ROLE OF CIVIL SERVICES IN DEMOCRACY – POLITY
News: Civil
Service has become truly national, shedding its colonial baggage
What's in the news?
● Civil
Service Day, observed on April 21 every
year, is a celebration of the idea of a national civil service.
● It
is, therefore, a travesty to attribute to Sardar Patel, the phrase “steel
frame” with its negative connotation of a rigid, restrictive, and rule-bound
colonial bureaucracy.
Key takeaways:
● The
task of defining an Indian ethos for the civil service began in the 75th year
of India’s independence, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address where he
spelt out the country’s vision and the Panch Pran - the five pledges to drive
India’s transition from Amrit Mahotsav to Amrit Kaal.
● The second pledge - the removal of a colonial
mindset - demanded a revision of self-imagination and the shedding of
colonial baggage among the civil services. The power of an image and the act of
positive envisioning is both liberating and reifying.
Role of Civil Servants in Democracy:
1. Policy formulation:
● The
civil servants are also in charge of formulating policies.
● In
this sense, civil service officers give
ministers advice as well as information and ideas.
2. Civil service as a stabilizing force:
● In times of political unrest, the civil
service provides stability and permanence.
● While
administrations and ministers come and go, the civil service remains a
constant, providing stability and continuity
to the administrative structure.
3. Instruments of social change and economic
development:
● Effective policy
execution will result in beneficial improvements in
ordinary people's lives.
● A
government can only declare a scheme successful when the promised goods and
services reach the intended recipients.
4. Welfare services:
● The
services provide a variety of welfare programs, including social security, the
welfare of the weaker and more vulnerable members of society, old-age pensions,
poverty reduction, and so on.
5. Developmental functions:
● The
services conduct a number of developmental functions, such as encouraging new
agricultural techniques, industry, trade, financial functions, and bridging the
digital gap, among others.
6. Administrative adjudication:
● The
civil service also provides quasi-judicial services by resolving conflicts
between the government and citizens through tribunals and other mechanisms.
Issues in Civil Services:
● Professionalism is
lacking, and capacity development is inadequate
hence it hampers democracy.
● An
ineffective incentive scheme that
does not reward meritorious and honest government employees.
● Rules and procedures that
are rigid and outdated, prevent civil officials
from exercising individual judgment and performing efficiently.
● Whistle-blowers are not
adequately protected due to a lack of
accountability and transparency procedures.
● Irrational transfers and
tenure insecurity are the results of
political involvement.
● There
has been a loss of ethics and principles,
resulting in widespread corruption and nepotism.
● The
public servants themselves are opposed to reform.
The
idea of a future-ready civil service is a holistic
one. A whole-of-government and de-siloed attitude, anticipating the future,
collaborative in its method, participatory in its engagement, and innovative in
its spirit.