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Article By Saikat Banerjee
Indian bureaucracy is one of the most corrupt and lecherous existing bureaucracy in Asia, as revealed by a recent report by a prestigious firm based in Singapore. According to this report, Indian “babus” or bureaucracy received 9.21 rating out of 10 which is even worse than countries like Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia and China.
Singapore remained the best with a rating of 2.25, followed by Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.
It should not be forgotten that the present Indian bureaucracy is a legacy of the British, apart from the gift of Partition which was given to the Indian people as a parting gift. In Indian bureaucratic system the word ‘Babu’ has a very important relevance. It is a very common practice to address any official as ‘Babuji’.
One will find a very interesting fact if one looks into the etymological meaning of the word ‘Babu’ in the context of Indian Bureaucracy.
The word ‘Babu’ used in the contemporary Indian bureaucratic system comes from the word ‘Baboon’ meaning a kind of monkey, which was used by the British for the Indian officials working under the British regime in India.
Their sole motive of using this word ‘Baboon’ was to ridicule the Indian officials and show them their ineffectiveness in carrying out their respective duties.
Well apart from the phrase ‘Babu’, it appears that nowadays the word ‘Sir’ has become common to denote a person who can be of any help.
Denoting a person with the tag ‘Sir’ has become a kind of status symbol. In short be it ‘Babu’ or ‘Sir’ the fact of the matter remains that Indian bureaucracy has turned out to be one of the most insensitive group of officials of the world and in spite of the feeble attempts made by the Indian government to curb these officials, Indian bureaucracy remains unchanged. To put it another way it appears that they are not inefficient but are very efficient in the sense that it is always the politicians who are blamed and the Indian bureaucrats remain Mr. Clean.
Author: Saikat Banerjee is a Research Scholar, M.Phil at Central University of Haryana.
The author has rightly depicted the pitiable condition of the Indian bureaucracy. Our society prefer white collar jobs of the “babus”. The ‘babus’ are vulnerable type of species can’t travel in a crowded government bus, can’t stand in a queue for a ticket .They need all the service at their table. They are the Demi-Gods of corruption of our nation and we the people should be proud of them! They are corrupt because of us, so to clean up garbage called corruption; first we should clean up ourselves.
I really appreciate the way, the author has taken up the condition of the current Indian bureaucracy. The “price hikes” hits the country like stroke, harming human body all of a sudden, but corruption in bureaucracy behaves like a disease that kills a human gradually. Its high time that the youths of India should take strong stand in uprooting weeds from the system.
Mr. Saikat Banerjee deserves all praise for writing on a very burning topic plaguing the country now. Though corruption has got the global social sanction, unfortunately, it is at its climax in India. Young people must come forward to expose corruption at every level. Congrats, Saikat!
The writer has rightly commented on the babudom of our political system. The janta is being made the escape goat. The article brings to our notice the malice of the bureaucracy. Cudos to the writer for the research for bringing the position of our country among the Asian countries.
it is a partial truth ,,,to blame bureaucracy for all woes and corruption is not fair . the fact is that most of the officials are mere puppets in the hands of the ministers and political masters . who are corrupt and whimsical .. Democracy is mere a farce in the hands of these politicians who work only for vote , power and money . .. so the corruption is due to the corrupt and selfish politicians . if they are honest . all will have to be honest .
Democracy for the Bureaucracy is what India stands for today. Mr.Banerjee has made an attempt to portray the mindset of our Bureaucrats today, who seem to enjoy the legacy left behind by the Britishers. The Indian mindset has always been equipped with power games and the trend has continued with every generation. However, in recent years the social distinction of an individual in public domain has become the ‘Status Quo’ symbol. Here, the question is not to change the mindset of our gen X bureaucrats but to shape the thoughts of our gen nex bureaucrats. The attempt is to avoid the next generation follow the Herd – coz that is what will shape the future of this country.