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Sunday, Jun 20, 2004

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

A move in the right direction

By Inder Malhotra

To call it a "wind of change" would be an exaggeration, but there is doubtless a gentle breeze blowing in the cloistered corridors of South Block that bespeaks of a welcome, if belated, move in the right direction.

While announcing the appointment of Shyam Saran as the next Foreign Secretary, the Government took the long overdue step of declaring that he would have a fixed tenure of two years. That this was not a flash in the pan but a well-considered decision became obvious when, a few days later, S.C. Chaturvedi, on being appointed Cabinet Secretary, was also given a two-year term. This sound practice now needs to be extended to at least three other crucial bureaucratic posts — those of Defence, Home and Finance Secretaries.

Aficionados of the "Yes, Minister" series would surely remember Sir Humphrey Appleby's wise words, "permanence is power; constant rotation is impotence." And when Bernard Woolsey, private secretary to the series' protagonist, Minister Hecker, wryly comments that it would be nice if politicians were made permanent and civil servants rotated, Sir Humphrey made a mental note that "BW needed to be shunted out."

It should not be difficult even for the uninitiated to realise that enormous damage has been done to the system by the unending procession of fast-changing incumbents of even critically important positions.

To drive home the point, one might revert to the state of the Indian Foreign Service, once the first choice of the brightest and the best competing for all-India services but not any longer. During the last 57 years, the country has had 25 Foreign Secretaries against 11 Presidents and 14 Prime Ministers. (Only the turn-round of Chief Justices of India has been more striking but that is a different story.)

Considering that several Foreign Secretaries during the Fifties, the Sixties and the Seventies had served for four years each — one remained in situ for more than five years — the average tenure of the man at the top of the Foreign Service heap has constantly shrunk. The present Foreign Secretary, Shashank, for example, is retiring within a few months of taking over. Quite a few of his predecessors lasted somewhat longer only because they were given a year's extension each. This was in utter violation of the 1997 Cabinet decision to accept the Pay Commission's recommendation to raise the retirement age from 58 to 60 "strictly on condition" that there would be no extension beyond the age of 60. But who cares?

This, combined with some other contretemps, such as the unceremonious removal of a Foreign Secretary by the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, has played havoc with the diplomatic service's morale, cohesion, discipline and efficacy.

The preference of "political masters" does play a part in promotions and postings even in the best of circumstances, and as long as it remains within reasonable limits, it might not do great harm. Unfortunately, this comfortable situation reached the beginning of the end with the intensification of the political conflict at the end of the Sixties and virtually collapsed after the bitter post-Emergency divisions. With the passage of time, political polarisation did subside but other ills have made inroads into the uneasy situation.

Presumably as a result of what they saw happening in the home civil services, the Foreign Office mandarins also became brazen in mobilising their "godfathers," whose proclivity to "interfere and intervene" proved to be even greater than the self-seeking exertions of their protégés.

Noteworthy features

In this context, three features of Mr. Saran's selection are noteworthy. First, given his professional and personal qualities, his appointment has been welcomed widely. Remarkably, even the previous BJP-led government — confident of returning to power — had reportedly made up its mind to elevate him to the post of Foreign Secretary. (A similar welcome to the choice of the new Cab. Sec., to use the civil service jargon, is tinged, however, with regret over the abrupt marching orders given to his predecessor.)

This leads to the second attribute — the surprising absence of any controversy even though Mr. Saran's appointment transgresses the firmly established "principle" of making seniority the sole criterion for promotion to the top jobs, thus establishing a virtual "escalator pattern" that gives merit short shrift. In the much larger fraternity of the Indian Administrative Service, the iron imperative of seniority, and that too within each batch — rejecting the wholesome idea of deep selection — has led a ludicrous state of affairs. Most Secretaries to the Government retire before they can serve for even two years.

Thirdly and finally, the timing of the Ministry of External Affairs announcement — seven weeks before Mr. Shashank's retirement — was refreshingly healthy. Normal practice in recent years has been to delay the choice of the new incumbent for as along as possible. This creates gnawing uncertainty and utterly unseemly canvassing and lobbying, which the apologists of the system try to dismiss as the usual "rat race." This, one must add, is needless insult to the rodents.

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