My Rendezvous with the Indian Bureaucracy

My first day at IIT Delhi, was not the day of the counseling but the day when I came here to submit my IIT JEE application form at the JEE office. And the person at the counter who was accepting forms screamed at me, just because I hadn't taken out the form from its brown envelope. What was the reason he got so angry with me for practically no reason at all?

Much has been said and written about Indian Bureaucracy. The way they act as deterrent to Indians who want to invest here, the way they take bribes for doing their jobs, the way they show disrespect to their fellow Indians and act as if they are doing a favor to them while in actuality, they are doing their duty for which they are being paid by the Government. I would like to specially mention two incidents in this regard which have been mentioned by Arun Shourie, the former Disinvestment and Communication Minister, in his book 'Governance and The sclerosis that has set in'. Even though they are bizarre, they are very much true. And they are - once the Indian Government officials were faced with the simple question whether to use red or green ink on files. But this was enough to set off meetings, letters, and references to other ministries that stretch over a year. A tree falls on the house of the Indian High Commissioner; for nine years Government deliberates and weighs pros and cons, but is unable to decide who is to repair the house, and how. Meanwhile, lakhs of rupees are wasted in paying accommodation for a rented house for the Commissioner.

I would particularly like to talk about the misbehavior of the bureaucrats towards their fellow Indians. I ask you, why shouldn't Indians go abroad and cause brain drain when they don't get an atom of respect here for what they have achieved? Here, they have to face these ridiculing bureaucrats who cause all problems in the world if their palms are not adequately greased. Showing of such disrespect, whether anyone accepts it or not, is very much real and present even inside the elite campus of IIT Delhi. I would like to take my own example in this respect when I recently went to the UG section to talk to the Deputy Registrar. The way he treated me, you would have thought a master was scolding an errant servant. I shall always remember how that man insulted me. I shall always remember how he fractured my self respect. And I shall particularly remember the way he asked me to "get out" of his office, not once but twice. All this happened despite the fact that I was very polite to him and never answered back. On the other hand a few months back, I happened to go to the Foreigner's division at the Ministry of Home Affairs. To my great surprise and delight, I was treated well and my application processed very fast, even though it had a flaw and the officials could have easily delayed my requests if they had wanted to. Why were there such vast differences between treatment to the same person in two different scenarios? This only goes on to prove that Indian bureaucrats and in general Indians have greater respect for foreigners and lesser or no respect for their fellow Indians. What is the reason for such behavior? Do they think their fellow Indians are not worth giving respect to? Or are Indians still slaves to the white skin? This is a question I would like to ask you all.

x----x

I wrote this article for the IIT Campus magazine, but I had to change a few sentences in the above article as it was seen as 'a direct personal attack against an influential IIT bureaucrat'.
Precisely I had to change the following
'I would like to take my own example.... that I was very polite to him and never answered back.' to
'I would like to take my own example in this respect when I recently went to the UG section for some clarifications. I was shocked by the treatment I got. I was screamed at, even though I had been very polite. That event has left me disillusioned about the way some bureaucrats think they can get away with anything. My self respect was severely dented on that day.'

I submitted this article to the chief editor during August 2005, but it hasn't found a place in the magazine till yet, though I have been promised that the edited version will be printed in the next issue.

Later, I came to know that the article was dumped by them, they had gone back on their promise. The chief editor of the magazine remarked to me, in a very casual manner, that - "Your article will never be printed in the magazine!"