After years of hard work, you become an IAS officer. You may think all those hardships come to an end. No! There are several issues existing in this field. It is important to understand the government system in India and your place in the system before you join the system. However, a large portion of aspirants may not know about the consequent sides of the Civil Services, which you will acknowledge not long after you join. It is quite necessary that you should have the entire picture of civil service before you make a choice about your profession.
bureaucracy Political and compulsions :
The democratic process, in a well-functioning democracy, will hopefully find answers to the problems of governance. Political pressure may be healthy if it results in higher demand for quality in administration and better services for the people. Properly controlled and wisely tempered stresses strengthen the governing spirit and help keep it on an even keel, but this is not happening in India.
Among the political and bureaucratic elite in government, there is a growing perception that the state is an arena where public office must be used for private purposes. Immediate political pressure on the distribution of patronage is so severe that ministers and bureaucrats have little time or desire to do conceptual thinking, plan successful programmes, remove those that do not perform well, and track programmes with a view to improving implementation effectiveness. Elections need funds at the same time that may come from the looting of the Government treasury.
The political structure in many states is responsible not to the public but to those behind the individual Representatives of the State-level Legislative Assemblies (MLAs); they are mostly contractors, mafias, crooked bureaucrats and manipulators who have made money from the political system and are thus involved in the continuity of anarchy and patronage-based administration. The problem is compounded by the fact that half of the politicians in some states are themselves criminals or have close criminal connexions and therefore have no faith in the rule of law.
State services are the most valued prize for both lawmakers and their political districts, contributing to a client-patron partnership between the holders of state influence and those seeking favours. Patronage shall be regulated by persons, not by existing entities constrained by established procedures. Where authority is highly personalised and weakly institutionalised, the decision-making process is replaced by discretionary and behind-the-scene transactions. In such a climate, the exercise of power by its client requires a fudging of laws, reliance on dishonest civil servants, the plundering of the public treasury, and the deterioration of governance. When the fencing continues to eat the ground, there is no hope that construction can hit the vulnerable.
Winston Churchill on the eve of India’s Independence had said, ‘Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight among themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles’. What appeared as a scandalous outburst then may be called an understatement now!
Corruption:
It is a fact that some aspirants are attracted towards civil services due to some myth-the incentives and royal image. They know a few officers or they have caught wind of a few officers who have made millions. They join the civil services to make profit illegally thinking that it is easy to do so. When they join these services, they find that no extra cash is accessible for the post. They need to do some unlawful movement or permit the illicit things to go ahead to profit. When you do any illicit demonstration, there is always a risk of getting caught even after you have demitted the office.
Disappointment & Frustration:
People's management is the most difficult investigation, but the easiest art. The Civil Service Job Profile is always teamwork where there is a need to collaborate with politicians, authorities and ordinary workers. IAS officers feel the greatest pressure and tension as they are faced with a large number of vulnerabilities and are continually adjusting their workplaces. Stress can also increase rapidly if your ability to manage outside varieties is low.
Young officers entering the civil service have a high opinion of themselves and believe that any other person must pursue their own paths. Most of them draw inspiration from the films during their planning. They see films where a single youth officer changes the system and starts to trust the same thing. Aspirants should understand the fact and fix the issue accordingly.
Not Excellence Acknowledgement
According to Aristotle, perfection is the art of practice and habituation. It is not compulsory for your work to be recognised and praised every time. When you work in public services, there's nothing you can do without the support of your team and the goodwill of the characters. Honest and brave officers are punished with dismissal and embarrassment.
Transfers
Imagine that changing your job every month and year. That is what the average IAS officer life once he tries, to be honest. The transfer malaise is all-pervasive. Everything relies on the impulses of the minister and sometimes an honest to goodness necessity. Sometimes transfers are so often that in a year one can get transferred to as many as 5-6 different places. Transfer, unquestionably it is a major issue when the life partner is likewise working and cannot change the urban areas so every now and again. This also affects the family, kids, etc. You should be prepared to live alone, in the event that you pick All India Services.
The overall condition in our governance system is unpleasant. At first glance, it would seem that not very many are morally good. Some people, during preparation talk against corruption, once they get into service they change. If you want to become an honest IAS officer, then you have to deal with many lapses in the career due to honesty from getting not top posts to being threatened by politicians. Wannabes should understand the essence of the term “civil servant”. Then only one can succeed in this profession. Every day, a new situation emerges, issues manifest, and the Civil Servant must be set up to satisfy the circumstance and undertake the issue.