About 33 percent civil services officers, who play the key role in governance, are not happy with their jobs and have thought of even quitting, according to a survey carried out by the government. If every third senior bureaucrat has a low-level of job satisfaction, that is indeed a cause for concern. These are some of the best brains, they cleared the tough and highly competitive civil services entrance exams instead of joining the industry with better pay prospects, they wanted to bring in change, and now here they are, wishing to resign.
Political interference, harassment, frustration after failing to do what they set out to do and losing out on fat pay packets of the private sector are the reasons they have cited, according to a Hindustan Times report. In our scheme of things, political masters indeed have the final say and bureaucrats are supposed to merely implement what these bosses want. Given the shortsightedness of most politicians, you can well imagine what our civil services officers are spending their skills and energies on. If anything, this survey shows the state on the whole has failed the talented people who joined the IAS and other services. The survey, thus, highlights the need to empower bureaucrats.
The other side of the story is that, like any other profession, there are civil servants and then there are civil servants. On the one hand, you have Pratyaya Amrit, for example, who turned the Bihar bridge building corporation around and on the other, you have those who are facing CVC inquiries on corruption charges. We can argue with equal vehemence that bureaucrats are the ones who have failed the state. What do you say?