I was introduced to Sociology in school where I had taken humanities as my stream for further academic pursuit. My transformation from a relatively unmindful participant in society to becoming a more engaged and observant student was not easy. I realised the tremendous cogency of the idea of ‘social fact’ as the coercive and the external when I decided to come out of my comfort zone, break few rules, and question some of our cherished beliefs. Curiously, I continued to feel this force at a personal as well as professional level, especially when my ideas and choices often went contrary to social norms.
My curiosity led me to pursue my Bachelor’s degree in Sociology at the Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR) of the University of Delhi. This was followed by my Masters in Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Sociology soon became a lens as well as a touchstone in understanding the nuances of social interaction, the unsaid, the tacitly understood, the symbolisms, the power dynamics, and the structural arrangements in societies.
In pursuing Sociology one gains a certain degree of empathetic curiosity. Why is something the way it is. The inequality and despair of a few that I learnt were jarring. I wished to take ownership of this. I joined the United Nations Organization (UNO) in Bangkok, first as an intern and later as a research consultant, where I was exposed to the harsh realities of account of child labour. I worked with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) with a specific focus on countries of South East Asia, covering Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR, and later, Indonesia. But a meaningful life and career, I thought to myself, would be one where I shall be able to ensure that the ‘other’ does not remain in the fringes, and not be sidelined due to birth or a quirk of fate. And so, I sat for the Civil Services Examinations. In 2018, I was selected to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
In the IAS, I expect to serve as a social instrument of the government and a custodian of our Constitution, whose mandate is to ensure a society built on the values of justice- social, economic, and political. It is observed, ‘whatever the Constitution may or may not provide, the welfare of the country will depend upon how the country is administered.’[i] However, to fulfill this mandate requires a strong resolve and a free mind. Bureaucracy, I realize, can no longer be confined in its trappings of power, privileges, and procedures. These would only distance one from the living realities of people. The dissatisfaction and helplessness of citizens require a keen appreciation of one’s role as a civil servant- one who works in the service of people and not just in their governance, but for good governance.
I, therefore, joined the Civil Service, specifically the IAS, with my ideals and to be an integral part of the unfolding social and economic ferment where a new paradigm is emerging across the globe, with transparency and innovation being the fundamental principles.
India is poised to be a 10 trillion dollar economy in the next fifteen years, yet its record is discouraging in fields of public health, education, sanitation, ecology, and waste management. Agriculture too is now challenged with an agrarian crisis. I wish to take ownership of this contradiction and see no better way for it than as a part of the decision-making process.
My training in Sociology would be relevant in situating people in their socio-economic and cultural contexts, and for remaining mindful of their distinctive expressions and shared repertoires; their despair and triumphs. To illustrate this point, I would like to bring attention to how public initiatives require attentiveness to the social composition and history of the people it is aimed at. The field of poverty eradication, rural employment, and overall social development are specific areas where problems are not always clearly defined. To illustrate, creating primary schools in tribal areas would require an appreciation of their distinct mores, traditional systems of knowledge, the rural power elite, family composition, and employment of parents and a host of other issues, the parameters of which may not be well-defined. Even so, while intentions may be sane and noble that go into the design of a programme, the outcomes of it may be unintended and even disruptive. Thus, the challenge would be to anticipate and mitigate second-order consequences.
There is also the relevance of imaginative policymaking not guided by reason alone, but compassion and creativity. This asks for an approach of ’research-oriented action’.[ii] The execution of public policy, it must be borne in mind, is an intervention in a socio-cultural space and the life of a people where the experiences of people matter as much as ’evidence’. An example of the thoughtlessness of policy intervention is the dairy development scheme Samanwita administered in the poverty prone district of Nuapada, Odisha in the Kalahandi region. Designed to ideally serve as a buffer against drought and for an income during the non-agricultural season, the project achieved quite the opposite. To create a new, high yield breed of cattle, the programme subjected local and robust ‘Khariar’ bulls to a senseless castration drive and the gene pool made extinct. The people marked out as ‘’targets’’ were never consulted.[iii]
The traditional blind spot accorded to beneficiaries in policy formulation would be something I would take up. Local knowledge systems and intuitive understandings can serve as powerful inputs to innovation. Tapping these would be an opportunity, though not without risks. Often attempts at affecting social attitudes must connect with cultural idioms and shared understandings. The Gudda Guddi initiative that displays disaggregated birth statistics at Panchayat levels under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao for instance, communicates effectively the need to combat a skewed sex ratio.
Spreading civic sense and public ownership among the stakeholders of a community is significant, and would be a challenge too in a relatively top-down administrative framework. This would require institutional intervention by empowering people, especially the vulnerable that may affect change in the political culture of a community. Institutionalizing mechanisms for citizen’s feedback through social audits, public hearings, consultations with representatives, and strengthening local governance would be another challenge to an official culture that seeks to confine power within the limits of officialdom.
As a Civil Servant, I anticipate experiencing ethical dilemmas that would often mean moving between choices of professional integrity and personal discretion, rationality, and compassion. But then again, while I must uphold the rules and statutes that govern us, I realize that I am a human with an intellect that must discern and retain empathy towards those worse off. Why do we assume rationality as cold and distant, while compassion to be a form of emotional vulnerability? I seek to bridge such dichotomies in my work and administration. Compassion in public service can propel innovation, as the goal here is to device ways to mitigate the suffering and despair of people. As a Civil Servant, I expect to exercise discretion as well, since I shall be vested with that. But the challenge and therefore the opportunity would be fairly exercising that, addressing the grievances of the aggrieved, without compromising on others. This certainly would be a task at hand.
What are the opportunities I seek? These I believe, would be the privilege and joy of serving my country by administering to the needs of my people. While prestige, authority, and the ability to be in a position of decision-making are obvious reasons, the possibility of intervening in the functioning of the government, instead of arm-chair criticism is important for me. I, seek a life where I can travel, experience, and engage with the everyday realities and challenges of governance, to address those. To fulfill these expectations, I shall carry with me the ethnographer and the administrator.(Priyadarshini Bhattacharya is an IAS officer. She did her BA in Sociology from Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR), University of Delhi, and her MSc in Sociology from The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).