View: Why IAS needs to change to IES in spirit | Economic Times

In an unusual (probably the first for any Indian PM) speech in Parliament, PM Modi commented on what the IAS, or even the entire civil services community, could do better. Specifically, he mentioned four things ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­— a) a need to change the negative attitudes of disdain, suspicion and cynicism towards the private sector and profit-making entities, b) questioned why babus need to run everything (from fertiliser plants to airlines, c) emphasised the private sector as a necessary and equal stakeholder in the country’s progress, d) asked where will India reach if the entire country is handed over in the hands of babus?Statements like these suggest a major shift in how the top leadership of the country thinks, which incidentally also mirrors the thinking of millions of India’s youth. Progress, especially the “$5 trillion GDP goal” kind of progress, is absolutely impossible without a thriving private sector. And yet, our babus have not evolved as fast to fit in with the new economic aspirations of India. In fact, ‘babu’ has now become a mildly derogatory word ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­— suggesting someone old-fashioned, who creates red-tape, slows things down and enjoys tormenting others with their power.The civil services community does need to take some responsibility. However, putting the entire blame on them would neither solve anything nor will it be completely fair.There are several reasons why the IAS (and the other civil servants) are the way they are, which we need to understand if we truly want to fix things.The single biggest reason for a sub-optimal civil service is a completely outdated and warped performance measurement structure, which incentivises the status-quo. A civil servant is never rewarded for making a big positive change. They are, however, penalised if things go wrong.Let’s say an IAS officer feels the current website of the public service he works for is terrible. A private firm should be hired to re-do it. What’s the incentive to get this done? Why not just wait (or coast) in your job for three years, until the next posting and promotion, which is essentially guaranteed if no feathers are ruffled. Now, if he were to hire a new private firm, there would be a) a ton of extra work getting approvals b) someone could allege bribes were taken, or maybe bribes are actually taken at some level, c) the website may not turn out as great or may take longer and d) you would be bothering other ‘coasting’ colleagues who hate you now for creating extra work, rather than just waiting it out until the next promotion. Best case, even if an amazing new website is created, the public benefits, but the IAS person who did it all gets nothing for it. What would a typical officer do with such trade-offs? Well, nothing. Coast, wait, promotion, posting, repeat.The problem is India as a country cannot afford to coast and wait. For while the IAS gets a promotion for coasting, India as a whole only gets left behind. India won’t rise unless we work fast, hard, become innovative, improve things and create systems that enable us to do all that.In this aspect of warped incentives, it’s not the civil servant’s fault. He or she has been told, don’t rock the boat. Ever. If the government wants to change this, the incentive structures of the IAS and other civil services must be overhauled.However, while systemic changes are needed, there is something the civil servants’ community needs to change too. Fact is, the system may be wrong, but civil servants haven’t exactly screamed for big change. Once they get through the insanely competitive exam, there seems to be a fondness for the existing system too. Coasting could become comfortable after all. Then there’s the power, the idea that a billionaire will come home tonight and fold hands to get something — it could get quite addictive. There’s also an acute disconnect with technology, especially amongst the older senior officers. Tech can transform governance, provided those in in-charge know the power of it. The many sluggish sarkaari websites tell you not many in the government know about UIs (user interface) or making websites from the point of view of the user, not the government department itself.Some of these aspects can be fixed (change attitudes, make tech training compulsory), and need to be as they are slowing India down horribly. It is breeding crony capitalism. It is keeping us in the India of 1980s, where a sarkari mai-baap allowed you to do business. As the PM said, times have changed. Civil servants have to not just administer, but also enable progress. That’s why, it is probably better if we change the IAS to IES. From Indian Administrative Services to Indian Enabling Services, not just in name, but also in spirit.Chetan Bhagat is a bestselling author and a popular newspaper columnist.