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INDEPENDENCE SPECIAL/ GOVERNANCE

A princely sum of Rs 350 is what used to be the total salary of an IAS officer at the start of his service in 1949. A secretary at that time was getting Rs 3,500. Almost 60 years later, an IAS officer's pay scale starts at Rs 8,000, while the secretary gets Rs 30,000. The annual batch of IAS officers every year in the 1950s used to have 50-70 officers. Today, each batch consists of close to 400 officers. The training of IAS officers those days used to be undertaken in Metcalfe House in Delhi. Probationers would live in nearby areas and cycle their way to Metcalfe House. In 1958, the training school was shifted to Mussoorie.

Till 1985, IAS officers could choose the state to whose service cadre they would like to belong with an option of three choices in order of preference. Under the new system, an officer is asked to name only one state and in the absence of vacancies in that state, he is allotted to the next state where there is a vacancy.

Many IAS officers have been victims of the whims of their politician bosses. Charanjit Chanana, an industry minister in the Congress government in the 1980s and a close friend of Sanjay Gandhi, made obvious his dislike for his additional secretary, G V Ramakrishna, who was an Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS officer and who after retirement became the first chairman of Sebi. One day S M Ghosh, the industry secretary, told Ramakrishna that Chanana wanted the latter to be shifted out of the ministry. Ramakrishna confronted the minister but to no avail. Eventually, Ramakrishna agreed to be shifted to the Planning Commission.

Worse humiliation was faced by an even more formidable IAS officer, B G Deshmukh, who became the cabinet secretary in the 1980s and was principal secretary to three successive PMs "" Rajiv Gandhi, V P Singh and Chandra Shekhar. In conformity with tradition, Deshmukh wanted to know from Chandra Shekhar if he wanted him to continue in the job after the latter took charge as Prime Minister. Chandra Shekhar told Deshmukh to complete his tenure that was due to end in a few months. But within days, Deshmukh was informed by a minister in the cabinet that a new principal secretary had been appointed and that he would have to leave. Deshmukh met Chandra Shekhar and wanted to know from him why he behaved in this manner. There was no explanation. Later, Deshmukh's request to the government to allow him to work for the Tatas after he left the government was turned down by Chandra Shekhar.

IAS officers believe no job is beyond them and that they can place people in positions of their liking. Bimal Jalan, India's executive director on the board of the IMF, was keen to return to India and join the V P Singh government. So, Deshmukh ensured that Jalan swapped positions with Gopi Arora, who was finance secretary in the Rajiv Gandhi government. Deepak Nayyar was made the chief economic advisor. Another senior economic advisor in the ministry took objections to this decision on grounds of seniority. So, Deshmukh saw to it that this officer was sent to the World Bank as a sop. All this was fixed and arranged by the all-powerful IAS.