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Having pledged her troth to one of the species, my spouse has scant respect for bureaucrats in general, a measured judgement that is hard to refute. A few days back, she forwarded a piece from The Wire by a civil servant titled “Where does loyalty end and complicity begin? A civil servant’s question” with the dismissive comment: “Another apologia by the mercenary, criminal class!”

I was intrigued that a serving civil servant had finally plucked up the courage to confront the administration and say it like it is. Given the vengeful nature of the dispensation, I can understand the author writing under a pseudonym. A series of interrogations and reference to Pol Pot and Nazi Germany promised a devastating expose’ of this malevolent regime, but disappointingly, the piece is little more than a cry of anguish at the impotence of civil servants.

 An abject exercise in self-flagellation, the only direct criticism levelled is a tame, euphemistic assessment of the tyrannical authority as “ethically ambiguous.” Seeking to assuage the guilt of being a pusillanimous collaborator, the author’s argument for playing ball is this ridiculous, self-serving excuse: “If you remain within the system, you can do some good – the choice is between imperfect compromise and complete irrelevance.” Doing good by being zealous yes-men of the regime? Clearly, pragmatism and self-preservation are the better part of valour!

So allow a former bureaucrat who believes that his pension is not hush money from the government, to meditate on the rot in the system.

The ‘steel frame’ – a paper tiger?

Considering how easily the bureaucracy capitulates to the political executive, one has the sneaking suspicion that the term “steel frame” to reference bureaucrats has been coined in mocking jest. However etymologically, the term has distinguished antecedents; it’s provenance can be traced back to British prime minister David Lloyd George who, in 1922, used the term to describe the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and its critical role in shoring up the colonial structure. Post-Independence, Sardar Patel repurposed the term to apply to the administrative services in the newly created nation. 

In his interaction with the first batch of IAS officers in 1947, the great man was unequivocal that civil servants were duty bound to express their views with assiduity and without fear, just as it was the moral responsibility of the political executive to create an environment that provided the freedom for civil servants to express their views........

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