Reminiscences of a civil servant

Retired civil servant Prateep K Lahiri talks about the three tenets underpinning the functioning of the civil service — permanence, neutrality, and anonymity, writes Prof Pramod Pathak

Former Finance Secretary Lakshmi Kant Jha had written an eye-opening account of the life or rather plight of a civil servant in a popular book titled, Mr. Red Tape. Though in lighter vein, it made enough serious sense. There was another book by another illustrious civil servant RP Narona; it was named, A Tale Told by an Idiot. There have been many such accounts by many a civil servants that attempt to narrate what goes inside the corridors of power in the Indian democracy largely manned by the civil servant, the members of the coveted Indian Civil Services, who are called the IAS. It is this IAS that is supposed to be the kingpin of Indian administration and is referred to as the steel frame of the Indian governance.

Naturally, most of narrations given in these books are not known to the common man and come to the public domain only when they are written and published, post-retirement. Against this backdrop, the book written by Prateep K Lahiri may appear to be yet another attempt to come out with the inside story. But the book under review, titled A Tide in the Affairs of Men, may not fall in the same category, though it, of course, is a recount of experiences and situations that Lahiri — a retired civil servant — acquired and faced during his long innings in different positions, departments, and ministries.

However, a seasoned writer that he is, Lahiri has presented the stories and accounts in a rather different fashion. Though the book is full of situations and dilemmas a civil servant has to face, given the chaotic nature of Indian democracy run by many erratic and whimsical politicians, it offers both uncommon information and deep insights. For Lahiri, who was at the helm as a Secretary in many departments, varied experience would have come easy.

As the foreword written by another civil servant Najeeb Jung says, “A civil servant often finds himself or herself in unsolvable, peculiar, and unpredictable situations. He tackles them to the best of his or her ability, planning with care but often hitting in the dark some times; with luck he gets away, unscathed but sometime luck runs out”. Rightly said and the book is a truthful glimpse of the events that encompass a civil servant’s career.

The author talks about the three tenets underpinning the functioning of the civil service, which are permanence, neutrality, and anonymity. These tenets provide continuity and change that are important for a democracy, which is a continuously evolving system of governance. But then, he has rightly questioned that does it actually happen this way? Well, he could have well-nigh asserted that it does not, but has preferred to let the narrations speak for themselves. While he rightly underscores the importance of making the right choices for a career bureaucrat quite poetically in Shakespearean parlance, he has not been candid in mentioning what are the hurdles in making those choices.

And then there is that million dollar questions: Given the kind of protection the Constitution gives to the officers of the Indian Civil Services, will the things not be different if that all-important tenet of neutrality is maintained religiously by the civil servant? But these apart, the book is a highly readable volume that offers insights into how the Indian bureaucracy has to function, what are the constraints that throw serious ethical dilemmas, and how the officer manages that intrapersonal conflict, which is often stressful. Some of the chapters in the book are really informative and would enlighten the reader as to what went behind certain decisions that were talked about a lot but understood very little. One such chapter is that of the desperate measure of mortgaging the gold reserves which the Government, during Prime Minister Chandrashekhar’s time, had to resort to in order to ward off a deep financial crisis related to the country’s foreign exchange reserves. It certainly tells about an action that was not properly understood.

The chapter on ‘Corruption in High Places and Low’ also makes a lot of sense from the point of view of the common citizen for whom the tyranny of the bada babus and chota babus is more bothersome than what happens in the corridors of power. His ethical dilemmas are interesting case studies that offer many lessons to both in-service as well as aspiring bureaucrats. The chapter on Manmohan Singh is also worth reading, particularly today when an academic politician is not in currency. In fact, most of the chapters are worth multiple readings and the book is of a different genre, though it is a career bureaucrat’s account. But the author could have thrown more light on why whatever has gone wrong has gone wrong in our so-called steel frame.

A Tide in the Affairs of Men by Prateep K Lahiri has been published by Lotus Roli, Delhi, Rs 395