Lured into a life-killing rat race
Sociologist
ENOUGH has already been said and discussed about the tragic death of three IAS aspirants in New Delhi. It is like realising the implications of the all-pervading civil services myth, the agony of the perplexed/exploited generation, the crude business of India’s black education system — the demonic coaching industry — and above all, the unholy alliance of the merchants of education and corrupt government functionaries. Imagine the callousness and corruption — a fancy and well-advertised IAS coaching centre running a library in the basement of the building, and feeling quite at ease with this illegal act. Think of the way these aspirants bargain with the gang of brokers/property dealers for finding an accommodation in tiny/dark cells that characterise the lanes and bylanes of Old Rajinder Nagar in Delhi — supposedly the ‘sacred’ sites for aspiring civil servants. Think of the monsoon malady and the pathetic drainage system in the area. And think of the intense flow of rainwater entering the basement library, and three youngsters dying a terrible death. Everything, it seems, is possible in this soon-to-be Viksit Bharat!
The harsh reality cannot be escaped simply because we love to see the much-advertised smiling faces of the UPSC exam ‘toppers’.
Even though I understand the agony of these IAS aspirants, I feel like urging them to go deeper, question the myth that seems to have completely hypnotised them, rethink the meaning of ‘success’ and their life projects, and reflect on the price they pay — financial, mental and existential — for pursuing a goal that has often been imposed on them. To begin with, they need to understand the shallowness in the arguments they often make: “We want to become civil servants in order to serve the country.” Well, IAS/IPS officers do not monopolise patriotism. One who collects the garbage from our houses and keeps the ‘gated societies’ clean is no less a patriot. Moreover, only a naïve person would say that our bureaucrats are saints and altogether free from the influence of the hugely problematic politics-business nexus.
The IAS myth has such an overwhelming impact on this generation because it promises officially ‘legitimised’ power and privilege. Anyone who has lived in a small town or village in India knows how the power/aura of the district collector, the superintendent of police, or even the block development officer tempts the aspiring class. For many, it is a path towards upward social mobility. Yes, accept it — it is not essentially the unconditional love for the country, but the ‘will to power’ and associated privileges that fascinate these youngsters — from engineers and doctors to PhD holders, or from history/anthropology graduates to even political activists. The result is the life-killing rat race. Imagine more than 10 lakh aspirants appearing in the UPSC prelims exam, and eventually 1,000 or a little more getting selected for IAS/IPS and allied services! Yet, the power of the myth is so strong that most of these aspirants try repeatedly, spend a huge amount of money (say,
Rs 1.75 lakh only for general studies), end up wasting five or six years of their youthful lives, and eventually carry the stigma of ‘failure’.
Is it time for these youngsters to come to their senses, and debunk this myth? Think of the intensity of the damage it causes to them. For five/six years, what do they do? They shop around the overpriced coaching centres, and get attracted by the ‘star strategists’ (I do not regard them as teachers because meaningful teaching has a higher purpose) who instruct them how to prepare for general studies, history, psychology or Hindi literature, or ‘motivate’ them through their carefully crafted discourses. And from early morning to late night, they keep consuming the ‘notes’ or ‘success manuals’ through which the coaching centres colonise their lifeworld. Accept it, dear aspirants: In this highly mechanised and dehumanised process, there is no light, there is no joyful learning, and there is no serious engagement with even the ‘skills’ a future civil servant needs to cultivate. Possibly, after this tedious journey and endless drilling, most of these aspirants realise the utter meaninglessness of this process. If, for five years, you study history, literature or physics with creative joy, and under the guidance of great professors, you grow as a thinker/researcher. Or, possibly, you evolve as a mature and intellectually awakened human. But this rat race for some sort of mythical success kills one’s soul and causes severe mental fatigue. This harsh reality cannot be escaped simply because you and I love to see only the much-advertised smiling faces of the UPSC exam ‘toppers’ — the brand ambassadors of the gigantic coaching industry.
Is it, therefore, possible for these aspirants to widen their political and intellectual horizons, and raise their voice against the way schools/colleges/universities across the country have been allowed to decay, and the political/economic establishment has promoted and encouraged the mushrooming growth of coaching centres for almost everything — from the Mathematics Olympiad to board exams, or from standardised tests like JEE, NEET and CUET to the civil services exams? Have they ever thought why their college/university education should not be sufficient to do well in the UPSC exam? Have they reflected on the systematic decay of government schools and public universities and raised their voice against this onslaught on education? Or, for that matter, have they ever thought that corruption is ingrained in the very process of preparing for this sort of examination?
Dear aspirants, it is high time you began to stop mythologising the jobs of IAS/IPS officers. If you wish to free yourselves from this life-killing trap, you need to realise that your real success is your inner growth and creative fulfilment; it has nothing to do with the official power/privilege associated with IAS/IPS officers.
