Babu hegemony is stifling professional organizations like the armed forces and the police, who have acquitted themselves well in Mumbai
As India watched the live telecast of the Mumbai terrorist attack, there was anger and condemnation of a kind the country has never witnessed. The nation is excoriating a degenerated system of absurdities, inequalities, overbearance and unaccountability perpetrated by a corrupt and inept political and bureaucratic system. Till four months back the armed forces and police were castigating the bad treatment meted out by the Sixth Pay Commission but the government turned a deaf ear. Now the same forces have salvaged the national honour. Because they are true professionals.
I learnt the meaning of the word ‘professional’ during my schooldays, after seeing a Hollywood western The Professionals. The menacing looks of Lee van Cleef and trigger-smart James Coburn, and the ease with which they accomplished their given task gave me an insight. The Macmillan Dictionary defines a professional as ‘one whose abilities or status as a professional is unquestionable or quite evident to conduct a task’. In common parlance, he/she would be a person who is specialized for a particular job for which he/she has been trained for.
India is now living in the new world order where its prowess to provide specialized knowledge has been widely recognized. It is indeed heartening to observe that Academics, Science, Information Technology, Business Management, Medicine, Engineering are domains the country has earned respect for. The gradual ascendancy in economy and spread of the knowledge industry is an outcome of the great interest our people have taken in different fields of specialization. The corporate sector too has spearheaded induction of specialized hands to meet new challenges.
But has the government accepted the change and diverted its focus to the professionals? Yes and no. While the think tank accepts the importance of and need for specialized inputs, bureaucratic supremacy refuses to yield the identified segments. The hegemony of the bureaucracy with deep-rooted tentacles has denied other more efficient nation serving agencies their share of glory and power since the beginning. This tussle for professionals’ rightful positioning in the changed scenario calls for concerted action.
Some time ago, the Standing Committee of Parliament for Culture said that the Archaeological Survey of India should have an expert as its DG and not a babu. The report lies unattended and bureaucrats continue to control the ASI. Despite India’s strong credentials, over 785 scientists have quit in the last three years. DRDO is facing major attrition problems as resignations are pouring in regularly. Though the incentives in salary hikes in the Sixth Pay Commission have not stemmed the outflow, the reasons are much beyond this.
The real cause has been spelt out by Prof Hans Wigzell, Chairperson of the Nobel Prize Award Committee in his statement that good scientists, like good cricket players, will be recruited by the best teams in the world. He adds that Indian scientists are a frustrated lot and the ‘complex bureaucratic’ control of science is resented! According to him, Chinese scientists will be strong contenders for Nobel prizes in 15 years because of support and freedom being given by their government.
The concern for nation and a strong will amongst politicians is not visible nor are they intellectually competent to tackle a bureaucrat. While they can pull illiterates around them, when it comes to actual deliverance, very few can perform. It was novel thinking on the part of Defence Minister George Fernandes when he sent bureaucrats to Siachen for 15 days to apprise them of the needs of the Army. And it worked!
The recent matter of appointment of the Director General of DGCA is interesting. While Principal Bench CAT, New Delhi supported the internal technocrat AK Chopra, ADG, the government (or bureaucracy) decided to stall it by moving the High Court. One fails to understand why a generalist, a mere ‘file pusher’, would be keen on grabbing something he is not qualified for.
This should have rung many alarm bells but there’s none to hear. The ineffectual state in which all professional and technical organizations are groping would have put any government or nation to shame. Even the recommendations of numerous Parliamentary Committees are gathering dust or else there would have been internal professionals manning important organizations like AIR and Doordarshan and restoring them to former glory.
It is sad that a government headed by a specialist economist has failed to uplift professionals, who are the backbone of the country’s functioning. The beleaguered professionals still have to genuflect to the generalists.
Millions of SMSs are circulating, advocating better conditions for the armed forces. They are indicative of the public mood which no government can ignore. What happens if, next time around, the NSG or armed forces run out of their resolve owing to indifferent treatment or any other professional body refusing to yield? Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies, said Balzac. As such, bureaucrats are known to delegate issues when in trouble or simply ponder when in charge. Let the professionals assert and perform. India will be a prettier picture then.
The hegemony of the bureaucracy with deep-rooted tentacles has denied other more efficient nation-serving agencies their share of glory and power since the beginning
