Editorial
Servants of the republic
Reforms needed to protect the efficient and the honest
The Chief Advisor's (CA) call to the field level public servants to be completely free from the influence of any person, vested group or politics, to salvage the trust and respect of the people, must be welcomed by everyone who would like to see depoliticised and influence-free public servants run the administration of the state. In his address to the DCs and SPs the CA has brought out three essential aspects of the civil bureaucracy that are self-evident and obvious, but which the past governments had hardly made any effort to ensure. While we welcome the CA's call we feel that at the same time the government must examine why the public servants, as officials of the republic, cannot, and in some cases do not, perform their duties without fear or favour when there is a political government in power? Why is that rules and regulations are respected only in their violation at the command of their political masters. Why is it that the police treat some as being above the law while others are deprived of its benefits? In fact the signs of relief in the faces of some of the district commissioners describing to the media the positively changed working environment at the present moment was very palpable. While there is no doubt that it is the politicians who will dictate the affairs of the state, the public servants should help implement policies. And while doing so they must not compromise their principles, and should have the moral strength to resist illegal and undue pressure, from whichever quarter. However, we also agree that to resist political pressure on the part of the bureaucrats becomes difficult at times. And very few emerge unscathed from the encounter. But then there are many bureaucrats who are only too willing to oblige. These are the ones that are the beneficiaries of political favour and the positions they hold are not due to their competence but their ability to please their political masters by doing their biddings in violation the of rules and regulations. While it is the incompetent and immoral public servants that should take note of the CA's call very seriously, we would like to think that the great majority of our public servants are efficient and are committed to the interest of the state and not the party in power. Thus we feel that there is the need for appropriate administrative reforms to protect the interest of the efficient and honest servants of the republic.
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