‘Beete Hue Din’ (My Reminiscences): Book Review of the Hindi Version

Memoirs serve a useful purpose. These not only capture the life and times of a seasoned professional but also offer a deep insight into various facets of life. One gets to learn precious lessons in management of people, resources and institutions. One comes across precious nuggets of wisdom, based on the experiences of the author. These leave behind a legacy of sorts; more so, when written with a sense of humility and not in a self-congratulatory mode.

This book is one such offering. It is an interesting autobiographical account of a life well lived. It sketches out in detail the kind of hard work, persistence and emotional intelligence that a senior administrative professional needs to leverage so as to be able to ensure delivery of timely and effective services to the common man. It gives the reader an inside view of how the vast government machinery in such a diverse country as India functions, and author’s handling of the kind of challenges faced and successfully overcome. 

The narrative is intimate, introspective and invigorating. The author is frank about how an abiding commitment to his career affected his relationships with his family and how his wife dutifully moved in to support him through thick and thin. He mentions some moving encounters with death and disease. Often, he is open about the manner in which he realized in retrospect as to how a given situation could have been handled better. At many places, he does not shy away from revealing self-doubt and disappointment. The narrative is riveting and personal and motivates one to aspire for higher goals in all spheres of life.

The underlying message in this narrative is that of a relentless focus on one’s goals in life and the criticality of following high values and ethics, despite temptations and obstructions. The importance of not always being a yes-man and occasionally standing up to a higher power also gets highlighted. There are occasional dashes of subtle humour as well.

These memoirs are not a commentary on any of the policies of the government of the day. Those who are expecting to read an analysis of the history of the economic strides made by India from the 1960s till now are also likely to be disappointed. Nor do these provide any insights into the various ideologies present across the entire political spectrum. Littered with instructive quotes from scriptures, poets, philosophers and literary figures, these provide a ringside view of the life and times of an able administrator, whether on the personal or on the professional front.

During the past several decades, Indian youth have collectively lost interest in making a career in the central or provincial services. Career choices of youth have invariably favoured the private sector, that too in the realm of Information, Communication and Technology systems, besides engineering and medicine.

Hopefully, this book will not only inspire the youth of today to consider the option of entering public service more seriously but also motivate them to prepare well to gain an entry into this exalted profession. This way, if they succeed, they will eventually have the inner glow of satisfaction for contributing towards the transformation of this unique country of ours.

The present version of the book is available in the Hindi language. It had a global launch recently and is now available at https://www.amazon.in/dp/B091MRXM5R?ref=myi_title_dp.

(The author of this book, Mr. Ashok Bhatia, is a retired officer of the Indian Administrative Services. He had chosen the state of Gujarat to serve the nation. In his career spanning 49 years, he also held several important high ranking positions with the Government of India.

He lives with his wife in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India.)

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Cleaning Up Our Political Act!

It is heartening to know that India’s civil services aspirants shall soon be taking an examination in ‘Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude’ as part of their endeavor to make a career in public administration. It is a laudable initiative, and one does hope that in the days to come, our denizens’ issues with the administration shall start getting resolved with empathy, pragmatism and promptness, sans any corrupt practices.    

As an average person, one is tempted to ask if our politicos should also be taking a similar test! We live in an era when probity in public life is at a nadir. The conduct of some of our honorable MPs and MLAs on the floor of our august legislative bodies often leaves us red-faced and scurrying for cover. The only time we see a semblance of unity amongst politicians of different hues is when they are faced by the threat of declaring their finances under the landmark RTI Act or when trying to thwart the judiciary’s attempts to keep criminals out of our polity.

How about an Indian Political Service?!

May be, the time has come to introduce an Indian Political Service? If meritocracy has to rule, those aspiring for a career in politics can be made to first apply to a body like the Union Political Service Commission! Detailed CVs backed by details of socially relevant projects handled, vision for the future, parentage and financial backing etc will need to be submitted and made public. Thereafter, the aspirants would need to undergo a rigorous selection process, comprising a written examination, followed by a group discussion, individual PPT presentations for the benefit of their target constituents, personal interviews and the like.

A professional working license can get issued only after a five-year internship with a duly registered political party. Thereafter, the incumbent could become entitled to joining the election fray. license can be put up for renewal once every five years.

Criteria for disqualification can also be laid down. Involvement in scams of any kind, a lapse in discharge of core duties, getting convicted in a court of law, disrupting legislative work, browsing the net for pornographic content while on duty, tax arrears of any kind, etc., could lead to suspension of the license to practice.

An exhaustive appraisal system can be put in place. Performance could be rated on various aspects like development works completed in the constituency, number of new legislations introduced, hours of legislative attendance registered, besides core targets met for the portfolio handled. For re-election, the license will need to be renewed based on the ballot performance.   

Would a Management Development Program Help?

In case our leaders and constitutional experts declare the above mentioned approach as null and void, another option is at hand. We can ask some of our premier management institutes to design a Management Development Program for our politicians! Such a program could have modules on ethics and integrity and behavioral sciences – with a focus on etiquettes and manners. A crash course on meditation techniques could lead our politicos to do some introspection on their own part, trying to figure out ways to attract today’s educated youth into the political mainstream, handling important legislations with equipoise and equanimity, controlling passions on the floor of the house and cleaning up the finances of the parties they owe their affiliations to.

In an era of scams and systemic corruption, the reputation of our political honchos has taken a severe beating. This is not to say that there are no straight forward and honest politicians ruling us. But corruption appears to rule the roost. Whether it is through a loot of the exchequer (Westland helicopters, fodder scam), sale of patronage (allocation of natural resources) or plain extortion and rent-seeking (pay or take the highway), the ingenuity with which public money gets siphoned off to either fill the political parties’ tills or to shore up personal fortunes is something which one cannot learn at management or accounting institutes.

Connecting with the Post-reforms Generation

All political parties need to do some introspection as to how to win and influence potential voters, specifically Gen-Z, meaning those who were born in the post-reforms era and who expect performance in place of promises and delivery in place of dithering.

The writing on the wall is clear – cleaning up political funding, giving up vote bank politics, avoiding inane bickering to win brownie points and joining hands to work together and taking concrete steps which enable common citizens to become successful entrepreneurs and make the delicately nurtured amongst us experience true freedom.

It is apparent that as a country, India has so far focused only on economic reforms. Reforms in the other realms of a vibrant democracy, like legislature and judiciary, are yet to be conceptualized and rolled out. We have miles to go before we get to sleep!

 

 

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