" If we wanted applause, we would have joined the circus"

It has been a very interesting week for us. It was the first real brush with the ‘media’ for most in our batch. The occasion was the ‘expose’ of the names of the Members of the Service who had, allegedly, not filed their Immovable Property Returns – for the uninitiated, it is a declaration of real estate one holds in one’s name or in the names of one’s dependents, and it is supposed to keep corruption in check. So, beginning this Monday, various vernaculars, in the juiciest of language, published the list of pending IPR’s from the website of the DoPT. This happened to include the whole of the Batch of 2012, including yours truly. In some cases, these write-ups were accompanied by hilarious caricatures – showing an impossibly obese bureaucrat, whose belly is ostensibly filled with ill-gotten wealth, and whose mouth is covered with a gag – signifying the non-disclosure. How droll!

What was missed in these pieces of activist journalism (with the notable exception of the article from Madhya Pradesh) was the fact that the Batch of 2012 is yet to join the allotted cadres! Therefore, filing a return in the cadre was totally beyond possibility. The Batch was out on official tour in the period of declaration, and on return to the Headquarters, the returns were filed, within a reasonable period, to the controlling authorities, i.e. the Academy. Many of my batch mates received worried calls from their near and dear (and not so dear) ones, who were worried by these reports. Through this article, I wish to assure them (the near and dear ones) that the financial rectitude of the Batch of 2012 is, as yet, totally undamaged. We have not been pilfering from the nation’s monies. In fact, currently, we are going even a step further – we are paying out of our own pockets for many capital goods acquisitions which are supposed to be necessary (and compulsory) accoutrements for the performance of one’s (allegedly) official duties!

Many of my batch mates were visibly hurt by these articles. It was impossible for them to believe that the same papers which had been singing paeans to them scarcely a year ago had changed stance so suddenly. However, in my opinion, it was a lesson learnt well in time. Yours truly had been exposed to the journalism of the yellow kind while serving in the Railways. However, many of the others had not yet fully understood the depth of antagonism that the urban ‘civil’ society, and hence, by extension, their caterers, the media, have for the Executive – both Political and Permanent. It is not a new phenomenon. One must read ‘The Men who ruled India’ by Philip Woodruff, an interesting book. Way back in the late eighteenth century, Sir John Shore, of the H.E.I.C.S., had lamented about the “censure, ingratitude and calumny” he, and his service brethren were subjected to! And those were the times when the Service really was approaching its zenith. It is an immutable law of the world – and the sooner new entrants learn it, the better it would be for them. This is the reality about the service of the sovereign – it is largely thankless. The title of this article is from the movie “Argo”, and expresses the same sentiments.

Another good thing that will come out of this is making some of our batch mates realize their positions. Some of us, I regret to say, speak in discourses, public and private, from the positions of outsiders to the government. They use expression like – “Government is doing this...{insert wrongs}”, “Government should do…{insert pious homilies}..”. Guess they are yet to come out of their ‘Jantar Mantar Days’ – but this little ‘incident’ might make them realize that they are now, for all the wrong purposes at least, “the Government” ! At least now they might realize that the side they are on, and the side they are unwittingly batting for, are different!

However, the best thing to come out of this was the exposure of the ultimate toothlessness of the whole media circus. Many persons who are new to the public service often worry about what the press might say about their various acts or omissions. Some eventually do start playing to the gallery. However, this episode shows that while the hacks may breathe fire and brimstone on you at the drop of a hat, they can do you little real harm if one is in the right – the last phrase is of utmost importance – if one is in the right. The reason behind this is the existence of procedures of governance and adjudication. It is not to say that a trigger happy media is not harmful – in the recent stampede case at the Allahabad Railway Station, the news channels were reporting the collapse of a foot-overbridge. Later, it was changed to the collapse of the railing of the foot-overbridge. In reality, I walked the same bridge around a week later – there was no damage what so-ever. There was no statement of retraction by any of the channels – and in the eyes of the layperson, it was faulty engineering that led to the tragedy! Well, the matter is being investigated both officially and judicially. I hope when the verdict is out, something is done about those who spread lies in those tragic moments. All of this points us to an important lesson – that those in the position of judgement – may be in the Judiciary proper, or in a quasi-judicial functions departmentally, must never let their views be formed through the eyes of the popular media – for those eyes have been clouded by psychotropic sensationalism. May be it is for this reason that Justitia (Lady Justice) is pictured blindfolded – judging only by weighing the material facts – may be the sculptor was tearing his eyeballs out after seeing the latest ‘breaking news’!