23 July 2009
There goes a saying about diplomacy. It is said, “Diplomacy is alcohol with lots of Protocol”. India’s Foreign Service is in drastic need of an overhaul. Awash with massive funds for alcohol and protocol, the outlook of Foreign Service officers can be summed up as – (i) Foreign postings (ii) Cocktail parties and (iii) Playing Golf!!! In fact, an IFS officer is once said to have told a junior, “Subordinates are for working, officers are for playing golf”!!
Background :
Prior to 1997, when I.K Gujral became the Prime Minister, the Ministry of External Affairs was a non-descript organisation. During Gujral’s tenure, MEA reached the ‘take- off stage’ from where it has never looked back ever since. Gujral gave overriding importance to MEA since he had been EAM at one point of time and was himself a diplomat. The tight grip that MEA acquired over PMO and the media has not slackened even after 12 years even as three Prime Ministers have changed since then !!.
It was during Gujral’s tenure that a core team of IFS officers was constituted to look into ways and means to gain a place of pride and also to acquire more and more turf. It has since been engaged in a ‘turf war’ - acquiring and regaining turf to its advantage. However, in doing so, it has seriously compromised on foreign policy interests of the nation. As an instance, one of the erstwhile senior IFS officers could find loads of time to pen books at will!!
The core team of IFS officers concluded that getting IFS officers posted in PMO was one sure shot way of gaining influence in the government. In addition, with the massive funds available at its disposal, it decided to meet all the expenditure of GHO. (PMO has a Government Hospitality Organisation (GHO) which organises functions, particularly at PM House. MEA decided to meet all the expenditure incurred by GHO and the same practice continues even today.
Past and Present:
At present, the MEA calls the shots on foreign policy. This is because it jealously guards its ‘turf’ and secondly, is wary of the massive bungling of the financial resources being highlighted and the myth of its ‘expertise on foreign policy’ being shattered. (There have been several instances where during PM’s trips abroad, taxis and cell phones have been hired at exorbitant rates. In some cases, one cell phone has been hired at rates in which cell phones could have been purchased for good). Similarly, there have been instances where even Union Ministers on foreign trips have not been allotted rooms befitting their status!!! For long, several MPs have, in person, expressed dissatisfaction with the MEA’s style of functioning. However, as MEA has successfully projected that any issue handled by anyone other than IFS officer can have international ramifications and could lead to diplomatic cul-de-sac, no one has gathered the courage to come out openly against the errant ways of IFS officers – who often like to be called ‘mandarins’ (then they talk of taking on China)!!!
There are similar instances where IFS officers have goofed up big time. Anil Maitrani once introduced his credentials to the then Slovac President along with a local whore as his wife!! On Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Malaysia in December 2005, the unruly behaviour of a journalist almost created a huge diplomatic row and embarrassment. Though the journalist made sexual advances to a Malaysian girl, was no doubt inebriated, the onus lay on MEA and IFS officers who organise such events where the scope for such misdemeanours is optimised. Similarly, on one of the visits of Prime Minister to Russia, IFS officials and the entire media contingent was made to wait for two hours outside Kremlin in zero temperature!! Neither the foreign ministry ‘Czars’ nor the media had the gumption to utter even a word in the freezing cold!!!!
On PM’s foreign trips, several ‘airy’ IFS officers can be seen only aboard the aircraft. One of the very senior IFS officers could once be seen demanding the ‘per diem’ (daily allowance that is given to all members of the PM’s accompanying delegation) soon after landing in the hotel.
The IFS lobby has already tightened its grip around MEA and the two MoS’s. This is evident from the composition of the personal staff of the Ministers. Whereas in every other Ministry, the personal staff of Ministers is the prerogative of the concerned Minister, it is strangely not the case with MEA!!. It is because” those lobbies” don’t want either the Minister or MOS to disturb their domain in the name of Foreign policy expertise.
It is also because other Ministers had no idea of what exactly cooks within MEA at various levels. But a seasoned diplomat like Dr Shashi Tharoor needs to shake that up and establish his own team of Advisers to run the Ministry and there is no hard and fast law that he should not have his own set of advisers and people to follow up his instructions.
A Futuristic Roadmap:
The MEA should, in consultation with Prime Minister and Congress president, gradually move to regain control of formulation of foreign policy. This can be done by drafting in foreign policy experts from various streams – viz JNU academicians, media commentators, journalists, Indian Information Service officers (but only those possessing qualifications and experience in the field of media before joining service). The services of these people can be used as think-tanks to provide inputs to Mr Krishna , Dr Tharoor and Prime Minister and some of them could also be posted as Press Attaches in Embassies and High Commissions the world over. This would naturally provide the government an opportunity to seek qualitative and dispassionate inputs from experts outside the domain of MEA and also break the stranglehold of IFS.
Prime Minister and EAM must discourage the posting of IFS officers in PMO – except in most deserving cases. Can IFS officers provide better inputs for formulation of foreign policy only when they are posted to PMO? If that indeed be the case, why deny other equally, if not more deserving experts, a similar opportunity – in PMO as well as in MEA?
An effective audit of funds should be made to ensure that funds placed at the disposal of MEA are not squandered away in lesser pursuits and to foot the bills of the shenanigans of IFS officers. Unfortunately, this has happened many times in the past even without the knowledge of Minister for External Affairs. !
In sum, IFS officers have become too big for their boots – and they threaten to accentuate their feet of clay, if not checked in time.
It is here that a senior and learned person like Mr S M Krishna and Dr Tharoor could not only tame those errand IFS officer who have” made various lobbies” within the Ministry, he can as well make them sweat and not allowed himself to be “ bullied or influenced “by those persons at crucial positions.
It is here that a compact team of good and well-informed persons in his core team would be of tremendous help.
Our policy makers and Ministers in Charge must bear in mind that the folly of an IFS officer in charge of a particular assignment would only result in his recall or transfer but it would be a huge embarrassment and loss for the Minister because he is responsible to the Parliament and the people of the country for every action and initiative in the name of Foreign policy
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