The Class I Officer

I watched quietly, with amusement, the scene playing out. We were at IIMA on training, all from diverse backgrounds, companies and government departments, except we were presumably senior. The time was for a group photograph, at IIMA, they do it on the first day straightaway of the Management Development Programme.   Thirty odd in number, we milled around, wondering where to stand or sit. In a milieu of no hierarchy, with a sprinkling of owners of businesses, the Professor simply took his seat in the front row and waited for the photographer to decide where to place the short, the tall, the tubby, simply all shapes and sizes.  I, alone from my organisation there, shook a few hands and then decided to watch the fun. I simply decided my bulk and age entitled me to sit in the front row next to the Professor. One guy stood aloof, frowning, with two or maybe three satellites alternatively looking helpless and concerned. The Professor also noticed the three to four guys lurking unhappily in the veranda and asked me, “are they not a part of our group, what’s the delay about”.  I, as is my wont, simply  said, “that Sir is the Class I Group of Officers of the Government of India to grace your programme, they await your invitation to join in and specific places to sit”.  “Protocol”, I whispered smilingly, “is their hallmark”.   

Stalemate on ! I had actually met the group while walking down, the most serious one  responded to my smile and introduction with only a shake of the head. Satellite  number One said immediately, we are Class I officers, from the So and So Service of the GOI  (managing estates, leave it at that) and Sir is 1995 Batch, very senior, you know, here they do not realise this ! ( the picture of the Class I Officer in public normally - do not smile with the hoi polloi, be stiff, demeanour rigid, frown a bit, just nod if a courtesy is extended). My day was made as the satellite said this !. I pretended to share his concern  while the Senior Class I specimen (1995 batch no less !) lips nearly quivering, said this is just too incorrect.  I walked away thinking when will we improve.

Oh yes, the stalemate, I told the Professor, come on call him and his way down juniors (2004, 2007 batch etc), he refused saying smilingly all are equal here. Ultimately, I stood up, waved and said, come on guys and gestured to Mr Too Senior to sit next to me. He came sullenly and sat all stiff muttering the Professor needed a grounding in protocol ! The period of time during the week when the course content was too heavy for my limited brain was spent in watching and observing the Class I crowd. Their pride was in telling the private sector guys repeatedly  that being Class I Officers in the GOI Service entitled them to give orders and the work was to be done by others – the staff.  Young in age, but the sense of entitlement and privilege was palpable. Another point they stressed with emphasis was that whatever was being learned here had to be applied by their staff, they could only tell, guide and approve. I will say clearly that the brains were certainly there, but not to be applied easily, it took tremendous pressure from the Course Director to get them to actually attend to the case studies. The Case Study we finally prepared for a presentation, His Eminence from the 1995 Batch deigned to read and very seriously and solemnly in a grave mein corrected two semi colons and one word, his satellites hanging around him attentively.   

Actually there are a variety of Class I officers and Services. The elitist are the Top Bureaucracy, the administrators, police services and the revenue and the like. True to our sense of social stratification, they  have distanced themselves from the other services by a highly rigidly enforced hierarchy and social separation. They are the new elite, above one and all.  Then there are other Class I officers, but while maybe behaving like kings within their own domains, they have to bend before the real Class I officers. Sundry Engineers and Technical Services come in this category. Then there those who are Class I but remain satisfied with that status only. In one state I worked in the districts, I entered the Agriculture Department to see sweets being distributed. The then just elected Chief Minister’s son in law worked in one particular wing of the Department, he had declared the Officers in that wing as Class I with one stroke of the pen. Of course I must add my state is the leader in many such major developments, it declared its State Chief of Police as equivalent to the Army Chief, so he could be placated in protocol.  About its consistently slipping down in the national economic indices, that’s of course another matter.

I once attended a meeting where a Senior Bureaucrat from the Central Government  pontificated on improving the lot of Cattle and what not for hours and hours. I was sitting next to a guy, he would attempt to speak, would be snubbed, would still slip in a suggestion and keep shut for some time till again attempting to speak. The cycle went on endlessly.  I asked him quietly as to who he was. He replied, I am the Technical Head and Expert of this Department, I want to make concrete suggestions but I am not a bureaucrat, so I have to bear it.  Somehow our planners and experts have always overlooked this crucial aspect.   

Even within the Technical Side, the adherence to a sense of rigid hierarchy and being something special  is embedded. The funniest part for me was visiting an Executive Engineer years ago, note Executive Engineer, not Superintending Engineer or Chief Engineer. I asked him to coordinate immediately for an appointment with his counterpart in another wing to push a project through.   He told me he had written to him twice and directed his staff to meet soon. I simply asked where the other worthy was, turned out he was in the same building and the same floor. He could have simply walked across. I could have died laughing ! .  One day, in another state, I found two Special Secretaries from the State Civil Service sitting together. I finished my interaction and walked out with the Special Secretary who had been visiting his counterpart. Outside, he told me, see my grace, he is 40 steps down in the seniority list from me, yet I went to his office for your work. I was duly obliged, notwithstanding it was a project for benefitting their state.   Different states, different departments, yet certain such aspects just come to attention as being all to common. 

The Class I officers have their own divisions as I said. In one state I found the Additional Deputy Commissioner – Development (ADC D) in one district was getting due regard from the officers in the District Offices. In the next district, the ADC D was just about responded to by the district officers. Turns out the officer who got all the regard was from the State Civil Service, the other from the Rural Development Department. Suddenly a young IAS Officer (The IAS, Top of the Heap, Pole Position always), was appointed the ADC D, the furniture changed, the aura changed overnight !. The work output was just about as before only, but it was all Sir this and that only.  I remember another incident, the Director of Social  Welfare of the State was visiting the District where I was posted, the District Social Welfare Officer invited me to attend a function, adding, come late, if it’s not important to you. He is one of us, not from the State Civil Service or the Exalted Ones.  

This symptom unfortunately extends many a times to the social aspects of life to amongst many of the Class I officers. I had a young officer with me once, he would be normally morose and sad only. I asked him the reason, he finally told me he was in love with a girl, working alongside him in a respectable, decent position at some other station.  The girl’s brother was selected to a premier All India Service, he prevailed upon his sister to literally dump this guy as he would now find her a much better match ! I am not saying it’s with all and sundry, that would be very incorrect, but this mindset of having moved to another world does prevail. This sense extends into many informal privileges (starting with free or highly discounted premium gym memberships etc as I know in one city) and leads to many anomalies. 

Its India’s most sought after examination, the Civil Services. Sundry power groups seeking entry  have made it into a test of knowledge but the crucial ability to test for aptitude remains diluted. The entry is so coveted and to die for as firstly, promotions are automatic. The Performance Appraisal is a formality, it’s the rare officer who is dropped or denied promotion, it’s just about automatic at various years of service. After that 4 years, 8 years, 12 years, 16 years etc, you keep moving to the next grade and a fancier designation and perks. I have been trawling the net, trying to find out where else in the world is it so prevalent. The more you move up, the more the distance from the hoi polloi, and since it happens pretty fast, the actual nitty gritty of interaction and resolving problems is for a short period only. One rapidly moves thereafter to administering or enforcing  by a mechanism of tightly controlled access only.  For the premier police service, let me add, the attraction obviously lies in policing from a distance. The accelerated pathways of promotions actually means that the real involvement in field work is through directions and orders only. The risks also get minimised rapidly but the distance from the men they command is discernible clearly.   In any case whether rapidly moving up the ladder allows the imbibing of the required field experience is a moot point and would certainly need a much deeper analysis.

Now since all officers of a batch have to be promoted normally within the same time normally, cadre control and keeping the cadre small is important. We have 1000 odd Foreign Service Officers, the UK 5000 and the USA 20000.  There have been observations that this needs to be expanded to encourage India’s interests as also enhance our business profile. The Economic Times had an editorial on this.  The issue could be the Class One (I) syndrome.

The Services in India do not have lateral entry too except for rare exceptions. It could be to avoid the entry of back door elements, but it adds to the allure. Entry, that’s tough, it’s agreed upon absolutely, but once in, its automatic, moving up the ladder, with a minimal sense of competing. The only index of competence could be the placement, the competent ones normally man the crucial departments and have to slog endlessly.  They are the cream and put in long hours. But the end result of ensuring a small cadre operates does impact efficiency, as the actual processing of files and cases is done way below by an army of Clerical Staff, with their training and capacity building being minimal.  Maybe a larger cadre with a sense and knowledge that promotions would have to be competed for to some extent or at some levels would promote efficiency. Opinions could vary but this is my analysis after watching the working of offices at the State and Districts.  For those who still are unaware, we have a hierarchy of dividing government officials into Class I, Class II, Class III and Class IV. The Class I direct entry officer is the at the top, the Class II officers generally either spend time trying to move to the Class I services or imitating their work culture and sense of importance.  

There are certain states and regions of India which are just too obsessed about the Civil Service is but I am trying to avoid going there. But a general example would suffice. I worked once in a large public sector steel company. The parents of a young engineer working in one of the major operational departments visited him. They were just too demoralised about the  large number of engineers employed at the plant and kept chasing him to apply for the State Engineering Services or Civil Services. The reason, once in the State Engineering Service, the perks (formal and informal) would increase, secondly, he would be a “sahib” immediately.

Now the “Sahib” would not have to get his hands dirty thereafter.  This is a strong cultural trait embedded deep down within us. As an aside we want to have a Make in India approach, but where are the Master Welders worth their talent with large pay packets literally.  Its cultural, centuries ago, Babur made muskets at Agra and defeated us. This continues. Under the British, the “Gora Sahib” was imitated and became the ideal. But we forgot the “Gora Sahib” went on horseback, interacted, read up on our traits etc also. Just try and observe the typical interaction now a days, its brief, curt and top down. Agreed people approach the officers with all sorts of appeals, but it also implies the system is not yielding results, hence the appeals when somebody visits the districts. It’s strange and puzzling as also disappointing as to how deeply feudalistic we are. Appoint a guy even as a patwari or sub tehsildar, the attitude changes overnight.  I would say a certain pride in the position and profession is a must, but beyond it, remember it’s your own people.

We have to remember that this mode of automatic promotions has had a cascading effect. While costs have to be controlled by keeping cadres small, the issue which puzzles me is the large number of seniors. The Police in one state, having a strength of around 65000, had 26 DIGs and 18 IGs and 12 DGPs and ADGPs. It also had 52 Secretary rank officers. Remember the Moghul times and the concept of Tis Hazari (General of 30000 horses) or Mansabdars etc.  It’s just about that now and even the Mughals had to state that the Rank was notional as that many Number of Soldiers or Horses simply did not exist !, Incidentally the Armed Services have followed, General’s everywhere, they wanted better pay, they were offered higher designations and took it. But that aside, who coordinates the large number of seniors in the civil services is yet to be studied. Can it be done and is the span of control realistic. This and the consequences of a lack of coordination are certainly areas of concern and require a deeper study.        

This is not a diatribe against any individual or institution and nor is that the intention in any manner. Our nation is standing up, progressing and moving on. It’s obviously due to the civil services working at all levels. But it’s also an acknowledged fact that our administrative inefficiency is noted by any number of seasoned observers, from within and outside the nation.  This indicates a need is there for improvement, while a number of factors would be causing inefficiency, but  the cultural aspects and management aspects certainly need attention. I can also understand the need maybe to nurture a certain service or group but then when it is allowed to spread to all services, it does seem a bit overdone.  As we seek to move to the next levels of economic and social progress, such issues would need attention. 

Ultimately, while leaving the IIMA the barriers of 1995, 2003, 2004 batch etc were somewhat down. They did acknowledge the other participants certainly were intelligent but lacked the manners and the consciousness of being officers !.  I left it at that, we would most probably not meet again. But this did make me think over a lot of aspects of our governance, ultimately I could not but help write this.  Bye till the next.   

(Written purely in my personal capacity)

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