Ailing State of Bureaucracy

India’s bureaucracy stands at a crossroads — between constitutional ideals and political compulsions, between serving the people and serving the powerful

- ANOUSHKA RANDEVA

India's bureaucracy doesn't just need reform -- it needs rediscovery. The steel frame must remember why it was forged

Theword ‘bureaucracy’ comes from the Old French word bure, a cloth once used to cover the desks of eighteenth-century French officials. Its stifling connotations soon gave way to the term ‘civil servant,’ recorded in the East India Company's records since 1765.

When India became independent, much changed, yet the skeleton of the colonial civil service remained. Over time, the country has seen decorated officers who valued integrity and simplicity. However, what shifted more dramatically was the attitude towards power.

Early leaders, particularly like Lal Bahadur Shastri, lived with simplicity and restraint, setting a moral tone for administration. Over time, that ethic faded. The dictum “yatha raja, tatha praja” began to mirror itself in governance and as politics turned more flamboyant, bureaucracy followed.

Despite an entry-level basic salary of around Rs 60,000, far below corporate jobs, over 1.3 million aspirants appear for the UPSC exam each year, many spending six attempts and nearly a decade preparing. Walk through the lanes of IAS coaching hubs of Delhi, and you see students with mixed emotions: some worn out, some hopeful, and some, like Pooja Khedkar, desperate enough to risk faking disability certificates. Their motivation is no longer service, but the promise of bungalows, VIP access, security escorts, contract influence, and the power to bend the system rather than uphold it.