The Power of Exponentiation: IAS Couples
THE “POWER COUPLES” OR THE CIVIL SERVICE SPOUSES
THE “POWER COUPLES” OR THE CIVIL SERVICE SPOUSES
Bureaucrats, often pejoratively referred to as “Babus”, are generally perceived as lackadaisical and lacklustre robots, pushing files and bending backwards to please the political masters. However, long before the IAS begins to attract flak, with stories of inefficiency, crony capitalism and the bureaucrat-politician nexus dominating the headlines, there is one occasion when the IAS is the cynosure of all eyes. That’s when the result of the UPSC’s Civil Service Examination is declared. Small-town boys and girls from lower-middle class families get catapulted to national fame when they crack the examination, presumably against all odds — a true meritocracy in the making.
Cupid in LBSNAA
Media as well as the public is also quick to get hooked onto these love stories, catalysed by Cupid, leading to holy matrimony between two members of the Civil Service — a lady IAS topper, tying the knot with an IPS officer of a different caste or religion: stuff that’s straight out of a fairy tale. Marriages are surely made in heaven but as a wag put it, “they are lived on earth”. Once they exit the salubrious climes of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie into the rough and tumble of the field postings, it is worth seeing just how the “power couples” who tied the love-knot, generally fare in their lives and careers.
There is, of course, no authoritative definition of a “Power Couple” but it is ordinarily felt that it must have at least one partner, whether the lady or the gentleman, to be an IAS officer. Of course, both can belong to the charmed IAS. That leaves IAS-IPS, IPS-IAS, IAS-IRS and IRS-IAS pairings, represented symbolically in the Male-Female ordering. IAS and IPS are All-India Services and every member is allotted a specific State Cadre, in which he or she is supposed to normally serve, unless of course on Central or inter-State deputation. DOPT, the Department of Personnel and Training of the Government of India recognizes the need to keep the spouses posted together and has a well-defined policy to permanently change the cadre allotted to a member of an All-India Service, following marriage with another member of an All-India Service. This is subject to the caveat that an officer should not land into his “home state” upon such a cadre change, seemingly with a view to discourage “marriages of convenience”.
Field Postings
The IAS-IAS couples are generally accommodated as SDMs in the same district. The Deputy Commissioner remains a bit in awe of them, not only because they can be expected to go far in their respective careers, but also because their sob stories are given a much higher credence up the higher-ups. Into the Senior-scale, where an IAS officer is usually posted as an Additional DC, we generally see these “power couples” posted in relatively bigger cities/ districts, which have posts like Commissioner Municipal Corporation or Chief Administrator of an Urban Development Authority. With percept and practice of women empowerment being more pervasive, it is not uncommon to find a lady IAS officer being posted as the district head as District Collector. The spouse is conveniently accommodated in the same capacity in the neighbouring district. Gone are the days when the couple was asked to indicate which one of them would like to serve in the district, while the other could be posted in the State Capital in the interest of the children’s education.
IPS-IAS couples may have their own share of problems. The equation between the Deputy Commissioner (District Magistrate) and the District Superintendant of Police (SSP), at best of the times, is one of uncomfortable truce. The SSP gentleman may feel constrained, if not compromised, where his wife is a junior IAS officer, working under the control of the DC/ DM. The converse may happen when the DC’s wife is junior IPS officer working under the SSP.
Two for the Price of One?
The IAS-IAS couples as Heads of Department and Secretary/ Principal Secretary were previously accommodated ordinarily in a manner that one was given a relatively insignificant portfolio. No longer — each demands that his or her own merit and seniority to be independently gauged and recognized. The IAS-IPS and IPS-IAS couples can be a force to reckon with when they are holding important posts of higher seniority, whether in the State or at the Centre. The IAS-IAS couples are also perceived as being given preferential treatment in selection for Central Deputation or Foreign Training.
IRS-IAS and IAS-IRS couples are uniquely placed where Income Tax cases of the members of the political executive and the higher bureaucracy are under scrutiny. On the other hand, the IRS partner may come under inordinate pressure from their spouse, when their superiors in the State Government hierarchy, send not-so-subtle signals for “sympathetic consideration” of some cases. These IRS spouses can also find convenient deputation slots within the State Government, when they have exhausted the maximum of years that they may serve in an Income Tax Zone/ Metropolis, and continue to remain with their family.
Lifelong Honeymoon
The “Power Couples” face difficulties and constraints in serving together and even when they play their cards diligently, they have to leverage all their influence to have ride as smooth as the one enjoyed by the singletons in service. The honeymoon that begun in Mussoorie may well remain a little choppy, but with a little effort by both the partners, can morph into a fairy tale till retirement and beyond.
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KBS Sidhu. The Author is an IAS officer of 1984 Batch of Punjab cadre. The views expressed are his own.
He can be reached on kbs.sidhu@gmail.com or @kbssidhu1961 or https://www.facebook.com/kbs.sidhu