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No more executive class travel or 5 star soirées! And the numbers in delegations going abroad on official visits will be kept to an “absolute minimum”. These are Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s stern instructions to his bureaucracy as he gets his fiscal house in order! Our babus, except those in the apex scale will now have to suffer the oh-so-unbearable nuisance of checking themselves into cattle class for domestic travel. Sigh!
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Tragic as that may sound, the charm of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is not about to be weighted down by this ‘harsh’ move, especially as job losses and pay freezes become the norm in the corporate sector. “Welcome to the club” quips a banker at one of India's leading private bank. “The last time I went to London, my bank put me up at a 3 star hotel in Wembley of all places. Nothing can wound your ego more than that.”
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Clearly if Chids is acting tough, the private sector has been brutal, and notwithstanding the uncomforting thought of squeezing into an economy class seat, those in or wanting to get into public service may actually be better off in this slowdown.
“I think there is a bit of revival of interest in government services like IAS which was tepid for a couple of decades during the boom in the private sector job market. The slowdown has impacted that sentiment and is drawing attention of people back to the public sector” says Ajay Dua, Former Secretary at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, now on the boards of several companies including Dabur where he serves as Independent Director.
The IAS cadre earn between Rs 15,600 to 39,100 (plus grade pay of Rs 5400) at the least to Rs. 90,000 at most (Cabinet Secretary Level) depending on the rank.That sounds paltry when compared to the eye-popping salaries some in the private sector seem to be making. (What was it - $1.3 mn for iGate boss Ashok Vemuri ex bonus?) but the real perks for those who burn the midnight oil and clear those exacting UPSC exams to enter public service are elsewhere; in the quaint bungalow with a garden in a tony neighborhood (at rents that wouldn’t buy you a meal in a half decent restaurant), the chauffeur driven cars with that enticing insignia of power - the laal batti, vehicles for personal use, free electricity, free house orderlies (yes they are called that, talk of anglophilia), use of government clubs and guest houses and the list goes on.
“With DA at 52% your basic salary itself is Rs.1.35 lakhs at the Secretary level. Add to that,the very attractive perks which include apart from subsidized housing etc, things like annual vacations for your family, medical and pension benefits, a sustained & diverse tenure, permanency in your job topped with a certain degree of satisfaction doing public service. Its great!” says Dua.
It would be hard to quantify how much an IAS officer makes in real terms or build a direct comparison with those in the private sector, but the benefits are attractive enough for people to want to make a career in the services.
“The charm of the IAS hasn’t diminished,the power,the prestige the perks and opportunities one gets in this job are quite substantial, albeit on the receding end” says Atul Kumar Garg a Former IAS Officer and Ex-CMD of the Rajasthan Financial Corporation.
At the Secretary level for instance, Garg estimates that benefits enjoyed by babus would easily add up to a take home salary of Rs. 5-6 lakh given that many of them occupy houses in prime locations like Chanakyapuri in Delhi or Cuffe Parade in South Mumbai (where the infamous Adarsh Society scam unfolded).
But there is also a down side to this allure for the services, cautions veterans like Dua. The zealous activism by bodies like the CBI and CAG in the aftermath of the myriad scams that have hit headlines has made the bureaucracy nervous.
“Nobody minds accountability, what people don’t like is when you become a scapegoat. And we’ve seen a lot of this happen to officers - people being hauled up for decisions taken 20 years before they retired. This activism overdrive isn’t a good thing”
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That’s not to say the services have become unappealing. “There is no doubt that I enjoyed my stint in the public sector far more than my private sector assignments. It was far more challenging.” Dua adds.
Alas, economy travel is the least of challenges that our babus will have to live with!
