Raisina Hill may not be as high as Everest but getting to the top of this bureaucratic mountain involves an effort that leaves the climber breathless. The latest struggle for the peak is between two qualified IFS officers aspiring to the post of Foreign Secretary that will be soon be vacated by the retiring suave and erudite Shiv Shankar Menon.
The contestants are current Beijing Ambassador Nirupama Rao, and Secretary, Europe, Nalin Surie. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is faced with a tough choice. Nirupama would be the second woman to occupy this post should she make the grade, something that would go down well with women’s groups who are often critical of the Indian bureaucracy’s glass ceiling. Also, she is a multi-lingual 1973-batch IFS topper who also served as spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs.
But Surie, Nirupama’s batchmate, is a formidable contender who too has served as Ambassador to Beijing. Besides, he is well connected with South Block’s Punjabi lobby that is batting for him.
Not to be outdone in the lobbying game, Nirupama has been making informal visits to people in high places. The fact that her IAS husband, Sudhakar Rao, was former Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka has not gone unnoticed. Foreign Minister SM Krishna, earlier Karnataka Chief Minister, seems naturally disposed towards an officer from his home state.
But what is raising eyebrows in bureaucratic circles is the lobbying for senior posts by rival civil service and IFS contenders in the very heart of the nation’s power centre – an activity once believed indulged in only by lobbyists for businessmen and industrialists.
Can’t do it here? Try Sri Lanka!
One of the major tenets of civil service reform is restructuring of the politico-administrative machinery to preclude the brazen, often ruthless and arbitrary punitive transfers of IAS and IPS officials who refuse to dance to the whims of their political masters. This problem has taxed all reformers who have wanted to change the system to make public officials more responsive to the Constitution.
Prestigious panels and individuals who have made recommendations include VT Krishnamachari (1960), K Santhanam (1964), the National Police Commission (1979-81), the LK Jha Administrative Reforms Commission (1983), the Sarkaria Commission (1988), the Constitutional Review Commission (2003), and former Chief Justice Venkatachalliah (2003).
Most of their erudite recommendations, including the recent ones made by former UP police chief Prakash Singh, have been cold-shouldered, and it is yet to be seen whether the proposed Civil Service Reform Bill will fare any better.
Nonetheless, India’s reformers seem to believe that if they can’t have their cake in their own country, then they should at least try and eat it in a neighbouring country. As Sri Lanka gets ready to reconstruct its administration in the areas liberated from the LTTE, and devolve more autonomy and power to the Tamils, its officials have been seeking India’s advice on how much power to give Chief Ministers in the new provincial areas.
The Indian government’s advice has been not to commit some of India’s mistakes. It has advised Sri Lanka to ensure that, while maximum provincial autonomy can be given, it would not be wise to give the Chief Ministers the power to transfer and fire police officials. That prerogative must remain with the Centre.
Glasnost and perestroika in HRD
There is no more quaking and quacking in the HRD Ministry when senior bureaucrats go to meet their boss. The atmosphere of tight-lipped fear that prevailed when Arjun Singh was head honcho has been banished by his Gen-Next successor, Kapil Sibal. Most of the babus have their own ideas and everybody is briefing the new Minister.
One section of bureaucrats are advising Sibal that Class X and XII board exams should be scrapped, the University Grants Commission abandoned, and the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) restructured. UGC mandarins learnt of it and issued an advertisement about ragging and punishment. Meanwhile, Knowledge Commission’s Sam Pitroda, mentor and guide of Rahul Gandhi, is suggesting new dimensions of education to Sibal.
As technocrat and bureaucrat teams make a road map for education, insiders fear that nothing will happen as most private education institutions are owned by southern and western India politicians, and they have a bigger say in the government.
And Baru got none…
It has happened with many PMs in the past. As elections near, die-hard loyalist officers look to green pastures. Veteran journalist Sanjay Baru, who was media adviser and speech writer to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, proved no different. A year ago, Baru, who was earlier editor of Financial Express, quit the PMO and became visiting professor at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. Deepak Sandhu, an Indian Information Service officer, took his place.
But then the Congress and Manmohan Singh returned to power. And after the latter took the oath of office as Prime Minister, Baru landed up in South Block. He met everybody who mattered in the PMO.
But the PMO was in a no-nonsense mood. Sandhu was not performing according to expectations. Harish Khare, another veteran journalist and former bureau chief of The Hindu, was inducted as media adviser. Sandhu was given an appointment in the Information Commission. And Baru went back to Singapore, emptyhanded.
