Economist and historian Sanjeev Sanyal’s suggestions in a recent remark for the youths to ‘aspire high’ and try more to be entrepreneurs rather than just vying for government jobs is appreciable and the need of the hour. It could be seen as a right course as the working population of the country is increasing fast while jobs in the organized sector are not keeping pace. The greater concern is increasing unemployment among the educated youth. Nobody could disagree that in times to come if India has to take advantage of its “demographic dividend”, it should engage its young workforce productively in diverse areas. In this context his remarks that young people waste lots of time and energy to get into Civil Services has certainly some merit, but this reason is not enough to deter youth from trying for Civil Services. The odds are equal for passing and failing, however if they do not succeed after taking all attempts; it amounts to waste of time. No doubt there is a necessity of change in the mindset of the youth, who prefer jobs in government and organized sectors while the opportunities are scarce. Most of them do not have a plan B, and after futile attempts, they find themselves in deep waters.
However, the point that trying for ‘UPSC is a waste of time’ for lakhs of aspirants because fewer than 1 per cent make it, is not appropriate and a blanket verdict on futility of efforts of thousands of aspirants is not right. It is because preparation for the Civil Services itself is transformative and even the aspirants who could not make it in the Civil services gather knowledge and confidence which shines wherever they settle in their life and career. It cannot be denied that even those who fail in their civil services attempts are better equipped and empowered for other ventures and to be more aware citizens.
The definition of success entrenched in the idea of passing or failing any examination has a fundamental problem. Arriving at the cherished destiny is a matter of hard work and good luck working together. But failure to get it does not undermine the value of the journey of preparation and the grind and rigour that it involves. The more a society adds stigma to failed efforts, the sicker it becomes. Even the adolescent aspirants of IITand NEET at Kota or elsewhere become pray to this sickness and eventually end up not valuing their life.
Success needs to be seen in a wider perspective. The social value system that makes a disproportionate applause for “passing” and associate unfathomable “stigma” for “failing” is neither suitable for youth who believe in the dictum of “try again and again” to realise their cherished goals nor for entrepreneurship. There are many perspectives on success. First of all success is not arriving the destiny only , but also all honest efforts and dedication that could not yield results for whatsoever reason. For instance, any good effort defying constraints even if one does not win deserves to be appreciated and honoured as it happens in sports. There is lot of learning value and exposure even while one does not mean. This helps not only to do better in the same venture, but also becomes a treasure even for those who fail to realise there first career goal and try for other goals. The artificially created glitz and glamour around some careers like IAS or IITs or successful enterprenures creates a regressive notion of success as if other jobs well done cannot be seen as success to be reckoned and honoured. A healthy society values and adores any work done well at whatever capacity and position. In fact such a skewed view of success compel many aspirants to keep trying for Civil Services despite having talents to do better in other careers as if their talent could be proven only if they could make Civil Services. The main culprit is the social value system and not the youth.
The notion of ‘waste of time’ is relative depending on how much one loves her/his goal and how much determined they are! In fact any great/big career mission is not a “touch and go” affair. It requires lots of trial and error before a young woman or man discovers what is there in her or his destiny. Failure is not a stigma, not trying enough is. None of the young wo/men ever tries for making it to Civil Services without courage and high aspirations and they know about the vicissitudes of uncertainty associated with the examination. If anybody is making assiduous efforts for anything that needs to be appreciated. The real problem, nevertheless, is not having a plan B and playing without a safety net in uncertain examinations like the Civil Services. It is always better to have a plan in case of failure. That is a proven managerial theory.
The contention that what is so great about being a joint secretary or a public servant is also pointless. Despite overwhelming dominance of the political executives on bureaucracy despite their intellectual limitations and doubtful integrity, the Civil Servants are the brains and sinews of the so called system. Good governance is not possible without competent and honest Civil Servants. They are very important. There may be some inefficient bureaucrats. But will there be any exaggeration to say that the present generation of political leaders cannot sail even for a day without the learned and dedicated bureaucracy?
The suggestion for pursuing higher education or business is good, but the number of quality institutions within the country is highly inadequate while the luxury of overseas education or business is mostly available to rich families, so the question for doing so has a limited scope for the vast majority of youth. There is lack of job opportunities for higher educated people in sciences and social sciences let aside humanities while angel or venture capital is not available. There is lack of social security as well.
The criticism of Bihari aspirants trying in large numbers for Civil Services examination is the result of poor understanding of their context and constraints. There is delay in completion of graduate and post graduate degrees on the part of universities while job opportunities are rarely opened by the state government. The views of Dr Sanyal may be true for an idealized situation which does not exist in Bihar. Arguing that Bhari students adore power, so they are inclined more towards the Civil Services is also biased view. Indian society is by and large feudal and semi-feudal in approach and power is a determining factor in almost all the arenas of life. Why to blame only youth from Bihar? It is also a biased view that Bihari youth idolize “goons” and therefore, entrepreneurship is not their choice. In fact a large number of “goons” are getting political patronage by all the political parties and in all the states due to their preference for the so called “winnability” factor. Then why to associate Bihar alone for “goon” culture and worship? The fact is that in India about 40% of sitting MPs have criminal cases registered against them out of which 25% have declared serious criminal cases under charges of murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women (poll rights body ADR). We can cite the latest examples of Maharashtra, UP and even West Bengal.
The intellectual traditions of Bengal may be great, remarkably since pre- independence Renaissance days. But no state in India is bereft of great intellectual and cultural traditions both during freedom struggle and even during past, and much less Bihar could be singled out for the same lacunae. The cultural context from where Mr Sanyal is trying to see Bihar smacks of a ‘bhadra manush’ or arm- chair middle class mentality. In fact every state in India has its own reasons for pride and glory and its own role models. Bihar is certainly poor and there is ample semblance of what Gunnar Myrdal calls ‘culture of poverty’. Nevertheless, culture of poverty is not unique to Bihar alone. Even with its limitations Bihar has returned enough good teachers, authors, poets, actors, directors, scientists and professionals, some working outside Bihar, even abroad.
Bihari households are on an average poorer than their counterparts in relatively developed states. The insecurity writ on youth and lack of means to pursue things which require “seed money” and initial investment” needs to be understood and addressed. This requires empathy and not upper class understanding of the situation of Indian households who are more often guided by doing “something fast” for fending for life and achieving honour and respect and that “which requires more of resolve and sweat” rather than money. The Civil Services fits well into the schema.
Mr. Sanyal’s concern about loss of youth energy is understandable and no doubt it needs to be channeled and put to various productive uses optimally. But this would be possible only if insecurities among the youth are removed and enabling conditions for enhancement of capabilities and promoting entrepreneurship are put in place. A top- down approach or a doctor-patient type solution would not help till pre-requisites of change are not provided. It is better to see the ground realities and have a bottom- up approach. The rest would be taken care of by the market, but for this the state must see that from salt to ketch up and from retail to home-delivery should not be monopolised by big corporate houses. The biggest problem today is that small entrepreneurs are losing their space in the market for various reasons. The freedom to experiment is also limited due to lack of enough social security.
Change of mindset among the youth could be ignited by creating enabling conditions through education and other measures of capability building like skilling. In the situation of poverty and penury, it is very necessary to create public educational and health institutions to make them affordable and accessible. This could help in creating capability (taking a clue from Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach) so that the youth could seek livelihood and success in diverse areas in a market economy. Capacity building in infrastructure and social and economic overheads would also go a long way in creating new and more opportunities.
The prevailing rot is also because of our social value system. When rentals of power are in display everywhere while the genuine rights are not sure to get without proximity with power, the youth have natural inclination either towards politics or Civil Services, the latter being a far tougher goal. It requires better level of education and awareness to come out of the (feuadal or semi-feudal) mindset which does not acknowledge your achievements till you get a “lal batti” on your car. The country needs more educated and skilled youth rather than “Gabbar Singhs” apart from “rule of the law” which could reduce longing for the “lal batti.”The social value system also needs to change where experimenting and failing is not seen as stigma and where even small entrepreneurs are respected. All those who are contributing and giving back to society in whatsoever way with their given position and capability need to be appreciated as successful, e.g., a nurse, a primary school teacher, a vendor etc. Social values determine the quality of life and pursuit of excellence.
Mr Sanyal has tried to throw all the onus of lopsided thrust on careers in Civil Services on the young generation, but this is not just. It needs to be seen that there is lack of good governance and slow pace of change and development which could create more diverse opportunities. Getting economic avenues in Bihar is limited due to absence of enabling conditions and diversification of the regional economy. More or less the situation is same in most of the parts of India except the states and cities which had advantages of mercantile developments during the British regime or edge in industrialisation in the post independent India. The deficiency of credit, connectivity, electricity and support for development of entrepreneurship had been glaring and forbidding. The institutional set up is highly deficient and avenues to create capability are few. An average student takes 5 years to complete a graduate course in Bihar instead of stipulated 3 years. In low level competitive examinations paper leaks and cancellation of examinations are common place in Bihar and many other states. Should the young job aspirants be blamed for that? Philosophizing is good but it cannot be a substitute for practical and real solutions on the ground.