Survey (1)

Nusrat Jahan and Krishna Gaur are most glamorous and Smriti Irani and Priyanka Gandhi according to me are very talented.

Ashok Rastogi

Survey (2)

Being glamorous is one thing and talent is something else. But one woman politician who fits in both the categories is, no doubt, Nusrat Jahan. Next in line is none other than Priyanka Gandhi.

Syed Nasir Ali

Why blame your defenders ?

I have been involved in interviewing candidates for the civil services. I find there is still a huge interest amongst youngsters to join the civil service and there preference is the IAS and IPS. The candidates are bright students, innumerable engineers, doctors, PhDs. Why are they flocking to these two services ? This seems a bit contradictory to me as whomsoever I meet, she or he is immensely critical of these two services. Politicians say that they would have taken the country on a 10% growth path but for these IAS officers. Similarly, they claim that the IPS is not dedicated. Journalists also think likewise. Business people say Indian bureaucracy is the worst in the world. Judges routinely admonish the IAS and IPS. Scientists say that India would have had at least two dozen Nobel prize winners, if only the IAS did not interfere. The army man thinks that the IAS and IPS should be scrapped.

So out of about 25 crore families in this country, it seems that about 99% do not have a kind word for the IAS and IPS.

The contradiction arises because these IAS/IPS aspirants come from these very families. We have family members of politicians. Jagannath Mishra's son was in the civil service. Bhagvad Jha Azad's child joined the IPS. Most of the journalists have appeared in the Civil Services exams. I had many batch-mates who came from business families. Judges families have produced many IAS/IPS officers. How can this be ?

When people criticise the IAS and IPS, I feel they forget to analyse the matter after examining the facts. Let us see how. Take businessmen. They find it much more easier to deal with the neta. Matters can be settled with little bit of give and take. In comes a bureaucrat and spoils the fun. He has the dirty job of pointing out the constitution, law, rules. He has taken an oath to do that.

An Honourable judge was once very surprised when I told him that I had not attended the marriage ceremony of my Chief Minister's son as " I do not socialise with such people." . The surprise was more as some members of the judiciary had attended. People think that IAS/IPS officers are sycophants of netas and 'brothers in arms' with them. They just presume things. Once a scientist friend wanted me to book the Constitution Club for his daughters marriage. I said only an MP can do that. He said " That's why I am asking you. You must have many MPs.". I explained to him that I did not know a single MP. He clearly did not believe me and thought I was just giving a lame excuse to avoid helping him. See the misconception? On another occasion, an Honourable judge visited my house and was surprised to see the simple furniture and me serving him tea. He asked " Don't you get an allowance of Rs 1,50,000 to furnish your house and some bungalow peons?". Another misinformation. The general belief is that IAS/IPS officers 'enjoy' at the tax payers expense.

With lot of expectation we had put a retired army brigadier in charge of an agriculture institution in agriculture. He could not run it and left. In fact, there were serious problems during his tenure. Thereafter, we appointed another man. Not only did he turn in profits but successfully merged it with a larger CPSU and earned huge profits. So, there are black sheep everywhere.

I can go on and tell you stories from members of other walks of life. But the crux is that the IPS and IAS are the only two services facing the line of fire of corrupt netas. The rest, who do not have to deal with them, can lecture them and hide in their boroughs. An immensely hyped professional from the private sector once tried his hand at running Air India. Proved a disaster and ran.

So anyone next time criticises the IAS, make him a Secretary/Joint Secretary to a stalwart 'standard' minister like Lalu Prasad or Maran and see the results of the chemical reaction. If a guy critises an IPS, ask him to be SP of a district for 24 hrs or ask him to face stone throwing mobs in Srinagar or drive through Naxal infested jungles. Insure him against myocardial infraction before that.

So, the point I think is that they all know that the job is tough and requires lot of IQ, EQ, raw courage, ingenuity, diplomacy, cunning and above all, love for and dedication to the country, to be an IAS and IPS officer. But they do not have the courage to call a spade a spade and demand electoral and judicial reforms. They chose the easy option of blaming the IAS and IPS because these guys do not have the power to put you behind bars.

The truth is that while the army protects us from external enemies, the IAS and IPS protects us from the internal ones.

P K Basu IAS (Retd)

Unanimous decision on Ayodhya

SC has made a fine unanimous decision on Ayodhya. After centuries, the ghost of Babar is removed from India. Full marks to our forefathers for not losing their faith in Hindustan - the homeland of secular Hindus for over 5000 years plus. Time to rebuild a modern India economically and militarily strong. The Honourable SC has laid out a clear path today by its fine unanimous judgement. Jai Hind.

Devindra Sethi