With a distinguished career marked by landmark policy formulation and implementation, former Secretary of the Ministry of Human Resources, Arun Kumar Rath, IAS (Retd), has a valuable perspective on bureaucracy, good governance, and interdepartmental coordination. His experiences provide a unique lens to understand the complexities of India’s administrative machinery and governance landscape and offer practical lessons for policymakers and administrators alike. Rath shared his thoughts on the intricacies of governance, the importance of effective policymaking, and the challenges of driving change within the system in an exclusive interview with Taazakhabar News. Excerpts:
Based on your experience as a former bureaucrat, is it possible to enhance coordination among ministries and departments in the Government of India? How?
Yes, coordination among ministries is both desirable and possible. Coordination among different ministries and agencies is the cornerstone of efficiency of the government in the delivery of public services. All Ministries and Departments of the government should have one common goal. They must serve the public interests and provide public services with dedication and commitment.
Whenever an issue of public interest comes within the domain of more than one Ministry, the prescribed mechanism of inter-ministerial consultations must take place immediately. Based upon such deliberations, a common view should be taken to present a unified stand on behalf of the government.
Such consultations are very helpful to iron out the differences. In case a common view is not reached, then inter-ministerial groups at higher levels must meet and take a final decision at the earliest by resolving the differences.
How can bureaucratic silos be broken down to foster integrated and outcome-oriented governance?
Integration is possible when experienced and senior representatives of Ministries discuss and arrive at a common stand on behalf of the entire government. Every ministry must fix outcome-oriented and measurable SMART goals, which should be achieved in a time-bound manner. Civil servants must strive to stick to the targets and prescribe deadlines for public service delivery.
Every civil servant must be assessed based on their performance in achieving the targets fixed for them by the ministry and department. Such planning and monitoring will ensure accountability and effectiveness in outcome-based public service delivery.
Can lateral entry into civil services enhance domain expertise and drive better interdepartmental coordination?
Lateral entries may take place, but it must be done very sparingly and carefully. There are challenges like justification of each lateral entry, their qualifications, agency and process of recruitment, pay-scales and career advancement issues of the lateral entrants, etc, in the government structure. The government structure is getting more and more specialised. There are multiple civil services with specialised expertise and training that are already providing specialised service to the government. The members of the core civil services are also receiving specialised training and orientation throughout their careers to fill the gaps in expertise and domain knowledge in the government departments. As such lateral entry should be taken up very selectively and with a great deal of caution!
What role do digital governance platforms like e-Samiksha or PRAGATI play in improving administrative efficiency?
As per feedback, the tracking devices are very useful in the process of monitoring and supervision. AI must be incorporated more and more in public offices for its advantages and benefits. At the same time, we should be careful about the adverse consequences also. It is imperative to introduce cybersecurity safety measures, also for vital data security, to prevent snooping inside the offices through AI devices.
You’ve had a long and distinguished career in public administration. How has the role of the civil servant changed over the years?
The role of civil services has changed a great deal in the past seven decades since independence. The civil servants in the British Raj were primarily concerned with the administration of revenue and the maintenance of law & order. However, the civil servant in modern India has vast additional responsibilities over the traditional functions.
Nowadays, the civil servants manage crucial items like different facets of development, economic administration and social justice in addition to revenue administration and law and order management. The expectations of people in a democracy have gone up manyfold. Today, the civil servant is multi-functional and better equipped to handle the emerging challenges in a welfare State
What is your advice to young civil servants to improve the government’s efficiency and citizen-centric good governance?
A young civil servant should realise that he has a golden opportunity to serve the nation for next few decades. He will enjoy great power of position, but that power should be used for social good and not personal benefit. The compensation he gets from the State should be enough to meet his needs. He need not abuse his authority for personal gain. He must be honest, sincere, hard-working, and sympathetic to the poor and underprivileged sections of society. There should be an approach of zero tolerance to corruption. He must take accountability for his actions and work in a mission mode.
He should continue to learn and pursue his academic interests in his career, which will help him acquire cutting-edge expertise to enable him to handle expert jobs in the government, instead of feeling inadequate as a generalist. He must be accessible to the public and junior officials and be sympathetic to the needs of people.
A high academic degree with a high IQ is not enough in life. He should develop high EQ (emotional quotient) as well as high SQ (spiritual quotient). Whatever he does should create a positive social impact. Ultimately, he should give back to society more than what he has received in life.
What kind of reforms would you recommend to improve inter-departmental coordination within the government?
Every agency of government should do a self-assessment to find out whether it is serving any national cause. Every civil servant should do introspection, whether he is fulfilling any social purpose or just pushing some papers and files coming his way. If he feels otherwise, he should reimagine his role and reinvent his goals in the civil service. He should see himself as part of a bigger structure designed to serve a social purpose. Nobody should waste time in departmental rivalries or unnecessary competition or self-aggrandisement, which will only weaken the collective impact of the government.
All departments must be motivated by their leaders to work in unison for the good of the common people who look to the government for support and empowerment. All should strive for seamless coordination among different ministries and departments so that the government apparatus becomes an instrument of public service and social good.
Long experience in the bureaucracy has taught him the best practices which he has espoused for the current and future bunch of young and aspiring civil servants so eloquently. Post-Government his foray into academics has added to his imagination and thought process.
Sir, thank you for your excellent articulation.