POWER-CRATS

HIGH & MIGHTY 10 ADMINISTRATORS

- Sandeep Unnithan, Shwweta Punj, Anilesh S. Mahajan, Kaushik Deka and Sonali Acharjee

BUREAUCRATS ARE INDISPENSABLE to the Narendra Modi government. This truism held good in the first term of the government. Midway through its second term, the government has increased its reliance on a set of key bureaucrats in a way few other administrations have. Officials not only draw up important policy decisions—from divestment to the restructuring of the defence ministry—but also implement them. They are thus seen as critical to the government’s performance. Efficiency and achievement are rewarded through extensions and key bureaucrats are retained in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as advisors after retirement. The Modi government’s PMO is arguably the most powerful since Indira Gandhi’s in the early 1970s and later in the early 1980s. It straddles every aspect of governance, from national security to the economy and Covid-19 management, and relies on the corps of efficient bureaucrats working under the watchful eye of the PM. The career progression of former bureaucrats now extends even into the Union cabinet. After the July 2021 reshuffle, there are now a record five former civil servants serving as cabinet ministers—Hardeep Singh Puri, S. Jaishankar, R.K. Singh, R.P. Singh and Ashwini Vaishnaw. Two key former civil servants in the PMO— Principal Secretary to the prime minister, P.K. Mishra; and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval—also enjoy cabinet minister rank. This might just be the golden age of the bureaucracy.

1 P.K. MISHRA, 73

PRINCIPAL SECRETARY TO THE PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA

NUMERO UNO