Good governance is not possible without the IAS.

In an article a serving IAS officer seeks to defend his colleagues against the popular impression of IAS officers being " lazy, incompetent, a file-pusher who's rotten and corrupt. " He gives a list of officers who were punished for being honest, some paid with their lives. True, but there are many who are extremely corrupt. When IAS officer, Ashok Khemka cancelled mutation of a land deal by Mr Robert Vadra, son in law of Ms Sonia Gandhi, other officers cleared Mr Vadra of any wrongdoing. Now a CAG report says that Mr Vadra made illicit gains from land licenses. An officer, related to a politician, may not be in the IAS but the person in charge will be blamed. Honest officers get tarred by association. Just as all politicians are believed to be corrupt. People are not fools. They see political parties giving tickets to known criminals to fight elections, they read about huge scams, which others knew about but did nothing to stop, and they read about politicians abusing each other so naturally they conclude that all politicians are scum. The person may not be a crook personally but he has to be an accessory to the crime if he knowingly kept silent. The pressures on our officers are huge. Land grabbers and businesses fellows disguised as NGOs demand " free allotment of expensive land or dipping into the public purse to fund a facility for which all imports will be handled by the same person's firm or by his cronies. Take them on and they will scream blue murder and run a sustained campaign with the high and mighty, also using their power as ' Twitter Talibans ' to defame an officer whose only fault would have been to be tough and firm when it comes to the application of the law." IAS officers are temporary but " the lower bureaucracy - the babus - are there forever. They can hide critical information about a decision, open parallel files when inconvenient notings need to be suppressed, fudge budgetary figures and utilisation certificates.." These babus are highly unionised and it is perilous to take them on. Then there is the media which is ready to print sensational news. Like the one about callous officials treating disabled athletes with great contempt. Since IAS is not tattooed on the forehead people will lump all government officials in the same basket. Reasonable. IAS officers are also deprived of " creature comforts which once made an officer's life comfortable ". Which then begs the question as to why so many people appear for the IAS exam every year. Either because people think that IAS officers are highly paid, cannot be sacked and retire with fat pensions or only those with criminal intent want to join the service. Just as criminals are drawn into politics because of the protection it affords.