Down the memory lane

The occasion was the visit of

YV Reddy

, former

Governor of Reserve Bank

, a friend of many decades. We had not met for a long time, what with the men following different career paths. Many were the shared memories, spanning over half a century. It was a moment to sit back and reminisce. Reminisce the times gone by, some good and some not so good, some of great satisfaction and some of frustration. A life of many twists and turns. A long journey traversing the musty mofussil offices, crumbling old British bungalows, the dingy AP secretariat and, the sundry Bhawans of Delhi, Shram Shakti, Shastri, and Yojana, among others and, finally the corridors of North Block of

Rashtrapati Bhavan

, as part of the famed steel frame of India. Some of us had the ring side view of the lives of those men.

In the mid sixties, life continued to be relatively simple. As green-horn-assistant-collectors-under-training, the new recruits were given paltry salaries and were expected to learn all about handling the ropes of administration the hard way. They went about on bicycles/cycle rickshaws, stayed in humble rented accommodation and travelled in third class sleeper coaches. Roughing it out was the norm and cosseting was the opposite of it. There was no fuss and no muss. As sub collectors, they lived in small dusty towns and travelled in ramshackle old jeeps on the bumpy country roads to discharge their duties. None of the present day snazzy cars or smart phones, no computers or on line connections for them. Communications were at best rudimentary and facilities available were elementary. What was high, though, was their morale, a sense of purpose and self worth.

Touring the district as often as possible and conducting spot inspections was a routine in the olden days. An officer worth his salt toured and toured heavily. Most officers carried tiffin-carriers from home whenever they could, and when the tour stretched to more than a day or two, they depended on the humble food served by the caretaker of the guest houses. The government guest houses were well maintained and were built in idyllic locales, reminiscent of the stories from

Jim Corbett

’s ‘Man-eaters of Kumaon.’ The present day five star culture hadn’t yet entered the system. Air-conditioning was an unknown comfort but the beds were invariably provided with mosquito curtains. In the hot summer months, the evenings were spent in the open, to catch the cool breeze of the evening. In those let-your-hair-down moments, the locals or the caretaker of the guest house regaled you with stories of how big game was sited on so-and-so-day, by so-and-so villager. It was not unusual to get a glimpse of a hyena or a stray fox scurrying in the bushes in the nights. In spite of all that, one often slept the nights under the stars, to beat the heat.

The young officers took their jobs seriously and performed their duties fiercely, with utmost sincerity. They were schooled in the tradition of fair-mindedness and independence of thought and judgement. The talisman that they held dear was that the decisions that they took resulted in the good of the larger public. There were illustrious role models for them to follow. There was an English ICS officer who preferred to spend the night in a local ‘chavdi’ where the rural hoi poloi sheltered for the night, rather than accept the hospitality of a corporate house. There was also the oft repeated case of an asthmatic and very feeble-in- health official travelling great distances on dusty rural roads to hold jamabandi, much against the advice of his doctors. Weak and sick he might be, but the village/revenue officials shivered when he took court, for there was not a single fact that escaped the wheezing and faint looking official. So thorough was his work. Then there was the case of a certain chief minister, who announced that what he said in his public meetings was his intent and therefore an official order. Needless to say the chief minister had to retract his reckless statement when the civil servants refused to follow his so called ‘diktats.’ There was another case when a district collector was asked to receive an extra constitutional authority at the railway station and provide protocol, he expectedly refused to do so and, when pressured to follow orders, preferred to go on leave rather than comply. There were instances galore that illustrate the commitment of the officers of that age to uphold the rule of law and the independence of judgement. A sub-collector chairing a meeting where a local minister was just a member of the committee, a young joint collector telling off the chief minister when he tried to influence his decisions or, the local MLA’s assets being frozen for transgressions of the law were routine matters, and were expected of an officer in the process of upholding the law. The worst punishment meted out to a good officer was either a transfer or, a posting to a ‘loopline’ assignment. Some indefatigable men turned even such postings into opportunities for getting an insight into new departments!

Has anything changed in the recent times? Yes, a lot. One very welcome change in the recent times is that a large number of women officers have joined the ranks of the service and, are making their mark in the service, both in terms of competence and commitment. Further, a lot of highly qualified candidates with engineering, management and even medical degrees, are joining the service. They come armed with advanced skills in management, administration and technology. Such skills must result in improved methods of administration and governance. The challenges that they face today are more complex and hence technology can be a great tool for good governance. If the digital age has empowered the public, with much hitherto unavailable information in the public domain, it has also placed a heavy burden on the officers to meet the demands of the highly informed public. Administration could have been revolutionised in terms of providing first rate utility services to the people, given the explosion in communication technology. That, sadly, is yet to happen.

Has the steel frame weathered well over the past decades? Yes, in parts. There are many bright buttons and nails in the frame work, which are sharp, strong and hold it all together. Some have risen to exemplary levels of competence and independence. There was a young man one talked about in Delhi, who declined the offer to go to Delhi as special assistant to a union minister. When the miffed and affronted minister demanded an explanation for such refusal, when scores of his fellow officers coveted such an opportunity, the answer he gave was illustrative in itself. It was then, as it is today, considered to be advantageous to go to Delhi as a union minister’s personal assistant, as a stepping stone to a good ministry. “Madam,” said the officer in question to his minister, “there might be things which you will ask me to do, which I will not like, and there will be things I will ask you to do, which you might not. We will fall out sooner or later, so why take up a job which I know I cannot keep?” It was only when the nonplussed minister agreed not to compel the officer to do anything against his conscience that the young officer joined her ministry. And, what is more, as he predicted, he quit soon after.

There is a new dynamic that the present day administrators face. With the mindless enlargement of the administrative units like GVMC and VUDA, there is a widening distance between the people and the government. Both the above mentioned bodies have engulfed several neighbouring towns, and districts, thus creating artificial distances between the government and the people. While the benefits of greater this-or-that administrative unit are doubtful, what is certain is that instead of coming closer to the people, as it ought to, the government is growing distant and hence, unreachable. A talk with the people of Bhimunipatnam and Anakapalli reveals that nothing has changed on the ground for them, in terms of better administration, provision of civic facilities, or grievance redressal, as a result of their areas getting absorbed into GVMC and VUDA. If anything, they have gone worse. This is where modern technology and better communications must help the administration.

In the final analysis, it is for the highly trained and motivated officials to make use of whatever tools that are at their disposal in improving governance. Otherwise, modern technology remains but a glorified but useless ornament. Challenges have to be not only faced but overcome, never mind what the time frame is. People friendly good governance is the name of the game. Like they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

(The writer is a heritage and environmental activist. She can be reached at ranisarma2010@gmail.com)