[metaslider id=290]The state of governance remains dismal in India even 67 years after the country achieved independence from the British colonial rule. All political parties promise to bring a positive change in people’s life by raising governance level but the promise is rarely kept.
Rather than focusing on governance, politicians try to consolidate their powers and openly follow a stick-and-carrot policy to secure loyalty of bureaucrats who are otherwise supposed to implement government’s policies in a fair manner. Pliable bureaucrats get positions of power while honest ones are sidelined. Bureaucrats are bound by service protocol and cannot raise objection even if they feel that a government decision is not in the best interests of the people – a systemic flaw that is often taken advantage of by politicians to push their hidden agendas–, Dr. M. A. Ibrahimi, a retired IAS officer, tells in his book titled, ‘My Experience in Governance,’ which is now on sale. The book was released by Justice Shiva Kirti Singh, a Supreme Court judge, recently.
Drunk on power, politicians often go to the extent of issuing unreasonable fiats to the bureaucracy, forcing Dr. Ibrahimi to famously conclude in the book, ‘Every powerful person in this country thinks that he has a right to be unreasonable.’
As a civil servant, Dr. Ibrahimi served at key positions in states like Bihar and UP besides central deputation. He answers many unresolved enigmas of politics and also delves into casteism as a key factor in appointment of bureaucrats. This book also discloses coziness between CMs and their pet officers.
The book also exposes how political leaders protect corrupt officers and then later use them to implement their personal agendas.
The author also tells how an incumbent minister in government has been using district administration and police officers in his constituency to win elections, about a minority minister who choose to look away when Waqf properties were being encroached upon.
Further, Dr. Ibrahimi goes into how Dayanidhi Maran misused his government office for his personal work and how he thought nothing of bending service rules to ensure appointment of his favourite officer to a particular post. Dr. Ibrahimi also tells how he was stopped by his senior from protecting a Sikh family during anti Sikh riots.