Civil service reforms

Today’s realities call upon the members of the civil service to understanding of approaches in dealing with issues

The spectacular strides in information technology, the advent of an age of mass communication, the growing urbanisation, the rapidly-escalating threat of climate catastrophe have confronted the world with new challenges. Mankind faces existential dangers from a host of potential flashpoints. Pakistan is not immune to these changes. The hazards and enormous risks loom over the horizon.

This new environment of countries facing unprecedented challenges places huge burden on those who would formulate visions, new approaches and create administrative systems to implement a wide range of new, innovative policies.

Is the civil service really up to this stupendous challenge of catering to these issues?

The tragedy in Pakistan, in relation to the role and its contribution, is that successive governments have subjected this great institution to its own lopsided whims, naive and absurd thinking and its grandiose though preposterous goals and objectives.

Pakistan inherited a disciplined and well-trained civil service at the time of Partition. Indeed the civil service of the sub-continent was one of the finest institutions that any colonial power would have left behind.

Rather than retaining, improving and making the civil service cadres more responsive and more motivated to deliver better services to an expanding population in a new environment, rulers sought to achieve short-term goals at the expense of the wider national agenda, employing the institution of the once wholly neutral, trained and skilled civil service.

The decline in quality was swift and unmistakable. The country and the people suffered.

India inherited the same system and institutions. Why has it not fiddled with the institution of civil service?

As with strong democratic foundations, the system of civil service undergoes changes when and where necessary but these are not discarded or dismantled to satisfy the lust and ego of rulers.

Today’s realities call upon the members of the civil service not just to have knowledge but rather practical understanding of approaches in dealing with issues like pollution, waste management, clean water, better sewerage and drainage system, more innovative irrigation practices, quality education and numerous others.

There are issues of agriculture like better farm management, loans, equipment, seeds, fertilisers, high-value crops, soil erosion and marketing. Creating job opportunities, enhancing level of exports and better utilisation of natural resources are issues that need attention. Civil service provides the much-needed advice to the government to design and implement policies that are realistic and deliver quick output.

For these and many more such activities, members of the civil service need to be adequately trained. But that objective is seldom discussed or addressed.

Other than those who deal with specialised sectors like tax, customs, police, postal service and IT, there is a need in most developing countries for a generalised cadre of civil servants who perform administrative duties and functions in such areas as rural development, water supply, education, basic healthcare, security, resolution of disputes and above all act as empowered coordinators at the district level to ensure that all government departments work in unison to achieve the goals of a society that is in tune with the needs of the population .

In the South Asian cultural context, such a role used to be the responsibility of the civil servants who were recruited through a transparent, fair system of selection. The best of the best used to be appointed to discharge the onerous responsibilities in the districts and upwards in the provincial and central governments.

Because most day-to-day problems faced by the teeming millions could not be addressed and resolved at the district level, there was need to institute a system in which an effective coordinator could not only act as a watchdog on the performance of other departments but also discharge responsibilities as a court to deliver decisions in matters involving revenue and criminal cases. This responsibility equipped and armed the coordinator with sufficient legal powers so that his position would be respected and his decisions executed without any reservations.

The evolution of the institution of a district magistrate in South Asia was one of the most enduring phenomena that ensured timely disposal of revenue and criminal disputes.

The system delivered. More than half of the problems faced by the public were resolved at no cost to them at the district level — the District Magistrate using his clout and authority to help resolve problems like maintenance of order, disposal of disputes, removal of encroachments; ensuring action where warranted in matters like power, water supply, sewerage and drainage, running of schools, dispensaries; tackling issues like polio, vaccinations, roads, fertilisers; and dealing with unions, strikes and other such issues generating unrest in the communities .

The system worked well until it was dismantled by a military dictator having no knowledge of the huge damaging implications that such a move would cause. Indeed, there was no rationale for the discontinuance of a system that helped ensure peace and harmony and created an environment for smooth execution of all local developmental schemes in the district.

The system continues to operate in Bangladesh and India to this day. Never has there been any such preposterous talk of scrapping a system that is so rooted in norms, culture of the area and its people.

Across the country, the districts are in disarray. Whether it is the system of roads, irrigation, water, sanitation, waste disposal and encroachments or the rising cases of crime or the growing lack of security, there is failure, frustration and despondency.

Before further irreversible damage is caused, there is need for an overhaul of the system and the immediate reintroduction of the institution of magistracy with deputy commissioner or district magistrate as the head of the civil administration.

This would require leadership, foresight, vision and above all courage to take decisions. On the politico-administrative landscape of the Islamic Republic, these traits or qualities are not so common or visible .Unless there is a dispassionate reappraisal of policy, there is no hope that the myriad socio-economic problems at the district level will be addressed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2019.

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