Yes Minister!
HOW does it feel for a senior bureaucrat to take instructions from a junior inexperienced minister? It was sometime in the seventies ….. A young minister asked a senior bureaucrat whether he felt “embarrassed” taking instructions from a young minister like him. “Mr Minister, when I receive instructions from you, I do not look at your face. I look beyond your face, at the vast multitude of people of this country who have chosen you to be here”, replied the practical bureaucrat. The young Minister went on to become the President of India and this incident was narrated by President Pranab Mukherjee while addressing IAS probationers at Mussoorie last year.
The President told the future bureaucrats that civil servants facing political pressure needed to be patient and tactful in handling issues within the prescribed legal framework. At the same time civil servants should understand the compulsion of political leaders who are answerable to their constituents, in wake of the growing development aspirations.