীভাবে ইন্দিরা গান্ধির আদেশে বাতিল হয়েছিল তা লিখেছেন। সেই সিদ্ধান্ত বাস্তবায়ন হতে সময় লেগেছে বিশ বছর!

তথ্য সচিব থাকাকালীন কিছু ঘটনার কথা উল্লেখ করেছেন যা পড়তে ভালো লাগবে।

ভাস্কর ঘোষ খাঁটি আমলা। অভিজ্ঞতার পাশাপাশি আমলাতন্ত্রের সাফাই গেয়েছেন নিজস্ব দক্ষতায়।

[Rohit Raina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author has trifurcated IAS officers into Wives, nuns and prostitutes as per their nature of loyalty to political party/ parties. Being my first book ,about bureaucracy,this book provides a detailed account of an IAS officers life both in and out of state cadre and also presents the exciting everyday challenges the service throws at you, giving you the opportunity to learn and evolve. The author honestly gives out his failures and his whims and fantasies which potrays him an original and hence irresistible. The book also gives out a detailed account of the economical, social and political conditions of the country at that time. Highly recommended for anyone who wants an insider view of bureaucracy and it's functioning.

[Prashant · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author gives a personal account of the experiences he had while serving as an IAS officer in West Bengal as well as in Government of India. It is worth a read for those who are aspiring to clear UPSC civil service exams to become IAS officers and for those who wish to know the insider view of the Indian Administration.

[Manjunath Madakasira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bhaskar Ghose narrates in simple english what constitutes the lives of average IAS officers and the challenges faced by the ilk. He puts down his experiences and emotions in a candid way, from the POV of a person who transforms from a naive young man straight out of college to a seasoned babu with his idealism tempered by the ground realities. At various points he tries to justify the existence of IAS cadre, citing the inexplicable bonds of brotherhood that runs between them helping each other solve problems smoothly in this rather rough bureaucratic system. To be fair to him, he does admit that it is hard to qualify what constitutes this 'brotherhood', as it is a vague blurred notion in everyone's mind. He recounts his experiences in various capacities and honestly gives his own shortfalls in dealing with difficult situations while being diplomatic about mentioning other officers' mistakes. He tries to strike a balance between the perception of IAS as an extension of ICS, as a patronizing organization with its roots in the british raj and as an organization for maintaining order in the new nation with intelligent, honest, impressionable officers drawn from all over the country. He contends that even though the officers might be no different from the people in other state services, the conditioning that IAS officers receive in different challenging postings teach them a lot more about managing difficult situations and bonds them together in the common journey. He argues that persons of repute in various fields are not quite capable when it comes to administering and it is here that the IAS officers swoop in. He has been gentle when describing various persons in the book, except one KP Singh Deo, a minister who shunted him out of Doordarshan! I can say that he has done a good job of painting the common aspects of IAS life, of the personalities of various people he got to deal with. But I wish he had been a little more detailed on how the IAS camaraderie helped him solve the pressing problems he mentioned in the book. That would have helped convince the readers more about why IAS is still relevant to the country today, instead of dwelling on the imaginative bond tying the whole coterie together. All in all, a pretty interesting and easy read and 'not' a self-aggrandizing memoir of an officer with hubris.

[Manjunath Madakasira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bhaskar Ghose narrates in simple english what constitutes the lives of average IAS officers and the challenges faced by the ilk. He puts down his experiences and emotions in a candid way, from the POV of a person who transforms from a naive young man straight out of college to a seasoned babu with his idealism tempered by the ground realities. At various points he tries to justify the existence of IAS cadre, citing the inexplicable bonds of brotherhood that runs between them helping each other solve problems smoothly in this rather rough bureaucratic system. To be fair to him, he does admit that it is hard to qualify what constitutes this 'brotherhood', as it is a vague blurred notion in everyone's mind. He recounts his experiences in various capacities and honestly gives his own shortfalls in dealing with difficult situations while being diplomatic about mentioning other officers' mistakes. He tries to strike a balance between the perception of IAS as an extension of ICS, as a patronizing organization with its roots in the british raj and as an organization for maintaining order in the new nation with intelligent, honest, impressionable officers drawn from all over the country. He contends that even though the officers might be no different from the people in other state services, the conditioning that IAS officers receive in different challenging postings teach them a lot more about managing difficult situations and bonds them together in the common journey. He argues that persons of repute in various fields are not quite capable when it comes to administering and it is here that the IAS officers swoop in. He has been gentle when describing various persons in the book, except one KP Singh Deo, a minister who shunted him out of Doordarshan!
I can say that he has done a good job of painting the common aspects of IAS life, of the personalities of various people he got to deal with. But I wish he had been a little more detailed on how the IAS camaraderie helped him solve the pressing problems he mentioned in the book. That would have helped convince the readers more about why IAS is still relevant to the country today, instead of dwelling on the imaginative bond tying the whole coterie together.
All in all, a pretty interesting and easy read and 'not' a self-aggrandizing memoir of an officer with hubris.

[Jinshai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere in the book Bhaskar Dada writes that the policies made by IAS should not be made to match the status of thinking faculties of bright eyed IIM students but should be at the comprehensive level of any normal fellow indian.

He has followed same construct for writing this book.

It is the story of evolution of IAS civil service told in the form of life story of a man.

The openness by which the writer has shared his feelings has power to connect readers right from Chapter 1 'Training: The National Academy of Administration, Mussouri'.

The anecdotes are special. Among them you get to know the powerful factors which are mostly unknown, which lead to some of the big happenings in the history of country, something which doesn't comes up generally.

Some worthy events among others are:

* Economic opening of country in 1991,

* The Gorkhaland problem

* The Kashmir problem.

Vivid experience of author has power to keep reader attentive irrespective of their background. Everyone will find some part of their lives in these pages.

It is also a traveller's delight in the manner in which author has described the known as well as untouched locations to which he has to move for duty.

If you have had any sort of connect with civil services whether by being a direct associate or have prepared for it, this book is a delight.

[Nivedita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very very encouraging, rebuilds your faith in the goodness of Indian bureaucracy! Civil Services aspirants MUST read!

[Barry Gilder · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting glimpse into the Indian civil service with some possible lessons and comparisons for South Africa.

[Vignesh Babu · Rating 4 out of 5]

One will get a first hand account of what it was like to be a bureaucrat in the emergency periods. The main theme is about the specialist/generalist debate of civil servants. Do try.