Post By Abu Mathen George, IFS (Batch of 2009)

Dear All,

It gives me immense pleasure to introduce Abu Mathen George as our guest blogger. Abu is my batchmate from NLS, Bangalore and a very dear friend. He is currently undergoing training as IFS (probationer) in New Delhi. Abu is one of the finest mind I have come across. We are grateful to him for taking time out to write for the blog.

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I cannot but begin my first post on this blog without a salutation to the person who made it all possible, and who is now enjoying the fruits of his hard won labour. Ever since our time together in law school when we used to meet to ostensibly discuss ‘strategy’ I have been constantly inspired and motivated by my good friend Ashutosh Salil’s passion for the civils. Without his constant encouragement, his good humour and endless hours of nonsensical ramblings that would take the edge off an otherwise mind-numbing preparation schedule, I doubt that it would have been possible for me to get through the grind successfully. Let me also congratulate Cyril and Tanvi, the other contributors to this blog for their success. It has been my privilege to know Cyril well and his accomplishment this year is truly extraordinary.

Perhaps most importantly, my long conversations with Ashutosh helped answer the ‘why’ of the civils, and that is why I have chosen this as the topic of my first few posts. For those who have even involuntary trespassed on the minefield that is civils preparation will understand that arming yourself with the right reasons to write this exam is crucial. So without further ado, let me begin.

The Indian Civil Services - Answering the Why - Part I

Whenever someone asks me for help on writing the civils, I am tempted to give the same response that the English writer G.K. Chesterton did when approached for advice on marriage: Don’t! Why on earth would you want to write an exam that drags on for so long, that is outrageously maddening in the knowledge/skills that it claims to test, and is completely random in the results it produces. One often jokes that the Indian Civil Service Exam is really a test of your karma, in the classical Indian tradition. Did you do any good in your previous life? Yes, well then great! You can join the great Indian Civil Services in this life, proceed to amass assets disproportionate to your known sources of income, and become a worm in your next.

Often, when candidates are quizzed about the reasons for appearing for the CSE at the famed UPSC interview, they are suddenly possessed with sudden realization. This is, no doubt, the moment that they have all been waiting for (of course, apart from the moment when they will be interviewed by Barkha Dutt after securing the first rank). The ‘correct’ answer will gain them entry into the job of their dreams. So what is the most favoured answer? More or less, almost all variations of the following themes:

I wish to serve the nation.
I wish to make constructive and compassionate interventions at the field and policy making levels so as to bring the fruits of development to those who have traditionally been excluded from the mainstream of growth so as to serve the larger interests of the country and make India into a superpower.
And oh yes, I wish to serve poor people.

Does anyone recall that lighted thing they put on top of white ambassador cars? Or sprawling bungalows in every district headquarter from Kollam to Kohima? Or fawning men and women for whom the three letters after your name connote the appearance of a living deity?

I exaggerate, but lets get the basics out first: Any good you purport to do in the Civil Services can easily be done many other walks of life, sometimes more efficiently, sometimes with far more impact. Sure, being an investment banker with Goldman Sachs may not be the most conducive way to serve the ‘people’ but one often wonders whether more than sixty years of a glorious and independent civil service has really done any service to the nation at all, especially when one compares it to the last two decades after the initiation of reforms; something that the bureaucracy opposed tooth and nail. Extraordinary work is being done today by ordinary men and women who continuously challenge traditional notions of social service and how it should be performed. The most visible example that comes to mind is that of Aruna Roy, who left the IAS to begin a grassroots movement that transformed how people access information. One of my friends who contemplated writing the civils asked her once why she left and whether she had any regrets. “Let me put it this way,” she replied, “I drafted a law that my batchmate, the Chief Information Commissioner, now implements.”

So why does one really write this exam? Do you believe that your personality type is suited to be a bureaucrat? What does a bureaucrat really do? Let me leave you with these final thoughts, some of which I hope to answer in my next post.