Why bureaucracy needs reform

As India celebrates its 75 years of independence and democracy, it is important to study the role of bureaucracy in the sustenance of democracy. Recently, in a public meeting in Bihar, a senior IAS official sparked a controversy while responding to a question about providing sanitary napkins. She remarked: “Today you are asking for sanitary napkins. Tomorrow you will ask for condoms.” Even if the merits of the statement are left out of this debate, the statement affirms the general perception of bureaucracy as feudal, inaccessible and arrogant.

Once considered a formidable steel frame, the bureaucracy is now facing problems of credibility. Barack Obama in his autobiography comments on the Indian bureaucracy as “parochial” and resistant to change.

A lot has been written about the problems plaguing the civil services and their everyday operation of our democracy. This article attempts to provide ways to make bureaucracy accountable and functional for optimum democratic outcomes. The democratic outcomes of governance are enhanced when the permanent executive works in tandem with the political executive.

The effectiveness of civil services should be measured in terms of their contribution to the maintenance of democracy, as well as law and order, so that economic activities continue unimpeded. Civil servants also play a passive, but prominent, role in social empowerment
and change.

A reading of the constituent assembly debates reveals that the constitution makers had envisioned a reformatory role for bureaucrats in independent India. Sardar Patel, in an important intervention in the assembly, remarked: “United India is not possible without a good all India service, which has the independence to speak out its mind; which has a sense of security that they will stand by their word.”

Therefore, the reform in bureaucracy not only serves the purpose of unity but also lays the foundation for a progressive nation. Scholars Peter Evans and James Rauch further substantiate this claim in their study, Bureaucracy and Growth: A Cross-National Analysis of the Effects of ‘Weberian’ State Structures on Economic Growth, that among 35 developing countries, those with more competent bureaucracies enjoy higher levels of economic growth and prosperity.

One way to reform the bureaucracy is to introduce the New Public Management (NPM) system; unlike the conventional public administration system, it breaks the hierarchy and rigidity through de-bureaucratisation and de-centralisation of decisions.

The NPM was introduced in a few countries, including Japan and UK in 1980. The functioning of the bureaucracy can be transformed radically by harnessing talents through appropriate and nuanced training during the service. The case study of the noon meal, or mid-day meal, programme is an example of how an intervention by bureaucracy results in radical social transformation. The programme, designed and implemented by senior bureaucrats, to incentivise school education has not only stood the test of time but also paved the way for an important policy change by the bureaucracy.

Another way to reform bureaucracy is to change the way public officials interact with people, which has witnessed a shift in the post-RTI (Right to information) era. The RTI Act created a certain level of transparency among public servants. Initially, citizens were unable to know the status of public services available to them and the reason for their failure to access them. The RTI Act has increased transparency of public offices. But transparency without accountability is a toothless tiger.

Therefore, an accountability law could be the way forward to make public officers accountable for their actions.

The right to accountability law envisages time-bound action over public grievances, while designating a general grievance officer from district to gram panchayat level for effective redressal.

In a participative democracy, the government and its functionaries are answerable to its people. In the current system, no effective enforcement mechanism exists to ensure time-bound and effective public service delivery by bureaucrats.

As Sardar Patel envisioned the role of the civil services in upholding the integrity and unity of the nation, it is important to initiate reforms in the Indian bureaucracy -- at the institutional level by changing the methods of training and harnessing diverse content; and at a systemic level by making statutory changes to ensure more accountability.

(The writers are senior advisors and co- convenors at Legal Aid and Awareness Committee, NLU Jodhpur.)