India throws ultra dynamic diplomatic card on the Chinese table

India issued visa to multiple Chinese dissidents like Dolkun Isa, Lu Jinguha, Ray Wong to attend the 'World Uyghur Congress' in Dharamsala with the Tibetan exiled leader 'HH Dalai Lama' among others. The controversy surrounding the sudden ultra offensive stance by India against China in terms of reversing the policy on internal non-interference evoked nationalist muscularities. But the delight was short-lived with India cancelling the issued visas on technical grounds. This on-and-off relationship evoked strong criticism from the puerile as well as nationalist ranks. Indian media as usual started reading between the lines from the writings on the wall to assimilate their little understanding of the issue by playing rhetorical series to invoke ultra nationalism. But does it really mean that India itself co-opted a 'planned embarrassment'?

Prudential diplomacy requires understanding the weather patterns before the clouds start to rain. The identification of the characteristics of the clouds on the basis of amount of moisture it contains, capability to create 'thunderstorms' and understanding the 'white-wool like structure' requires abandonment of foolish consistencies. India judiciously applied the 'paradox of value' of Adam Smith in political terms by trading the opportunity of China's veto to Masood Azhar's banishment (being water in Smith's value paradox) with the border agreement with China (being diamond in Smith's value paradox). But how? India cunningly created panic among the Chinese policy makers by signalling a policy shift to accommodate pro-democracy and Uyghur activists from the volatile Xinjiang province under its umbrella. But the sweetness of the deal lies in the fact that they were not allowed to touch the soil, thereby keeping the Chinese to anticipate the possible ramifications of India's future contingency plans like this. Like virginity, a card once played loses its value. Hence, the subtlety dictates keeping the cards closed and keep the foe guessing.

As ends justify the means, the result of such diplomatic overtures can be judged victorious if we happen to secure some legitimate long-term interests vis-à-vis China. A long pending approval to negotiate border agreement, trade disputes and strategic interests should have been secured on the basis of reciprocity of such a generous gesture from our side. The controversy came amidst the visit of our National Security Advisor 'KC Ajit Doval', who is also the plenipotentiary of the Prime Minister on the bilateral negotiations on the border agreement. It is not hard to understand who, how and why dictated such an act of a 'planned embarrassment' and pushed the Ministry of External Affairs in fire-fighting, probably after securing overdue long term interests. A short-term 'perceived embarrassment' may sometimes become inevitable to secure long-term gains. But a cautious approach advises India to keep the Chinese dissidents in close confidence and exploit the opportunities available through them optimistically.Dynamics of diplomacy are surely hard to understand and the usual writings on the wall may not secure legitimate interests due to the ever-changing potentialities of the adversaries and the allies alike. Albert Einstein says 'insanity' is doing one thing again and again and expecting different results every time. Therefore, to quote Mr Doval, “India has a mentality to punch below its weight. We should not punch below our weight or above our weight, but improve our weight and punch proportionately.”

Is the Indian Administrative Service a 'Steel Frame' or a 'Steel Cage'?

Indian Administrative Service is the backbone of the executive authority in India. Coming from diverse backgrounds, cultures and regions, these officers under one roof truly encompass the feeling of ‘unity in diversity’. The UPSC is responsible for the selection of the officers in a fair and transparent manner, exhibiting faith in the noble ideas of democracy. The diverse and rich experience of the members of the service allows the officers to handle the complexity of on the job administrative situations and therefore adds to the valor of the post itself. It is perfectly described as ‘permanent executive’ because they generally serve the country until their age of retirement and do not fall with the fall in the ‘political executive’.

The IAS helps in the smooth functioning of the government and administer complex on the job situations for which they are adequately trained in advance and are put forward to the job for execution. They are the policy formulators who manufacture future-oriented policies that could give a fillip to the prudent administration and inclusive growth of our country. As they are accorded with the task of maintenance of law and order too, they are generally considered very essential especially for the local administration. They are selected and trained by central authorities, therefore adequate safeguards are provided by the Central Government for the security of their tenure via inter-cadre transfers, deputations on central machinery and transfers under central pool. Also, the officers are the members of various IAS Associations which help the officer in the hour of the need to combat any act of injustice forwarded towards the officer, at the root level itself and also helps in case the matter reaches the judiciary. The IAS Officers theoretically work in an environment free from external pressures, accorded special protection and are adequately remunerated to dissolve the family tensions. They generally do enjoy the power to make decisions and are regarded essential for the administration. Their assistance to the political executive with special reports, documents of proof and ideas for the formulation of laws with the approval of the superior authorities generally sums up their executive work in totality.

But the picture is not as rosy as it is perceived. In the past few cases, the political interference has far exceeded its limit with the use of coercive, threatening and forceful abuse of political power on the permanent executive. The whole idea of subordination of bureaucracy lefts little scope of independent decision making. The agents of policy formulation and implementation of the same are merely accorded with the task of implementation in practicality. It is a common practice to change the bureaucrats via transfers and postings from time to time according to the whims and fancies of the political party in power, especially when the new government takes charge after the elections. The bureaucrat swears on the constitution for the prevention of any malpractice and corruption to uphold the sanctity of the constitution but the inadequate protection to the whistleblower invites threat from the non-state actors (like Mafia) and criminals, often working under the umbrella of the political power of the state. It jeopardizes the life of the concerned bureaucrat and his/her family and in such a situation he/she chooses to remain silent and thereby unwillingly compromise on his/her duty towards the state.

Also, with recent increase in complexities of administration, the workload of the officers have increased manifold as evident with inadequate supply of the officers as compared to the need of them in various departments. Adding insult to the injury is frequent transfers that are ‘rewarded’ generally to hide the malpractices of the political game, ultimately weakening the ‘war on corruption’. Frequent transfers have also hurt badly to the functioning of the concerned department because by the time the officer acquires experience to deal with the complexities of the issues of the department, he/she is transferred and the new head starts gaining experience from the scratch.

Increased unnecessary regulations via archaic laws in the name of transparency, is also detrimental to the working of the bureaucracy. It affects the functioning and questions the ability of the bureaucrats to handle the different real life situations for which there can not be a perfect way to carry out. Over emphasis on regulations in the name of transparency have instilled a fear in the minds of the bureaucrats and therefore, they generally avoid risky decisions that could add to the disadvantage of their job profile. Unnecessary accountability practices are also hurting the day to day work of the department by increasing the workload of the already under-staffed departments.

Therefore the need of the hour is to diversify and regularly update the selection procedures with special emphasis on the required skills for the job. We could always stop regarding the bureaucrats as ‘jack of all and master of none’ and rather bring them under a more demand of the job oriented framework for which the candidate would already possess certain skills and the training would merely work as a polish for their skills.

·         The frequent transfers and postings should be avoided until or unless there is a dire need of it because the officer acquires rich experience in a department and transferring him/her would mean killing that valuable experience.

·          Regular exchange programmes (like University Students) with foreign bureaucrats would add to their skills and capabilities and would ultimately provide innovative ideas to deal with the complexities of administration.

·         According adequate safeguards to the whistleblower (with certain exceptional cases) would arm our officers against the ‘war on corruption’.

·         Loosening unnecessary regulations, strengthening UPSC like authorities through autonomous functioning, getting rid of archaic laws would enhance the competitiveness and capabilities of our bureaucrats.

·         Accepting major recommendations of the ARC II Report without adding any political colour to it could strengthen our executive backbone.

The Indian Administrative Service is not a ‘colonial legacy’ but a dream of an independent India whereby the educated, hard-working youth of our country comes with a very high morale to serve the country and thereby contributing their rich experience to the ever growing and ever expanding dream of a ‘United and Shining India’. For the dream to become a reality, we have no right to keep the IAS in the ‘steel cage’, rather a ‘steel frame’ should be built around this organ of the executive so that it could work for the betterment of our society, region as well as the country in large.