'Netas defraud India, thanks to spineless babus'

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Netas defraud India, thanks to spineless babus'

Jinka Nagaraju, TNN Jan 13, 2011, 05.16am IST

HYDERABAD: A recent survey commissioned by the Centre has confirmed what has been suspected for long. The admission, by civil servants themselves, is that political corruption happens only because some bureaucrats collaborate with the political leaders. Corrupt officers get the most sought-after postings and also get away without being punished, admitted the babus.

Also highlighting that honesty does not pay, the first ever Civil Services Survey-2010 revealed that clean officers get harassed through baseless complaints and investigations. The survey was conducted by the Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad, in collaboration with AC Nielsen ORG-MARG at the behest of the Union ministry of personnel. It was conducted between August 2009 and April 2010.

That bureaucrats play a key role in political corruption and it pays to be corrupt was endorsed by 80 per cent of the babus who were surveyed. In all, of the total 18,432 officers belonging to 10 select services such as IAS, IPS, IA&AS, IRS, IFS, IFoS, IPoS, IRPS, IRTS and IRS (TT), 4,808 officers responded to the survey.

The questionnaire given to them elicited the insider's perception on 11 areas such as job satisfaction, work environment, work-life balance, integrity, and discrimination etc. Perhaps trying to score a point over their cadre rivals, 93.1 per cent of the IPS officers claimed that political corruption happens because there are always willing civil servants to collaborate. In the IAS, 87.5 per cent agreed with this view while 80 per cent of IFS officers felt so. In the revenue service, 74 per cent of the officers concurred with this view.

On the perception that corrupt officers manage plum postings, 84.4 per cent of IPS men agreed with it while it was 75 pc among IAS officers. With regard to corrupt officers getting away unpunished, 79 pc IPS officers agreed while 60 pc IAS officers seconded it.

Political interference has been widely cited as a major reason for the poor performance of the services. Though the survey did not cover this issue explicitly, influence of political considerations in various aspects of administration was brought out through the comments offered by a number of civil servants. "Lure of post-retirement assignments is a major reason for spinelessness of senior civil servants," says the report.

Officers remarked that discrimination is rampant based on caste, religion, region and service. Some women officers stated that there definitely is a 'glass ceiling' and that female officers are denied good service postings. The survey shows that "women officers are posted in development sector and not given postings in departments that deal with infrastructure, power etc".

Regarding the disparity between officers belonging to the IAS and other services, "most non-IAS respondents considered it unfair to perpetuate the entry-level advantage of IAS officers for the entire duration of their service spanning two to three decades", the report added. Many non-IAS respondents resented the IAS hegemony in all senior positions in government, which gave them the authority to undertake cadre management and planning of all services. While each service has its own perception about corruption, the views expressed by the members of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) are a bit interesting. Among the services dealing with revenue collection, to "derail an honest assessing officer by making anonymous complaint against him" is reportedly a common practice.

Times of India 13th Jan 2011