The recent unsavoury public spat between the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the West Bengal government of chief minister Mamata Banerjee over an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer is not the first such episode in the history of Centre-state relations. There have been numerous such face-offs between the central and state governments over the posting, reward or punishment of a civil servant. Often, these are fuelled by political motives.
However, if public administration experts are to be believed, the latest conflict over Alapan Bandyopadhyay, the now-retired chief secretary of West Bengal—triggered by an incident on May 28 when the prime minister visited the state—has highlighted a worrisome trend in the country’s governance structure. While the founders of the Constitution envisaged the bureaucracy as an apolitical institution, civil servants are increasingly getting embroiled in political conflicts involving the leaders of different parties and governments and, often, even within the same party and government.
They are forced into these conflicts because of their vulnerability to the political executive. At times, they are also driven to please their political masters by desperation for career advancement. The result is the increasing politicisation of civil servants, dividing the service vertically along lines of ideology or political allegiance. “Politicians often use this fragility of civil servants to seek better or cushier postings to break their resilience,” says Ajay Dua, a former secretary in the Union ministry for industry and commerce. “The younger bureaucrat will observe who gets the reward—those adhering to the rulebook or those showing allegiance to their political masters.”
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 28, 2021-Ausgabe von India Today.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 28, 2021-Ausgabe von India Today.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Grand Young Master
Seventeen-yearold D. Gukesh has become the youngest player to win the Candidates chess tournament
SPORTING SPIRIT
BADMINTON PLAYER ASHWINI PONNAPPA, 34, IS OFF TO HER THIRD OLYMPICS, THIS TIME WITH A NEW PARTNER, TANISHA CRASTO
PORTRAITS OF A PEOPLE
Etchings by the colonial Flemish artist F. Baltazard Solvyns are getting a new lease of life in an exhibition at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
Centennial Man
A seminal exhibition of K.G. Subramanyan's works in his birth centenary year at Emami Art, Kolkata takes an imaginative and immersive curatorial approach
Rhythms of Nature
ARTIST AND MUSIC COMPOSER GINGGER SHANKAR'S LATEST SINGLE COMBINES SOUTH INDIAN MUSIC WITH INUIT THROAT SINGING
SEARCHING FOR THE SOUND
Kashmiri musician Faheem Abdullah’s debut album Lost; Found is a collaborative effort
FOUND IN TRANSLATION
With its excellent translations, Songs of Tagore makes Rabindrasangit accessible to the non-Bengali reader
Of Freedom and Friendship
T.C.A. RAGHAVAN'S CIRCLES OF FREEDOM FOLLOWS THREE YOUNG MUSLIMS DRAWN INTO THE FREEDOM STRUGGLE
The Razor's Edge
Salman Rushdie's Knife is an eloquent, first-person account of the horrific attack on him. It's also a love story
THE LAST-MILE PUSH
The India Today Smart Money Financial Summit had top experts discussing how technology could be leveraged to widen the reach of personal finance tools