Decoding Indian Babudom

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

This first-of-its-kind book by a journalist covering bureaucracy T lists the ailments of India's administrative system from a common man's point of view. It delves into the pain faced by the lesser privileged in accessing governance in our country. The book highlights the reasons behind this alleged notoriety The possible causes of the rampant organized corruption in some (if not all) property registry offices, RTOS, civic authorities among other departments, the visible red tape, ineffectiveness of the administration in ensuring ease of accessing governance and the existence of unprofessional approach from public servants towards the public are also discussed.

The book weighs the efficacy of the country's administrative system, recruitment agencies and anti-corruption watchdogs from the common man's perspective in an easy to read format. What is more, the book suggests 15 sutras of good governance to ensure an effective and efficient administration in the country.

Ashwini has been practising journalism for over 15 years. He is considered a credible resource person on India's governance, bureaucracy, anti-corruption and the Right to Information (RTI) Act-related subjects Many of his stories, done on the basis of information obtained from RTI queries, have been raised in the Indian Parliament too.

He was also a guest speaker at the Global Inequalities and Extremism conference during the Global Media Forum organized by Deutsche Welle in 2018 at Bonn in Germany. He is an alumnus of the US-based East West Centre and Asia Journalism Fellowship (AJF) organized by the Institute of Policy Studies under the National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Currently, he is working as Assistant Editor with the Press Trust of India.

I have been watching Ashwini Srivastava ever since I came into the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions nearly seven years ago.

I have seen him walking up and down the corridors of North Block. Being a medical clinician, I could easily observe that he was not only compulsively hunting for news but also smelling news.

That itself is the biggest attribute of any budding young journalist who has a passion to make a mark in the field of credible media.

Having been into freelance media writing for several decades, it gives me a huge sense of gratification to see a young journalist seeking to put on record his observations, as noted and analyzed by him over the last ten years while covering the Ministry of Personnel and the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) in particular.

Indian bureaucracy is one of the most sought after career options for lakhs of young aspirants who study hard day and night to enter this vivid world of the country's administration through qualifying the toughest civil services examination.

People look at those in bureaucracy as someone with high intellect, hardworking and focused, as these are the main virtues that help them enter this prestigious service.

Bureaucrats draw a great amount of respect from the common man as they are considered to be highly meritorious, knowledgeable and of course influential.

However, there are many challenges that cripple the country's bureaucratic system. To serve a populous country like India is not an easy task, but this cannot be the excuse for an inefficient system.

Most of the times, the common man's grievance fails to reach the higher ups. Those in decision making do not even come to know of the problems faced by the public at the grassroots level.