Rousing the Indian Bureaucracy from Its Slumber
India is a remarkable country, a fact the British recognized in the 17th century when they arrived, conquered, and created a bureaucracy modeled on their own to manage it. This bureaucratic machinery, in multiple layers, governed India for over a century and half. Toward the latter part of British rule, a handful of highly qualified and politically reliable Indian citizens were inducted into senior bureaucratic ranks as ICS officers to govern. These individuals continued to manage administrative affairs when Indian politicians assumed national control post-independence.
The British recruitment and service procedures were retained, with the distinction that all highly qualified Indian citizens became eligible for these services. However, the lower echelons of the bureaucracy—the clerks and section officers—were a legacy inherited from the Mughal and Afghan eras. These individuals mostly Muslim primarily managed taxation and other local or provincial duties. Seeking firmer control, the British replaced many of these roles with qualified Hindu personnel, marking the genesis of India’s modern lower bureaucracy.
In 1905, Lord Curzon recognized that Hindus dominated the administrative apparatus. To address this imbalance, he encouraged Muslims to join the bureaucracy, leading to a more diverse but still largely Hindu-dominated civil service.
Independence and Bureaucratic Drift
Under British rule, discipline was strictly enforced, and entry into the civil service at all levels required stringent qualifications. Policies were implemented with efficiency and rigor. However, independence in 1947 introduced lethargy, indecision, and delay across the system. While some politicians were capable leaders, the majority relied heavily on the bureaucracy to manage the complex task of governance and development planning.
As the post-independence bureaucracy expanded to meet the needs of a developing nation, it became increasingly entangled with politics. This alliance between bureaucrats and politicians fostered corruption and inefficiency. British-era civil service laws, combined with additional complex legislation, created a system where delays, buck-passing, and indecision became the norm at every level of government.
Attempts at Reform
By the 1990s, when Dr. Manmohan Singh became Finance Minister, he faced significant resistance while appointing Montek Singh Ahluwalia, a highly capable economist, as head of the Finance Department. Ahluwalia’s lack of a traditional civil service background drew the ire of an entrenched bureaucracy unwilling to embrace change.
In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to shake up this inefficiency. While he couldn’t deliver a decisive body blow to the entrenched bureaucratic system, he made it clear that delays, lethargy, and incompetence would not be tolerated. In the process high-ranking civil servants were retired or reassigned to less critical roles. Despite these efforts, the bureaucracy remained deeply entrenched and resistant to transformation.
The Need for a Shake-Up
India’s bureaucracy urgently needs a comprehensive overhaul. It must align itself with global standards that prioritize efficiency, transparency, and ease of doing business. The inefficiencies and resistance to change that plague the current system hinder the nation’s progress.
It is time for a leader or movement capable of shaking this lethargic system to its core, ensuring that Indian bureaucracy becomes an enabler of growth rather than an impediment. That may require changing the service rules to weed out incompetence which creeps in when all around lethargy is prevalent. Only then can India fully realize its potential in the modern world.
