Should Babus call their Seniors "Sir"?

By Vijay Kumar

GOVERNMENT officers get very angry if you call them by their names. You are supposed to call them by their designations or as "Sir".

A fresh IAS officer doesn't like this Sir culture.

Bhupesh Chaudhary, Management consultant turned IAS Officer has tweeted,

"Too much formalism in IAS is not good for fraternity. Sir Culture even among colleagues is against openness and innovation in governance. Yes, just because I'm 1-2 yr junior in service doesn't mean I'm a child of lesser god."

This is a major problem that professionals from the private sector find when they join the Government.

Should the Chairman of the CBEC or CBDT call the Revenue Secretary, who is normally two years his junior as "Sir". Should the Members of the Board call the Chairman, 'Sir'.

I am told Gopalanathan as Chairman of CBEC used to address the then Revenue Secretary NK Singh as, 'NK'.

Maybe it is our tradition to call seniors and those in authority as 'Sir' as a mark of respect. Anyway the junior IAS officer will not be able to address his Chief secretary by first name.