Congratulations to all 685 officers selected for civil services, including 180 recommended for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Joining the IAS, however, is not the end of your journey. You have chosen public service as your vocation, and your real responsibilities commence now.
You will design, lead, supervise, and deliver public goods and services, and occupy senior public offices very soon.
India’s economy comprises three major sub ecosystems: agricultural, industrial, and digital. Ours is a large economy of about $3 trillion GDP with about 1.36 billion people. With an average income of a little over $2,200 per capita, we are a lower middle income country with a little over 20 percent of our people counted as multi-dimensionally poor.
You will play important role in the economic space — growth, elimination of poverty, and improving living standards of people. You will do this by implementing welfare and redistribution programmes in the early part of your service, and by contributing to the formulation and implementation of economic policies later.
Not every IAS officer plays same role in the economic space, but everyone does play a significant part.
Agricultural Economic Ecosystem
About half of estimated 300 million Indian households derive their incomes primarily from the agricultural ecosystem by raising crops, rearing animals, and doing other allied tasks.
Indian agriculture occupies about 140 million hectares of land (more than 80 percent of the economically-employed landmass). Indian farmers though are small-holder farmers operating less than a hectare on average earning less than Rs 40,000 per capita annual income.
In agriculture lies the roots of extreme poverty in India.
The IAS interacts with the agriculture ecosystem very early and intensively as in charge of land management and implementation of numerous poverty alleviation and income generating programmes, including subsidised inputs, and minimum support prices.
Improving productivity of agriculture — higher gross value added per hectare, and generation of higher income per household — will bring real prosperity to Indian agriculture, and rural households.
For you to implement current agricultural economy-oriented programmes and improve these for better results will be the real challenge, and an experience.
Real Opportunity
The government’s role in the industrial ecosystem has undergone massive changes since India became a republic in 1950.
In the 1950s, India opted to restrict the private sector and hand over economy’s command to the public sector. For implementing these policies, your predecessors worked to establish a massive apparatus of public sector in both the Centre and the states. However, this resulted in a crony-capitalism, and low GDP growth.
Officers of my generation implemented the 1991 reforms, which changed the fundamental structure of industrial economy. The private sector has gradually re-entered all sectors of the economy, and the expansion of the public sector has stopped. This generated impressive gains in GDP, and tax.
You might remember that the government’s primary job is governance, and not business. The government is a poor businessperson. The roll-back and privatisation of the public sector is the unfinished agenda for your generation.
Our larger industrial ecosystem is inefficient because of the lack of cost competitiveness. Power, land, loans…all come at much higher cost to our industry. Programmes such as the PLI scheme compensate this cost non-competitiveness, but for some specific sectors. Try to work to improve the general competitiveness of industries.
India’s digital economy ecosystem is in its infancy. Digital technologies are making industrial machines intelligent, and are also transforming governance.
You would play the most significant role in shaping India’s digital economy. I am sure you would be able to deploy your digital prowess to transform Indian governance systems and Indian economy into a digital economy.
There are five principal factors of production: enterprise, real estate, labour, technology, and finance.
Enterprise, technology, and finance thrive best when the governments do not interfere in their functioning. Try to stay away as much as possible.
Real estate — the land and buildings — are where you play a big role. Remember land used in industrial and the digital ecosystem is 200 times more productive than agriculture. It is high time the markets are allowed freer play in land transfer and leasing.
Improving human resources productivity will be another great opportunity for you.
Think Long Term
The economy does not function in a sterile non-political environment.
It is the political economy.
Political interest is not necessarily the same as public interest. When they converge, everything is fine; when they diverge, there may be ugly situations. You will be required to be quite deft to make sure that public interest prevails.
Gandhiji’s talisman works for the elimination of poverty. I suggest you also keep in mind whether your decision contributes to GDP growth or not.
You are expected to serve at least until 2050, when India celebrates its 100th Republic Day. These 28 years are going to very exciting for India’s economic transformation into a high-income economy and eradication of multi-dimensional poverty. Quality of life must also become first rate.
Realisation of this economic agenda, my dear young colleague, is worth living a life for.
Best wishes.
Subhash Chandra Garg is an ex-IAS officer of the 1983 batch, former Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary, Government of India, and author of The $10 Trillion Dream. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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