TOWARDS SANE SERVICE

An analytical study of the philosophy and field dynamics of the policing in practice with live instances from the field penned by a Police Officer from India. The hypocrisy and the sad state of affairs in the profession in India and the UPSC as its appointing agent are effectively brought out by the author.

TOWARDS SANE SERVICE

Civil Service being the trunk of the tree of democratic
Governance, Praveen Kumar wants it to be safeguarded
From the axe of job reservation policy.


It is a historical fact that India which is characterised by its unity in diversity was never a single nation at any time in its long course of history of several millenniums, till the feat was achieved in the 20th century.

Neither Asoka Mourya or Samudra Gupta or Chandra Gupta nor Akbar or Aurangzeb of Mughul dynasty in Indian history can boast of binding all the regions stretching between Cape Camorin and Karakorampass, and Rann of Kutch and Arunachal Pradesh under a single rule to give meaning to the concept of a single nation.

No military strength, no religion, no cultural similarities, no unity of civilisation, no linguistic resemblances nor geographical proximities at any time before succeeded in forging a single nation out of the vast land masses south of the Himalayas.

If India is a single nation today, though in its rather moth-eaten form, the credit should go to its distinguished civil service of early and middle 20th century vintage which was rightly called as the steel-frame of Indian unity.

Should India continue as a single nation, it has to be through the grit, strength and quality of its civil service alone.

Any tampering with the quality of the civil service and doing anything that may mangle the ‘steel-frame’ grade of Indian civil service certainly go fatal to the very existence of India as a single nation.

The worst curse on India and its people is the classification and stratification of humanity on the basis of births and adoption of rigid codes of social conduct to rule the relationship between those in different strata.

The lower strata being condemned to be treated less than street dogs and denied equality and any opportunity of growth and decent life.

This curse for several millenniums permanently handicapped certain accurst social groups from breaking away from primitive way of life.

This cancer in Indian social life develops a major moral responsibility on India not only to get rid of the nasty disease, but also to rehabilitate the victims of the age-old social bevue.

Post-independent India, as welfare state, took innumerable measures, both constitutional and legislative, towards absterging the sins perpetrated by its past practices of ages on the unfortunate sections of the society.

The removal of untouchability, prevention of atrocities, reservations, in jobs and educational opportunities to quote but a few.

Sine dubio, such special treatments alone can somewhat remedy the inhuman treatment and delour meted out to some without an iota of fellow-feeling and kindness for generations after generations.

Such measures on special footing are not only compensations India must pay for having deprived some of its children of their growth opportunities for so long, though belated and inadequate as they are.

They are also a kind of remorse the country suffers for its past sins.

But the cardinal question is the direction such measures must take.

Wrong policies in such matters may not only fail to make the measures efficacious, but may also block the existing opportunities too.

It may also further weaken the social fabric of the country and ipso facto pose real threat to the very existence of India as a country.

The apollyon in question is the policy of job reservation in civil service which may eat up the quality and steel-frame toughness of the setup to disintegrate and balkanise India sans its only binding force namely a sound civil service to keep the country united in its diversities.

The victims of the age-old stratified class system actually deserve many more special privileges than delivered to them at present.

The necessarily need easier access to educational opportunities to prepare them for higher slots in life.

Hence, the need of reservations in educational institutions.

Perhaps, institution of an apex development bank with branches in all districts or taluks of the country, exclusively for their financial needs of nonconsumptive nature at nominal rate of interest a la rural or agricultural banks may prove a significant step in this direction.

Institution of liberal scholarships, concession in or exemption from, application fee for jobs, wider network or board and lodging facilities for students, free higher studies, special vocational training for men and women, concessional hostel facilities for working men and women, easy housing schemes, free advanced medical treatment facilities, etc are other welfare schemes for the unprivileged classes that may help to bring them on par with others.

This will wipe out the achilles’ heel from the face of Indian social structure to make Indian society civilised without affecting the quality of its governance and parameters of survival.

It was Winston Churchill who said democracy is the worst type of governance except for all other types of governance. Basically, democracy signifies rule of common man and rule of mediocrity and ergo, more dangerously the rule of hoi polloi or mob.

This definition applies principally to the political system of the democratic governance and not to the civil service system which is expected to be the subtle spine of the democratic rule. A sound civil service as amicus curiae draws the metes and bounds of governance within which the democratic system must function and also inspire a sense of moderation, discipline, fairness, legality and reasonableness in the political leadership of the system.

It absorbs the jerks and shocks of the political follies and helps the political leadership in taking sound and intelligent decisions at right times.

In this sense, a sound civil service structure is sine qua non for running a democracy and the strength of the democracy depends entirely on its soundness and quality. A democracy without sound civil service slumps like a mass of flesh without a spine to support it.

The well being of the repressed class of India depends solely upon the survival of India as a single nation and therefore on the quality and soundness of the civil service.

If there is anything scanty in the present world, it is high quality and excellence. They are such a rare commodity that even slight distractions in the swink to cultivate them end up in their disappearing in thin air. Excellence has a distinct tendency of light from mediocrity and regrouping otherwise at its own level. This tendency renders maintenance of the tempo of high quality and excellence a difficult task. Any allowance to mediocrity leads to a sustained flight of quality and excellence till mediocrity completely takes over. This is what is feared about present Indian civil service thanks to reservation policy.

The fear that the steel-frame civil service of the pre-independent India vintage have crumbled into a mediocre setup now by wrong policies of selection and recruitment in independent India needs serious attention it deserves.

Several opinion polls point to the diminishing attraction of the civil service to crème de la crème of the Indian youth in preference to foreign and private industrial houses and banks as job opportunities.

This trend deserves deeper concern than at present in those who are interested in the survival of India as a nation and democracy. The interest of the country lies in marshalling the best talents of the country in service of maintaining the country as a nation and democracy and that need must get the first priority over all other issues including developmental and welfare vintage. Unfortunately, it is not happening in India now.

Civil Service is the trunk of the tree of democratic governance and breaking the trunk itself is self-defeating for all national goals including justice for all. By the policy of job reservation to civil service, India is venturing to the folly of cutting its own s trunk. Stracient damage has already been done by this in the last five decades. No distraction like reservation of any kind must deter the criterion of genuine merit and competence in civil service.

Real merit and competence emerge from exemplary unity of diverse human faculties like sound character, strong intellect right attitude, commitment and devotion to work. Doing anything to subvert these virtues in civil service in tantamount to wrecking the interests of the country.

It is not that somebody wants to subvert the interests of the country by hoisting job reservation policy on civil service. The intentions of reservation is beyond reproach . The fault lies in its pursuance.

Reservation of any kind in civil service clearly proves to be wrong means to reach the right end. How early India realises this fact, so fast is served India’s best interests.

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GOLDEN POEMS

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