India's bumbling bureaucrats

Anand Soondas Thursday June 04, 2009
Why are we not surprised that India's "suffocating bureaucracy" has been named the worst and least efficient in the whole continent, behind even gnarled Vietnam, Communism-eaten China and bulbous Indonesia in a survey by 1,274 expats working across 12 north and south Asian nations.

Oh, the economies under consideration didn’t include Nepal, but I wonder if our famed IAS honchos would have beaten their counterparts in that bedeviled country where a secretary-level officer gets about Rs 14,000 per month!

Why have things come to such a pass? And will it ever change? Let’s begin with the first question. Passing a grueling exam where lakhs of bright young men and women apply, and in which an astounding 10,000 are just cleared for the mains, after which it’s down to less than a thousand who make it to the final list, these people should have been in cracking form, with wit and administrative acumen to match. How do they fail then? Especially because they most certainly are amongst the top brains chosen to help run a country of a billion, clearing a test many claim to be one of the toughest in the world.

In one sentence: They are MADE to fail– by the clichéd but all-important SYSTEM. Which is not to say there haven't been shining examples of honest, upright men and women who have beaten the system and survived to tell tales of hard battles fought over decades.
Read more:
India's bumbling bureaucrats & what ails them
India’s ‘suffocating bureaucracy’ worst in Asia: Survey