It was around 9 pm when the doctor got a call from a young IAS officer serv ing in a central district in Tamil Nadu seeking an appointment. At the bureaucrat's residence, his officer's wife, visibly upset, started complaining about the deteriorating health of her husband. "They (politicians) are neither allowing him to work, nor letting him in peace,'' she told the doctor who prescribed a few pills and suggested some de-stressing practices. A few months after the incident, the bureaucrat sought for a transfer and went to the Central service. This incident happened a few years ago. But government officers say that there could be dozens of similar episodes before and after that.
While the image of the average babu - a pen pusher given to indolence and the cause of much of the problems plaguing India - continues to ring true, the ones that tend to do honest work are increasingly under pressure in Tamil Nadu. While the flexible and the weak-kneed succumb to the pressures the upright ones take on the powers that be. But honest officers caught in between like S Muthukumarasamy go through a nightmare unable to take the pressure from their political bosses to violate rules to favour their acolytes.
Those unable to withstand the pressure resort to suicide like Muthukumarsamy . This year there have been at least three other well publicised complaints of political interference taking a toll on government officials.
Psychiatrists say suicides can have a domino effect."When people suffering from prolonged severe depression read about suicides, they will start assuming that suicides are the solution to escape from their problems,'' said K Sasikala, another psychiatrist.
Political intervention in transfers, promotions and appointments has reached its peak in the state,'' says All India State Government Employees' Confederation general secretary K Balasubramanian. Those failing to follow politicians' di to bend rules suffer transfers, punishment postings and humiliation."You will not be left alone if you are honest,'' says a senior bureaucrat. This of ficer learnt it the hard way when even his subordinates refused to obey him after he started turning down orders from a certain minister to bend rules. Proposals mooted by the officer were turned down or put in the backburner. State president of Tamil Nadu State Revenue Officials Association B K Sivakumar says political meddling is rampant in transport, revenue, police and education departments though prevalent in other departments too."There are mediators in every district. The moment an officer gets ready to fill vacancies in his department, someone identifying himself as minister's PA will telephone you. Subsequently , the officer will receive a list of names written in a paper. It will not be a letterhead nor will it have a signature to trace the origin,'' Sivakumar said.
If the officer fails to accommodate the list, he will receive calls from people associating themselves to the powerful. "Those not falling in line would face transfers,'' Sivakumar said.
A revenue officer in his 50s said he was abused with swear words in his office by a person close to a political bigwig for refusing to entertain a request during his stint in Madurai. "The police did not register a case based on my complaint. Worse I was humiliated by the police. Even staff in my department sidelined me,'' he said. He was later forced to withdraw the complaint.
"Right from preparing a list of beneficiaries for old age pension scheme to awarding contracts, one would face pressure. But when things go wrong and the public get angry , the politicians will blame the officer and punish him,'' he said.
Officials point out that when the government changes there was additional pressure on the staff to cancel appointments and contracts approved by the previous government. An officer claimed that there were attempts to order a vigilance raid in his house, after he took on a powerful politician.
Government staff say they could sense depression and stress rising among employees. However, they are pessimistic that much can be done to end political intervention."All we can do is stage protests. A change of mind among politicians is the only solution,'' says Tamil Nadu Government Employees' Union State president Ku Paul Pandian.
While the image of the average babu - a pen pusher given to indolence and the cause of much of the problems plaguing India - continues to ring true, the ones that tend to do honest work are increasingly under pressure in Tamil Nadu. While the flexible and the weak-kneed succumb to the pressures the upright ones take on the powers that be. But honest officers caught in between like S Muthukumarasamy go through a nightmare unable to take the pressure from their political bosses to violate rules to favour their acolytes.
Those unable to withstand the pressure resort to suicide like Muthukumarsamy . This year there have been at least three other well publicised complaints of political interference taking a toll on government officials.
Psychiatrists say suicides can have a domino effect."When people suffering from prolonged severe depression read about suicides, they will start assuming that suicides are the solution to escape from their problems,'' said K Sasikala, another psychiatrist.
Political intervention in transfers, promotions and appointments has reached its peak in the state,'' says All India State Government Employees' Confederation general secretary K Balasubramanian. Those failing to follow politicians' di to bend rules suffer transfers, punishment postings and humiliation."You will not be left alone if you are honest,'' says a senior bureaucrat. This of ficer learnt it the hard way when even his subordinates refused to obey him after he started turning down orders from a certain minister to bend rules. Proposals mooted by the officer were turned down or put in the backburner. State president of Tamil Nadu State Revenue Officials Association B K Sivakumar says political meddling is rampant in transport, revenue, police and education departments though prevalent in other departments too."There are mediators in every district. The moment an officer gets ready to fill vacancies in his department, someone identifying himself as minister's PA will telephone you. Subsequently , the officer will receive a list of names written in a paper. It will not be a letterhead nor will it have a signature to trace the origin,'' Sivakumar said.
If the officer fails to accommodate the list, he will receive calls from people associating themselves to the powerful. "Those not falling in line would face transfers,'' Sivakumar said.
A revenue officer in his 50s said he was abused with swear words in his office by a person close to a political bigwig for refusing to entertain a request during his stint in Madurai. "The police did not register a case based on my complaint. Worse I was humiliated by the police. Even staff in my department sidelined me,'' he said. He was later forced to withdraw the complaint.
"Right from preparing a list of beneficiaries for old age pension scheme to awarding contracts, one would face pressure. But when things go wrong and the public get angry , the politicians will blame the officer and punish him,'' he said.
Officials point out that when the government changes there was additional pressure on the staff to cancel appointments and contracts approved by the previous government. An officer claimed that there were attempts to order a vigilance raid in his house, after he took on a powerful politician.
Government staff say they could sense depression and stress rising among employees. However, they are pessimistic that much can be done to end political intervention."All we can do is stage protests. A change of mind among politicians is the only solution,'' says Tamil Nadu Government Employees' Union State president Ku Paul Pandian.
