I saw many of my fellows who
are aspiring to become bureacrat to rule and rejoice themselves by protocol the
enormous reasons to be a CSP is that there are'nt sufficient opportunities for
the students of social science.
Few of us know that tens of thousands of British officials were denied
reappointment in their home country once India and Pakistan won independence in
1947. They were not terminated but were disallowed to work because they were
considered unfit to work in a free and democratic country.
The context of colonisation influenced working habits of these bureaucrats while
they were in India. These officials considered themselves part of the metropole
and that they were there only to govern the subjects of the colony. This notion
was accompanied with a set of ‘skills’ which these officials were supposed to
internalise. After they arrived in India, they were indoctrinated with the ideas
of ‘superiority’ and ‘inferiority’ of Indians they were supposed to govern.
Unfortunately, in our dear homeland the ‘superiority’ paradigm still exists. All
of us are aware that the CSS stands for Central Superior Services. The title is
emblematic of the colonial mindset developed painstakingly among the to-be
bureaucrats during their stay at the Civil Services Academy. Most of these young
aspirants, the moment they hear they have to go to the Academy, start practising
‘the art of being different’.
Their skill is further refined and they are groomed to become the prototype of
the ideal Bureaucrat. The sudden shift from ‘wash and wear’ to starched clothes,
from non-branded to ‘superior’ brand items all symbolise their bureaucratic
baptism. This christening signifies their acceptance of the “us/them” binary,
the very foundation of colonialism.
Once they graduate from their training institutions, they prove to the masses
that ‘they’ do not live in a decolonised society. The everyday red-tapism most
of us have to bear is a bitter reminder that they are superior. Such is the awe
of these impeccably-dressed ‘rulers’ that our village folk would never sit on a
chair even in case of their rare permission.
It is not that these traits are not found elsewhere. The threat factor of these
bureaucrats proves to be a bane for a common man. One wonders why these
administrators cannot be raised in the tradition of humanistic management system
prevalent in independent countries for decades. To develop such a system in
public offices we need to change our perceptions which produce these
anachronistic creatures.
First of all induction criteria for the civil service should change. We are
living in an age of specialisation. How can we expect professional excellence
from a person having an M.A. in English literature, working as a Collector in
Customs Department or as an Accountant in the Pakistan Audits and Accounts
Services? The fact remains that most of our bureaucrats have an academic
background in Humanities and Social Sciences. How can these academically
ill-oriented graduates carry forward the agenda of the development of a modern
Third World country?
The notion that it doesn’t matter much since the future bureaucrats undergo
intensive training before assuming their professional duties does not hold
ground because even then they are not trained enough to cultivate the vision of
good governance. The training only enables them to ‘run’ the administrative
machinery as their predecessors did, resulting in perpetuation of outdated
colonial procedures of ‘solving’ problems. The absence of the requisite skill
and sentiment to initiate a paradigm shift in governance methods lies at the
heart of our national administrative inefficiency. This also accounts for the
white elephants hired under the label of ‘consultants’ to give a roadmap towards
good governance.
If we look at the services under the umbrella of Central Superior Services, we
realise that specialised education is available for almost all the departments.
Wouldn’t it be a better idea to hire educated and trained accountants for
Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service instead of people who have a master’s degree
in Humanities? The University of the Punjab, the chancellor was quoted , will
establish a department of criminology shortly. Why can’t the graduates of this
department be inducted in the under-performing Police Service of Pakistan?
The same university has a cutting-edge Institute of Administrative Sciences
headed by an eminent scholar Dr Jadoon. Why can’t their graduates fill in the
various administrative posts of the District Management Group? Similarly, the
graduates of departments of communication studies in various universities can be
inducted as information officers in the information department?
Although some rectification has been done for making the curriculum more tough
that will scare candidates to not give this examination,but this isn't the way
we can deal it our Government should be curious about the selection of
candidates in interview like some how,A person recognised warmly by interview
panel can make the selection methodology biased.
Competitive exams means a person who is competent should be the candidate but
here every person dreams to be Civil Servant to munch country economy more
instantly after becoming a part of bureaucracy a person utilizes his creepier
moves to do corruption along with callous politicians.Politicians did not make
these looters accountable because they also have sheer proofs about money
secretly looted by Leaders.
By changing the overall disposition of our civil services we can have human
resource that will be more skilled and insightful than the existing creed. If we
have properly educated human resource there shall be no need for hiring white
elephants called ‘consultants’. Each official will be a visionary in his or her
own right. And a culture of honouring only the more innovative and ingenuous
will start taking roots, leading to the demise of the brown sahib. A time of
ailment may come when our impoverished brethren will confidently enter the
offices of a civil servant without fear .