To join the IAS or not

["Dr. Sanjeev Sabhlok" <sanjeev@sabhlokcity.com>]

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A friend on IPI has written to me thus:

>I am writing to you for a sincere and practical advice. Let me clarify
what I mean to. Before going into my very own issues let me tell you that I
am a regular reader of India Policy news threads and I am an enthusiast
supporter of this effort. Openness and transparency to any data is always
welcome.
>
>Well, I hold a B.Tech. in Computer Science and currently working with
Novell Inc. (a very well known $12 bn US software major) for past two
years. I was not a bad student at all and managed to secure top positions
all along my academic career almost every occassion. As I always dreamed
about contributing to my motherland and though that IAS could be the
shortest route to this achieve this goal I recently started preparing for
Civil Services. But after reading several postings from you on net I
started feeling negative about the service and my friends are consistently
telling me that I should move on with Technology and help creating wealth
for the country with the sheer power of technology. And all these have put
me into a confusing state. Can you be of any help to me ? I request a frank
and practical analysis of the situation from you as well as some hint on
what could be the state of the premier service in near future.

Answer: I simply forwarded my note at
http://www.sabhlokcity.com/sanjeev/iasjob.html

to my friend, written 3 years ago. I generally go by it. There are at least
a dozen IAS officers on this debate list. They may wish to add to my note
(copy below) or give their own advice.

			Why join the Civil Service, and how

Very often young people ask me about the civil service, whether it is
worthwhile to aspire for it, and sometimes, they ask me how to qualify for
it. I thought that I could make a little contribution by putting my limited
understanding of the issues involved on my web page.

Why join the Civil Service

At the end of about 15 years of service in the IAS, I still feel that a
career in the Civil Service is a worthwhile one. Despite the stench of
corruption that pervades bureaucracy and politics in India, there is, in my
(perhaps biased) opinion, no job in the great nation that is India, that
even closely parallels this job in sheer range and scope, and challenge. I
feel that the civil services need major reforms in India, as does our
economic policy, but perhaps the best way to bring about these reforms is
from within, where one can help in the dialog that leads to change.

I know that many of the activities that I have carried out in my service
career have not been productive in the true sense of the word, by which I
mean that there has not been a transformation of incentive systems for the
people, nor as great a reduction in transaction costs for them as I would
have liked. I also know that a vast majority of the efforts that one
undertook came to naught due to the great difficulty of motivating various
levels of the bureaucracy, and in coordinating these efforts in the absence
of an efficient communication system.

But I must say that whatever I was determined to do, and was willing to put
in the effort and hours into, I was by and large able to, such as
introducing computers at the district level in Assam in 1986, and
re-organizing the Collectorate in a district of Assam in 1989 to make it
more "user-friendly" for the people, etc. It was the act of working
actively in the rural development sector that taught me that something is
severely wrong, and that no amount of honest, sincere, implementation of
the anti-poverty programs can create a dent in our poverty. The experience
of operating within the confines of a socialistic economy has shown me at
first hand the often perverted incentive systems that are at work, leading
to corruption and inefficiency at various levels. And that has led to a
personal search for better policy options.

If one fails to take into account the history of our nation and the
tremendous constraints operating on the system and sets expectations that
are unrealistic, one is bound to aspire for things that will not
materialize. On the other hand, once one has understood the system to some
extent, one can try to influence it toward change. That is, in my humble
opinion, perhaps more possible through a civil service career than in
others (except politics). Therefore, at this stage of my career, when I am
spending virtually five years in theoretical analysis of economics, I am in
a better position to think about suitable policy changes and possible ways
of creating such change , than I would be in some other job, say. Being in
the IAS gives me the hope that I will be able to influence at least some
change. That, ultimately, is the greatest charm of this job: an opportunity
to understand India and to possibly influence it. Also, an opportunity to
discover oneself, one's limitations and one's creative potential.

Therefore, despite the pervasive cynicism prevailing about the role of the
civil services in the nation, I would commend this job to those who are
seeking more in life than mere personal economic stability. Of course, you
would need grit and determination, and ability, as well as some luck, to
qualify to be a civil servant.

PS:

Despite what I have stated above regarding the possible role of the IAS as
a job in promoting the appropriate public policy in India, let me add that
throughout my life I have been wedded to the progress of India the nation
and not to the Administrative Service, which is only a tool toward this
goal. The IAS is, and remains one of many jobs, available to us, to help
influence positive change in India. In other words, it is a job that can be
put to good use in this challenging - and even great - enterprise, but is
by no means the sole tool available for this purpose.

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