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| SK MISRA IAS 1956 Haryana Cadre |
Sh SK MISRA IAS (retired) 1956
batch of Haryana Cadre, talks to THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVANT about his
experiences, perceptions and way forward for future civil servants. The
excerpts of his interview:
Please tell us about your background and what prompted you to join civil services?
SK MISRA: To begin with I was
born in 1932 in a very small town in UP called Sitapur. Then we moved to Kanpur
from Sitapur and I had my early education over there. There was an American
Missionary school, that was the only you could say a popular school at that
time, but it was a girls school, it was known as girls high school, but as a
matter of concession they admitted about 20% of boys. So, I got admission over
there as a border for few years then ended up in senior Cambridge and in senior
Cambridge was only a boy in the class of 17 and it was a good fun. Then I did my
intermediate from Christchurch and moved to Allahabad
where I did my Graduation. So, after graduating and completing my masters in
1955 and in the same year I appeared in the IAS and I decided if I didn’t come
in the first attempt, I am not going to take another chance. I had already got
a letter of appointment as lecturer in Political Science in a college. But I
was confident that I would make it and I did so. That’s how my new career
started in the IAS in 1956. After passing civil services I was allocated to
Punjab (now Haryana cadre since 1966). So
right from my early career I was involved in setting of the Punjab Agriculture
University, the Haryana Agriculture University and then later on I worked with
3 Chief Ministers of Haryana as Principal Secretary. And Sh Bansi lal was the
person who gave me totally a free hand and the confidence he had in me was
absolute. I rose to be Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India,
Secretary, Tourism, Agriculture, Civil aviation, member UPSC, and PS to three
Chief ministers of Haryana. I was also conferred Padam Bhushan in 2009 for my
contribution to the cause of the nation.
After your long long journey in IAS what advice would you like to
give to young civil servants?
SK MISRA: When I joined service, see
there was a sense of idealism. You joined the service you feel that you needed
to do something for the community and I was very particular that I should leave
something behind. I was never interested in routing job. When I joined I also
anticipated that I could be transferred, I immediately put my daughter to a
boarding school. I said now you can shift me wherever you want. So, things have
changed but still I have great hopes from the service because they are the
people who can stand up for the people and who have done a good job. Even today
my advice is that you should not compromise on principles. I take pride in two
facts that in my entire career I never compromised; not one case can be sighted
where I compromised. Well my approach will be, are you joining this service,
why do you want to join the service, is just because of money or just because
you perceive it to be a prestigious job or you saying that joining service will
give you opportunity for public good. If that is your aim then join this
service but if it is just a missionary approach then you are not doing anything
good for the service. I had an interesting career and I prided myself on two
things. Firstly, I never lobbied for any job. It so happened that the jobs came
around and whatever job I did, I made it prestigious. I believe that you do the
jobs that people will look at it after I left it, trying to get those jobs.
Secondly, I never compromised and that is what the entire thing it is. Do not
break the queue, wait for your turn, have certain principles and stand by your
principles. Don’t compromise and have a certain vision, long term vision and I
have found from my experience that if you have vision, if you have passion, all
obstacles will disappear.
Do you think that ethical standards are on the decline in modern
day civil service?
SK MISRA: In our time the strongest
point of civil service was the integrity. The passion to do something for the community
that was our vision and that was the virtue of most civil servants. Integrity
was our hallmark. In our time you pointed out to a black sheep and say that his
integrity is doubtful. Now, the situation is you say he is very honest officer.
There is a complete change now. Why has that come about. There are various
reasons. Firstly, the change in recruitment system; earlier you join this civil
service till maximum age of 24 or something. Now, it extended up to 32 or
something past that. People who are married and have children are joining civil
service. They are worried about the day they got transferred and what happens
to their children education. The vision is lacking. When I was member of the
UPSC and I interviewed more than 100 of candidates, I found that the best today
are no way inferior to the best of early times. However, the average has gone
down considerably. Now there is a desire to cut corners, jump the queue, get
priced postings particularly in corporations, all that where you have a lot of
perks and other things. You can’t do that without political patronage and there
is no such thing as free lunches, you scratch my back, I scratch your back and
so there’s been a decline in standards. But even now there have been numbers of
officers who have stood up and have suffered. Another fact is that in our time
you got the cream de cream in the service. You had Allahabad University for
example. In my batch, there were 8 from Allahabad University and all of us were
from same hostel and on all the adjoining rooms. Now, you really find anybody.
Loyola College is contributing nothing, Bombay is contributing nothing. Now,
you have Bihar contributing, other states are there. So entire scene is changed.
All factors are there for the declining
standards.
How did you start internationally popular ‘Suraj Kund Craft Mela’
at Faridabad? How was the idea conceived?
SK MISRA: The craftsman in India
once had the patronage of maharajas which disappeared with the passage of time.
They were struggling for survival so I thought, I had just taken over as
Secretary Tourism, that let us get the best craftsmen, master craftsmen from
all over the country to a tourist spot near Delhi which is now Suraj Kund, pay
for everything, their boarding, lodging everything and there they demonstrate
their skills and that’s how we became their patron. So, now the number of
people visiting mela is around 5 lakhs. We started on an area of 4 acres, now
its 60 acres. Every year expanding. It become international, number of foreign
countries participating has gone up. It is a source of livelihood to hundreds
of craftsman now.
You are considered to be founder of the
concept of ‘High Way Tourism” in India. How did you visualize it at that point
of time?
SK MISRA: I setup Haryana tourism
that was under the circumstances when Haryana has nothing to offer by way of tourism.
Things happens by accident quite often in life and that also happened by
accident. In those days, you didn’t have the Shatabadi trains between Delhi and
Chandigarh. So, we used to travel by road and in one of those travels when I
was accompanying the then Chief Minister of Haryana Sh Bansi lal, we stopped by
Karnal. There’s a canal over there and by the side of the canal there was a
small hut where someone was making tea. So we stopped there to have tea. I said
to the Chief Minister that it’s amazing that right from here to Delhi there is
not a single place where you can stop for a cup of tea. So, he said why not you
do something? So, I thought about it and said there is a canal here and the
land across is not agriculture land. So, why don’t we make an artificial lake
around this and build something. This is just in midway between Chandigarh and
Delhi and it will be very convenient for the travelers. He said do it? He said
why don’t you take tourism department. So, I thought and I said Ok but I have
certain conditions to which you will never agree. He said what your conditions
are? I said my first condition is I want an autonomous Tourism Board to be setup
with all the departments of Government concerned to be part of it and I would
chair that board. Second thing my budget for tourism was one Lakh Rupaiya and I
want no limits to my funds. Thirdly, I said I want no interference from Government
and not even from you. Sh. Bansi Lal kept quiet for few minutes and said “Kar lo”
(go ahead). I said are you serious, he said yes and that how Haryana Tourism came
into existence. I was very particular not to take any agriculture land for the
project. I didn’t want to displace anybody. Also at various places local
materials were available like slate and sand. I said I will also create an
environment, landscaping, and water bodies and provide excellent staff and food
should be absolutely tasty. And one aspect I was keen about was cleanliness and
particularly about toilets. I had read V S Naipuls book “Area of Darkness”
where he had blasted India in this thing, you know open defecation. In fact, once
so happened that Naipaul was in India and I met him and said be my guest and
visit these places and he came back and he was amazed. He had to change his
opinion about India. We started the concept of “Highway Tourism” and then it
was was taken up by other states and then when I took over as Secretary Tourism
in Govt. of India, I followed that concept in Kerala, Himachal and all those
places like Rajasthan. So that is how Haryana Tourism thing started. And based
on my performance, I attracted the attention of Prime Minister Smt. Indira
Gandhi and she got me over to the center as Secretary Tourism.
You also established an international sports school in Haryana.
What prompted you to go for such a novel project?
SK MISRA: Yes I established, Motilal Nehru School of Sports
at Rai in Sonipat district of Haryana. I told CM that I have been travelling
all over Haryana and in the villages and I find the Haryanavi kids brilliant.
Only what they need is the right environment that they can come up. They cannot
afford to study in public schools like Doon school or Sanawar or Mayo or any. Hence
the school was set up. Now you see its position. Around 80% of the children have
free education, it’s a residential school, co-educational, 400 acres of land and
they are children of farmers, they are children of all from the rural background,
who couldn’t even speak a word of English at one point of time.
What future you see of civil service in India in modern times?
SK MISRA: I think the service has
a future. I am not pessimistic. I am born optimist and I think all that happens
is for the best. It is the politicians that come and go but we remain. You will
have some setbacks but ultimately you will gain. Well I will advise you to join
the service but subject to this thing that, if you are genuinely interested in
service of the country and you are genuinely interested to suffer, you are
willing to suffer, should a cause arise for certain principles without thinking
of personal discomfort or whatever. I thing you must join, it will be the service for the country because what people
need today is people of substance who can stand up to the politicians, so you
see that passion is there. There have been people even now; there are many
people of integrity.
You have published your
book ‘Flying In High Winds” recently. Is it a biographical work?
SK MISRA: I had no intention of
writing my book, since I was forced by various friends and well wishers, so I
started it. It gives insight into right from my early childhood to my school
life, college life, university life and my joining service then different
assignments that I held, how I faced problems. Throughout my career, I have flown in high winds, sometimes
with them and sometimes against. As principal secretary to three chief
ministers of Haryana, including the formidable Bansi Lal and Chaudhary Devi
Lal; principal secretary to Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar; and secretary in
the Ministries of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Agriculture, I worked closely
with strong political leaders. I also developed close friendships with some of
the most iconic cultural figures of the time. Among many other achievements, I
directed the Festivals of India, set up the National Institute of Fashion
Technology, served as chairman of INTACH and played a crucial role in creating
the International National Trusts Organization (INTO). My book Flying in High Winds chronicles a life well
lived, revealing unknown facets of the prominent personalities with whom I
interacted, such as Jawaharlal Nehru, M. F. Husain, Prince Charles, Sanjay
Gandhi and Ebrahim Alkazi and behind-the-scenes history of major events in
which I played a key role. It showcases Indian bureaucracy.
Youtube link of the blog:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc8wl15dKBs&t=122s
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