He asked me, ‘Suppose I give you a glass of almond (badam) milk flavoured with kesar (saffron), will you like to drink it?’
‘Most certainly yes Sir. I love badam milk’.
‘Now suppose that just before you take the first slip of the milk, a bird drops its excrement in the milk. Can you still drink it?’
‘That will be horrible Sir. It will be impossible to drink such milk’, I replied, twisting my face in disgust.
He then gave this timeless advice in the following words,
‘Beautiful relationships are like the milk filed with almond and saffron. We create relationships with our spouse, parents, children or friends with so much effort. We do everything for them, take care of them and speak numerous complimentary things to them as we love them from bottom of our heart. Then one day, when we are low or upset or our loved one commit some mistake, we lose our temper and shout at them. We say something to them that hurt them badly. After sometime, when we are sober, we feel bad and even profusely apologize. Yet just like drop of bird dropping is sufficient to spoil millions of the drops of milk, our one wrong action damages the relationship very badly. The person on the receiving end, does not remember our hundred good deeds and words, but remembers every harsh word uttered by us when we lost our temper. If we can just control ourselves on those few moments, we can always have a great relationship with everyone.’I have not found a better advice than this for maintaining relationships. I am following his advice in my life and I have been tremendously benefited from it.
No.
You must know when to be honest and when to lie.
Please read this story.
A couple is driving...Cop: Sir, you realize that you were speeding.Husband: I am sorry officer, I didn't know.Wife: What the hell,that's a lie I have been telling him for miles!!Husband: Shut up!! No one is talking to you!!Cop: Ok then, did you know that your license plate was expired?Husband: No Officer, I didn't know.Wife: He's again telling a lie!! I've been telling him for months!!Husband: Shut the hell up! Nobody is talking to you!!!Cop walks over to the wife's side and says –Cop: Mam, does he always talk to you this way?Wife: No. Only when he's drunk.
.
.
Moral of the Story
- It is not OK to be honest all the time.
- Beware of people who can't speak lies at the right time.
Source of Cartoon: Drunk Driving Cartoons and Comics
A common man feels that IAS, IPS, IRS or IFS officers are quite rich. Their perception is not without basis. Let me explain why such perception exists and if there is some truth in it. I will divide my answer into two parts. One dealing with corrupt officers and the other dealing with honest officers.
1. Corrupt Officers
It is a fact that most of the Civil Servants are not honest in India. However, they occupy very senior positions in Government where they deal with matters where large stacks are involved. For example, in my last assignment, I was posted as Commissioner of Large Taxpayer Unit, Chennai which collected over Rs 8000 Crores of revenue. You can imagine what a corrupt officer can do with such immense resources at their disposal. An IPS officer may be in-charge of a district dealing with millions of people. If he decide to compromise with criminals, there is hardly any limit for money-making. An IAS officer has even more potential to make illegal money.
However, you must know that corruption is a criminal offence in India. You may not be caught for 100 times, but if you are caught even once, your career is over and you may have to cool your heels in jail for quite some time and spend your rest of life running in Courts.
No wonder, most officers are happy with their salary and perks. But those who become corrupt make hundreds of crores and they make national news and create all the perception about the service.
2.Honest Officers
The salary of a top Civil Servant in India is not usually very high. The starting salary of an IAS/IRS officer is around Rs 40,000 and the top officer gets around Rs 200,000 per month. However, they get lots of perks. They often get big houses in best locations of the city. They also get vehicle (with driver) from day one in the service. In addition, they get free telephones and even attendants to take care of their personal work. If you are in IRS you can also expect rewards for the tax evasion cases made by you upto the limit of Rs 20 lakhs in your career. If you are in IFS, you spent half your life abroad and you get around 200000 per month as DA for staying abroad in addition to your salary.
I have few friends in corporate who are earning several times more salary than I do. Yet the lifestyle of ours may be better due to additional perks.
Another important thing is to understand why money is important for us. We spend barely few thousand on essentials like food, water, house etc. If you earn 1 Crore or 100 Crore, you eat the same food, watch movies in the same theater. The difference is the social status and recognition. As DM, SP or Commissioner, you acquire the same status as the top man of your city, even with much smaller money since you represent Government. The value of such honor and status can’t be quantified in monetary terms.
Hence, even if you choose to be honest, your value is extremely high in society.
1. Corrupt Officers
It is a fact that most of the Civil Servants are not honest in India. However, they occupy very senior positions in Government where they deal with matters where large stacks are involved. For example, in my last assignment, I was posted as Commissioner of Large Taxpayer Unit, Chennai which collected over Rs 8000 Crores of revenue. You can imagine what a corrupt officer can do with such immense resources at their disposal. An IPS officer may be in-charge of a district dealing with millions of people. If he decide to compromise with criminals, there is hardly any limit for money-making. An IAS officer has even more potential to make illegal money.
However, you must know that corruption is a criminal offence in India. You may not be caught for 100 times, but if you are caught even once, your career is over and you may have to cool your heels in jail for quite some time and spend your rest of life running in Courts.
No wonder, most officers are happy with their salary and perks. But those who become corrupt make hundreds of crores and they make national news and create all the perception about the service.
2.Honest Officers
The salary of a top Civil Servant in India is not usually very high. The starting salary of an IAS/IRS officer is around Rs 40,000 and the top officer gets around Rs 200,000 per month. However, they get lots of perks. They often get big houses in best locations of the city. They also get vehicle (with driver) from day one in the service. In addition, they get free telephones and even attendants to take care of their personal work. If you are in IRS you can also expect rewards for the tax evasion cases made by you upto the limit of Rs 20 lakhs in your career. If you are in IFS, you spent half your life abroad and you get around 200000 per month as DA for staying abroad in addition to your salary.
I have few friends in corporate who are earning several times more salary than I do. Yet the lifestyle of ours may be better due to additional perks.
Another important thing is to understand why money is important for us. We spend barely few thousand on essentials like food, water, house etc. If you earn 1 Crore or 100 Crore, you eat the same food, watch movies in the same theater. The difference is the social status and recognition. As DM, SP or Commissioner, you acquire the same status as the top man of your city, even with much smaller money since you represent Government. The value of such honor and status can’t be quantified in monetary terms.
Hence, even if you choose to be honest, your value is extremely high in society.
You should become an IAS officer because:-
1: You can share the pain of your fellow countrymen
(Photo: Gopalganj District Magistrate Rahul Kumar having lunch at the government school in Kalyanpur village of Barauli)
2: You can improve functioning of all government department in a district
(Photo: District Collector V. Seshadri reviewing the arrangements of Araku Utsav in the Visakhapatnam)
3. You can live in the Big Bungalow of District Collector/Magistrate
4: You can travel in a Government Vehicle with Red/Blue Light
5: You can be the center of attraction on important occasions
(Photo: District Collector Archana Patnaik inspecting the guard of honour during the Independence Day celebrations)
Who would dare to slap an IAS officer?
If someone dare to do so, you too have two hands to return the favour. You can also lodge an FIR for obstructing a government officer performing his duty and send the fellow to jail.
If you are transferred, enjoy the new place and perform your best in your new charge. You get an opportunity to see so many new places and work with so many people of different culture due to transfer. That too on government expenses.
It is not easy to kill an IAS officer. How many IAS officers are killed every year among more than 6000 IAS officers in the country? Even if you get killed , you don’t die an ordinary death. You become a martyr and honoured by the country.
Let me answer this question after this beautiful Zen story.
There was a farmer whose only horse ran away. That evening the neighbors gathered to sympathize with him. "Your farm will suffer, and you cannot plow," they said. "Surely this is a terrible thing to have happened to you."He said, "Maybe yes, maybe no."The next day the horse returned but brought with it six wild horses, and the neighbors came to congratulate him and exclaim at his good fortune. "You are richer than you were before!" they said. "Surely this has turned out to be a good thing for you, after all."He said, "Maybe yes, maybe no."And then, the following day, his son tried to ride one of the wild horses. He was thrown and broke his leg, and he couldn't work on the farm. Again the neighbors came to offer their sympathy for the incident. "There is more work than only you can handle, and you may be driven poor," they said. "Surely this is a terrible misfortune."The old farmer said, "Maybe yes, maybe no."The day after that, conscription officers came to the village to seize young men for the army, but because of his broken leg the farmer's son was rejected. When the neighbors came again, they said, "How fortunate! Things have worked out after all. Most young men never return alive from the war. Surely this is the best of fortunes for you!"And the old man said, "Maybe yes, maybe no."
This Zen story is one of my favourite stories to understand life and its various shades.
Let me rephrase this story to suit my life events.
There was a boy who was very good in studies. He was selected in the prestigious IIT for Engineering. The neighbours came to compliment his father for the great achievement of his son. They said, “Congratulations! Your son is selected for IIT. He is really going to be a great engineer.”Father said, “May be yes, may be no.”A few years later, the son passed from IIT and got a job in a top engineering company. However, soon he decided to leave his engineering job and started preparing for Civil Services Examination. The neighbours came again to the father and said, “What a pity that your son has decided to leave the top engineering job. All his IIT education got wasted. He has surely done a stupid thing.”Father said, “May be yes, may be no.”The son was successful in the civil services but got selected in IRS instead of IAS. The neighbours came to console the father, “Your son is so brilliant. He should have been in IAS, if he would have just got one more question right. He is really very unlucky.”Father said, “May be yes, may be no.”The son joined the IRS. Soon he found that IRS suited his temperament. There was no political interference, no random transfer and posting. He had lots of time for his family. He also enjoyed his job and got all the recognition and decorations from the department. He did his PhD during service and developed passion for writing. He used his spare time to read and write. Soon his articles started appearing in various forums and his book was published by a reputed publisher. He became a best-selling author. His name was published in several newspapers. The neighbour came to compliment the father, “You must be really happy and proud of your son. It is good that he is not in IAS else he would not have the time and peace of mind to write books. He was really lucky to be in IRS. ”Father said again, “May be yes. May be no.”
Who knows what is stored in future. I can blame myself for several reasons
1. Why did I join IIT, if I was to become a civil servant?
2. Why did I become a civil servant, if I wanted to become an author?
However, I never blame myself for anything because I believe that everything is connected with everything else in life.
What I am today is the sum total of all my past.
Life is meant for living and not for calculating your profit and loss.
If you lived your life the way, you wish; you are the winner irrespective of what is perceived to be a mistake by others.
In the year 2004, I presented a paper during my PhD research, titled “Delivering Social Justice, Equality and Growth to All Citizen Through E-Governance” in “The Australian Electronic Governance Conference” at Melbourne University. On my way, I halted at Sydney where I met my friend Mr Albel Singh who was working in the police department. He invited us for dinner and there we discussed several things including the work culture of the two countries. Albel was from Haryana and himself a PhD. When I asked him why he has not joined academics and become a professor in a University, he said that jobs in academic are very prestigious in Australia (compare that with India) and it is extremely difficult to get a job of a Professor in an Australian University. It was much easier to get the police job.
Albel told me that in Australia, the police officers are appointed for a period of 3 years and then reappointed if their performance is found upto the mark. He explained me about the difference in the style of functioning of police in India and Australia. For example, if in Australia, a thief break into a house, the owner or his neighbour shall not catch hold of the thief and beat him to death (or near death) like in India. They will rather give a call to the police, who will then come and catch the thief. The police officers also do not use any force and always address the criminal only as “Sir”. However, all criminals are convicted within a year and sent to prison to suffer their punishment.
I was surprised to observe that all government officers were addressing ordinary citizens as ‘Sir’. A common citizen is not concerned about the theft because all their household items are insured and they consider it the responsibility of government to protect their life and property. Hence they never take law into their own hand and punish the criminal by themselves. During the dinner all other people took drink, but Albel said that he would take drink only after dropping us to our hotel. I asked him why he was so concerned, when he was himself a police officer. He told me that this entire area is within his own jurisdiction. If he is found driving under the influence of alcohol, the punishment will be more severe than ordinary citizen and he will surely lose his job besides facing other punishments.
When we complain about the arrogance of government officer in India, let us try to understand our society and observe how we as an individual deal with the people who are less powerful than us.
· How the parents deal with their children?
· How the family members deal with their servants?
· How the senior officers deal with their junior officers?
· How the politicians deal with senior bureaucrats?
· How the common people deal the politicians at the time of elections?
In our country, we all behave differently when we are more-powerful and when we are less-powerful. The behaviour of the father of a son is totally different than his behaviour when he seeks alliance as the father of his daughter. While we expect the more powerful people to behave decently with us, we ignore how we are dealing with people less powerful than us.
However, many people feel that if we change our system to those of developed countries, our bureaucrats too would become as nice, efficient and responsible as them. I shall now present some critical reforms based on the developed country model and also the flip side of these reforms; which will help you understand why it is not possible to imitate the system of one country to another.
1: Hire and Fire Policy in Appointment
Almost all developed countries don’t have the concept of lifetime employment in government like in India. They appoint people on contractual basis for 3/5 years, which has to be renewed at the absolute discretion of the government. However, such system may not work in India, as the corrupt officers, who listen to the politicians may get their appointment renewed and the honest officers may be fired by the political masters at will. If appointment is left to the politicians and ministers, you can imagine the type of people, who would be selected for government. You may have to perhaps join a political party and acquire a few years of experience to be appointed in government.
2: Single Classes of Appointment
In India, the appointment is made separately for class A, B, C and D level (like IPS, PPS, Sub-Inspector and constable in police). In developed countries, the recruitment is usually at single level and even a constable can rise to become a police commissioner (like in UK). Can it be done in India? What will be the quality of candidates, if the Civil Services Examinations conducted by UPSC or State PSC are abolished and all officers appointed at the lowest level?
3: Merit Based Appointment and Promotions
In developed countries, there is no concept of reservation either in appointment or in promotion. It is because the caste system does not exist in any country except in India. In India, you can change your religion but not your caste. This caste system is also prevalent in civil services of different rank. You can never change your service and job description. Within Class I services the IAS/IFS treat other services as lower castes. While other services lament the domination of IAS but they themselves treat the others services in the same way. For example, the IPS officers alone will head CBI, CRPF and other paramilitary organizations, and the Class I officers of these officers can’t take the top post. Similar caste system is prevalent in all services. Even the most brilliant inspector in a revenue department, can’t rise to become Commissioner while the most inefficient IRS officer will get this post automatically one day by virtue of his seniority. Hence, in government, the reservation is also implemented in promotion upto Group A level. You can’t even imagine removing reservation in India, where 70-80% people belongs to SC/ST and Backwards classes.
4: Salaries and Perks
Even though the Group A officers at senior level are paid a decent salary, but more than 95% government servants belong to the lower classes. When you have the salary of the lowest paid government employee fixed at Rs 18000 or US$ 290 pm (after pay revision), how much efficiency can you expect? The same level officers in developed countries are paid at least 10 times more salary. Can the government afford that level of salary?
Conclusion
What we see and perceive is only a symptom of a deeper problem. The arrogance of government officer is a result of several socio-economic factors and it is not easy to remove it in short duration of time. As the democracy in India is maturing and the economy is developing, you can hope to find better behaved government officers in future. However, the changes shall be so slow that it would take a few generations to achieve what we are expecting today. It will come when an India PM will be travelling in a train like British PM David Cameron (and a common citizen would not offer him a seat) as shown in the picture below.
Albel told me that in Australia, the police officers are appointed for a period of 3 years and then reappointed if their performance is found upto the mark. He explained me about the difference in the style of functioning of police in India and Australia. For example, if in Australia, a thief break into a house, the owner or his neighbour shall not catch hold of the thief and beat him to death (or near death) like in India. They will rather give a call to the police, who will then come and catch the thief. The police officers also do not use any force and always address the criminal only as “Sir”. However, all criminals are convicted within a year and sent to prison to suffer their punishment.
I was surprised to observe that all government officers were addressing ordinary citizens as ‘Sir’. A common citizen is not concerned about the theft because all their household items are insured and they consider it the responsibility of government to protect their life and property. Hence they never take law into their own hand and punish the criminal by themselves. During the dinner all other people took drink, but Albel said that he would take drink only after dropping us to our hotel. I asked him why he was so concerned, when he was himself a police officer. He told me that this entire area is within his own jurisdiction. If he is found driving under the influence of alcohol, the punishment will be more severe than ordinary citizen and he will surely lose his job besides facing other punishments.
When we complain about the arrogance of government officer in India, let us try to understand our society and observe how we as an individual deal with the people who are less powerful than us.
· How the parents deal with their children?
· How the family members deal with their servants?
· How the senior officers deal with their junior officers?
· How the politicians deal with senior bureaucrats?
· How the common people deal the politicians at the time of elections?
In our country, we all behave differently when we are more-powerful and when we are less-powerful. The behaviour of the father of a son is totally different than his behaviour when he seeks alliance as the father of his daughter. While we expect the more powerful people to behave decently with us, we ignore how we are dealing with people less powerful than us.
However, many people feel that if we change our system to those of developed countries, our bureaucrats too would become as nice, efficient and responsible as them. I shall now present some critical reforms based on the developed country model and also the flip side of these reforms; which will help you understand why it is not possible to imitate the system of one country to another.
1: Hire and Fire Policy in Appointment
Almost all developed countries don’t have the concept of lifetime employment in government like in India. They appoint people on contractual basis for 3/5 years, which has to be renewed at the absolute discretion of the government. However, such system may not work in India, as the corrupt officers, who listen to the politicians may get their appointment renewed and the honest officers may be fired by the political masters at will. If appointment is left to the politicians and ministers, you can imagine the type of people, who would be selected for government. You may have to perhaps join a political party and acquire a few years of experience to be appointed in government.
2: Single Classes of Appointment
In India, the appointment is made separately for class A, B, C and D level (like IPS, PPS, Sub-Inspector and constable in police). In developed countries, the recruitment is usually at single level and even a constable can rise to become a police commissioner (like in UK). Can it be done in India? What will be the quality of candidates, if the Civil Services Examinations conducted by UPSC or State PSC are abolished and all officers appointed at the lowest level?
3: Merit Based Appointment and Promotions
In developed countries, there is no concept of reservation either in appointment or in promotion. It is because the caste system does not exist in any country except in India. In India, you can change your religion but not your caste. This caste system is also prevalent in civil services of different rank. You can never change your service and job description. Within Class I services the IAS/IFS treat other services as lower castes. While other services lament the domination of IAS but they themselves treat the others services in the same way. For example, the IPS officers alone will head CBI, CRPF and other paramilitary organizations, and the Class I officers of these officers can’t take the top post. Similar caste system is prevalent in all services. Even the most brilliant inspector in a revenue department, can’t rise to become Commissioner while the most inefficient IRS officer will get this post automatically one day by virtue of his seniority. Hence, in government, the reservation is also implemented in promotion upto Group A level. You can’t even imagine removing reservation in India, where 70-80% people belongs to SC/ST and Backwards classes.
4: Salaries and Perks
Even though the Group A officers at senior level are paid a decent salary, but more than 95% government servants belong to the lower classes. When you have the salary of the lowest paid government employee fixed at Rs 18000 or US$ 290 pm (after pay revision), how much efficiency can you expect? The same level officers in developed countries are paid at least 10 times more salary. Can the government afford that level of salary?
Conclusion
What we see and perceive is only a symptom of a deeper problem. The arrogance of government officer is a result of several socio-economic factors and it is not easy to remove it in short duration of time. As the democracy in India is maturing and the economy is developing, you can hope to find better behaved government officers in future. However, the changes shall be so slow that it would take a few generations to achieve what we are expecting today. It will come when an India PM will be travelling in a train like British PM David Cameron (and a common citizen would not offer him a seat) as shown in the picture below.
These things demotivate any student like me.
I have been told many stories where IAS officers were accused of rapes or were entangled in many fake cases if they worked against those politicians.
There have been many cases where many IAS officers were suspended and even murdered.
How can someone from a elite group work under illiterate politicians.
Are powers given to an IAS officers not enough for them?
I would never like to work in such frustrating and pressure environment even if paid very high.
I have been told many stories where IAS officers were accused of rapes or were entangled in many fake cases if they worked against those politicians.
There have been many cases where many IAS officers were suspended and even murdered.
How can someone from a elite group work under illiterate politicians.
Are powers given to an IAS officers not enough for them?
I would never like to work in such frustrating and pressure environment even if paid very high.
It is not that only IAS officers have to work under politicians, who are not a quarter as capable as them. This chain is actually quite long:-
- The top professionals like scientists, doctors, engineers have to work under IAS officers who are not quarter as good in the respective field.
- The top IAS officers have to work under politicians who are not a quarter as good in the matter of administration.
- The politicians have to work under the masses who are not quarter as good as them in the matter of politics.
- The masses have to work under the professionals, IAS officers and politicians who are not quarter as sensitive and humane as them.
Real life is complex as there is no strict winner or loser.
Everyone is better than everyone else in one of more respect.
Hierarchies are not linear but actually circular.
This is same in every field of life.
If you are good in one field, it does not mean that you are good in every field.
Thousands of top managers and engineers work under Bill Gates (school dropout), Steve Jobs (school dropout) and Dhirubhai Ambani (Only matriculation pass), who were not a quarter as good as them.
Academics is not the only measure of brilliance and merit. There are many qualities which can’t be measured by any school or college.
Learn to respect different types of qualities in people.
Even an illiterate person can be superior to the most educated person in many respects.
There are several benefits in the civil services, which you can’t get in any other profession. There are still numerous reasons to join civil services in India despite all the liberalization and globalization.
Let me narrate a few of those.
1: Prestige
Imagine that you are passing on a road of a city like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai or any major city of India and you see several vehicles passing by. There are expensive vehicles like Mercedes, BMW, or Jaguar and there is a Government vehicle of average type with red/blue light on its top with the name plate of the office/officer. Which vehicle people look at?
I am sure that most people look at the vehicle with red light. The traffic constables become alert on duty and may give a crisp salute to the officer sitting in the vehicle. A government vehicle is a sign of authority, which immediately attracts the attention of people. Similarly, a government officer immediately gets attention in big galaxies of important people.
Contrary to popular perception in urban India and media, the civil servants are highly respected by the people of India. It is because they serve people like no one else. Further, their selection process has always been transparent and fair. UPSC had always been above board for selection of candidates for top services. A PM/CM can make anyone a Cabinet Minister, Supreme Court Collegium can make anyone a High Court or Supreme Court Judge; and anyone can be made the CEO/CMD of a company but nobody can make you an IAS, IPS or IRS officer except your own merit. Hence, people of India never doubt the ability of a civil servant. When you become part of any function of an organization, its prestige goes up and you become the central point of the function and get all the attention.
2: Power
A civil servant is the epitome of state power. You are not a government servant but the government itself. The laws may be passed by the Parliament, but are executed only through civil servants. We as IRS officers sign so many documents on behalf of President of India. Please remember that you exercise the power of the Government in India pertaining to your department. You have the authority to decide cases worth hundreds of crores and conduct search, seizure of arrest of the people who are breaking the law of the land. No wonder, the law breakers don’t want to mess with you and the law abiders look at you for taking on the law breakers. You have the original powers to implement the rule of law in this country. Only when you fail, others come into picture.
3. Job Security and Political Interference
If you are in a private sector job, you can be removed with one day notice. You are always at the mercy of the company and its top bosses. The service conditions of civil servants are determined by the Parliament and can’t be changed to his disadvantage. Their service is protected by Article 311 of the Indian Constitution according to which, he can’t be dismissed from service without an enquiry where he would be given opportunity to defend himself. He also has the option to approach the Courts, in case he has been treated unfairly. The promotion of a civil servant is not in the hands of politician, which is either time bound manner or based on seniority. The promotion committees are headed by UPSC Member/Chairman and hence you can expect utmost objectivity in promotion. You don’t have to fear anyone, if you are on the right side of the law.
Fortunately the central services like IRS are fully insulated from political interference. I have never got any call from any politician in my 25 years of my career and there has been no political interference directly or indirectly ever. The reason can be attributed to the ‘Transfer Policy’ if our department. The postings upto the rank of Additional Commissioner are made by the Chief Commissioner (Within his Zone/State) or by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (All over India) manned by all IRS officials. Even for Commissioner and Chief Commissioner, it is the Placement Committee (PC) headed by The Chairman CBEC or CBDT proposes the names for the approval of FM. If a name is not proposed by PC, no order can be made. Similarly for posting in sensitive intelligence/investigation originations like DRI and DGCEI, the names have to be proposed by the Director General for being considered for posting. Thus the CBEC/CBDT has a sort of veto power over transfer and postings of IRS officers. If you find it unbelievable, please read the policy yourself by visiting the link Page on cbec.gov.in
Unfortunately the situation is not same in States and the IAS/IPS/IFoS officers are posted usually by CM directly. I was told by one of my IPS colleagues that in his State, an SP can’t even transfer a constable without the approval of the Minister In-charge of the district. I hope that good sense will prevail and some day they will adopt the best practices of Government of India.
4: Decent Salaries and Excellent Perks
The salaries of the government officers have become very decent in recent years. When I joined IRS in 1991, my salary was around Rs 3500 pm only. Today in 2015 my salary is around Rs 1,50,000 pm viz. 43 times time more in less than 25 years . In addition, you also get free house, car, phone, medical, Leave Travel Concession, Children Education Allowance and pension. Most of the allowances are tax free. You require at least Rs 50 lakhs of CTC to enjoy the same lifestyle in corporate. Sometime, the rental value of your government accommodation itself may be much more than the CTC of several big corporate CEOs. Who can afford to stay in Lutyens Delhi bungalows on rent?
5: Work Life Balance
While it is common to hear the ply of the civil servants that they don’t have a good personal life, it is not absolutely true. Every government department has different types of postings. Some posts (like DM, SP) require long hours of work while several posts are such where you have to find work. The salaries in both the cases are exactly the same. Hence, if you give priority to personal life, you can always request the government to give you such assignments, where you can have more free time for yourself and the family. I have, on several occasion, requested the government for such peaceful assignments as I wanted to devote some time to teach my children and I was always given such light assignements. You also get 2/3 years of fully paid study leave, using which I did my PhD on E-Governance from IIITM Gwalior while in service. You can choose to study abroad in top university of the world and the government may finance most of the expenses. A female government officer gets additional 2 years of fully paid Child Care Leave to take care of their children, in addition to the maternity leave. Each government officer is also entitled to upto 5 years of Extra Ordinary Leave (Unpaid) for taking care of personals needs in addition to the 20 days of Half Pay Leave and 30 days of Earned leave every year besides 5 day a week work-schedule and numerous gazetted holidays. You have lots of flexibility to choose the postings according to your needs and temperament.
6: Job Satisfaction
You must remember that civil services are not ordinary jobs where you work for an organization or for a person. You work for the country and its people. The revenue collected by an IRS officer is used for the benefit of the poorest and needy and for development of infrastructure and nation. As a police officer, you control crime in the country and hence create an atmosphere for security, growth and prosperity. As an IAS officer, you make and implement the developmental schemes for the growth of the nation. Your job is in the nature of social service. Many billionaires like Bill Gates, Azim Premji spend billions from their own pocket to get the satisfaction of doing the social work. You have the opportunity to do so while in service and you are even paid for it decently.
7: Freedom to Work
It may not be believable, but it is a fact that you have tremendous freedom to do your work as a government officer. Each post in a government (SP, DM or Commissioner) is created and empowered by Parliament. Hence as far as you are on that chair, you have the full freedom to decide the things according to your judgment and discretion. For example, as a revenue officer, if I get information of tax evasion and I am empowered by law to conduct search, seizure or arrest; no one can give me any direction to act or not to act. No senior officer or Minister can change the decisions taken by the appropriate legal authority without following the procedures provided by the law. For example if the order of Commissioner is wrong, you have to approach the Tribunal, High Court or Supreme Court to reverse the order. These agencies have tremendous freedom and they decide the legality of the action independently without any intervention from the government.
Even though media mostly highlights the conflicts between politicians and civil servants, in reality they work with each other without much problem. It is because the goal of civil servants and politician is one and the same. Politicians need good IAS and IPS officers who can help the state grow and become free from crime. When there is a problem, often both sides are responsible. You don’t even hear any conflict in states like MP, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Rajasthan and even in Bihar (in Nitish Kumar regime). Most of the states have no conflict at all between officers and politicians. Good politicians and good bureaucrats always work together harmoniously and help each other. The problem between them is more personal than professional, though it is always highlighted as professional problem and politicians are blamed for the mess.
8: Diversity of Jobs
The civil services provide tremendous diversity of jobs. If you are in IAS, you can virtually head any organization in India. As secretary, you can head different ministries of the government and also different public sector undertaking, educational and research institutions. As an IRS (C&CE) officer you work in Customs, Excise, Service Tax, Narcotics, Training, Systems etc. You even work as advocate, when you are posted in Tribunals. You also work in intelligence agencies like DRI, DGCEI, CEIB, IB or RAW. All officers may get posting in Ministries and State/Central Government and work in the policy formation. You can get posted to international organizations like WCO, UN, WHO, World Bank IMF etc. You can take lien and become a professor or join an NGO or even start an NGO in public interest. You can write books, make films and do several other activities with the permission of government.
9: Widest Networking
The networks of civil servants are the widest in the country. As an IRS officer, my colleagues are posted all over the country. We also have officers posted in several part of the world. I can call anyone and request them for any help or protocol. When you join a service, you join a family. You are like the new born baby, who is looked after by every elder of the family. You have to just request and your wishes may be fulfilled. As you grow older in service, your role is reversed and you take care of the young officers like your children.
There is also a brotherhood between all officers. I just have to pick up the phone and request my colleagues in IAS, IPS or others, and they will usually extend all types of help. Through your friends, you can approach anyone in the country, in case you need their help. The businessman, actors, leaders are all interested in networking with you, because you are always in positive to help others. It is you who have to restrict your network due to time constraints and due to its effect on performing your job professionally and impartially. Even when you retire, the network is not broken since your juniors remain in the service till almost the end of your life.
10: Post Retirement Jobs
A civil servant get the experience of the government as no one else can. It is often said in movies that an IAS (or IPS, IRS) officer can always choose to become a Minister but a Minister can’t become a civil servant. There is a great demand of such experience in the corporate, who have to deal several government departments, but they have no experience of dealing them. The retiree officers usually get very good job officers by corporate, if they choose to work later. Many of my colleagues, who have left IRS after 10-15 years of service to join corporate are getting salaries in Crores. You can even start your own consultancy firm and earn good money. Since you learn how to run the government, you can also choose to join politics and become an effective Minister or even Chief Minister (Arvind Kejriwal, Ajit Jogi) or Prime Minister (Morarji Desai). You can also become Governor, CIC, CVC, CEC or UPSC/CAT/Tax Tribunal Member/Chairman after retirement.
Conclusion
It may be a good idea to join civil services like IAS,IPS, IFS,IRS or like, if you appreciate the value of the good things that government services have to offer. However, there is no free lunch in this world. Hence, “There is a price to be paid for getting the good things”. Remember the old Hindi Song “Kabhi kisi ko mukammal jahan nahi milta, Kabhi zamin to kabhi asman nahi milta” (No body gets a perfect world, sometime you don’t get the earth and sometime you don’t get the sky).
If you are willing to pay the price, civil services are still one of the best options to join in India.
Imagine that you are passing on a road of a city like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai or any major city of India and you see several vehicles passing by. There are expensive vehicles like Mercedes, BMW, or Jaguar and there is a Government vehicle of average type with red/blue light on its top with the name plate of the office/officer. Which vehicle people look at?
I am sure that most people look at the vehicle with red light. The traffic constables become alert on duty and may give a crisp salute to the officer sitting in the vehicle. A government vehicle is a sign of authority, which immediately attracts the attention of people. Similarly, a government officer immediately gets attention in big galaxies of important people.
Contrary to popular perception in urban India and media, the civil servants are highly respected by the people of India. It is because they serve people like no one else. Further, their selection process has always been transparent and fair. UPSC had always been above board for selection of candidates for top services. A PM/CM can make anyone a Cabinet Minister, Supreme Court Collegium can make anyone a High Court or Supreme Court Judge; and anyone can be made the CEO/CMD of a company but nobody can make you an IAS, IPS or IRS officer except your own merit. Hence, people of India never doubt the ability of a civil servant. When you become part of any function of an organization, its prestige goes up and you become the central point of the function and get all the attention.
2: Power
A civil servant is the epitome of state power. You are not a government servant but the government itself. The laws may be passed by the Parliament, but are executed only through civil servants. We as IRS officers sign so many documents on behalf of President of India. Please remember that you exercise the power of the Government in India pertaining to your department. You have the authority to decide cases worth hundreds of crores and conduct search, seizure of arrest of the people who are breaking the law of the land. No wonder, the law breakers don’t want to mess with you and the law abiders look at you for taking on the law breakers. You have the original powers to implement the rule of law in this country. Only when you fail, others come into picture.
3. Job Security and Political Interference
If you are in a private sector job, you can be removed with one day notice. You are always at the mercy of the company and its top bosses. The service conditions of civil servants are determined by the Parliament and can’t be changed to his disadvantage. Their service is protected by Article 311 of the Indian Constitution according to which, he can’t be dismissed from service without an enquiry where he would be given opportunity to defend himself. He also has the option to approach the Courts, in case he has been treated unfairly. The promotion of a civil servant is not in the hands of politician, which is either time bound manner or based on seniority. The promotion committees are headed by UPSC Member/Chairman and hence you can expect utmost objectivity in promotion. You don’t have to fear anyone, if you are on the right side of the law.
Fortunately the central services like IRS are fully insulated from political interference. I have never got any call from any politician in my 25 years of my career and there has been no political interference directly or indirectly ever. The reason can be attributed to the ‘Transfer Policy’ if our department. The postings upto the rank of Additional Commissioner are made by the Chief Commissioner (Within his Zone/State) or by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (All over India) manned by all IRS officials. Even for Commissioner and Chief Commissioner, it is the Placement Committee (PC) headed by The Chairman CBEC or CBDT proposes the names for the approval of FM. If a name is not proposed by PC, no order can be made. Similarly for posting in sensitive intelligence/investigation originations like DRI and DGCEI, the names have to be proposed by the Director General for being considered for posting. Thus the CBEC/CBDT has a sort of veto power over transfer and postings of IRS officers. If you find it unbelievable, please read the policy yourself by visiting the link Page on cbec.gov.in
Unfortunately the situation is not same in States and the IAS/IPS/IFoS officers are posted usually by CM directly. I was told by one of my IPS colleagues that in his State, an SP can’t even transfer a constable without the approval of the Minister In-charge of the district. I hope that good sense will prevail and some day they will adopt the best practices of Government of India.
4: Decent Salaries and Excellent Perks
The salaries of the government officers have become very decent in recent years. When I joined IRS in 1991, my salary was around Rs 3500 pm only. Today in 2015 my salary is around Rs 1,50,000 pm viz. 43 times time more in less than 25 years . In addition, you also get free house, car, phone, medical, Leave Travel Concession, Children Education Allowance and pension. Most of the allowances are tax free. You require at least Rs 50 lakhs of CTC to enjoy the same lifestyle in corporate. Sometime, the rental value of your government accommodation itself may be much more than the CTC of several big corporate CEOs. Who can afford to stay in Lutyens Delhi bungalows on rent?
5: Work Life Balance
While it is common to hear the ply of the civil servants that they don’t have a good personal life, it is not absolutely true. Every government department has different types of postings. Some posts (like DM, SP) require long hours of work while several posts are such where you have to find work. The salaries in both the cases are exactly the same. Hence, if you give priority to personal life, you can always request the government to give you such assignments, where you can have more free time for yourself and the family. I have, on several occasion, requested the government for such peaceful assignments as I wanted to devote some time to teach my children and I was always given such light assignements. You also get 2/3 years of fully paid study leave, using which I did my PhD on E-Governance from IIITM Gwalior while in service. You can choose to study abroad in top university of the world and the government may finance most of the expenses. A female government officer gets additional 2 years of fully paid Child Care Leave to take care of their children, in addition to the maternity leave. Each government officer is also entitled to upto 5 years of Extra Ordinary Leave (Unpaid) for taking care of personals needs in addition to the 20 days of Half Pay Leave and 30 days of Earned leave every year besides 5 day a week work-schedule and numerous gazetted holidays. You have lots of flexibility to choose the postings according to your needs and temperament.
6: Job Satisfaction
You must remember that civil services are not ordinary jobs where you work for an organization or for a person. You work for the country and its people. The revenue collected by an IRS officer is used for the benefit of the poorest and needy and for development of infrastructure and nation. As a police officer, you control crime in the country and hence create an atmosphere for security, growth and prosperity. As an IAS officer, you make and implement the developmental schemes for the growth of the nation. Your job is in the nature of social service. Many billionaires like Bill Gates, Azim Premji spend billions from their own pocket to get the satisfaction of doing the social work. You have the opportunity to do so while in service and you are even paid for it decently.
7: Freedom to Work
It may not be believable, but it is a fact that you have tremendous freedom to do your work as a government officer. Each post in a government (SP, DM or Commissioner) is created and empowered by Parliament. Hence as far as you are on that chair, you have the full freedom to decide the things according to your judgment and discretion. For example, as a revenue officer, if I get information of tax evasion and I am empowered by law to conduct search, seizure or arrest; no one can give me any direction to act or not to act. No senior officer or Minister can change the decisions taken by the appropriate legal authority without following the procedures provided by the law. For example if the order of Commissioner is wrong, you have to approach the Tribunal, High Court or Supreme Court to reverse the order. These agencies have tremendous freedom and they decide the legality of the action independently without any intervention from the government.
Even though media mostly highlights the conflicts between politicians and civil servants, in reality they work with each other without much problem. It is because the goal of civil servants and politician is one and the same. Politicians need good IAS and IPS officers who can help the state grow and become free from crime. When there is a problem, often both sides are responsible. You don’t even hear any conflict in states like MP, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Rajasthan and even in Bihar (in Nitish Kumar regime). Most of the states have no conflict at all between officers and politicians. Good politicians and good bureaucrats always work together harmoniously and help each other. The problem between them is more personal than professional, though it is always highlighted as professional problem and politicians are blamed for the mess.
8: Diversity of Jobs
The civil services provide tremendous diversity of jobs. If you are in IAS, you can virtually head any organization in India. As secretary, you can head different ministries of the government and also different public sector undertaking, educational and research institutions. As an IRS (C&CE) officer you work in Customs, Excise, Service Tax, Narcotics, Training, Systems etc. You even work as advocate, when you are posted in Tribunals. You also work in intelligence agencies like DRI, DGCEI, CEIB, IB or RAW. All officers may get posting in Ministries and State/Central Government and work in the policy formation. You can get posted to international organizations like WCO, UN, WHO, World Bank IMF etc. You can take lien and become a professor or join an NGO or even start an NGO in public interest. You can write books, make films and do several other activities with the permission of government.
9: Widest Networking
The networks of civil servants are the widest in the country. As an IRS officer, my colleagues are posted all over the country. We also have officers posted in several part of the world. I can call anyone and request them for any help or protocol. When you join a service, you join a family. You are like the new born baby, who is looked after by every elder of the family. You have to just request and your wishes may be fulfilled. As you grow older in service, your role is reversed and you take care of the young officers like your children.
There is also a brotherhood between all officers. I just have to pick up the phone and request my colleagues in IAS, IPS or others, and they will usually extend all types of help. Through your friends, you can approach anyone in the country, in case you need their help. The businessman, actors, leaders are all interested in networking with you, because you are always in positive to help others. It is you who have to restrict your network due to time constraints and due to its effect on performing your job professionally and impartially. Even when you retire, the network is not broken since your juniors remain in the service till almost the end of your life.
10: Post Retirement Jobs
A civil servant get the experience of the government as no one else can. It is often said in movies that an IAS (or IPS, IRS) officer can always choose to become a Minister but a Minister can’t become a civil servant. There is a great demand of such experience in the corporate, who have to deal several government departments, but they have no experience of dealing them. The retiree officers usually get very good job officers by corporate, if they choose to work later. Many of my colleagues, who have left IRS after 10-15 years of service to join corporate are getting salaries in Crores. You can even start your own consultancy firm and earn good money. Since you learn how to run the government, you can also choose to join politics and become an effective Minister or even Chief Minister (Arvind Kejriwal, Ajit Jogi) or Prime Minister (Morarji Desai). You can also become Governor, CIC, CVC, CEC or UPSC/CAT/Tax Tribunal Member/Chairman after retirement.
Conclusion
It may be a good idea to join civil services like IAS,IPS, IFS,IRS or like, if you appreciate the value of the good things that government services have to offer. However, there is no free lunch in this world. Hence, “There is a price to be paid for getting the good things”. Remember the old Hindi Song “Kabhi kisi ko mukammal jahan nahi milta, Kabhi zamin to kabhi asman nahi milta” (No body gets a perfect world, sometime you don’t get the earth and sometime you don’t get the sky).
If you are willing to pay the price, civil services are still one of the best options to join in India.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are personal.
You are a very wise girl.
I am giving you this compliment because you are so grounded to reality but you still have great dreams. Half of our problem happens when we dream big without accounting the reality.
This is what I would have done, if I would have been at your place.
First of all, I would like to ensure that I have something in my hand. I know it is a great challenge for me to get into IAS because my past records had not been quite promising. However, I also know that every year there are people who rise from very humble background and ordinary academic record to become an IAS officer. I will draw my inspiration from people like Govind Jaiswal who rose from nothing to realize their dream of IAS. I read following about him on ‘I Like You’ which inspired me immensely.
Govind Jaiswal, 24, the son of an uneducated rickshaw puller in Varanasi, had grown up with cruel taunts like ‘However much you study, you will still be a rickshawpuller. ’ He had studied with cotton stuffed in his ears to drown the noise of printing machines and generators below his window in a poor neighbourhood where small workshops existed cheek by jowl with tiny residential quarters.
He had given Math tuitions to supplement the paltry sum his father could afford to send him each month. His ailing father had sold a small plot of land to give Govind about Rs 40,000 so that he could move to Delhi which would provide him a better place to study.
Throughout his life, he had lived with only one dream — to become an officer of the Indian Administrative Service. For him that was the only way. And when he broke the news to his family, that he was ranked 48 among 474 successful candidates in his first attempt at the exam — it was the turn of his three sisters and father to weep with unbridled joy.
If Govind can do it, why not me?
One good thing about IAS Exam is that your past performance is immaterial. As far as you can qualify the minimum criterion, everyone is treated at par. Hence, I shall not be bothered about my past performance which has no role to play in my IAS preparation.
What is most important is what I do now. I have to give my best and work as hard as I can to ensure my success in IAS examination. However, I should also try to have a plan B and write such examinations which can be cleared much easily. For example, the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) exams are much easier to qualify and I must try them too. I won’t mind getting a Group B and C job or even a clerical job first to get a financial stability. Once I have something to hang on, I must keep preparing for IAS. I would also try for State PCS examination, which are much easier to get through and provide decent facilities and job satisfaction.
I will choose a job which gives me maximum time to study. I don’t mind taking tuitions to support myself financially or get a teaching job on part-time or full time basis as these jobs would give me ample time prepare for civil services examination.
I don’t know if I would become an IAS or not, but I have to try my best and leave the rest to God.
I have heard that God helps those who help themselves.
He won’t disappoint me.
Amen
Two monks were washing their bowls in the river when they noticed a scorpion that was drowning. One monk immediately scooped it up and set it upon the bank. In the process he was stung. He went back to washing his bowl and again the scorpion fell in. The monk saved the scorpion and was again stung.
The other monk asked him, "Friend, why do you continue to save the scorpion when you know it's nature is to sting?"
"Because, to sting is the dharma of the scorpion"the monk replied, "and to save life is my dharma. If a scorpion can’t leave its dharma, why should I leave my dharma?"
This story answers your question.
If you are nice, you must be nice all the time for all the people including those who are bad for you. If you are a bad person for those who are bad to you, you shall be treated as a bad person.
It is easy to preach such stories to anyone but it takes the deepest understanding of human nature to follow the wisdom of such stories. Let me explain why this story should make sense even to a rational person who believes in ‘eye for eye’ policy.
Rationality for Being Nice
You have a natural desire to respond the person in the same way as the person has behaved with you. Hence, if someone is nasty to you,there is a natural urge in you to be nasty to him or her. If you try to be nice to him following your policy of being nice to everyone, it would create an anger within you that disturbs your peace of mind.
However, you will soon realize the benefit of being nice all the time to all the people when you will find that the person who had been nasty to you also follows the same law and try to be nicer to you next time responding to your nice gesture.
In this way, you have transformed a ‘nasty person’ to be a ‘nice person’.
This is the best way to win an enemy.
You will then be able to understand the true meaning of the words of Abraham Lincoln: “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
We are now sure that Roman Saini has resigned. He has given following reason for his resignation on his Facebook page
In 2011, Gaurav Munjal, whom I have known since school as the closest friend called and spoke about his new idea Unacademy which he had started on YouTube and posted a bunch of videos. He had a vision of free education - and he asked me to join him….Recently Gaurav and I took a life changing decision, we decided to quit whatever we were doing to pursue this full time. For him it meant that he would have to step down as the CEO of Flatchat, for me sadly it meant resigning from the services.Personally, it was a difficult decision to quit the civil services, as I have utmost respect for it. But I believe in Unacademy’s vision of free education and hence, will be pursuing it full time from now.
Ideally, no one should have questioned his decision as we live in a free country and we have the freedom to choose our profession. However, his critics are not so forgiving. Hence we see on Quora many answers where his action is widely condemned for various reasons.
Dale Carnegie wrote in his classic ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’, “Any fool can criticize, complain, and condemn—and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.”
Why not forgive and forget Roman and learn some lessons from this episode.
1: There is no end to desire
George Bernard Shaw once said, ‘There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it.' When you get something very easily, it is nothing less than a tragedy, because you soon start aiming for something higher and more desirable. You also lose charm of anything once you actually get it. Most people would consider themselves blessed if they get in AIIMS and doubly blessed if they get into IAS in the first attempt thereafter. If you are so much blessed by God, it is not very unnatural to desire even more. I read this story during my childhood.
There was a poor fisherman who used to satisfy the basic need of his family by fishing. Once he was extremely hungry as, he could not catch a fish for many days. With great effort, he caught a big fish. He was extremely happy and planned to take the fish home to feed the self and his family. However, the fish requested the fisherman to show mercy on her and spare her life. The fisherman was kind, and he put the fish back to water.Then he saw that the fish became a Goddess. She told the fisherman, that she was a Goddess who had become fish due to a curse. The effect of the curse was to be removed only if a kind man spares her life. So she thanked the fisherman for sparing her life and making her Goddess again. She asked the fisherman to ask for a boon. The fisherman was a simple man. He simply thought what he needs and asked the Goddess to give him a decent house, good cloths to wear and sufficient food to eat. The Goddess granted his wish and promised that anytime he needs her help, he can always come to the same place near the sea and she will appear again to grant him another boon.The fisherman on his return to his home found that the hut had disappeared and replaced with a beautiful house. He found his wife and children dressed in beautiful cloths. There was the best of the foods to eat. His happiness knew no bounds. Many months passed. Once he was walking in the market, when suddenly he was asked to get out of the road as the king of the State was passing from the road. He was forcefully removed from the road. From a distance, he saw the king passing on the road on an elephant, full of grandeur. He felt humiliated by the men of the king. Then he remembered the Goddess and immediately went to the same place on the seashore and desired to see the Goddess. Goddess appeared and asked him to seek another boon. He requested that she must make him the King of the State. The boon was granted.Now the man was too happy. He has all the power and wealth of the State. After few years, once he was taking a tour of his State on the gold studded elephant in the month of summer. The weather was hot and humid. He was sweating profusely. He looked at the sky and found the sun to be shining like a hot iron. He wished for the cool breeze. Yet there was no wind. He felt frustrated and went straight to the seashore and asked the Goddess to appear. Goddess asked, "What do you need now?" He said that he wants, that the sun must shine as per his direction and the wind must flow as per his wish. The Goddess got extremely angry and said contemptuously, "You fisherman! I made you a king. Still you are not satisfied. Go and become fisherman again."
At the end of story, the author asked the readers, “Who do you think was wrong in this case?” He then answered that according to him, the mistake was committed by the Goddess. It is so because, it is in the nature of man to seek more, and so what man did was human-like. However, the behaviour of Goddess was not divine since she fulfilled his wishes till She was capable of doing it. However, when the man demanded something beyond Her power, instead of explaining Her limitation to him, she took everything away.
2: You can’t Change the World
A large number of people think that they can transform the world by eliminating all the injustice and poverty from it. Roman has also expressed his desired to serve selflessly for the poor and needy to change their lot. However, you can never make the world even if you give your life for it. This bitter truth of life was beautifully explained by none other than Swami Vivekananda ji by help of following story.
There was a poor man who wanted some money; and somehow he had heard that if he could get hold of a ghost, he might command him to bring money or anything else he liked; so he was very anxious to get hold of a ghost. He went about searching for a man who would give him a ghost, and at last he found a sage with great powers, and besought his help. The sage asked him what he would do with a ghost. "I want a ghost to work for me; teach me how to get hold of one, sir; I desire it very much," replied the man. But the sage said, "Don't disturb yourself, go home." The next day the man went again to the sage and began to weep and pray, "Give me a ghost; I must have a ghost, sir, to help me." At last the sage was disgusted, and said, "Take this charm, repeat this magic word, and a ghost will come, and whatever you say to him he will do. But beware; they are terrible beings, and must be kept continually busy. If you fail to give him work, he will take your life." The man replied, "That is easy; I can give him work for all his life."Then he went to a forest, and after long repetition of the magic word, a huge ghost appeared before him, and said, "I am a ghost. I have been conquered by your magic; but you must keep me constantly employed. The moment you fail to give me work I will kill you." The man said, "Build me a palace,", and the ghost said, "It is done; the palace is built." "Bring me money," said the man. "Here is your money," said the ghost. "Cut this forest down, and build a city in its place." "That is done," said the ghost, "anything more?" Now the man began to be frightened and thought he could give him nothing more to do; he did everything in a trice. The ghost said, "Give me something to do or I will eat you up." The poor man could find no further occupation for him, and was frightened.So he ran and ran and at last reached the sage, and said, "Oh, sir, protect my life!" The sage asked him what the matter was, and the man replied, "I have nothing to give the ghost to do. Everything I tell him to do he does in a moment, and he threatens to eat me up if I do not give him work." Just then the ghost arrived, saying, "I'll eat you up," and he would have swallowed the man. The man began to shake, and begged the sage to save his life. The sage said, "I will find you a way out. Look at that dog with a curly tail. Draw your sword quickly and cut the tail off and give it to the ghost to straighten out." The man cut off the dog's tail and gave it to the ghost, saying, "Straighten that out for me."The ghost took it and slowly and carefully straightened it out, but as soon as he let it go, it instantly curled up again. Once more he laboriously straightened it out, only to find it again curled up as soon as he attempted to let go of it. Again he patiently straightened it out, but as soon as he let it go, it curled up again. So he went on for days and days, until he was exhausted and said, "I was never in such trouble before in my life. I am an old veteran ghost, but never before was I in such trouble." "I will make a compromise with you;" he said to the man, "you let me off and I will let you keep all I have given you and will promise not to harm you." The man was much pleased, and accepted the offer gladly.This world is like a dog's curly tail, and people have been striving to straighten it out for hundreds of years; but when they let it go, it has curled up again. How could it be otherwise?
It does not mean that we must stop working as Swami ji explains: ”One must first know how to work without attachment, then one will not be a fanatic. When we know that this world is like a dog's curly tail and will never get straightened, we shall not become fanatics.. We think that whatever we do or possess is the best in the world, and what we do not do or possess is of no value. So, always remember the instance of the curly tail of the dog whenever you have a tendency to become a fanatic.”
Please do what you desire to do, but don’t think that you are doing it for changing the world. You must do good thing in your life, because doing good deeds make you a good person. In the same way, avoid doing bad things, because that will make you a bad person.
3: You can never avoid criticism
Criticism is a hard truth of life and you can never avoid it. People don’t see the world as it is but see the world as they are. If they find someone doing something which they would not have done themselves under a similar situation, they criticize your action. The more famous you are, the harsher is the criticism for your action. Be ready to face criticism, when you choose a new path. Mahatma Gandhi had said so wisely, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Let us all wish all the best to Roman Saini for his future life.
In my opinion, getting top rank in IIT is more difficult than getting top rank in IAS. The reasons are as following.
- You have only two attempts to write for IIT-JEE while you have 6-14 attempts for Civil Services Examination (for IAS etc.)
- You require raw intelligence for getting to IIT while memory plays an important role in IAS
- You can’t improve your rank much in IIT due to you hard work and perseverance but you can do so in IAS
- You need to have clear fundamentals to solve the problems of IIT, while it is possible to crack IAS by memorizing the facts
- Your writing skills and handwriting plays an important role in IAS but it is of no value for IIT
- You have to compete with the best of the best for IIT after class 12 while limited number of such brilliant students try for IAS as they get much better opportunities after their graduation and they don’t want to spend years preparing for IAS
- The factor of luck is of lesser importance in IIT than in IAS. You can find people who fail repeatedly in IAS for several years getting suddenly top rank in IAS.
- IITs have only one paper for everyone while in IAS you can always perform better by choosing a scoring optional.
- The role of personality is of no importance in IIT as selection is based purely on written score. In IAS, if you click with the interview board, you can get excellent mark and get into top rank.
Have you witnessed positive or negative changes in India and its people? Can you recall instances? Do not write about what changes you expect in India in the coming years, write about what you have witnessed.
Originally Answered: When do you know that India is changing?
My younger brother was in love with a girl belonging to different caste. Her parents were totally against this marriage though we (from the boy’s side) were OK with the inter-caste marriage. The couple attempted a Court Marriage, but her father appeared on the last moment outside the Court and dragged her from the court forcefully.
Finally, the girl had no option but to leave the house of her parents and come to my place with my brother where we got them married with all the customs. This was the year 2000.
The greatest problem we faced was the social acceptance of this marriage at my village in the district Raibereli in UP. My grandparents stayed in the village and my parents too were planning to settle only in the village after retirement. This was the first ever inter-caste marriage of not only my village but to any relative known to us.
What would happen if the village fraternity and our relatives boycott our family?
What happens if the other younger members of family face problems in getting married due to this inter-caste marriage?
My parents then decided to hold a reception party at my village and invite all our relatives and villagers. We were apprehending a big reaction for this marriage.
However, we were totally surprised on the day of reception when everyone turned up. The girl was accepted as part of the family and the part of the community.
I then realized that India has really changed much more than what is depicted by the media and movies. There is far more acceptability of modern values even in villages than we can imagine.
In 2004, I visited Australia to present my research paper in Melbourne University. On the way, we halted at Sydney for 2 days. I was travelling with family and we were staying in a hotel.
Australia is a wonderful country and we really enjoyed everything there except the food. Firstly, the food was very expensive and secondly, it was difficult to get vegetarian food in hotel. Hence, we used to buy bread, milk, juices, fruits, butter , jam etc. in bulk and used to eat in our hotel.
One night, we put some garlic breads in the microwave oven provided to us in the hotel room. In those days, we had no microwave at home and hence we were using the microwave for the first time. We did not have much idea about the exact timing for which the bread had to be put up in the oven. Suddenly, we found some smoke coming out of the oven. We immediately rushed to the oven and switched it off. However, the smoke soon triggered the fire alarm system of the hotel. Suddenly, there was loud siren sound all over. People were running here and there frightened as if the hotel had caught fire.
We were in a state of panic as we could guess that the siren was triggered due to the smoke in our room. Immediately I called the reception and told them what happened. They came rushing to our room. However, they said that the fire alarm system can be switched off only by the fire department which was expected soon. The hotel had an automatic system which immediately alerted the fire department and they came rushing. Within a few minutes, the fire brigade came to the hotel with several personals were dressed in fire-resistant gear and looked like astronaut.
I apologized to the hotel staff and told them that we did not know that this would create so much of problem. I was happy that I was not fined or penalized for creating this nuisance unknowingly.
It was truly the most embarrassing moment for me and my family in a foreign land.
I work in office only 8 hours in a day for 5 days a week.
I am left with enough time to do what I love to do.
I also have 104 weekends, 30 earned leaves, 8 casual leaves, 2 restricted leaves and 20 declared holidays of full day at my disposal.
I not only answer on Quora but also read at least 2 hours every day on the average.
I also write books. I try to write one book per year.
When there is a will, there is a way.
You can do lot more than you can ever imagine.
According to the latest updates, the total rewards to the two medal winners of Rio Olympic is as following
PV Sindhu - Rs 26 crore
- Rs 5 crore from the Telangana government
- Rs 3 crore from the Andhra Pradesh government
- Rs 2 crore from the Delhi government
- Rs 2 crore: broken into Rs 50 lakhs each from the Haryana and MP governments, the sports ministry and the Badminton Association of India
- Rs 75 lakh from Bharat Petroleum
- Rs 50 lakh from Dubai-based Indian businessman Mukkattu Sebastian
- Rs 30 lakh from the Indian Olympic Association
- Rs 5 lakh from the AIFF (All India Football Federation)
- Rs 1.01 lakh from Salman Khan.
- Two house plots valued at 5 crore each from the AP and Telangana Governments.
- Two acre land from a film star valued at 2 crore
- a BMW by former Andhra cricket captain, V Chamundeshwarnath
Sakshi Malik - Around Rs 5 crore
- Rs 2.5 crore from the Haryana government
- Rs 1 crore from the Delhi government
- Rs 60 lakh from the railway ministry
- Rs 25 lakh from Dubai-based Indian businessman Mukkattu Sebastian
- Rs 30 lakh from the Union sports ministry
- Rs 20 lakh from the Indian Olympic Association
- Rs 5 lakhs from the AIFF
- Rs 1.01 lakh from Salman Khan
Income Tax on Awards
AS per Section 10 (17A) of the Income Tax Act, the following income is not included in the total income:
any payment made, whether in cash or in kind,-
(i) in pursuance of any award instituted in the public interest by the Central Government or any State Government or instituted by any other body and approved by the Central Government in this behalf; or
(ii) as a reward by the Central Government or any State Government for such purposes as may be approved by the Central Government in this behalf in the public interest;
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in a Circular dated 20.01.2014 clarified that in terms of provisions of clause (17A) of Section 10, Central Government approves awards instituted by Central Government, State Government or other bodies as also the purposes for rewards instituted by Central Government or State Government from time to time. Tax exemption can be sought by eligible persons in respect of awards or rewards covered by such approvals.
Now, the Central Government has approved any payment made, whether in cash or in kind, as a reward by the Central Government or a State Government to the medal winners of the Olympic Games or Common Wealth Games or Asian games.
Therefore, they need not pay any income tax on the awards given by governments.
However, they may have to pay income tax on the awards given by private individuals and non government organizations.
Sources: http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC...
My brother-in-law qualified for Civil Services Examination (Mains) twice. However, he could not cross the interview. Once he lost getting into CSE by just 2 marks. Many of his juniors in Allahabad University, whose performance was worse than him and whom he taught, got through civil services due to better performance in the Personality Test/Interview.
Later he wrote UP PCS and got selected in the grade in Block Development Officer (BDO).
This happened more than 20 years ago.
However, whenever we meet, at least once he discusses about his bad luck in the civil services. Many of those who got selected in CSE later, are now occupying top positions now. He has to work with IAS and PCS officers who were not as brilliant as him during the university.
He tries to console himself by saying that he at least got into BDO through UP PCS. Many of his friends are not even that lucky.
This is life.
It is difficult to forget bad things in life even after decades while we forget all good things so soon as we start expecting even better things.
Originally Answered: Which life lesson did you learn too late in your life?
Let me share a small Zen story before I answer this question.
There was a farmer whose only horse ran away. That evening the neighbors gathered to console him. "Your farm will suffer, and you cannot plow," they said. "Surely this is a terrible thing to have happened to you."He said, "Maybe yes, maybe no."The next day the horse returned but brought with it six wild horses, and the neighbors came to congratulate him and exclaim at his good fortune. "You are richer than you were before!" they said. "Surely this has turned out to be a good thing for you, after all."He said, "Maybe yes, maybe no."The following day, his son tried to ride one of the wild horses. He was thrown and broke his leg, and he couldn't work on the farm. Again the neighbors came to offer their sympathy for the incident. "There is more work than only you can handle, and you may be driven poor," they said. "Surely this is a terrible misfortune."The old farmer said, "Maybe yes, maybe no."The day after that, conscription officers came to the village to seize young men for the army, but because of his broken leg the farmer's son was rejected. When the neighbors came again, they said, "How fortunate! Things have worked out after all. Most young men never return alive from the war. Surely this is the best of fortunes for you!"And the old man said, "Maybe yes, maybe no."
Our life is like that.
It offers no lesson to anyone.
What seems right today may turn out to be wrong tomorrow.
You have to then unlearn the old lesson and learn a new lesson.
Those who think that they have learned any lesson from life are actually like the villagers of this Zen story who don’t understand the mysteries of life.
They don’t understand that for every thesis, there is an antithesis.
Let me explain
- When your beloved cheat you for another person, you learn a lesson that people can’t be trusted.
- When you invest in share and lose all your money, you learn the lesson that you should not invest in shares.
- When you find a corrupt officer living the life of luxury, you learn the lesson that it is foolish to be honest
- When you work hard to get a job and succeed, you learn the lesson that you got the job due to your hard work.
None of these lessons are universal truths that happen to everyone every time.
What happened with you was a result of numerous factors at that point of time.
Since the same situation is never going to arise in future, you can’t use the same lessons in future.
- Your life could be even more miserable if you stop trusting
- People can make huge money investing in stocks
- A corrupt person may be arrested and go to jail
- Many people succeed working smart rather than working hard
It is for this reason that I don’t learn any lessons from life because there is no lesson taught by life.
What worked once does not work next time.
Life is a game and you have to play the best shot depending upon the stroke life played against you.
You cannot win the game of life if you keep playing the same shot with it all the time.
Courtesy: https://www.quora.com/
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