Why should I be an aspirant for administrative posts? It is better to aspire to be a politician if we want power.Officers dance on the fingers of politicians, often the lesser educated class whom still lesser educated masses choose with the efforts of least educated gundas who run election campaigns by shouting at the cost of life (for promise of employment or contract or such petty things) in overcrowded roofs of buses. I love my freedom more than anything else Why should I trade it for anything lesser? Opting for IAS is asking for voluntary imprisonment. It is often a betrayal of soul or conscience. But it is often argued that it gives great opportunity to serve. We can better serve if we are big bosses, if we have crores to spend as we deem fit. But then we have evidence from so many officers that they are caught in a bad or corrupt system. They can hold their posts only by making compromises with their integrity or conscience every moment. Administrative Officers run state machinery. The question is what are the legal, ethical and economic foundations of the State? If these are not in contradiction with your ethics you can opt for it. The question is: whose interest does one serve – people’s, ruling class’s or Capitalist forces? One should be clear about this and not duped by the common misperception that one can contribute for welfare of the poor or masses by being a high ranking officer. How does administrative machinery tolerate corruption in every nook and corner – e.g., overload in public transport and sale of potentially harmful meat as no antemortem and postmortem examination in slaughter houses is done? Meat is sold at higher than its legal price. Its price has risen nine times in last 20 years. Who cares? Could you call spade a spade when you become the boss?
What do we want as IAS officers. Honour, power, peace of soul, sense of fulfillment, social service, posthumous fame? We can get these things more readily elsewhere than through IAS. A few requests and warnings to IAS aspirants. Nationalism, Capitalism, Militarism, Imperialism, Economism and other such idols which you are most probably supposed to worship after conversion to the religion of bureaucracy are all incompatible with the ethics fostered by world religions. As IAS officer one is bound to be conformist to existing political system. You will never know pleasures of being oneself, pleasure of non-conformism. If you are inducted in police or army your soul is most probably dead (I grant few exceptions). If we have no food or education for millions how do you defend your right to spend the maximum chunk on defense? Getting salary for killing others, for maintaining law and order that conceals exploitation and injustice – you need only a good familiarity with history, religion and economics to see how law and order agencies conceal disorder and injustice, how all ideological state apparatus serve vested interests of some – worse than beggary or prostitution.
Army is primarily needed only to maintain unjust privileges rather than defend the country. The myths of danger of impending War and neighbours as enemies are mostly created rather than a reality. As responsible officers you are supposed to be good nationalists. Please read Marxism and Islam’s political system. Please read Mill’s Liberty before you decide to become great office bearer of the government. I have interviewed many high ranking officials (KAS &IAS) and none was happy with himself. If social, economic and political justice is demanded by God they have not been able to worship Him.
As DC or Div Com you are responsible for security of ministers whom few really respect (One needs to work hard for clearing UPSC exam but can win ministry by managing to win elections by virtue of money, uneducated or less educated and economically deprived or frustrated campaigners and speaking nonsense to masses and need secretaries to write speeches for them (there are good number of exceptions. There are selfless and capable ministers but very few only). A minister has, most often needlessly, many cars before him and after him and you are in the reception team. It might be honourable to serve in the govt. in such enlightened democracies as Switzerland but not here.
There should be a moral qualification also if we want good politicians and IAS officers but even this is not sufficient.  The question is which morality is compatible with class exploitation, with senseless programmes which politicians often need to run with your support. Please try to understand that we have more important things in life to pursue than to be servants of corrupt systems of governance. Our economy has been virtually destroyed. Our agricultural lands are shriveling, our pastures mostly encroached, our education in ruins, our health sector diseased. Who has been instrumental in this mess? Politicians and their limbs – KAS/IAS officers. Our officers and politicians have not been able to provide us houses, free quality education (this is available in private educational institutions or outside the state especially higher education) free health care, economic security, good power supply, good transport facilities. It is, by every standard the failed state. Mill has remarked about the government that it is the art of doing a job which one person can do in an hour by means of 7 persons in 7 days. Yes files, files and files and paying employers – undersecretaries, special secretaries, additional secretaries, secretaries, chief secretary, minister of state, minister, chief minister, not to speak of PAs and other clerks who may be called under-under secretaries and peons and guards who virtually control the traffic of public coming in and out  for moving the file.
I have no disrespect for Dr Faisal or other IAS officers. I still hope they can create some space for doing whatever little good they can do in the corrupt systems. I pity them for being trapped in a system not of their own making. I salute their diligence that has made possible their present status. I know most of them are not happy at the end of the day and wished they had made better use of their time and energy.  There are better ways of serving their nations than the way of bureaucracy. I was told by one of the officers how his efforts to regularize meat prices were foiled by one of the former CMs. I wish government to be given in the hands of IAS officers and ministers should not be allowed to interfere or exercise any influence. Then cleaner govt. is possible. The best government is that which governs least as has been famously said.
I would consider opting for administrative services if I am allowed to administer. But I am not. I am only an agent – zar (salary) khareed agent of ministers whom I must please at every movement, whose TA bills I must draw, whose unruly behavior in parliament I must not questions, whose complicity with big Capitalists I must silently watch, whose relatives I must adjust somehow, whose befooled election campaigners I must tolerate. We need virtuous dictators/philosopher-kings/khulafa to root out corruption. Democracy has so far failed us. It has served interests of certain people or class only. Direct democracy is perhaps also far better option. The present form of democracy has strangulated us. We need radical change in existing system.
I wonder what happens to the values when one joins elite class. I long to see conscious officers who build eco-friendly small houses as demanded by traditional architectural heritage, who board public transport (which they could have made as comfortable as private one if they had been able to or potent enough), who  identify with the poorest of the [poor, the laborers, who sought to strengthen our economy, who sought to strengthen govt. institutions and fought for the public by fighting against corruptions in govt (public) institutions which have allowed private schools, private BED colleges, private tuition, private clinics, private transport to mushroom. If public transport were efficient why should I be compelled to buy a private car, pollute environment, increase my dependency on Oil companies, jam public highways, , create space for insurance and other Capitalist enterprises? If I had quality education in government schools why would I allow myself fleeced by owners of elite private schools, work as underpaid teacher in private schools as wage labourer of these Capitalists, sign for double the amount I actually receive in private Bed colleges, take my child before dawn to a tuition center dozens of kilometers away from my home, waste my time in most of classes where teachers not really interested or talented enough to teach are doing alienated labour?
My request to all aspirants for IAS. Please read history, please understand the logic of mis-governance called governance, please try to comprehend the power games that seek to chain you, please have a look at ethical commandments of world religions and traditional philosophers, please understand why you are what you are and why you seek what you seek after you understand the system of exploitations and unjust privileges that administrative officers are expected to strengthen further. If you can stand the trial of your conscience go for your exams and I wish you good luck. I hope you have principles and you live and die for them and resist political pressure and are willing for posting in a defunct cell for honouring those principles.
I have still faith in good officers and politicians who understand the system and seek to change it. Even if CM is upright man he is powerless against the system around him that thrives on corruption. We can get clean system only when our politicians stop worrying about votes in the next election. Will they afford to go against vote bank politics or party if principles are at stake?

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Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST