India's insuperable bureaucracy

The administrative machine's expansionist notions greedily demand more

After politicians if there is one class of public officials that looks after itself generously it is the bureaucracy. For years the country’s elite services of the IAS, IFS, and IPS complained that their salaries and perks were hardly commensurate with the levers of powers they controlled; and that in retirement they were relegated not only to lives of relative obscurity but also impecuniousness. It was one reason suggested for declining levels of probity and increase in influence-peddling and corruption among the “officer class”, including the defence services. Compared to their peers in the private sector or professional services like