A Prelude to Critique On Ethical Dilemmas of a Civil Servant by Anil Swarup

A Critique On Ethical Dilemmas of a Civil Servant by Anil Swarup

Human life, as I observe, is filled with sudden surprises, pain, joys and sorrows, moments worth sharable and not sharable and as well as mysterious. The object of the most significant curiosity and attraction for a human being  is human him/herself, which forms the basis of the birth of social sciences. The inquiry on Human Beings by Human Beings seeks a pinnacle when the research gets self-directed. Scorates claims an unexamined life is not worth living. Here I find a person in his mid-sixties, not only have withstood the test of Scorates, but also shares it. I see the book as a fragment of his autobiographythat unrolls the screen -both of an individual life and contemporary life of a Civil Servant.

                   Anil Swarup has intuitively raised specific fascinating questions and also answers them. I see the answers in the 239-page narration, which is the most candid presentation of memoirs I have read in the recent past. Incentivising ethical behaviour, the book sends a strong signal to the fence sitters who are in ethical dilemma justifying thesmelves as , "Bribery is of course unethical, but I follow "Don’t ask, Don’t Refuse” Philosophy, which in a superficial level, very smartly covers up an ugly disposition. More than audience of this kind, the book sends a powerful message to both the “real honest ones and bogusly honest ones”, who shut the system to brag their honesty and remain in service with enormous contempt and curses of all around. At the end of the day, both the cathegories (Displaying Honesty without flexibility keeping the core objective on mind and the other category, filled with enormous negativity, shooting from the shoulders of the Boss and 24X7 waiting to spit venom and hault the system and usually justification being past bad memories) according to the author are a liability to the system. These "Honest people", rightly identified by the author are the ones who consider the "Trophies of Victims", as their professional achievements (Pg.16). Any one reading this would recall from their memories, such individuals who find a saddistic pleasure in haulting the system and trumpeting that they are honest and straightforward. 

             To quote something I came across very recently on the second category of "Honest people", a retiring clerk of a Publccly funded autonomous Institution, before a month to retire after serving the organization for forty years, applied for LTC (Leave Travelling Concession) and also performed his travel. We all know that this is  Corona pandemic period. The approving authority, knowing that the incumbent is retiring, and have already perfoemed the travel and also hardly a week for returnig from service raises queries  on the file sich as “Is this not Corona Period? Why did he go? What was the compelling need for him to travel? Did he apply for E pass etc.? The poor retiree approached me to vent out his mental agony and enormous contempt.These specimens are not only a liability to system, but a perennial nuisance and the system had to wait until they leave on "Ëmployee Attrition". 

With this as a prelude, I shall place my commentary to the five sections of the book of Anil Swarup viz., (1) Why he considers a Civil Servant must be ethical with certain empirical examples, which makes this book very special for me (2) His experience in Ground Zero and struggle between rational choices – I have to shoot, but the birds have to be saved as well at the same time. (3) Just as the attorneys dilemma is different from those of Judges, his experience on central deputation with Government of India, where he admits Yes, I crossed lakshman rekha of established rules, but at the end of the day, I justified the spirit behind framing such rules. 

I shall be writing my commentary on select portions that captivated my attention in the days to come. I am sure this book will be carried by me when I visit India’s coveted institutions where Civil Servants are trained.