Question

Bureaucracy and politics; role of a bureaucrat and a politician, advantages and disadvantages

Answer 1

.Advantages and Disadvantages of Bureaucracy in India

 Advantages of bureaucracy in India:

The bureaucrat in India being the President’s or the Governor’s appointee, and serving during the President’s or the Governor’s pleasure, has to rise above party considerations. The bureaucrat takes order from the minister and acts accordingly within the limits of the Constitution. The civil servants also being administrative experts, remind the minister about the feasibility or otherwise of a particular course of action. Thus, the top civil servant has two duties towards his minister:

He has to remind the minister whether or not a particular course of action is constitutionally permitted, andWhether or not a particular course of action is practically feasible or not. The advice of the top civil servant on both counts is of immense value to the minister.

The Civil Service provides the permanent element in government. As the fortunes of the civil servants do not depend on political vicissitudes, they can take a dispassionate view on political developments. Their long-term view of national interest, not colored by immediate political considerations, gives the minister a glimpse of long term interest of the nation.

In India, civil servants enjoy a measure of social respectability not easily attained by people in other professions. Consequently, civil servants in most cases are honest and dutiful. The civil servants also are administrative experts. Hence the ministers have to depend on them.

The bureaucracy, through experience, knows what policy is or is not feasible. Hence the minister listens to the advice of the top civil servant as to the desirability of a policy from the administrative point of view. Thus, in a healthy situation, the minister and the bureaucracy are mutually complementary – the Minister contributing the policy decisions and the bureaucracy executing the decisions.

The bureaucracy in India works under the cloak of ministerial responsibility. For every act of the government, the minister is answerable to the Parliament. Though the bureaucracy executes government policies, they remain in splendid anonymity. They do not take part in Parliamentary debates nor are they members of political parties. The actions of the civil servants must be defended by the minister on the floor of the House. This system compels the minister to keep a close watch on the actions of the bureaucracy and the bureaucracy to behave in such a way that the minister is not put into difficulty.