Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constant refrain to officials at high-level meetings is to aim high and justify the huge political mandate the public gave him in the 2019 general elections. He virtually goads the secretaries to the government not to take baby steps, but to deliver big for India, commensurate with the trust the public reposed in the Modi government.
Stung by the official under-assessment of the country-wide anti- Citizenship Amendment Act protests, home minister Amit Shah virtually said the same thing to the assembled law enforcers at the Intelligence Bureau Endowment Lecture on December 23, albeit in the context of internal security.
Addressing the intelligence community and top police officers, Shah said there was a difference between rumour and information and asked them to be more operational rather than restrict themselves to merely writing reports and analyses.
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While PM Modi and external affairs minister S Jaishankar led from the front to counter the Pakistani global propaganda over abrogation of article 370, the action on the ground was firmly led by Shah and national security advisor Ajit Doval.
The meticulous planning post the abrogation of article 370 and the Ayodhya judgement was only possible due to defined targets given to core national security teams.
In many ways, these were individual-driven responses and not institutionalised ones, with the Indian bureaucracy failing to convey India’s point of view to the liberal western media targeting the Modi government over developments ranging from the Pulwama suicide attack that killed 40 paramilitary troopers in Kashmir in February to the anti-CAA stir in December.
PM Modi has already broken the three silos existing within the Indian armed forces by appointing General Bipin Rawat, the first Chief of Defence Staff, to promote operational synergy despite serious bureaucratic reservations. The CDS decision was not a simple one given the inherent uneasiness between the political and military leadership since Nehru’s days.
{{/usCountry}}PM Modi has already broken the three silos existing within the Indian armed forces by appointing General Bipin Rawat, the first Chief of Defence Staff, to promote operational synergy despite serious bureaucratic reservations. The CDS decision was not a simple one given the inherent uneasiness between the political and military leadership since Nehru’s days.
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The CDS decision should pave way for PM Modi to overhaul the Indian bureaucracy, which more than often promotes seniority over merit and encourages turf wars in the name of national interest.
Rather than only depend on the wisdom of officers who cleared a certain exam some 30 or 35 years ago, there is a need to induct professionals at the secretary level through lateral entry. It does not take rocket science to predict that dyed-in-the-wool Delhi Gymkhana-going secretaries will allow lateral entry joint secretaries to enter the official sanctum sanctorum to function in their ministries.
As the political mandate was huge and unprecedented for decades, the merit and innovative skills of an officer should be given preference over mere seniority or age. Fact is that the academic tools required to clear the All India Services Exam are dated and need a thorough overhaul in order to sync it with the 21st century, where technology is developing at the speed of light.
The high degree of specialisation required in commerce and trade matters these days is clearly far beyond the comprehension of generalist officers, who more than often learn on the job through hits and misses.
Specialisation of the same level but in a different context applies to Indian diplomacy as in the world today perceptions are more sacrosanct than facts. The projection of India should be the key objective of Indian diplomats rather than behaving like satraps in countries where they are posted. The rise of China in the Indian subcontinent, particularly Nepal, needs urgent attention and the diplomatic task today goes beyond the daily beating-up of Pakistan.
At least for the neighbourhood, the five permanent members of UN Security Council (also called P-5) , Japan, Israel, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, India needs to push its best diplomats to handle the task.
Just as the political mandate the PM won was unprecedented, so is the challenge he faces of reforming a bureaucracy that still suffers from an imperial hangover.