The laid-back bureaucracy
The Indian bureaucracy is growing increasingly gutless .Delivering public services to citizens in a time bound manner failed to take off despite the Right to public services Act, in place. The UPSC- recruited civil servants of mid-sixties and seventies, were known for high ethical standards. The situation started deteriorating during the emergency. When the civil servants were asked to bend, they started to crawl. The authorities need to take the following steps to stop the rot before the whole system gets corrupted.

The top-heavy pyramid of bureaucracy is a burden on tax-payers(8% of GDP).There is a need to down-size it by chopping off the deadwood. Rewarding the pliable bureaucracy (mollycoddled by the State) with post-retirement sinecures be stopped altogether. The common perception is that power is concentrated in a few hands, reflecting autocratic traditions. This calls for de-centralization and delegation of power. The top-down  decision-making process should be replaced by a bottom-up consultative approach.

Effective reforms must be carried out at the stage of initial recruitment. By way of suggestions, the minimum and maximum age limit for civil services examinations conducted by the UPSC and States’ PSCs be restricted to 21 and 24 years respectively. More importantly, the total number of attempts available for appearing in the CS exams, should not exceed three for all categories. Under the existing dispensation, the eligibility criteria for age and total number of attempts  are alarming, inexplicable. One can imagine what sorts of aspirants would get selected at an advanced age? An ageing bureaucracy cannot contribute to redressal of public grievances and effective decision making. Whispers in bureaucratic and corporate circles would have us believe that a majority of civil servants are dimwits and purchasable commodities.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)