What are the Challenges before Indian Civil Servants Today?
Introduction
- Civil services are considered to be the steel frame of India, which have a long legacy, strong impact on the administration, much respect from the common people, and vital roles to play in various verticals of the Indian government.
- The Indian civil service was created by the passing of the Government of India Act, 1858, and has continued to be in place in one form or another since then.
- The civil services have been attracting some of the finest minds in the country because of the respect, social prestige, and goodwill the services command. However, despite work satisfaction and security of employment, the civil servants of today are facing challenges.
- Main argument of the essay: Changing times, technology, and altered socio-political equations have posed newer challenges to Indian civil servants today. These challenges also provide opportunities for modification of older systems for better performance and adaptation of the civil services according to changing times.
Body
Challenges before Indian civil servants today:
- The concept of ‘non-committed’ bureaucracy is being compromised as All India Services officers are being compelled to follow their political bosses. Civil servants are expected to be politically neutral in order to avoid conflict of interest and ensure their loyalty to their jobs instead of political parties. However, in the process of following immediate political bosses, this principle often gets ignored.
- The society’s ethos is changing as materialism and wealth is being respected above everything else. Civil servants, as a result, are either feeling pressurized or choosing to earn immense amount of wealth through corruption.
- There is strong nexus between politicians and civil servants who collaborate to earn illegal incomes, and, as a result, honest civil servants find it hard to survive in the system and get work done. This instils frustration among them and many a times they are compelled to leave the services.
- The transfers of civil servants are in the hands of their political bosses and, as a result, there is pressure on civil servants to please them by sidelining their own commitments. The ones who do not end up suffering like Mr Ashok Khemka (IAS) who was transferred 47 times in 25 years and is considered to be the most transferred civil servant.
- Judicial activism is working against many officers; some high-proftle cases against civil servants got a lot of publicity, which has maligned the views of the general public as well as the judiciary against civil servants. There is increasing the pressure of advocacy groups and RTI activists on civil servants, which often poses challenges in taking swift action.
How can these challenges be overcome?
- The dependence of civil servants on politicians for transfers and postings should be removed, and the process should be made transparent based on predetermined logic. This will allow civil servants to carry out their duties without any fear.
- The Supreme Court has directed that civil servants should get an assured minimum tenure and should avoid acting on verbal instructions given by politicians. These directions regarding civil servants should be strictly adhered to in order to ensure independence, transparency, and greater accountability in the civil services.
- Civil servants perform many tasks in dynamic situations. As a result, a certain level of discretionary power should be given to civil servants, the decisions taken under which should not be scrutinized under the RTI, given their utility.
- In order to reduce corruption in the services and pressure on honest civil servants, transparency in decision-making should be encouraged. Further, honest civil servants should be duly recognized and credited for their work by the concerned government.
Conclusion
- The civil services in India have a long legacy and an important role to play. However, civil servants, especially honest ones, face many challenges in carrying out their duties.
- Some of the major challenges are corruption nexuses between politicians and civil servants, deeply entrenched corruption systems that sideline honest civil servants, pressure on civil servants from the judiciary and advocacy groups, etc.
- The best way to deal with these challenges is to ensure freedom of civil servants from their political bosses in postings and transfers, encouragement of honest officers, promotions based on clear and logical assessments of the work done by civil servants, etc.
- Overall, the challenges facing the Indian civil servants should be used as opportunities to mend the broken and outdated practices in the country. The steel frame of India cannot be allowed to gather rust and the only way to keep it relevant and respected is to bring necessary changes.
Notes
- Keywords: challenges, Indian civil servants
- It is a straightforward topic with some very common arguments to be made, so the way to make your essay stand out is through innovative arguments/examples and a clear essay structure.
- Avoid making overly generalized assumptions and polemic assertions without any facts or evidences.
- Remember to talk about the challenges faced by some of the other civil services instead of just focusing on the IAS and IPS.