It was Republic Day today, the 26th January, the day on which India was declared Republic. The Constitution was adopted by the Indian Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949 and came into effect on 26 January 1950 with a democratic government system, completing the country's transition towards becoming an independent republic. India was a colony of the British for over 200 years and after that, it became independent from the rule of the British Raj following the struggle of the Indian independence movement.
Westminster democracy is that system of government also known as responsible government and parliamentary government in which people do not directly elect their government but leave it to the elected legislature to install, supervise, and remove the government. In Separation of powers, three distinct activities in every government through which the will of the people are expressed is clearly defined. These are the legislative, executive and judicial functions of the government. Corresponding to these three activities are three organs of the government, namely the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. The legislature makes laws, the executive enforces them and the judiciary applies them to the specific cases arising out of the breach of law. Thus, it has become a model for the governance of democratic States.
The power rests with political executives who are elected by the people for a specific period.. They remain in office only so long as they command the confidence of the majority members of Parliament. They are answerable to people for all the consequences of their decisions. Whereas permanent executives are salaried civil servants who are appointed on a long-term basis. They remain in office even when the ruling party changes. Their tenure of office is fixed. They do not take decisions. Instead they assist political executives in carrying out day-to-day administration.
In fact, in practice permanent executives run the government. They make the policies and execute that as the political executive is not the expert in the field of administration and making policies. The executive works through a well established system of bureaucracy. German sociologist Max Weber (1894-1920)propounded that bureaucracy constitutes the most efficient and rational way in which human activities can be organized and that systematic process is organized in distinct hierarchies to maintain order to get maximized efficiency and eliminate favoritism. Four features of modern bureaucracy are:
- Hierarchy (clearly defined sphere of competence and division of labor
- Continuity (a structure where administrators have a full time salary within the structure
- Impersonality (prescribed rules and operating rules rather than arbitrary actions
- Expertise (official are chosen according to merit, have been trained and hold access to knowledge
Committed vs neutrality of bureaucracy is a recent discussion point. On face, both seems in contrast but not. If commitment is taken to mean commitment to a particular political party or to its leaders, it becomes antithetical to neutrality. However, commitment to human and constitutional values and national objectives, to serve the people, to professional ethics and etiquette, is not antithetical to neutrality between classes, cultural groups, and political parties. Indeed, commitment and neutrality reinforce each other if they are of right type.
Incidents in the last decade in Haryana has been a witness and testimony of falling basic tenants of bureaucracy or public administration and ethics of a government servant and; totally against the morality of a public servants who have conducted themselves in abysmally in a biased manner ridden with caste and area sentiments and sabotaged the dignity, prestige and time tested dedication to cause and state. Civil and police administration conducted in such a manner as if they are the recruits of a particular caste or Khap. They shamelessly advocating against the established norms and ethics of a government servant. The steepest fall has been witnessed in public administration in the last 10 years. Seems as if they are trained actors of a well articulated script of a Bollywood movie. Few major socio-political incidents in last decade points towards the degradation, partisan behavior and biased approach to resolve the contentious and volatile issues of social and public importance.
The Mirchpur incident is the pointer in this regard. After the caste violence, around 150 Balmiki families fled the village. Though the social and administration efforts tried to resolve the dispute and end the bitterness between the two communities, certain developments like the arrests of the accused and adamant stand taken by some Balmiki families not to return to the village ignited the issue and disturbed the fragile peace in the region.
The Jats want the trial to take place in Haryana, and the 98 accused arrested in the case, who were shifted to Delhi’s Tihar jail, be sent back to Haryana. They are also asking for a CBI inquiry into the Mirchpur violence incident that occurred last year. In an arson attack by the dominant upper caste Jat members on a row of houses of the Balmiki families, a 70-year-old man and his 18-year-old physically challenged daughter were killed in a fire in their home and at least 18 houses were destroyed in the attack.
Tension is build up in this caste sensitive district of Hisar after thousands of Jat agitators began their indefinite protest at the Delhi-Ferozepore rail section near Jind railway station to protest the shifting of accused as well as the trial in the case of Mirchpur caste violence in Haryana on 15th January, 2011. . It happened for the first time in the history of Haryana that a railway track was obstructed and blocked by the people. Huge police bandobast was made on the bases of intelligence input that protesters will lead to Jind via Patiala Chowk and try to block the railway tract. Police was cordoning that route and protesters walk through fields and captured the tracks on 15.1.2011.
‘ Jat Reservation Movement started in year 2011 and become a norm up to 2016 when a massive destruction witnessed by Haryana after partition in 1947. Huge loss of government and private properties was caused besides more than 50 precious lives lost during the arson and open loot on 21 February, 2016 in the districts of central-western Haryana chiefly Rohtak, Jhajjhar, Sonepat, Jind, Bhiwani and Hisar which are largely predominated by the Jats and had been centers of the agitation. A news report in a leading newspaper at that time had claimed that vehicles with women were reportedly stopped on the National Highway-1 near Murthal. , and the women dragged out and raped in fields nearby. It said at least 10 women were raped. This gory Incident was investigated by a high level committee and buried under the carpet as if nothing had happened. Eyewitnesses accused that their houses gutted, properties looted, chilled day light murders committed, women were molested and police and para-military forces remained mute spectators and left the spots instead of saving the people. It was worse than what people witnessed in the 1947 Partition riots.
Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh have been camping at the several borders of the national capital since November 26, 2020 demanding that the three farm laws be repealed. 11 rounds of talks have remained inconclusive and center closed the channel of talks on 22nd January saying nothing remained for talk as government is not prepared to repeal the three farm laws the major demand of protesting farmers knowing well that farmers have announced a
Farmers from the three side of Haryana barged into Delhi by breaking the barriers. This time too police and administration become a mute spectators and not even resisted for few hours. All the so called bandobast were made as if show the government that they are prepared to stop them. Most of the ministers were withdrawn from the district of central-western Haryana to hoist the National Flag on the eve of Republic Day and even Chief Minister himself chosen the destination for flag hoisting at Panchkula.
Prakash Singh Committee under the chairmanship of retired DGP of Uttar Pradesh was constituted to inquire the incident of Jat Reservation aftermath of the widespread loss of property and lives. The committee found that in most of the affected places, the police and the district administration failed to enforce prohibitory orders and curfew and that the police and civil administration officials in Hisar district were divided on caste lines. Some of them even deserted their duty and helped the rioters. Police has become politicized and conduct itself as politicians engaged in negotiations.
Mob is emboldened when it senses fear in the police. At some protest sites in Haryana, the cops did not act even after inflammatory speeches were made which sent out a message that they were mere spectators.
Incidents happening in Haryana since 2011 clearly indicate that civil and police administration at least at lower level has turned cattiest and divided badly on the caste lines. Their behavior and conduct during such agitations is not of a civil servant but as if a member of that particular caste. They have lost the sense of belongingness and their role enunciated in a committed and neutral bureaucracy. They are completely a detached lot and state has to suffer for it and in turn general public has lost the faith and belief in the present day bureaucracy of Haryana state which it was enjoyed a few decades back.
The principle of neutrality implies a measure of independence both from the partisan interests of the government of the day and the exogenous agenda that prompts certain social groups to cow down others to humiliate the vulnerable sections of the society. Bureaucracy should be neutral in terms of ideology and politics. So that there will not be an affinity to a particular class or ideology. In today’s societies, there is a number of classes and this finally leads to the conflict among classes. The officials should remain neutral in this conflict. Otherwise, they will be found to protect the interests of the class/classes to which they belong.
Public officials have two interrelated moral functions: First, the bureaucracy has to protect the very state of which it is a part, from being disrupted or being undermined by the disquieting elements of the civil society. Second, the bureaucracy has to prevent the disruptive efforts of a society that is ridden with caste and patriarchal consciousness. Bureaucracy has to intervene in public life to see to it that society does not degenerate into aggressive obscurantism. The formative conditions to perform these twin tasks involve public officials’ moral capacity to resist anti-constitutional interests that the government of the day may try to push. Thus, the neutrality principle has a moral function to prevent public officials from becoming slaves to their own skewed mindset, biased approach and treacherous behavior to the august position which bestowed upon them by state. They are the lighthouse of the society which look upon them to bring them out from the every difficult situation.
