Bureaucracy is one of the most important pillars of the state, therefore it is important to study the factors that affect its efficiency and efficacy. It is general perception that bureaucracy is excessively politicized in India and same is here in Kashmir as well..
Despite being a very important pillar of government, the term „bureaucracy has turned satirical over time due to the specific role of bureaucracy in a government particularly in third world governments.
There is vide spread political interference in the working of civil services in Kashmir ,Bureaucracy itself is using political influence for illicit gains. The civil service suffers dependency syndrome and taking support of political leaders for even otherwise legitimate desires. Once obliged, the civil servants have no option but to consider the demands of political master even if they are against the prevailing law..
Though merit has become part of the promotion and selection process policy but appointments and promotions at various ranks of the civil service still continues to contain some political pressure.
Posting and transfer is the area that is most politicized in the Services, Posting of choice is not possible unless it is sponsored by an influential political figure. Impact of posting/transfer varies from department to department, e.g., the officers and official of Education Department, Colleges & Schools always seek posting at a major town or close to their home. The services of college and school teachers are hired and mostly as per service rules, they are liable to serve anywhere within the territory of Jammu and Kashmir or within the jurisdictions of their districts If the recruitment is at district level or within the jurisdiction of Division if it’s of divisional level and so on..
It always remain a tug of war between teachers for getting posting of choice and this is possible only with the patronage of political masters.The teachers, in turn help political leaders in getting more votes in their village or baradari. On the contrary, officers of the departments like Public Works Department (PWD) or Local Government & Rural Development seek posting which are more lucrative as it involves handling of more funds and more influence on contractors or public and in return the officer concerned has to fulfill the wishes of concerned politicians and their party workers to retain that posting for a long..
There have been many attempts to prepare a comprehensive policy for postings and transfers and for determining tenure of a posting, but none worked as the political considerations always bulldozed any such policy decision. In most of the states of India postings & transfers are purely at the discretion of Politicians.
We have even witnessed in Kashmir how the officer of the rank of IG was transferred on poltical lines. There is no established mechanism to gauge the politicization of civil service in any part of the world whereas bureaucracy is criticized a lot for its decisions that are either biased or taken under some political or other pressure. This socio-demographic complex makes the governance difficult and most untrustworthy for the common people. The baraderis exercise their will through political pressure and make it very difficult for civil service to take decisions on merit. This state of affairs creates an atmosphere of incredibility and insincerity on part of government functionaries.
The perception of politicization is prevalent in the civil service. Postings/ transfers are mostly made under political considerations without considering the golden principle of right man for the right job. Bureaucracy and politician are generally responsible for this state of affairs, it is also considered that there is an unholy nexus between both, that is badly affecting governance in the state.
The situation becomes worse when the element of accountability is found to be non-existent. An inefficient officer is usually transferred to a less important assignment and his performance never affects his career and promotion. Such officers at times reach highest positions and become a liability as they are seldom found suitable for any assignment.
The overall performance of public sector is affected by polticalization of bureaucracy,
Since politicization encourages those who have political connections, the hardworking and competent officers are de-motivated when they are ignored in postings or promotion they otherwise deserve. The output of civil service declines and results in promotion of a culture of corruption. Politicization results in red tapism and mismanagement. When a civil servant is obliged by a politician, he tends to compromise merit and rule of law. When politician is Incharge and a civil servant is holding a lucrative posting, the threat of getting posted/ transferred compels him to take biased decisions.
Politics is the profession of service to the people. When politicians seek money to get rich the nation is bound to head for trouble. The civilian government’s inability to deliver basic services and good governance is murdering the aspirations and faith of people on the system of governance..The fact remains that Kashmir suffers from the most corrupt, nepotistic and money hungry administration ever seen in its history. People who work on right principles are unrecognized and considered to be foolish in today’s Kashmir.
We have a history of scandals but the rate of convictions is almost nill,we have courts who fails to deliver justice before people lost faith in justice delivery system, we have the accused persons in different scandals but enjoying the poltical patronage,we have bureaucracy who mostly works under poltical patronage or to make their post retirement carriers while remaining in their services by pleasing their masters.
The growing disaster in our current scenario is that unfortunately we have more poltical servants instead of Government servants in our government offices where there is no recognisation for a poor and common ordinary citizen.
The author can be reached at wanimudasirnazir@gmail.com
