4 September 2024 : Daily Answer Writing

Q1) In light of incidents of serving civil servants openly criticising the government and some also resigning in protest, discuss whether civil servants should get entangled in the political discussions/opinions?

(150 Words/10 Marks)

ANS

Civil servants are the agents of the government who are responsible for execution of the policies of the government efficiently. Impartiality, neutrality and non-partisanship are core values of the civil services. This implies that civil servants should work as per the directions of the government without being affected by any personal bias or political ideology.

However, in the recent times, there have been incidents of serving civil servants openly criticizing the government. Some civil servants have resigned as well protesting against government policies.

The positive aspects of such decisions by serving civil servants are as follows:

1. It can increase public awareness about said policies, leading to more discussion and public participation.
2. It indicates at an active conscience, which is pre-requisite for a responsible and vibrant civil society.
3. The resignations highlight areas for improvements such as in grievance redressal mechanism, or need for improvements in recruitment and training.
4. Civil servants’ protest against government policy highlights a loss of faith in the legislative scrutiny of government actions, indicating at the gaps in the functioning of the political system that should be worked upon.

Negative Implications:

1. Such incidents can lower the trust of people in the political and administrative system of the country.
2. Such acts indicate at one’s lack of aptitude for the job as dealing with political leadership of different ideologies without any personal bias is an essential requirement for the job of a civil servant.
3. Preference to personal values over professional values such as non-partisanship, impartiality and neutrality violates the code of conduct.
4. Public criticism of policies is often seen in cases which are already hotly debated. The acts of civil servants thus neither lead to constructive engagement nor increased public awareness. Engagement with foreign media on such issues is similarly non-constructive approach.
5. Resignation from service doesn’t improve the policy, and is akin to running away from the issues.

In conclusion we can say that political neutrality is an essential value for civil services and serving civil servants should display impeccable professionalism by desisting from public criticism of government policies. Protests against policies should be expressed at the right platform, in a constructive way so that the concerned policies can be improved upon.