There are far too many retired bureaucrats in key positions in this government for one’s comfort. That Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has himself been a bureaucrat does not necessarily mean they must enjoy primacy. The top position that Brajesh Mishra occupied in the Vajpayee regime had discomfited many min-isters. Manmohan Singh’s government has more than one Brajesh Mishra who, one hopes, will not rub ministers or leaders of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) the wrong way. Public men in high places have an advantage because their exposure to the ground realities has taught them some facts of life, above all flexibility. They know how to accommodate, unlike civil servants who may say ‘‘Yes, minister’’ but remain tethered to their ivory-tower attitudes. During the Emergency, which was 29 years’ old last week, bureaucrats failed to rise to the challenge because the desire for self-preservation was their sole motivation. In the end, they acted as willing tools of tyranny. They lost balance. My worry is they may not remain on an even keel when it comes to the pull and tug of coalition government. Retired officers suffer from another disadvantage: they bring along with them their old baggage, preferences and prejudices. True, they are tried hands. But some of the problems the system has piled up are due to their rigidity and lack of appreciation of popular sentiments. They are adept in poring over files, particularly their own notes, as if they were the last word on the subject. Their biggest drawback is their belief that they are the repository of all knowledge, the only defenders of the national interest. In fact, they are tired hands. Their average age of 60 tallies with that of ministers. Since some of them have been retrieved for use like weatherbeaten ships, it is now upon political leaders to steer them through storms ahead. On its part, the overzealous and oversensitive Left is intentionally making the waters choppy, not realising that the commotion the ruling UPA creates will be just what the doctor ordered for the BJP. The Left has seldom enjoyed so much authority with such little responsibility. It should realise that the Common Minimum Programme is a means to an end, not the end itself. Welfare state, democracy or socialism are valuable concepts but they hardly convey a clear and unambiguous meaning. What matters is the good of society, not the pursuit of dogma. The Planning Commission’s role becomes very important in a poorly developed country. It is only through a planned approach that steady progress can be attained, though even that will take time. I wish the members nominated to the commission had been experts from different fields, with a standing of their own. Except for one or two persons, who have such credentials, the rest are government servants retired from inconsequential jobs. A body so constituted can hardly serve as a think tank and surely that is what this government wants the commission to be. The commission is not a body where loyal, retired persons can be dumped. Nor, for that matter, must our missions abroad be treated as such. Take the appointment of envoys to important countries like the US, Russia and the UK. All of them are retired hands of the Indian Foreign Service. There is nothing to suggest that they left an indelible mark at the places where they had served. These appointments reek of far too much subjectivity and patronage. Why is one retired hand preferred over another? In the process, some talented and deserving officers have not been promoted. India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who built the Foreign Service from scratch, saw to it that public men were posted at Washington, Moscow and London. Their stature enhanced the importance of these missions. The countries to which they were accredited respected them because they were not from the usual bureaucratic mould. True, we no longer have the opportunity to pick from men who have spent their life in the freedom struggle or earned a name through sacrifices for the nation. Still, outstanding artists, academics or writers could have filled these posts with distinction. There are men and women whose reputations have already made their way beyond Indian borders. Washington, Moscow and London would have been glad to have them. The Congress should have learnt a lesson during its long years in the wilderness. People have brought the party back to power because they were sickened by the BJP’s communal policies and its nepotism in appointments. Anyone appointed by the previous government, be it as state governor or anchor on a Doordarshan programme, had to get the RSS’s approval. Now the Congress should not look like it is distributing posts as rewards for having been around the party. Having familiar faces around him may give the prime minister greater confidence. But the important point to consider is whether their approach to the problems has changed, and whether they have evolved while they were in hibernation. Once upon a time, these retired bureaucrats were big men. Now their test will be to show how far and how imaginatively they can rise above their own interests and think in terms of the common good. Sadly, they don’t inspire much confidence on this score. While on the subject of appointments, those to the Rajya Sabha are still worse. One knew that the BJP preached morality but seldom practised it. The party has been exposed again by accommodating Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha, both defeated in the Lok Sabha polls. But the Congress should have been more circumspect. As the ruling party, it has to lay down certain norms and standards. The party’s first list reflected some caution. But then the floodgates were opened, even the tainted and defeated Satish Sharma was brought into the Rajya Sabha. Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party was the worst of the lot. A follower of Lohia, he obliterated the laxman rekha for the capitalists. If his example were followed, the Rajya Sabha would soon become another boardroom for the corporate sector. Parties would do well to remember that wrong means will not lead to right results.
