[Inaugural address broadcast from All India Radio, Bombay, 14th August, 1955].
The Minister for Broadcasting has conferred on me a great honour by asking me to inaugurate and give the first lecture in the Patel Memorial series.
Vallabhbhai Patel was a great man. He worked for the deliverance of India from foreign rule and he lived to see it fully achieved. In the work of reconstruction which followed he saw to the integration of all the States in the Indian Union. About forty years ago (in 1915), Vallabhbhai Patel gave up the legal profession when the Motherland wanted one of his type for the gigantic struggle for liberation. But, alas, before India could well get on without him, death snatched him from us. It was said of Augustus that it would nave been better for Rome if Augustus had never been born or had never died. This can be said with great truth about India and Vallabhbhai Patel.
It is not intended that this lecture should deal with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's life. But what I shall talk about today, viz., the efficient administration of our country, was a subject uppermost in his anxious mind when death was relentlessly approaching him.
If one wrote a book on any subject, it would be a grave defect if anything important and relevant to the subject were omitted. When writing a book one must be careful also about the amount of emphasis that is laid on each aspect that is dealt with. The reader's mind should be left with no bias enriched with well-balanced thoughts. In a talk of this kind one need not be so careful and lapses will be excused. Often it happens that when we exhaustively deal with any matter, putting all the pros and cons justly, weighing and balancing things one against another ina careful and proper way, we shall have done justly and well but we leave no resulting positive effect behind. This is the evil of too much of balance. We give information but little guidance. In fact we create plenty of doubt and caution and no momentum for initiative. Movement forward always means and involves taking risks, accepting the chance of going wrong and having to rectify upon the experience gained. There are plenty of things to be said on 'good administration'. But if I proceed to collect them all and put them before you I shall have not done anything very useful; indeed I doubt my ability to do such exhaustive analysis, with anything like satisfaction to myself, not to speak of the effect on the listeners.
We have turned the British out and we have told all the people of the land that it is good for them that they now govern themselves. But afterthoughts lead one to some doubts. Our hopes can be realised only if and to the extent that the administrative set-up is satisfactory. If anyone investigated into what most people in India desire as regards government - whether they want democracy, or whether they want a federal or a unitary government, or whether they want the American type of democracy or the British and so on - I guess we shall see that the people were honest, efficient, prompt, just and sympathetic officers; and they do not mind the form of government. The Constitution has been settled on the basis of democracy, universal adult suffrage being the foundation thereof. The selection of representatives who will wield supreme power in legislation as well as in amending the Constitution itself, is left to the people, every individual's judgment weighing the same as every other's. No qualifications are prescribed for standing as candidates; anyone may be elected. Something like the principle underlying the universal postal system where distances do not count - an anna will carry your post-card to the neighbouring village as well as to distant Calcutta or Karachi or Cap Comorin - the distances and differences between men and men are ignored so far as the power to select representatives is concerned. That is a settled and final affair not to be disturbed till another Plato or Manu is born. What I shall now talk about, however, is the type of men required for the satisfactory administration of a tremendously big area and big population such as India is, or even a single State like Bombay or Uttar Pradesh or Bengal is, or even the reduced units down South. In the selection of personnel to fill official posts, whether judicial or executive, the principle of universal equality is not enforced and qualifications do count.
The people expect a rise in the general standard of comfort, and this, too, not for one class at the expense of another but among all classes generally, urban as well as rural. Apart from technical advances leading to increased average national income which will go towards bringing about a rise in the general standard of living, the importance of an efficient administrative organisation is very great. No people can be happy with an inefficient government or with a government that is not firm and impartial. Th psychology of the caste nexus and of class differences is strong in India. All the greater is the need for firm and impartial officials, and the common people know this.
For any administration to be good and efficient as a whole, we want the right type of men. The quality of the men placed in position is more important than the laying down of rules and methods of operation. The caste consciousness is a hard reality. It unites and divides in a very real manner today whatever be our goal. And today is most important in matters of administration. Short-sighted favouritism and concessions to produce contentment among classes and castes will be very short-lived and deteriorate into a constant pandering to intrigues and factions if we do not look to the real efficiency of the administration.
Several causes have combined to raise the level of comfort that is aimed at in our country among all classes now. Although desires have gone up, the national income has not materially increased in that proportion. Hence the mental condition of our people after the achievement of complete independence is not one that can at all be described as happy. This is so especially in the case of those who have received school or college education of any kind.
Religion is absolutely essential to drive away the fog that surrounds the truth in regard to what we really require. It is not less important than the devising of ways to increase national production in all directions. The spread of a sense of true values and the development of adequate spiritual strength for facing the struggles that are ever involved in life can be done only through education organised on right lines. Apart from religion and sound education of intellect as well as character, good administration is very important. It is important in all countries; but in our country it is most important. An efficient and just administration can make up for a great deal of unhappiness and frustration in other respects.
For the administration to be efficient, we require the right sort of men to be in positions of power and responsibility. Whatever may be believed or said in the passion of thoughtlessness of the hour that often passes for democratic thought, these men must come from our organised higher educational institutions. Splendid exceptions, meteor-like, sometimes appear. Leaders and organisers with Herculean strength come up now and then without any or with but little academic education. But these are exceptions. The general rule is that the men we require for running the administration must come from our higher educational institutions. They cannot be got at elsewhere. The type of equipment and mental make-up that we require for good administrators must therefore be kept in mind in the organisation of higher education, for these cannot be obtained for them elsewhere or later after recruitment.
What are the requirements we should demand in a good administrator? Character is a fundamental requirement. And a fundamental requirement is a most important thing. We cannot let fundamentals take care of themselves. But though character is a basic requirement, it should be remembered that it is not the decisive factor that makes a person specially fit for administrative tasks. A very good man may not be at all fit to be entrusted with administrative responsibility in the civil business of the State, even as it is obviously the case in the conduct of a military operation. It would be easy but perhaps dangerous to give examples of known men who have failed though they are persons of undoubted good character.
After this has been said and admitted, we are apt to think that sound technical equipment is the decisive factor in each department of public service. But it is not so. The special equipment required for various jobs is no doubt indispensable. But experts cannot govern nor can they be safely allowed to govern, though they may wish and, if permitted, be able to dominate. In administrative key positions, the special technical equipment that comes into play in those departments is strangely enough by no means the essential requirement. To give only one example, the man responsible for the fine and rapid development of the electricity system of Madras State was not an electrician, and an electrical engineer could not have done it.
What is essential at the top is the capacity to judge upon relevant advice and to decide promptly and rightly in executive matters. Judicial offices are not the only places where the capacity to judge is essential. To decide in matters executive, quickly and correctly, is a gift of the Gods. And this is it that makes a good administrator. In small as well as great affairs, he proves to be a good administrator who has this talent for right judgment and quick decision. It may be that early training can develop this quality. But I am inclined to think that it is a congenital quality and all that we can do is to seek it out where it exists and make use of it.
Those who are in the employment of Government in various capacities in the branch concerned and the people who are affected by the course of administration must know and feel that in matters of policy as well as in daily administration, they can get clear and binding decisions without delay or procrastination and that there will be no 'messing about', no modifications and counter-orders recalling and revising and modifying decisions once taken.
Speedy decision does not mean hasty decision without the consultation or discussion. The administrator should have the capacity to obtain the best out of his expert advisers; and quickly to understand what they say. He should have the opinions and experiences of all concerned before coming to his own decision. But when after full discussion a decision is taken, every one should thereafter feel that there will be no vacillation. those whose function is to carry out the decision should be sure that they will be supported through every difficulty or unpleasantness and will not be let down at the first hurdle under pressure from some powerful quarter. For successful and good administration in any department in a democratic set-up, this is most important. It explains the success of most great administrators as well as the failure of others. Decisions should be speedy. They should certainly wait for full discussion but not for cosmic rays accidentally and mysteriously to improve our mental apparatus. That is to say, a thing should not be put off for the reason that one is not able to make up one's mind about it.
Often in the affairs of the world wherein generally so many complicated factors are in operation, one particular discussion is not the only right decision. But any firm decision is better than indecision. It should be remembered that the decision itself very often affects and alters the environment and psychology of the people concerned. Numerous are the causes the combined effect of which produces a result. The Bhagavat Gita has analysed the matter and enumerated five causes in Sloka 14 in the eighteenth chapter. The fifth and lase element is Daivam which is a technical term to include all unanticipated elements. Some of the causes that produce a result are incapable of anticipation. But one of them is certainly what follows in the minds of people from the fact of a firm decision. What theoretically may be an imperfect decision becomes the right decision with the help of the environmental and psychological modifications that a firm decision brings about.
The proper moment is most important. The good administrator should not only decide quickly but should have the sagacity to know when to do a particular thing. The quality that enables one to see this is based on the ability to grasp a variety of complicated features and to be able to evaluate them to know what features count and which do not. Often this explains why some succeed and some fail in spite of seeming unlikelihood.
Sagacity and imagination are terms that describe the talents required for judging aright. I have said that this quality is probably inborn and cannot be imparted. But experience does nourish and enlarge native talent. There are some people who though themselves not able to judge matters have the capacity to choose men possessing that ability and those qualities. Although one may not oneself possess imagination or sagacity in all matters, he must have the capacity to appreciate such qualities where they exist in order to be a good administrator in a key position. He should not be one who is jealous of it in others and prefers flatterers and yes-men.
The good administrator who has the capacity to make decisions without procrastination will command the loyalty of his staff if he also infuses the confidence that he will stand by and support them, however unpleasant or difficult the execution may be. He should mix with his staff freely and infuse in them the confidence that he is a firm and fair adjudicator on issues that come up. He should be even-tempered. Bad temper is not a substitute for firmness. It does not pay. It leads to being surrounded by worthless people who can stand bad temper. The better men drop off from one who exhibits ill temper or threatens every moment to do so without adequate reason. And the going away of the better men leads to a double loss. You lose good men and you get flatterers and worthless men. The capacity to size men up quickly and know what sort they are is very important. The administrator should have this special talent or he should entrust that particular job to some one else and accept his judgments without question.
When a decision is reached and it has to be executed, the administrator should bring into being a sense of social purpose among his staff of all ranks. Whatever major decision is reached, and whenever a particular piece of work has to be executed, he should see to it that his men see what it is for and realise that it is a good and laudable purpose. They should be made to feel that it would be a service to society to bring it about. There is an oft-repeated story that brings this out. I shall give it an adapted form giving it a local and contemporary colour. Someone saw stone-cutters at work in Guindy Raj Bhavan at Madras and he asked one of them, "What are you doing"? He replied, "I am cutting stone, do you not see"? "What are you doing"? He asked a second man. His reply was, "Sir, I am a poor man earning my living". To the same question, a third man asnwered, "Sir, I am chiselling a Buddha image". A fourth replied, "Sir, we are building the Gandhi Mandapam to serve as a holy centre for prayer". It is this last man's feeling that must be infused among all those who have to carry out anything decided upon.
A hundred years ago, officials in Britain were incompetent, ignorant and frequently corrupt. Today they are efficient, well informed and of high integrity. I have taken this from a British Council Publication. In our country too, we can hope fro an ideal set of officials, provided democratic politics and communal politics allow and do not block progress and impartiality. The authority of Parliament or the State Legislature must be and is Supreme, but it would be frustrating the aim of democracy to let the influence of political or social groups functioning in the legislature or outside to affect recruitment or promotion in the services. In emancipated India, it was the hope that politicians who were born in revolution and civil disobedience should soon learn to become administrators. But this process has been slow. Instead, at the other end, administrators are perhaps tending to become politicians which is bad.
I have omitted a great deal that should have been said on this subject. I have repeated what many others said before this, because the problem I have dealt with is a very old one. What I have said applies not only to ministers and administrators in government, but to administrators in all big non-official organisations, be it of industry or distribution or transport or other services. The days of big business may be thought to be over, on account of the Congress resolution as to the pattern of society that Congress wants to build up. But in reality it is not the case. Big organisations are still wanted and will continue. High taxation and low net-profits are no doubt elements deterrent to private enterprise. But though profits no longer accrue on the war-time scale, and though taxation is growing heavier and heavier with each budget, big business has its attractions still. As long as talent exists, there is a vocational call for big business to which men cannot say nay, profit or no-profit, taxation or no-taxation. Big business in that sense has an undying future. Human nature has a mysterious quality in it. Self-interest and profits attract. But man is led by a master within, who is all powerful and cares not for calculations. Big men will continue doing big things because they cannot help it. Good administration is a common problem for private enterprise as well as for the Welfare State.
To the fundamental requirement of character I made a brief reference, but did not dwell upon it because it must be presumed. It is true as I said that it alone is by no means enough. But without it, let it be remembered, nothing else will avail. It is like daylight which we are apt to forget on account of its very importance. Character is as important for administrators at every level, from the Chief Secretary down to the last grade servant, as sunlight is to every form of life.
With a renewed tribute to the memory of the great man who was taken away from us before we could well dispense with his services and in whose inspiring name these annual lectures will be delivered, I close my inaugural talk. I thank you for the patience and attention with which you heard me.
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Religion is absolutely essential to drive away the fog that surrounds the truth in regard to what we really require. It is not less important than the devising of ways to increase national production in all directions. The spread of a sense of true values and the development of adequate spiritual strength for facing the struggles that are ever involved in life can be done only through education organised on right lines. Apart from religion and sound education of intellect as well as character, good administration is very important. It is important in all countries; but in our country it is most important. An efficient and just administration can make up for a great deal of unhappiness and frustration in other respects.
For the administration to be efficient, we require the right sort of men to be in positions of power and responsibility. Whatever may be believed or said in the passion of thoughtlessness of the hour that often passes for democratic thought, these men must come from our organised higher educational institutions. Splendid exceptions, meteor-like, sometimes appear. Leaders and organisers with Herculean strength come up now and then without any or with but little academic education. But these are exceptions. The general rule is that the men we require for running the administration must come from our higher educational institutions. They cannot be got at elsewhere. The type of equipment and mental make-up that we require for good administrators must therefore be kept in mind in the organisation of higher education, for these cannot be obtained for them elsewhere or later after recruitment.
What are the requirements we should demand in a good administrator? Character is a fundamental requirement. And a fundamental requirement is a most important thing. We cannot let fundamentals take care of themselves. But though character is a basic requirement, it should be remembered that it is not the decisive factor that makes a person specially fit for administrative tasks. A very good man may not be at all fit to be entrusted with administrative responsibility in the civil business of the State, even as it is obviously the case in the conduct of a military operation. It would be easy but perhaps dangerous to give examples of known men who have failed though they are persons of undoubted good character.
After this has been said and admitted, we are apt to think that sound technical equipment is the decisive factor in each department of public service. But it is not so. The special equipment required for various jobs is no doubt indispensable. But experts cannot govern nor can they be safely allowed to govern, though they may wish and, if permitted, be able to dominate. In administrative key positions, the special technical equipment that comes into play in those departments is strangely enough by no means the essential requirement. To give only one example, the man responsible for the fine and rapid development of the electricity system of Madras State was not an electrician, and an electrical engineer could not have done it.
What is essential at the top is the capacity to judge upon relevant advice and to decide promptly and rightly in executive matters. Judicial offices are not the only places where the capacity to judge is essential. To decide in matters executive, quickly and correctly, is a gift of the Gods. And this is it that makes a good administrator. In small as well as great affairs, he proves to be a good administrator who has this talent for right judgment and quick decision. It may be that early training can develop this quality. But I am inclined to think that it is a congenital quality and all that we can do is to seek it out where it exists and make use of it.
Those who are in the employment of Government in various capacities in the branch concerned and the people who are affected by the course of administration must know and feel that in matters of policy as well as in daily administration, they can get clear and binding decisions without delay or procrastination and that there will be no 'messing about', no modifications and counter-orders recalling and revising and modifying decisions once taken.
Speedy decision does not mean hasty decision without the consultation or discussion. The administrator should have the capacity to obtain the best out of his expert advisers; and quickly to understand what they say. He should have the opinions and experiences of all concerned before coming to his own decision. But when after full discussion a decision is taken, every one should thereafter feel that there will be no vacillation. those whose function is to carry out the decision should be sure that they will be supported through every difficulty or unpleasantness and will not be let down at the first hurdle under pressure from some powerful quarter. For successful and good administration in any department in a democratic set-up, this is most important. It explains the success of most great administrators as well as the failure of others. Decisions should be speedy. They should certainly wait for full discussion but not for cosmic rays accidentally and mysteriously to improve our mental apparatus. That is to say, a thing should not be put off for the reason that one is not able to make up one's mind about it.
Often in the affairs of the world wherein generally so many complicated factors are in operation, one particular discussion is not the only right decision. But any firm decision is better than indecision. It should be remembered that the decision itself very often affects and alters the environment and psychology of the people concerned. Numerous are the causes the combined effect of which produces a result. The Bhagavat Gita has analysed the matter and enumerated five causes in Sloka 14 in the eighteenth chapter. The fifth and lase element is Daivam which is a technical term to include all unanticipated elements. Some of the causes that produce a result are incapable of anticipation. But one of them is certainly what follows in the minds of people from the fact of a firm decision. What theoretically may be an imperfect decision becomes the right decision with the help of the environmental and psychological modifications that a firm decision brings about.
The proper moment is most important. The good administrator should not only decide quickly but should have the sagacity to know when to do a particular thing. The quality that enables one to see this is based on the ability to grasp a variety of complicated features and to be able to evaluate them to know what features count and which do not. Often this explains why some succeed and some fail in spite of seeming unlikelihood.
Sagacity and imagination are terms that describe the talents required for judging aright. I have said that this quality is probably inborn and cannot be imparted. But experience does nourish and enlarge native talent. There are some people who though themselves not able to judge matters have the capacity to choose men possessing that ability and those qualities. Although one may not oneself possess imagination or sagacity in all matters, he must have the capacity to appreciate such qualities where they exist in order to be a good administrator in a key position. He should not be one who is jealous of it in others and prefers flatterers and yes-men.
The good administrator who has the capacity to make decisions without procrastination will command the loyalty of his staff if he also infuses the confidence that he will stand by and support them, however unpleasant or difficult the execution may be. He should mix with his staff freely and infuse in them the confidence that he is a firm and fair adjudicator on issues that come up. He should be even-tempered. Bad temper is not a substitute for firmness. It does not pay. It leads to being surrounded by worthless people who can stand bad temper. The better men drop off from one who exhibits ill temper or threatens every moment to do so without adequate reason. And the going away of the better men leads to a double loss. You lose good men and you get flatterers and worthless men. The capacity to size men up quickly and know what sort they are is very important. The administrator should have this special talent or he should entrust that particular job to some one else and accept his judgments without question.
When a decision is reached and it has to be executed, the administrator should bring into being a sense of social purpose among his staff of all ranks. Whatever major decision is reached, and whenever a particular piece of work has to be executed, he should see to it that his men see what it is for and realise that it is a good and laudable purpose. They should be made to feel that it would be a service to society to bring it about. There is an oft-repeated story that brings this out. I shall give it an adapted form giving it a local and contemporary colour. Someone saw stone-cutters at work in Guindy Raj Bhavan at Madras and he asked one of them, "What are you doing"? He replied, "I am cutting stone, do you not see"? "What are you doing"? He asked a second man. His reply was, "Sir, I am a poor man earning my living". To the same question, a third man asnwered, "Sir, I am chiselling a Buddha image". A fourth replied, "Sir, we are building the Gandhi Mandapam to serve as a holy centre for prayer". It is this last man's feeling that must be infused among all those who have to carry out anything decided upon.
A hundred years ago, officials in Britain were incompetent, ignorant and frequently corrupt. Today they are efficient, well informed and of high integrity. I have taken this from a British Council Publication. In our country too, we can hope fro an ideal set of officials, provided democratic politics and communal politics allow and do not block progress and impartiality. The authority of Parliament or the State Legislature must be and is Supreme, but it would be frustrating the aim of democracy to let the influence of political or social groups functioning in the legislature or outside to affect recruitment or promotion in the services. In emancipated India, it was the hope that politicians who were born in revolution and civil disobedience should soon learn to become administrators. But this process has been slow. Instead, at the other end, administrators are perhaps tending to become politicians which is bad.
I have omitted a great deal that should have been said on this subject. I have repeated what many others said before this, because the problem I have dealt with is a very old one. What I have said applies not only to ministers and administrators in government, but to administrators in all big non-official organisations, be it of industry or distribution or transport or other services. The days of big business may be thought to be over, on account of the Congress resolution as to the pattern of society that Congress wants to build up. But in reality it is not the case. Big organisations are still wanted and will continue. High taxation and low net-profits are no doubt elements deterrent to private enterprise. But though profits no longer accrue on the war-time scale, and though taxation is growing heavier and heavier with each budget, big business has its attractions still. As long as talent exists, there is a vocational call for big business to which men cannot say nay, profit or no-profit, taxation or no-taxation. Big business in that sense has an undying future. Human nature has a mysterious quality in it. Self-interest and profits attract. But man is led by a master within, who is all powerful and cares not for calculations. Big men will continue doing big things because they cannot help it. Good administration is a common problem for private enterprise as well as for the Welfare State.
To the fundamental requirement of character I made a brief reference, but did not dwell upon it because it must be presumed. It is true as I said that it alone is by no means enough. But without it, let it be remembered, nothing else will avail. It is like daylight which we are apt to forget on account of its very importance. Character is as important for administrators at every level, from the Chief Secretary down to the last grade servant, as sunlight is to every form of life.
With a renewed tribute to the memory of the great man who was taken away from us before we could well dispense with his services and in whose inspiring name these annual lectures will be delivered, I close my inaugural talk. I thank you for the patience and attention with which you heard me.
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