The art of governing in India

A TIDE IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN:

A public service remembers

Prateep K Lahiri

Roli Books

225 pages; Rs 395

Some 2,500 years ago, Confucius talked about the importance of learning from experience. Prateep K Lahiri’s memoir is a good example of the value of that precept. Mr Lahiri, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1959 batch who served as secretary, mines and revenue in the Government of India, shines a light on how Indian bureaucrats and administrators can deal with administrative issues and problems without negatively impacting their professionalism and work ethic. It provides some useful insights into dealing with people and processes in a professional manner, and, most of all, making your point with superiors without generating controversy. To use the words of his colleague Najeeb Jung in the Foreword, it is a “truthful glimpse of events that encompass a civil servant’s career”

Indeed, from a thought-provoking account of the first problem with which he dealt as the young and inexperienced Sub-Divisional Magistrate in 1963 to a lucid description of relatively more sophisticated interactions with ministers in various phases of his career, the book presents the complex canvas of experience that is distinctive to the IAS officer. This makes it compulsory and engrossing reading for all serving and aspiring civil servants at a time when hyperactive, technology-driven media is breathing down the upright bureaucrat’s neck. 

Mr Lahiri has gone beyond the standard memoir by presenting his own ideas on “administration” and governance” but without succumbing to the temptation of self-glorification. His self-effacing approach, in fact, enhances the value of the lessons he learnt in public dealing as he moved up in his professional career.

The book has three divisions: “From the Trenches”, “In the Corridors of Power”, and “Miscellany of Experience”, each part having a specific focus. The first part deals with experiences that are unique to bureaucratic functioning in India: Coping with food scarcities, judging ethnic sensitivities in day-to-day affairs of district administration, scarcity management, drought, communal riots and, yes, hassles with VIP movement. The first part reflects Mr Lahiri’s evolution as an officer with a reputation for his skilful handling of civil unrest in three districts — Guna, Khandwa and Indore. 

The second part of the book takes us to a more mature phase of Mr Lahiri’s career in which he recounts his experiences at more senior levels.  One interesting section in this part is devoted to former prime minister Manmohan Singh. Though Mr Lahiri considered Dr Singh the architect of economic reforms initiated in the 1991-92 Budget and vouches for his integrity, he found him “not assertive enough to stand up for his principles” and failing “to curb the errant ways of some of his ministers” when he was prime minister. 

The last and the third part of the book lives up to its title as a miscellany of experience. The most interesting part of this section includes the chapter on Bangladesh. Mr Lahiri’s account is of historical value because it offers glimpses of the situation on the ground in the immediate aftermath of the liberation of Bangladesh by someone who was there to assist in the restoration of administration after the country had been ravaged by war as Civil Affairs Liaison Officer (CALO). There are many interesting details including one about an Indian army colonel who wanted to garner “war loot,” which was nipped in the bud. 

Another thought-provoking section in this part of the book is about diamonds. Mr Lahiri describes his “encounter with diamonds” while overseeing the diamond mines in Panna (Madhya Pradesh), India’s only diamond-producing region. It was, he says, an experience that helped him understand the business of civic administration with greater clarity of purpose.  The book ends on a more thoughtful and somewhat ironical note with accounts of Mr Lahiri’s interaction with ministers during various phases of his career. Several ministers impressed him with their professional and honest approach, but, predictably perhaps, there were many who disappointed him.

Overall, Mr Lahiri’s book offers bureaucrats, administrators, executives, and managers some useful insights into the business of governing in a country as vast and complex as India. It could as well serve a handbook of administrative leadership strategies as much as a primer on problem-solving and decision-making that go into making a successful leader. The anecdotal style and frank tone make the book add to the credibility of the story. 

The reviewer is chairman of Maxel Learning Private Limited, a learning solutions company