Every society is strongly influenced by its nation’s politics. Likewise, every person, a part of the said politics, is also influenced by society and its norms. These two concepts have a give-and-take relationship with each other. They are built on the manpower and intellect of the people constituting them alone. Outside influences are therefore held in a strange light, whether it be society or politics.
Tukaram Mundhe is an honest to his duty, IAS officer who graduated in the 2005 batch in Maharashtra. His name is known to some people for his integrity and resilience towards his work, and to others as a man wringing the neck of the political system upheld in every place he is seen.
His career has been a whirlwind of transfers, totalling 24 transfers within a span of 21 years. He has not only cost himself his career, but his family’s happiness as well, with his righteousness and honest behaviour. Nevertheless, he has yet to walk a path devoid of truthfulness.
His career is a map of how politics in India is so rigid and how transfers have now become a weapon wielded by the government. It is not just him, but the whole of India, being affected by the sheer number of times he has had to relocate because of his righteous actions.
Never had anyone thought that being a responsible citizen of the country would come back to bite them.
This whole incident clearly depicts how the Indian government works for its own convenience and the convenience of the people in power. With transfers now becoming an easy thing to hold against an officer who’s honest and true to his duty, the Indian bureaucracy has shown how it will not let anything disrupt its flow.
Like a reservoir, it will stand as it has always.
It is clearly seen in the cases Tukaram Mundhe has handled. For instance, during his tenure at the National Rural Health Mission, when he penalised the government doctors for operating private clinics, political pushback was visible.
Given how the Health Minister himself filed a complaint to the Chief Minister for Tukaram Mundhe’s relocation, it shows how much the government loathes to see changes.
Politicians who keep certain organisations working to keep themselves funded with votes also harbour a grudge against officers like Mundhe, who do not care which political party is funding the organisation they are going against.
Corruption doesn’t live in their hearts, and Tukaram Mundhe is a great example of what happens to those who don’t harbour it within them.
However, Mundhe, most of the time being transferred to places where there isn’t much to do, is also useful to the government at times to save its image. Because officers like him, who hold their duty before anything, are required to purge the negativity surrounding the area.
He is like a cleaning reagent, used to purge the cities of garbage wherever the government allows. Yet, most of the time, his skills are being subdued by the same organisation- the government itself.
This is but a tactical move that the government plays on the board of life.
A clear example of such an incident is the appointment of Tukaram Mundhe as the head of the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to clean up the department of filth, even as this whole relocation was a step down in his career as a senior officer.
These transfers not only affect the officer being relocated. No, they have an even larger impact than the government either doesn’t foresee or doesn’t care about.
Every transfer brings about a disruption in the current progress of every task, no matter how small, functioning in the department, therefore bringing about administrative instability. Shifting a top executive every few months creates disparity and brings about multiple negative changes within.
When a new officer takes hold of the reins, they would change the workings of the department as per their own intelligence. Whether it be the budget or any ongoing initiatives. This is especially at posts like the Municipal Commissioner or the Department Secretary, where a new person commanding the whole sector leads to the whole sector overworking to incorporate the changes.
The long-term infrastructure planning, budget allocations, any welfare schemes and the like are bound to lose their momentum. All previous initiatives are halted, and a waste of resources is seen.
The frustration not only clouds the people working under the newly appointed/transferred officer, but also the people being governed by the said organisation.
Ultimately, Tukaram Mundhe is an example of how the Indian Bureaucracy is highly influenced by political structure. An officer who holds transparency and honesty above political and localised adjustments is hence seen to face backlash in his career.
They are bound to find themselves struggling in the political strife against them, by suffering through short, fragmented tenures.
The whole ordeal is therefore proof of how much the civil services of India are in need of deep reforms.
References: