Raju Narayana Swamy with the poor
Narayanaswamy never looked at IAS as a money spinner, as his later life bears testimony. After a decade of meritorious service in IAS, Narayanaswamy has been forced out of the IAS profession. Do you know why? A real estate agent wanted to fill up a paddy field which is banned under law. An application came up before Narayanaswamy who was sub collector for an exemption from this rule for this plot of land. Upon visiting the site he found that the complaint from 60 poor families that they will face water logging due to the waste water from a nearby Government Medical College if this paddy field was filled up was correct.
Narayanswamy came under intense political pressure but he did what was right - refused permission for filling up the paddy field. That was his first confrontation with politicians. Soon after Narayanaswamy's marriage, his father-in-law closed down a public road to build compound wall for his plot of land. People approached Narayanaswamy with complaint. When talking with his own father-in-law did not help, he removed the obstructing wall with police help. The result - Narayanaswamy's marriage broke up. As district Collector, he raided the house of a liquor baron who had defaulted Rupees 11 crores payment overdue to the government and Narayanaswamy carried out revenue recovery.
A Minister directly telephoned and ordered him to return the forfeited articles to the the liquor baron. Narayanswamy politely replied that it is difficult. The minister replied that Narayanaswamy will suffer. In his district it was a practice to collect crores of rupees for earthen bunds meant for poor farmers, but which were never constructed. A bill for rupees 8 crores came up before Narayanaswamy. He inspected the bund. He found it very weak and said that he will pass the bill after the rainy season to ensure that the bund served the purpose. As expected the earthen bund was too weak to stand the rain and it disappeared in the rain. But this created a lot of powerful enemies for him, for saving 8 crores of public money. The net result of all such unholy activities was that he was asked to go on leave by the government. Later such an illustrious officer was posted as "State Co-Ordinator, Quality Improvement Programme for Schools".
This is what the politician will do to a honest officer with backbone - post him in the most powerless position to teach him a lesson. Since he found that nothing can be achieved for the people if he continued with the State Service he opted for central service in Delhi. But that too was denied on some technical ground. What will you do when you have the option for a brilliant technical career anywhere in the world you choose, supported by several advanced technical papers published in international journals to your credit? When you are powerless to do anything for the people, why should you waste your life as the Co-Ordinator for a Schools Programme? Mr. Narayanaswamy is leaving IAS and India and going to France to take up a United Nations assignment.
The politicians can laugh thinking another obstacle has been removed. But it is the helpless people of India the loser, not Narayanaswamy. But you have the power to support capable and honest bureaucrats like Narayanaswamy, who have suffered a lot under self seeking politicians who rule us. You have even the power to replace such politicians with the kind of people dedicated to the country.
Narayanswamy came under intense political pressure but he did what was right - refused permission for filling up the paddy field. That was his first confrontation with politicians. Soon after Narayanaswamy's marriage, his father-in-law closed down a public road to build compound wall for his plot of land. People approached Narayanaswamy with complaint. When talking with his own father-in-law did not help, he removed the obstructing wall with police help. The result - Narayanaswamy's marriage broke up. As district Collector, he raided the house of a liquor baron who had defaulted Rupees 11 crores payment overdue to the government and Narayanaswamy carried out revenue recovery.
A Minister directly telephoned and ordered him to return the forfeited articles to the the liquor baron. Narayanswamy politely replied that it is difficult. The minister replied that Narayanaswamy will suffer. In his district it was a practice to collect crores of rupees for earthen bunds meant for poor farmers, but which were never constructed. A bill for rupees 8 crores came up before Narayanaswamy. He inspected the bund. He found it very weak and said that he will pass the bill after the rainy season to ensure that the bund served the purpose. As expected the earthen bund was too weak to stand the rain and it disappeared in the rain. But this created a lot of powerful enemies for him, for saving 8 crores of public money. The net result of all such unholy activities was that he was asked to go on leave by the government. Later such an illustrious officer was posted as "State Co-Ordinator, Quality Improvement Programme for Schools".
This is what the politician will do to a honest officer with backbone - post him in the most powerless position to teach him a lesson. Since he found that nothing can be achieved for the people if he continued with the State Service he opted for central service in Delhi. But that too was denied on some technical ground. What will you do when you have the option for a brilliant technical career anywhere in the world you choose, supported by several advanced technical papers published in international journals to your credit? When you are powerless to do anything for the people, why should you waste your life as the Co-Ordinator for a Schools Programme? Mr. Narayanaswamy is leaving IAS and India and going to France to take up a United Nations assignment.
The politicians can laugh thinking another obstacle has been removed. But it is the helpless people of India the loser, not Narayanaswamy. But you have the power to support capable and honest bureaucrats like Narayanaswamy, who have suffered a lot under self seeking politicians who rule us. You have even the power to replace such politicians with the kind of people dedicated to the country.
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