Most people join IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS or other civil services in India without knowing the full facts. You already know why you should join civil services. Yet most of you may not be aware of the negative sides of the civil services, which you will realize soon after you join. It is better that you know all the facts before you take a decision about your career.
Let me explain now why you should not join the Civil Services in India.
1: Less Recognition for Action
The promotions in the civil services are based on seniority. Your destiny is almost fixed by your UPSC rank and what you do in next 30-38 years does not ensure you faster promotion. Initially, many officers work very hard to deliver results and change the system. However, soon they realize that there are several colleagues, who don’t work even half and yet get all the benefits as them. When you work more, take more decisions, there are more chances of committing mistakes and hence more chances of getting punishment. Many officers hence gradually stop taking bold decisions and try to pass the tricky issues to their successors.
2: Corruption
It is a fact that many people are attracted towards civil services due to the tales of corruption. They know some officers or they have heard about some officers who have made millions. The reality is that there are several honest officers in the government, but they too are viewed as corrupt by the common people. You are often painted with the same brushed as the most corrupt officer of government by media.
The fact is that there is no illegal money available for any post of a civil servant. You have to do some illegal activity or allow the illegal things to go on to make money. When you do any illegal act, there is always a risk of getting caught even after you have demitted the office. Your reputation is 100% spoiled even if you are not caught. Even when you have somehow made a lot of illegal money, you don’t know how you use that money for you. You can’t build any asset or buy new cars and live the life of luxury, because you may face vigilance action or face CBI or Income Tax raid at your house, which can spoil your career forever. You may even end up in jail. Every year, dozens are top civil servants are arrested and put behind the bar. Hence, you can’t sleep properly once you have accumulated lots of ill-gotten money. You may also suffer many illnesses due to the mental tensions. Once you start doing illegal activities, you can never go back to your honest life because you will always be blackmailed by your superiors and juniors who know where you committed the illegal acts. Corruption is one way traffic, with no U-turn.
3: Transfers
People join civil services to occupy the prominent positions like DM, SP or Commissioners. They get their recognition, perks and privileges on these posts. However, they don’t know how long they can continue in these postings. I was posted on election duty in Paudi (Garhwal) in 2007. Among the other election observers was a lady IAS officer, whose husband was also an IAS officer of the same batch. Presently both husband and wife were in central deputation in Delhi. She told me that in last 14-15 years, she and her husband were never posted in the same station. They used to meet only when a meeting is called by the Commissioner or CM. Only when they came to Central Deputation, they stayed together. In Paudi I found that the DM and Commissioner were staying alone in their big-bungalows and their families were in Dehradun. Even SP and SDM were staying alone since their spouses were in IAS/IPS and they were posted in different stations. You must be ready to live alone, if you choose All India Services.
4: Issues with Central Services
I have already explained the problems of IAS and IPS. So you may be thinking that why not join IFS, IRS or other Central Services where you don’t have these problems of transfer/posting. You are right. Central services provide you best family lives but that doesn’t satisfy most people. Most people write civil services again and again to become an IAS officer. I know a few people who got into IAS after 4-6 years of working in their other jobs as IPS, IRS etc. It is because, the type of recognition an IAS or IPS gets at such young age is unparallel in other services. They get the big bungalows, red-light cars and uniformed guards which are not available to other services. But once you join IAS, IPS, you face different types of problems as already explained.
5: Political Interference
We all have heard about the political interference in India, particularly in the IAS and IPS? Often the politicians use them to get their work done and the officers use them to get their postings and also protect them in case of any problems. You may have to often compromise to keep the bosses and politicians happy. Soon you may get trapped forever in their clutches. You can neither leave them nor live with them. There is hardly any political interference in Central Services, but the politicians are also often indifferent to these services.
6: Few Bright Spots
In the IAS and IPS, you are the most important person when you are SP or DM. Even the CM may be directly in touch with you. All this happens within just a few years of your joining the service. However, as you get promoted to DIG, IG or Commissioner/Secretary, your public profile is diminished. There are many IG, ADG and even DG in every state capital but not many people know them. The IAS officers also do not have the public profile of a DM when they become secretaries after promotion. The situation is different in Central Services where your importance rises with every promotion. However, the central service officer don’t ever have that level of social adulation.
7: Salary Structure
While the starting salaries of a civil servant are decent (around Rs 50,000), his growth of salary is just @ 3% per annum (plus the Dearness Allowance). The salary of the Chief Secretary is hardly Rs 1,80,000 pm (or Rs 1,35,000 after tax). The ratio of the peak salary to staring salary of an IAS officer is just four times. However, the story is quite different in corporate. For example, the Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka has been given an annual salary of USD5.08 million (over Rs. 30 crore) and USD2 million in stock options. Since the entry level salary of Infosys is around 3 lakhs per annum, the top man is paid more than 1000 times more salary than the entry level employee. In most of the corporate, the ratio is more than 100 times.
It is difficult for an honest civil servant to ever afford a good house in a posh locality in any Metropolitan city. The low salaries were earlier compensated by the liberal pension given by the Government which used to be revised after every pay commission. However, once the pension benefit is stopped, you don’t have a back-up support after your retirement.
8: Long and Hard Preparation
While most people think that they can get into their choice service in their first attempt, the reality is quite different. The average age of IAS and other service is around 27-28 years. This means that an average entrant of a CSE spend around 6-7 years after his graduation to get into civil services. Still only 1 in 500 is able to get into Civil Services and 1 in 5000 gets into IAS (proper). Many IAS and IPS officers end up in cadres which they don’t want to go.
9: Personal Life
While the family life of central service officers like IRS may be normal, the lives of IAS and IPS are quite challenging in the initial years when you are heading a district. Most of the districts in India are quite backwards with hardly a good school for your children. You are working 12 hours a day and hardly have any time for family. You also make so many enemies doing your duty for the country and you family may be fearing about your safety and of their own.
10: Diminishing Social Relevance
In the pre-liberalized era, government officers were looked as the Mai-Baap (Mother-Father) for a common citizen of India. Their salaries were comparable with private sectors but their perks were far superior. They were playing leading roles in social development. Today, most of the space is filled with private sectors. Our Honorable PM Shri Narendra Modi once said, “I believe government has no business to do business. The focus should be on Minimum Government but Maximum Governance.” Today a company like Infosys or TCS provides around 40000-50000 jobs each year while UPSC and PSC put together don’t appoint as many people. The personal wealth of Mukesh Ambani is $20.8 billion (Rs 137280 Crores) which is more than the total tax collection of several Indian States in a year. The value of top 10 companies in India is more than the total revenue of the Government of India and all State Governments put together. The Tata group alone has market capitalization of Rs 7,00,000 crores. It is also a fact that most Indians don’t respect civil servants as they are perceived to be inefficient and corrupt. They are often seen as hindrance to the growth of India rather than an instrument of growth.
PS: The purpose of this article is not to discourage to join Civil Services but to have the full picture of the civil services by highlighting the negative side of civil services which are hardly known to most of the entrants.
Please also read my answer to the question
Why should you join Civil Services (IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS or like) in India? to know the POSITIVE sides of Civil Services in India and develop a complete view.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are purely personal.
When you ask such a question, most people consider this question too simple to even merit answer. They will say, ‘Don't you know that a CM is far more powerful than an IAS officer?’ Their answer is based on perception and not on the basis of real facts. The reality is quite different than the common perception. Let me explain.
Everyone in the government is powerful according to the law of the land. A basic tenet of the Rule of Law is: ‘However high you may be, the law is above you’. The law is made by the Parliament or the State Legislature and not by the PM or CM.
The IAS, IPS, IRS or other officers implement the laws. When you go through the fine prints of the law, you will find that rarely the power is given to a politician (including CM) and all the power is vested with the officers. For example, in Customs and Central Excise department, all refunds have to be given by the Assistant Commissioner level officer (or above) even if the amount is 1000 Crores. If he refuses to sanction or reject the refund, even a FM or a PM can’t sanction it. You have to then go to Commissioner (Appeals) for sanction it and then to Tribunal/High Court/Supreme Court. The Ministers have no power to sanction any refund or give any permission or sanction unless these power are specifically vested to them by the laws passed by the Parliament. They can’t even give any written or oral direction to an officer to perform the function in a particular way. In fact, even if the claim of FM/PM or even President of India is pending before the Tax department, only the competent officer can sanction and nobody else. The same holds good for all officers whether belonging to IAS, IPS or any other service.
I remember an instance when Mr M N Buch, an IAS officer of MP Cadre was called for a lecture in our Academy (NPA) during probation days. He told us, ‘Everyone must have taught you that you are a servant. I will tell you that you are not a servant but a ‘Ruler’. By ruler I don’t mean that you are a king or something but that you are the sole implementer of rules and laws made by the Parliament. You and only you can implement that law and no one can take that power from you. These laws are transparent and known to everyone. Follow the laws and you will be the ruler.’
I agree with him fully. We as officers derive the powers from the laws of the land and not from the direction of any bosses. The PM or CM can transfer an officer (a power which is given to them) if he does not like his action but nothing more. Once the decision is taken, it can’t be changed by anyone in the country except when it is illegal and that too after following the proper procedures.
We are in democracy and here no one has absolute power. The CM/PM of today may become nobody tomorrow but the officers would be here for 35-37 years, if they observe the laws and procedures and exercise their power in fair and just manner. The political masters have to work only with them and not by themselves.
We were completing our training in our academy in Chennai and waiting for our first posting. One day in the first week of May (1993), someone informed that our posting orders were issued. In those days, there was no internet or mobile. People were frantically contacting the North Block and finding out their posting and that of their friends. Those who were getting postings in cities like Delhi, Mumbai or Ahmadabad were jumping with joy and those who got bad stations were consoled by the rest of us. Then I came to know that I was posted to Patna Commissionerate. My colleagues consoled me saying that it was only for a few years and that I can always get out of it the next year. I was also quite apprehensive about Bihar but I had no option but to join my first posting.
Three of us were posted to Patna Central Excise Commissionerate and we joined within a week. On reaching Patna by train, we were happy to find uniformed officers receiving us on the Railway Station as we were accommodated in a decent departmental guest house. Within next two days, another transfer order was issued by the Commissioner and I was posted to Muzaffarpur Division, which was around 80 km from Patna. This post was lying vacant since last few months due to retirement of its last incumbent. I was asked to take my charge on the very next day. I informed the Superintendent (Preventive) of Muzaffarpur Division, who promised to send a vehicle on the next day at our guest house for picking me up. I was quite excited and also nervous that night.
I could hardly sleep in the night in excitement.
The next day, I was awakened by a knock on my door. When I opened the door, I found three young inspectors in uniform saluting me. They told me that they have come to receive me from Muzaffarpur and that the vehicle is waiting down for me. It was the first time that I received such crisp salutes and I actually forgot how to respond to salutes. Anyway, I quickly took bath and got ready for breakfast. I still remember that the cook prepared Aloo Paratha that day and I enjoyed it with curd and butter. The two uniformed sepoys took my suitcase and other luggage and kept it in the Jeep waiting downstairs. When I went down, I saw my first official vehicle. It was an old Mahindra Jeep with red/yellow light on the top. The driver was one Mr Jagdambika Misra who was also dressed in crisp uniform and he saluted me smartly. The officer opened the door of the Jeep as I boarded on the front seat.
We had hardly travelled around 30 km, when I found two vehicles waiting for me on road. My vehicle was stopped near them and one person in uniform saluted me crisply and introduced me as Mr S N Srivastava, the Superintendent of Hazipur. He was accompanied by five inspectors and few sepoys. They presented me a bouquet of flower. He requested me to take some ‘jalpan’ (snacks) as I may be tired. I told him that I had just taken breakfast and not feeling like taking anything more. After his insistence, we went to a nearby hotel where a cabin was reserved for us. We took some light snacks and then started for Muzaffarpur. Mr Srivastava followed me with his team.
When I reached to my Divisional office in Muzzaffarpur, I was surprised to find almost 40-50 officers in uniform waiting for me. They gave me a small Guard of Honour as I was escorted to my office chamber. I found that my name plate “A K Singh, IRS /Assistant Collector” already placed on the door of the chamber.
My office chamber was fairly large room with attach toilet. It was beautifully decorated and could accommodate easily around 20-25 people. I sat on my chair. All other officers were standing. They too took their seat once I asked them to sit. Soon the Administrative Officer came with a file with “Assumption Charge” order and requested me to sign it. I thus took charge of the Assistant Collector of Central Excise Muzaffarpur.
I was feeling very uncomfortable by being called ‘Sir’ by the senior officers of the department who were even older than my father. I wanted to tell them that they should rather call me by my name as I am too young but something inside told me not to say so. All the senior officers introduced themselves to me one by one. I was told that there are five Ranges under my charge and that my jurisdiction consists of five districts of Bihar namely Muzaffarpur, Hazipur, Chhapra, Siwan and Gopalganj. There were around hundred officers/staff reporting to me. We discussed informally with each other over tea, biscuits, kaju katri and cashew-nuts. I took a round of my office where I was introduced to other officers and staff. The office was quite big and several halls and rooms.
I wanted to inform my family about the safe arrival at Muzaffarpur. I asked them if there is STD on my phone. I was told that my phone indeed had the STD facility. In those days, STD was a great luxury. It used to cost 1 call (Rs 1) for every two second of call and hence one minute call would cost around Rs 30. The rates used to be half after 7 PM and one quarter after 10 PM (till 6 AM). I immediately called my wife from my office phone and informed her of my safe arrival. Thereafter, I was told to relax in the guest house which was on the first floor of the building. I took my lunch there and took a little rest.
I came down to my chamber once again around 3 PM. Now I saw so many files kept on my table. Soon the Administrative Officer came and requested me to sanction leaves, TAs, and several Bills. I had never done that before so I asked him, how it is to be done. He told me that I have to just sign on the note-sheet. I felt great thinking that just by one signature these sanctions shall be made. I was told that I am the Head of Office and has several powers to sanction. He brought to me one file after another and I sanctioned the items after discussing the matter with him.
After sometime, my Superintend came to me and requested me to call on the other senior officer of the department viz. AC and DC of Customs whose offices were located nearly. I went there escorted by my officers. The application for Government Accommodation was already prepared by my AO. I was only required to sign. I met my senior officers there who were very nice to me. They welcomed me to Muzaffarpur and immediately allotted me a Government House. They also invited me for a dinner to be hosted in my honour in the evening at their residence. I came back to office by evening and started planning to bring my family in the next week.
PS: I have spent now around 25 years in the department. I don’t even notice when I get a salute (I will surely notice if someone doesn’t). I am now so used to the power and perks of the office that they have stopped giving me any joy. Yet I still vividly remember the moments of my first taste of power, which was as sweet as the first love.
When I decided to do my PhD course in the area of E-Governance from IIITM Gwalior, most people were quite surprised. I was posted as the Deputy Commissioner of Air Cargo Ahmadabad, which was quite a prestigious posting for the department.
Most people had no idea about IIITM. They asked me why I am going to waste my time doing PhD when it is not going to give me any benefit in my career. It may even harm my career because, I was likely to be branded as an IT professional in the department and may get posting in Directorate of System,which had little perks and facilities as compared to the other field formations. Some of my friends tried to persuade me to avoid it because it involved shifting to Gwalior involving discomfort for the entire family as my children were studying in DPS Ahmadabad.
I, however, had strong desire to do PhD and I joined IIITM in August 2002. I shifted my family and stayed in a rented flat for two years without any government facility. I attended lectures with the students who were half my age. I however had a nice time during my PhD. I got all ‘A’ Grades in all the courses taken by me during the PhD course.
The greatest benefit of doing PhD was that I discovered that I can write creatively. I published eight research papers in International Journals and International Conferences. I also got Infosys Research Grant and presented my paper in Melbourne University.
I developed the habit of writing profusely after my PhD. I wrote over 400 articles in different forums and got two books published so far in 2013 and 2015. My life was transformed for better after the PhD.
I feel happy that I followed my guts and did not heed to the advice of my friends and family.
Most people think that IAS/IPS or other officers like IFS/IRS can do anything. The fact is that there are so many restrictions on their freedom. Let me narrate a few of them.
1. They can’t air their political views.
2. They can’t criticize the policies of the government, even if they don’t like them.
3. They can’t travel abroad without permission from Government.
4. They are duty bound 24x7 and they can’t enjoy their holidays and festivals, if his boss does not permit them.
5. They can’t do any business or participate in any organization in any capacity.
6. They can’t write articles, books etc. on most matters and share their thoughts.
7. They can’t even leave their job without the permission of the government.
There is actually no shortage of water in India. We face flood in one part of the country while face drought in another part of the country. Even now when almost one third of India is reeling under drought problem, there is flood in Assam. Some states like Bihar and Assam face floods almost every year while places like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan face drought frequently.Sometime the same state witness flood as well as shortage of water. For example, this year Tamil Nadu had witnessed record rainfall leading to flood inmost part of Tamil Nadu but soon the water crisis may gulp the state if there is no rainfall in this year.
Unfortunately, we always give knee jerk reaction when there is flood or water crisis instead of finding permanent solution of the problems.The politicians start blaming each other for the problem and Courts intervene to stop the IPL like events to conserve water. The media is quick to criticize the politicians even when water is used to prepare ground for landing of the helicopter.
The need is to take some concrete measures to solve the water problem once for all.
1: Water Grid Network
We can solve the problem on permanent basis by creating a Water Grid network throughout India just like we have created electric grid by which the electricity produced in one part of the country can be quickly transmitted to other part of the country.The electric network of India is shown below.
A water-grid authority can connect the water sources across the country and connect the water scarce region with the water surplus region through water pipelines. Thereafter, whenever there is a flood like situation, the water can be pumped to the water-scarce region and the problem of flood as well as drought can be simultaneously taken care of. A picture of Greater Sydney's water supply system is shown below. Please visit
http://www.waternsw.com.au/suppl...for more info.
2: Water Reservoirs
There is a need of creating huge water reservoir at close proximity of major towns and cities where huge quantify of water can be stored. These reservoirs can ensure that no water during rainy season is wasted as the same is preserved here. They also raise the water level of the cities on permanent basis. At the time of shortage, the same water can be used for irrigation and drinking purposes.
3: Water Conservation
In addition to creating water-grid and water-reservoir, we must also go for water-harvesting and educate the citizens to preserve the water. One sound method to implement water preservation is to have incremental charges for water consumption by the consumer. It means that we must charge less if water consumption is less and then charge more as the water consumption rises. This will bring some discipline in the use of water by the common man.
I used to teach my younger siblings during their younger days. I was selected for IIT in 1983. My younger brother Anand was three years my junior. He had a friend named Naveen Kapoor, who was also our neighbour. When their results of class 10 were announced in 1984, Naveen was very disappointed because he scored just 50 marks in maths. His parents requested me to motivate him and help him in studies. In those days, it was extremely difficult to get into engineering in India as there were hardly any private engineering colleges available and there were hardly a thousand seats in the open category in UP for a population of over 100 million.
I was anyway teaching my brother Anand and so I was updated with subjects like maths and physics. I decided to also spare some time for Naveen for teaching. Naveen was a keen learner and I liked teaching him. I used to teach him during my vacations as I was doing my B Tech from IIT (BHU) Varanasi during that time while we were living in Lucknow. He used to keep the difficult questions of each topic ready and I sometime used to have marathon sitting to clear his fundamentals and solve problems. Once we sat for nearly seven hours at a stretch.
His performance started improving gradually. When the results were announced, he not only passed Intermediate (10+2) with good marks but also got admission in a Government Engineering College of UP in his choiceed branch (Computer Engineering). Unfortunately my own brother Anand could not make it, though I spend much more time with him. I was disappointed by the result of my brother but felt very happy about the performance of Naveen. After a couple of days, his parents invited me to a function organized by them to celebrate Naveen’s success. They introduced me to all their guest as the mentor of Naveen. They gave me all the credit of his success, though I knew that it was the hard work of Naveen that had made him successful.
Now almost three decades have passed. The parents of Naveen are no more in this world. He is working in a good company and has a beautiful wife and two charming children. He still calls me frequently and address me as ‘Bhaiya’ (Elder Brother) and treat me like his real elder brother. Whenever he calls me, his voice is full of love and affection. I feel so happy that I have played some important role in shaping his life.
Teaching for a Fee
After several years (1990), after writing my Civil Services (Mains), I had some time before joining for the probationary training. Hence, I decided to take some tuitions to sustain my expenses in Delhi. The payment was very good for the IIT-JEE tuitions. In those days I used to be paid Rs 100-120 for one hour of tuition, when the starting salary of an IAS officer was just Rs 2500 pm. The students were bright who used to be ready with the toughest questions and they used to make best use of my one hour tuition 2/3 times in a week.
A couple of years after I joined my job, I happen to visit a friend of mine whose used to stay in the same complex as one of the student tutored by me. I was excited to know if he was selected in any engineering college. So, along with my friend I visited his home expecting a warm response from him. However, he could hardly identify me. I had to remind him of the past before he asked us to be seated in his drawing room and offered us a glass of water. His response was as cold as the water served to us. We soon came out of the house.
The Blessings of Selfless Service
I couldn’t not stop remembering the difference of response between my two students viz. Naveen and him. I taught both of them with equal passion. However, when I was teaching for a fee and paid appropriately for my labour, there was nothing else to get in return. In case of Naveen, my services were provided selflessly and I received lots of love, respect and joy.
I thus understood a great lesson of my life. When you give anything to someone (wealth/service) and you don’t take anything in return, you are blessed with love, joy and honour.
Why should we give money to beggars?
Do you think there is any genuine reason for giving money/alms to beggars?
We earn money when we contribute something to the society.
- A police officer earns money because he protects our life and maintains law and order
- An Armyman earns money because he protects our country risking his own life
- A tax official earns money because he earns taxes for the country
- A businessman earns money because he provides goods and services to the consumer
- A manufacturer earns money because he produces goods which we need
- An employee earns money because he slogs 8-10 hours a day for his living
What does a beggar do?
Does he make any contribution to the society?
I believe that beggars only give a bad name to the country and shame the nation by projecting themselves worse that what they actually are and by looking so miserable.
The worst thing is that they expect you to give them money as a right. They even curse you if you don’t pay them.
Unfortunately, there are a large number of people who always get sympathetic to their condition and give them money in proportion to their projected misery. That motivates them and many others to look even more miserable and earn more and more money.
We must not give money to beggars as a practice.
When we give money to beggars we add an unproductive person in the society who brings more shame to our country.
Stop increasing the numbers of beggars in the country by giving them alms.
Source of photo: Google Images
Please see the picture of a glass filled with water.
Let me ask you a question: “Whether the glass is half filled; or half empty?”
Your answer to this question depends on your outlook of life because both the answers are correct.
- The glass is half filled
- The glass is also half empty
When you are an average guy, you are already better than half of the people.
Let us say that you are a student and your class has 100 students. Being average means that you are better than 50 students.
Is it not the reason to feel happy about?
However, you are perhaps comparing yourself only with the 50 students, who are better than you and hence you are feeling miserable and ashamed.
Suppose you become better than average and score better marks than 90% of the students of your class.
Still, you will find that there are 10 students better than you and you would again feel ashamed for being worse than 10 students of your class.
Let us say that you actually become a topper in your class.
Do you think, it will make you happier?
May be not.
Because then you would be comparing yourself with the best in State or the Country.
I am making this statement based on experience and not based on theory.
There are many officers in IRS who actually feel ashamed that they are not in IAS. They forget the fact that they are better than 99.99% of candidates who wrote civil services examination.
Are the IAS officers happy?
Many of them are feeling miserable because they find that their junior IAS officers are getting important postings while they are shunted out to unimportant charges.
You can never feel happy in life unless you learn to appreciate and value what you have.
You don’t have to be satisfied being average.
However, you have reasons to feel happy to be better than half of the people.
Your joy and sense of accomplishment shall give you energy and motivation to work harder and achieve even better results in future.
You don’t become successful when you are ashamed of yourself.
Who do you think is going to make you a success?
You and you alone can make yourself a success.
Learn to appreciate and compliment yourself for every small success.
If you want to be appreciated by others, learn to appreciate yourself first.
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