An Indian Administrative Service officer from the Kerala cadre, Sudha Pillai joined the IAS in 1972 after securing the second rank in the exam.
Starting as a sub-collector, she served as the Principal Secretary (Finance) in the Kerala government. She also rose to the post of Secretary to the Government of India and was later a Member Secretary of the Planning Commission in the rank of MoS. She shares some insights about her time in government service with DH’s Prajwal Suvarna.
How did you come to join the Civil Services?
I actually knew at the age of 8 or 10 that I wanted to be in the IAS. I am the daughter of a working woman. Not working was never an option.
Growing up in Chandigarh, there was this officer called Sarla Khanna, who did absolutely brilliantly as DC of Shimla. She had come to our school for a ceremony. Her presence, the way she talked, made a deep impression on my mind.
I got a double promotion in school, so I attended a BA course at the age of 15. I finished my MA in psychology by the time I was 20 and had begun working in the government college for women, Chandigarh.
You have to be 21 years old to apply for the IAS.
The day I turned 21, I took leave for six months and prepared for the exams., following a strict regimen of study.
Any tips on preparations?
There are high fundas and low fundas (principles). Low fundas, do not take up a new subject where you actually know that the scoring is historically low. Or something that you are so lost in that you cannot expect to master it.
High fundas are, you should have done your Masters in a subject that you love. You should be a master of what you studied.
You also need to decide early on if you want to join the civil services. Your preparations should have started in Class 11 or 12: start reading the newspapers and be aware of what is happening in the world: political developments, economy, cinema and read, read and read.
How have the services changed? Any differences that you see?
The main difference is that many of the aspirants have professional qualifications and many have gotten into the service after several attempts. They are older, and some have worked for many years in affiliated services such as Income Tax or the Police. The motivation and ability to continue despite setbacks at the age of 26 or 27 is a very remarkable thing.
This distinguishes them from what we went through.
What do you consider a good work ethic?
I have seen the best and the worst of the bureaucracy.
For some officers, time means absolutely nothing.
You can go around saying ‘I am very honest, I am very upright.’ But if you are not clearing proposals and your table is getting clogged with files, you are a lousy officer. First thing you have to do is to establish your reputation as a person who cares and is going to help people. Not someone who is full of themselves.
At the field level, interactions with the public and local leaders are very intense. So the first thing is to establish a reputation for hard work, and a spirit of service.
You are alone in that circle, all by yourself in a posting, a solitary person, but your reputation protects you.
If you have a reputation of being a slacker, of being lazy or rude it is not good.
Some highlights from your career?
A sub-collector’s duties involved field inspections, court work, maintenance of law and order, and relief work in the event of a natural disaster. You are busy from morning to late evening.
You have a lot of paperwork also.
I was allotted to the Punjab cadre. But I took a transfer to Kerala and my batchmate and I got married.
By the time I became Finance secretary in 2001 in Kerala, there was a great proliferation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes. The problem of finding matching state funds was a serious issue, and required a lot of management of finances.
Expenses other than those on account of Centrally Sponsored schemes had to be accorded priority. I had my work cut out for me as the finance department has a charter to ensure that the state government’s development needs are taken care of. And also to keep fiscal and revenue deficit under control.
When I was secretary and later member secretary, formulation of the planned budgets was a big challenge. It was, however, exciting to interact with various central ministries and also have discussions with state government officers, with regard to State Plans.
It was very satisfying to have been able to manage the conflicting demands for scarce resources. This was possible because of excellent team work.
Since I worked in the state government, I used to ensure that the state government’s needs are taken care of.
There was a lot of behind the scenes negotiation — because everything is confidential. All of that is gone.
How did you manage interactions with politicians?
All of us in the Kerala cadre were lucky in the extreme. When I got my cadre transfer, I was in the junior scale and was a field officer. When I got promoted to the senior scale I was posted in the State Secretariat. Since the custom then was that the junior-most Deputy Secretary would put together the draft for the Governor’s speech, I got a chance to interact with senior officers and call on the Chief Secretary and the Chief Minister.
The CM was C Achutha Menon, who was upright and a visionary. He set the template for the interactions between politicians and bureaucracy — we were treated with kindness and respect but were expected to deliver on performance.
I can tell you, looking back, I never had to face any pressure that I could not deal with.
Any other words of advice?
I believe in two or three things.
First, is speed. No question of sitting on a file for more than 24 hours. When I took over as Collector, there were 780 cases which had been pending for over a decade — land-related disputes. These were disposed of by ensuring that the weekly court was regularly held and that the lawyers were not given more than one adjournment.
Second, if you are a woman, don’t carry that as a flag. Nobody is interested. Government is actually a much better employer of women. Both in politics and the corporate sector, women have not yet found their place. Whereas in the bureaucracy, we have a great deal of acceptance and support.
Finally, never compromise on principles of honesty and integrity, thinking that you can get a better posting.
So never run after any posting, never try to make friends to get any kind of favour, because you will have to return it and you don’t know what kind of favour it will be.
(Path to Civils is a fortnightly series that highlights exemplary officers from the civil services who share their perspectives on preparing for the exams and working in government service)