A purposeless civil service
HORSE-RIDING was a mandatory part of the training imparted to ICS officers of the pre-Partition era. The reason was less chivalrous and more practical as horses were a viable mode of transport and administrative officers would need the skill ever so often to visit their jurisdiction.
Horse-riding continues to be part of the training of the officers of the Pakistan Administrative Service, the erstwhile District Management Group, even today. Since horse-riding instils self-confidence and improves physical fitness one can argue that this is something which still has at least some farfetched purpose, unlike the countless practices and policies of our civil services that continue to prevail despite having no purpose at all.
It would not go down very well with many of my juniors, seniors and peers, if I say that the ‘elite’ civil service of Pakistan is in fact the ‘obsolete’ civil service of Pakistan.
The morale of the aspirants taking the Central Superior Service (CSS) exam, the gateway to the ‘elite’ civil service of Pakistan, will be badly hit as well and they might end up blaming me for their subsequent failure.
Whatever the reaction, it would not change the fact that from pay scales to promotion criterion, office buildings to office environment, the superiority complex of seniors to the sycophancy of juniors, every single facet of the elite civil service of Pakistan is obsolete.
On a recent trip to Singapore I had the privilege to shadow a young but senior Singaporean bureaucrat. Chee Seng is on a three-year secondment as executive vice-president with a big oil company and will rejoin the government-run Energy Market Authority of Singapore on completion of the period.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Chee Seng invited me to a dinner along with some of his colleagues. The lady sitting on my right having graduated from the London School of Economics on a state scholarship was working in the Ministry of Finance and the young gentleman on my left had graduated from Stanford University and was serving in the Ministry of Trade and Industry. While waiting for dinner to be served, I could not resist the temptation of asking the question that had been rearing its head since the start of my interaction with Chee Seng and his very qualified colleagues. What on earth were they doing in the government sector with such profiles and talent? They were unanimous in stating that it was the place where their talents were put to the greatest use and where they were most appropriately rewarded.
The Singapore civil service is one of the most efficient and least corrupt in the world with some of the highest paid civil servants. This high-wage structure was introduced in the early to mid-1990s and civil service salaries are pegged to those of the private sector.
The Singapore government introduced civil service reforms in the 1990s and a couple of decades down the road these have proven their effectiveness. Public Service for the 21st Century (PS21) was the flagship reform programme. It met two objectives and these are also what we need most to make our obsolete civil service more goal-oriented.
Firstly, civil servants must be motivated into nurturing an attitude of service excellence in meeting the needs of the public with high standards of quality, courtesy and responsiveness. This can be achieved by better perks, ruthless performance audit and breaking the “iron rice bowl” (translation of a Chinese term used to refer to an occupation with guaranteed steady income and benefits).
Office files moving from the desk of one babu to another must be taken over by emails and record registers should be taken over by servers and databases. Many might find it hard to believe that even in this day and age, a single police station anywhere in Pakistan maintains as many as 27 registers related to documentation and still we ask the reason for our police being unable to tackle crime.
Singaporean mandarins are actually very young when compared to Pakistani civil servants who are at a similar level in the hierarchy. Peter Ong, who heads Singapore’s civil service, is 50 years old and has been in senior positions (equivalent to that of a grade 22 secretary in Pakistan) since 2002 when he was merely 40.
On the contrary, in Pakistan a recent change in the promotion criterion of civil servants ensures that an officer must have completed at least three years in BPS 20 to qualify for promotion to BPS 21. To be honest, this would serve no purpose except for blunting the talents of our bureaucrats even further.
Secondly, the Singapore civil service is not closed to hiring talented individuals from outside the service structure. In fact, unlike the case in Pakistan, this practice is not despised by the bureaucrats. Pakistani bureaucrats despise technocrats because the appointment of a technocrat to a bureaucratic position means that the babus are left without their share in the big game.
In Singapore civil service the line differentiating technocrats from bureaucrats has been smudged by transforming bureaucrats into technocrats by providing them with training opportunities and keeping them motivated by a just system of reward and appreciation.
Lastly, as someone once said, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. Need I say more?
The writer is a civil servant.
Though I concur with the basic idea of this post but in my personal opinion, taking Singaporean system as a leading light will be disastrous
Overall nice article to highlight your grievances
Though I concur with the basic idea of this post but to take Singapore as a leading light will be disastrous for Pakistan
May be in Singapore examination and candidates were from every walk of life. In Pakistan almost 95% who qualify to become CSP are relatives of High profile breaucrates. It will be a good exercise to find out who is who.
so sad
Please stop comparing apples with rotten oranges.
Precise and to the point . Current lot is obselete and out of touch with the realities of our demands today.
It is quite insightful. The author needs to nurture change from within as he is part of this purposeless existence. Word of advice for him is to get act together as an individual officer and become change agent. Nothing more easier expressing views retained from a junket.
Well put. Its comical how a group of people whose skill set is to manage backward rural districts (the DMG) can consider themselves “elite”. That skill (and associated mindset) is just about as obsolete in todays organisation as the typewriter.
Then, as you point out, the operating systems on which the bureaucracy runs – well, its a bit like the old Dos based PC’s we used to have before Windows came along in the 1990′s. Or to think of another analog, its like trying to run a modern urban metro train system using 19th century steam locomotives!
“Pakistani bureaucrats despise technocrats because the appointment of a technocrat to a bureaucratic position means that the babus are left without their share in the big game”. These “Babus” have been creating more problems than solving them.
Unfair interference by politicians, feudal chiefs and military warlords into the civil service has wrecked its self respect.
we got our liberty in 1947 but unfortunately we could not liberate our mind. Our ICS officers are still have the same mind of our British era; Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride a horse unless your back is bent.
In spite of some drawbacks we should be thankful to British Raj for giving institution of Civil service. It was becuse of these civil servants that government machinery kept moving.On the other hand earlier muslim league leaders coming from feudal back ground lacked in depth education of history, science,philosophy and peoples needs and their psychology therefore they could not lay foundation stone for a public welfare state.Earlir blunder of not getting decided merger of Kashmir( where all our river originates and economy depends mostly on irrigation) in Pakistan before partition landed us into a security state policy.Present cader of civil servant is decaying becuse of uneducated (education in real sense) and corrupt political and military leadership.Schools, colleges and universities are the nurseries for imparting knowledge. Beside old curriculam , achievements in these depends on favouritism and corruption. Boys coming out of these universities compete for selection through Public Service Commission. Appoinment in PSC is not based on competency,knowledge and good reputation.It is based mainly on political and ethnic considerations. Hence real honest, dedicated and hard working boys are mostly not selected.
These days models of successful civil services are available, If our leaders have will and desire to see progressing welfare state free from dependence on other countries and poverty easily one of the models can be picked up.
Good piece of writing but incomplete. Civil servants are just like a tip of the iceberg and the submerged body is the real mass. The junior government servants [non-commissioned staff] constitute a machinery, responsible for executing the task. First the machinery or the vehicle metaphorically speaking must be over-hauled in terms of maintenance, care and performance than investing everything in the driver. Civil servants [drivers] are poised to be elite or superior class all-knowing perfect vested with limitless powers including the chunk of discretionary authority can never steer clear of the inefficiency unless juniors or subordinate work force is equally considered for rapid career course of opportunities and their well-being is also worried about same as the writer shows concerns about the well-being of the elite servants, so to say. Promotion structure for civil servants is implemented in verbatim but the executioners [lower work force] languishes for years till their retirements or death on the way to it. Visit any department and see the difference between offices of the bureaucrat and the lower staff, transportation of the bureaucrat and the lower staff [without it], perks and perquisites of the bureaucrat and the lower staff. The change always comes up-down: lets reduce the difference and enclose importance to whosoever functionally not in terms of position held. Singapore may be a good example but Europe of USA still better where the adage clouds: Aik He Saff Mein Kharay Ho gaye Mehmood-o-Ayaz, Na Koi Bunda Raha Na koi Bunda Nawaz. Regards.
Yet another excellent article by Syed Saadat. Unfortunately, the people who are taught horse riding , end up in riding at the backs of civil servants of other cadres. And promotion policies are twisted and modified to benefit them at the cost of other cadres. Condition of three years in BPS 20 is a similar move.
Regards,
a civil servant
Civil service is responsible for proper functioning of the government. Looking at the functioning of the government in the last 65 years I question why do we maintain a financially burdening civil service whcih does not perform at all.
No ones happy with what they get
I served in the Pakistan Civil service and then left to serve my country as a Project Manager and General Manager of Pakistan’s first polyester plant in its small chemical industry. I am now in the US as a energy and chemical industry expert . However, my greatest satisfaction was when I served my mother country almost 30 years ago. I would love to serve my nation again and solve its energy and resource problems;the solutions are there; only we need to strategize and implement plans with due diligence and efficiency. We need to have an integrated energy, refining and chemicals policy but few in Islamabad have this global perspective.Pakistan’s energy problems can be resolved within five years but for this we need a committment and motivation to get the job done. There is no place for politicians to interfere in this serious business; only to facilitate this work.
Civil servants in Pakistan are competitively selected from a cadre of very intelligent people. However, unlike Singapore’s thrust of pushing the country forward through highly motivated and focused bureucrats – intent on pushing the country forward, Pakistan’s bureucrats lack the motivation and knowledge to push the country forward. Take the energy industry, very few bureucrats understand the complex global interactions propelling various energy initiatives forward, the question of feedstock availibility, the technologies required , capital cost requirements, and the cheapest solutions to resolve very complex national needs. However, the bureucrats in Singapore tackled these problems and successfully made their country a leader in SE Asia.
First of all, you need to have an environment of peace in the country. Militancy and war policies do NOT fit in with economic development. Then bring in your best experts from all over the world and give them a free hand to evelop a Master Plan to take the country forward. Without a Master Plan, we will just grope in the dark with no fixed objectives.
Finally, act in the country’s best self interest. The world will respect you and stand aside , when you develop your country with care.
Corruption will zap a country’s morale and the will to do good.
Pakistan must choose wisely!!!