MODI HAS TO DEMOLISH THE GOVERNMENT OF
IDIOTS SELECTED BY THE IDIOTS FOR THE BENEVOLENCE OF
IDIOTS
It was a missive, totally un-Modi
like, since Narendra Modi has won India and taken full control of BJP through
trusted and tested aide Amit Shah. But the citadel that awaits to be
stormed is the Delhi-based who he is yet to Modify.
Last weekend, when PMO issued a 19-point
code of conduct after almost 30 years for India’s steel-framed bureaucracy, it
was seen as a warning. Modi is perhaps the first PM who has
refrained from mass-scale transfers of senior officials. He surprised his
colleagues by deciding to give a six-month extension to Cabinet Secretary Ajit
Seth, whose only virtue is his invisibility. Modi has retained all key
secretaries in finance, defence, HRD, home and external affairs. He enforced the principle of
continuity in the bureaucracy even though some mandarins were UPA loyalists. It is clear
that Modi wants to govern through bureaucracy he has taken over from Manmohan
but the Modi government is yet to acquire a shape.
The Indian Civil Services is one of
the country’s most powerful institutions. A relic of the Raj, it ensured that
politicians would never take any initiative without making BABUS either
partners in power or beneficiaries of the system. The over 20,000-member
club of All India Services officers comprising IAS, IFS, IRS,
IR&AS, IPS etc. are unelected rulers of India.
They get automatic promotions, perks
and salaries and create lucrative post-retirement facilities, which even
politicians have failed to do for themselves. When Modi advised
bureaucrats to be neutral, efficient and honest, it was like telling a tiger to
stop hunting.
Insiders say there are enough checks
on the civil services in place, without the need for new directives. Even the
official code of conduct provides summary dismissal of officials found engaging
in political activity. They can be sent to jail if guilty of corruption. In one
instance, Yashpal Kapoor, the then private secretary to PM Indira Gandhi, acted
as an election agent for her. Mrs Gandhi lost her poll petition because she
used a government official for election purposes. Rarely is a senior official
transferred due to his or her inability to perform duties correctly, because
the steel frame hasn’t allowed any accountability matrix for the bureaucracy.
Babus can only be moved out if they fail
to do the bidding of their political masters. Modi, however,
added a significant provision to his proclamation, which, if taken to the
logical end, would break the civil service-corporate nexus. One directive is
that all conflict of interest situations must be avoided and resolved.
It is evident the PM has placed a
premium on the character of a civil servant. It is, in fact, the conflict of
interest—or creation of future interest—which has been the guiding principle
for taking official decisions so far.
Post-retirement, most civil servants
joined the very corporations they used to deal with in their official capacity.
A study of retired babus reveals that over 80 per cent of senior officials took
up highly paid jobs after superannuation in the same sectors they had been
handling, all which benefited by their decisions.
One of the
most dangerous fallouts of economic reform has been mandarins playing the
markets. Either through relatives or on their own, bureaucrats have been making
a killing buying and selling scrips. It is the cleverest legal way of
making illegal money because babus know in advance which future policies of the
government would positively or negatively affect various sectors.
There is suspicion in some quarters
that it is the politician-babu-corporate nexus that has prevented the
government from imposing the capital gains tax so far. India is perhaps
the only democracy where promoters and relatives in politics and civil services
make crores without paying a paisa as income tax. The power of bureaucracy was
evident when two decades ago, it prevented the finance minister from revealing
the names of BABUS who were allotted promoters’ shares by companies at
concessional rates. Some officials holding the shares joined the same companies
as directors or consultants.
Even now, there are officials who have
mastered the art of writing pro-private sector documents for PPP and demand
royalty for it. Piercing the steel frame has been a big challenge for all
leaders for it’s the apparatchik who makes the apparatus.
MODI SHOULD REMEMBER THAT THE “bureaucracy is a
giant mechanism operated by pygmies and cowards”.
Therefore, his agenda should have
been to replace pygmies with giants. If a party needs a strongman with verve
and vision, the bureaucracy needs an equally towering personality to lead it.
For past three decades, fearless and
innovative officers have lost the battle to sycophants and incompetents.
India has seen impressive Cabinet
Secretaries and principal secretaries like A N Verma, Brajesh Mishra, B G
Deshmukh, Vinod Pandey and Naresh Chandra. They led from the front and were au
courant with the mind and mission of their PMs. Since they were first-raters,
they also chose first-raters to assist in running the government.
NOW SECOND RATERS HAVE TAKEN OVER
AND THEY LOOK FOR THIRD RATERS
SO THAT THEY DO NOT OUTSHINE THEIR BOSSES
For a change, the steel frame showed
signs of cracks after Modi took over. Initially, they cowered perspiring in
their AC rooms for the call from South Block, informing them about their
transfers. They were relieved they were not relieved of their jobs.
MODI PREACHES PRACTISES DELIVERY.
As Gujarat CM, he successfully rode
the bureaucracy tiger. He neither set nor amended any rules of conduct for
them. Yet his Babus exceeded his expectations. So, when he walked into 7 RCR,
the bureaucracy was expecting its ACHCHE DIN of doing no work
about to end.
It is used to conjuring up new ideas
for the new leader, to generate fresh jobs for themselves and escape scrutiny.
Babus understood the real message behind Modi’s slogan ‘Minimum Govt,
Maximum Governance’
well. It meant he would demolish many
departments and secretaries to create a lean, mean establishment. Before Modi
could implement his vision, they counselled him to embark on the path of
‘advice first, act later’. The bureaucracy abhors initiative and innovation. It
despises any exercise which ensures better results.
Modi faces a bigger threat from the
wily civil servant than from any political opponent.
MODI MUST KEEP IT IN MIND THAT “POWERS ONCE ACQUIRED ARE NEVER RELINQUISHED EASILY, JUST AS BUREAUCRACIES ONCE CREATED NEVER DIE OR VANISH”. (AFTER SIX MONTHS)
HAS MODI INCHED TO DEMOLISH THE GOVERNMENT OF IDIOTS SELECTED BY THE IDIOTS FOR THE BENEVOLENCE OF IDIOTS
(SOURCE- VASUNDHARA BLOG)
