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Legacy to Bureaucracy
After obtaining his Master’s degree in Physics from Delhi University, he was faced with a dilemma—whether to seek a career in science and research or in civil services. He approached his teacher Dr D. S. Kothari for guidance. Dr Kothari counselled: "IAS many can do, but there are not many who have the background for good scientific work". He further advised him to prepare himself for a career in nuclear engineering, and then straightaway offered him the post of a Research Assistant in his department. Thus was launched his career in the field of scientific research. But soon thereafter, he abandoned it for a career in the civil services because of a number of reasons, particularly the desire and preference of his mother. He had his initial training at IAS Training School, Delhi. The author found in his Principal, R. K. Trivedi, a true administrator. There was no match for him in the knowledge of matters relating to services because he was familiar with every nuance of it. The year spent at IAS Training School provided him enough inputs for a broad understanding, as he puts it, of the national ethos and characteristics of our administrative system. After the training, he was allocated to Uttar Pradesh and posted as Assistant to the Collector of Jhansi. In the meantime, he visited England and a number of countries. He travelled by ship. This trip gave a new dimension to his outlook, confidence and personality. Back home, he was posted as SDM, Jhansi, and then promoted as City Magistrate there. Ascending the ladder of promotion, he had a number of postings as District Planning Officer, Saharanpur, Additional District Magistrate, Gorakhpur, District Magistrate Deoria, Pilibhat, Aligarh and Muzaffarnagar in succession. Later, he moved from the field to the State Secretariat. First he was posted as Deputy Secretary Home and Vigilance where he was privy to all the intelligence reports. There he became familiar with the working of the politicians’ mind. The politician was happy if a tough line was taken where his adversaries were involved, but the action had to be much milder where his own followers were in the dock. Later, during the President’s rule in UP after Bahuguna’s ouster, he was appointed Administrative Secretary to the Governor Dr M.Chenna Reddy. The President’s rule lasted for 55 days. Each night, his session with Dr Reddy started at 10 pm and ended around 2 am. The following mornings he was back in his office from 8 am onwards. He found that Dr Reddy himself was a tireless worker. Later, his name was sent to the Central government for appointment as Joint Secretary. After serving in couple of ministries, he was back in UP as Secretary Medical Education, Health and Family Welfare and then in the ministries of Transport and Labour. He retired in 1992 when he was a Member of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction. All through his career, he asserts proudly, that he upheld the ideals of integrity and rectitude. Part V of the book contains a mine of information regarding the pitfalls that await a bureaucrat working in a milieu surcharged by politics, where he has to pilot his boat dextrously. The brush with crafty politicians calls for ingenuity of a high order if one is keen to tread the path of rectitude and uprightness. Though there are numerous grammatical howlers in the book, the narrative is interesting as it contains many snippets of wit and humour.
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THE
book is a record of the author’s personal memoirs. Since his family
was uprooted in 1947 (when he was barely 12 years old) from Lyallpur,
West Pakistan, it also contains his reflections on pre- and
post-Independence India. The inspiration to write this autobiography was
first provided by a fictional character of Andrew Eliot (in Erich Segal’s
novel The Class). Shobha De’s Selective Memory, the
author asserts, turned out to be the biggest fillip for building his
resolve to undertake the task.