Why do you want to join civil service? This baffling question is repeatedly asked, sometimes sardonically sometimes plainly, by both laymen sick of bureaucracy’s haughtiness and by most learned ones judging candidates’ intentions in the interview rooms. Every young guy has his own answer to this question. Some are blunt enough to speak out their hearts openly while others are smart enough to mince words and keep this secret close to their hearts. A young man*’s hankering for this covetous job gets impetus from diverse sources including his past experiences, his present observation of societal attitudes toward this job and his future plains. Admitted the fact that every aspirant may have his own reason and a very valid reason for desiring to be a part of civil service, it is a very interesting, though not so admirable, fact that people crave for civil service only for three “Pzz”: power, prestige and privilege. Let me explain my point.

At the time of inception of Pakistan, British Raj bequeathed, among others, two very important institutions to this nascent nation and, by doing this, very cunningly obstructed its journey to the complete freedom from the hateful legacy of exploitation and oppression. These two institutions namely Army and Bureaucracy were well-organized and were trained in the art of servitude by the imperialists to the extent that even after the departure of their masters they continued their legacy by one way or the other and it was their arrogance and indifference to the aspirations and problems of common man that aroused a general perception among the masses of this poor country that they are still not free and that 1947 brought only change of masters, for, before this seminal year they were being plundered by ‘Goras’ now they are being exploited by ‘Kalas’. British imperialists raised Royal Indian Army and Indian Civil Service to the lines that served their designs best. Both Army Officers and Civil Servants were trained for a single purpose of making the British occupation perpetual. Army officers, by the strength of their guns and boots, scared away all armed resistances against British occupation while bureaucrats in the name of administration exploited the resources of India and by their diverse machinations tried to inculcate it into the minds of natives that British raj was not a curse rather it was a blessing. In order to raise awe and fear among the masses for the purpose of stifling their desire for freedom, these officers were conferred immense powers and authority and were coroneted with such perks and privileges that they were looked on by natives as creatures of some other planet much superior in intellect and sagacity to them. Unfortunately, Pakistan not only inherited these institutions physically but their colonial spirit, their imperial mindset also came with them. Areas falling under the domain of Pakistan were far behind in political maturity than other regions of sub-continent hence from the day first these two institutions overwhelmed Pakistan’s political and administrative affairs. By military coups in every few years Pakistan’s political institutions were not allowed to grow and thus Army Generals with the connivance of bureaucrats ruled this hapless country most of the time and ruined it as much as they could.

Present civil service of Pakistan is a direct descendent of British Civil Service and its traditions of arrogance and narcissism and even time to time changes in its structure introduced by different governments couldn’t affect its colonial spirit. So we see in the form of our bureaucracy remnants of British raj trying to preserve the legacy of colonialism. More than 60 years have passed since we got freedom but it is so strange that our bureaucrats are still living in the pre-independence British India and their aloofness from common man rightly reminds us that we are still dwelling in an occupied land ruled by some alien race.

So, in this background when a young man aspires to join civil service he is in fact yearning for two things: an unbridled authority and a ruler-like status in the society. Desire for power in itself can not be termed as something bad for without power we are helpless even against minor snags and impediments in our lives but power for the sake of power or power to satiate one’s inflated ego can not be consented in a sovereign country. Admittedly, the ultimate aim of each individual and every nation is to accumulate more and more power but power wielded by a colonial civil servant and civil servant of a free nation must have marked differences for where the aim of former is to prolong the bondage the goal of latter should be to serve his countrymen in the best possible manner.

Power resulting from unchecked authority is what comes to mind when we come across the question why brilliant young guys still prefer civil service in spite of the fact that rapidly growing private sector is offering much better opportunities and more promising future to the energetic and ambitious young souls than the outdated civil service. Take only one aspect. Private sector is tempting young talent with such hefty salaries that a poorly paid new entrant of civil service can not even think of competing with them in monetary matters. Ironically even such lower strata of private sector as office boys and watchmen are at times earning more money than is offered to our so called elite class of newly inducted civil servants at the beginning. So monetary aspect is undoubtedly out of question as for as assessing the factors affecting young men’s preference for civil service is concerned. The only other reason already mentioned above is power and this point gets weightage when we see that when Musharaf, due to his personal jealously with the civil service, tried to undermine it by introducing so called devolution plan in which rank and class of DMG were shattered and Deputy Commissioners were turned into district head clerks dancing to the tunes of semiliterate Nazims; a large number of candidates left this hitherto favorite choice and started opting other groups like PSP which in the true sense of the word is not a part of civil service. This shift to police service amply proves the point that people prefer power to all other things.

Man is a social animal so his behavior is molded by a large number of factors most important of which is likes and dislikes of the society in which he is born and brought up. This rule is applied to a young man’s choice of profession more than on any other thing. We want to be what our society likes we don’t want to be what our society doesn’t like. As already mentioned above, during the British era bureaucracy was the real incarnation of rulers. Indian people were ruled by the English through these white-collar thugs who were mostly English but at the end some Indians were also installed to give it a local color. A general admiration associated with these prestigious bureaucrats in the heart of a worthless Indian man was so deeply entrenched that even after independence bureaucrats are still enjoying the same privileged position. This factor of highly esteemed position of civil servants in our not-yet-fully-independent society is also motivating young men to opt civil service as profession.

A young idealist may claim that he wants to join this field to serve his country. Without doubting the genuineness of his claim and without questioning his intentions I do say your claim is shallow for I have, with a heavy heart, seen a large number of people leaving such noble professions as medical and engineering and joining civil service. With what aims?? ……..To serve the country!!!!! Can’t hey serve their country in a better manner being doctors or engineers than being bureaucrats????? Surely our country needs more Doctors and Engineers than civil servants. So most of the big-bang claims of serving the motherland are actually an eyewash to hide the real intention of ruling the poor masses in the garb of bureaucracy. When a doctor or engineer leaves his profession and becomes a civil servant he is not serving his country he is serving his twisted ego.

To said all this, I can conclude, though I may be erring in this conclusion, that we are still living under the dark shadows of British raj. Our ideas and ideals are almost the same as they were in the days of occupation. Our young men are dying for power. They still try to mimic their departed British rulers not only in outlook but also in their attitudes and behaviors towards their countrymen. On this dismal picture I can add only a plea, an appeal of a weary soul to the young aspirants of CSS. Please don’t try to be rulers of this poor country. Be servant of this beloved land. We have enough of rulers, now we need earnest servants for this country teeming with courage, determination and ability to change this outmoded system.
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* By using masculine nouns/pronuns I do not intend to show any favor/discrimination for/against any gender. This use is only for convenience’s sake. Please read He/She His/Her Man/Woaman wherever they are used.


A REQUEST>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(I am not good at expressing my ideas in English so you may find some grammatical errors even blunders in arranging different sentences. Being a novice in this field my grip over language may look miserable and you may stumble while reading incoherent sentences. Please point out all these mistakes to me. I would be thankful to you. Senior members are especially requested to help me improve my language.)

I do not agree with u in presumption that all Doctors and Engineers aspiring for Civil Service r actually power-hungry guys with 'twisted egos'. A competitive exam should be open for all. Why should we bar any guy with a medical or engineering degree from competing in CSS? Just because they were capable of getting admission in some medical or engineering college and we failed? Is this their fault?? I think our country should benefit from these people's abilities. Not every soul is hungry for power Preshan. Please correct this misconception.

after the word civil service you shouldn't use full stop rather you should connect the word (with) to civil service by removing full stop and writing (with) in small letter.

Correct: seen a large number of people leaving such noble professions as medical and engineering and joining civil service with what aims??

It should be weight age . I mean with space.

Correct : power and this point gets weight age when we see that

an eyewash is wrong. It should be simply eyewash.
This sentence structure does not reflect inner meaning which you actually want so convey and the grammatical structure of this sentence is wrong.
So,
According to me, this sentence should be in this order : So most of the big bang, to hide their real intentions of ruling the poor masses in the garb of bureaucracy, claims of serving the motherland, which is actually eyewash.

__________________
Assistant Security Officer- BS-16
Ministry Of Defence, GHQ.

im a talented person who couldnt become a doc or engineer but wants to serve the country.
i want to see my country where Quaid wanted it to be.
i want to see my country men as the way Iqbal dreamt them to be.
i want to make the National anthem become the meaning and motto of our lives.
and i dont think i would have been much of a help doing that had i been a doctor or engineer.
i know my capacity exactly.

The way to see the things I use is, without power u can't serve your country in exact manner you want to. To correct the wrong things u need to have power. That is why First of all we need power.

Secondly, everybody wants a prestigious job to do. Everybody wants esteem from society. So that is why we need respect.


Whenever anyone renders services to any other, he always demands something good in return to satisfy his needs and wants. So we also need a lucrative job.

If we have had these all things, we will serve our country in the better way.

__________________
Assistant Security Officer- BS-16
Ministry Of Defence, GHQ.

@ Dear Preshan GUl Saab

Sir you may be very correct in your conclusions but can i ask you some questions if you don't mind please.
This country has more than enough rulers as you have stated but can you tell me how many of them are loyal to the poors and this country?????
Secondly if every one start compromosing with the bad policies of the rulers in the name of fate that he isn't an inborn elite to rule and devise effective and good policies for the large and dominant middle and lower class then who will do it for us????
What do you think that change can be brought through individual actions or through policies??????

What i think that most of the doctors and engineers that come to civil services are doing alot on the part of their fellow professionals to draft people friendly policies to be executed well by those professionals. There will be some cases where the aspirants will have the idea of power in their mind but when they come out of the academy and accept the responsibilities then i don't think they will be less enthusiastic than those who have opted to come for serving the nation as professional training if you have experienced or observed it bring about lot of changes in the character and personality of individuals. Secondly nothing move or change a person more than a responsibility.
So still if you have in mind that people come here only for three pzzzzzzz then do ask the csp's who are in field and you will be astonished after hearing the 180 degrees shift in their thinkings and attitudes before and after their selections.
Prestige lies not only in seat but is your attitude and commitment towards your duty and oath and power you know where it lies in this universe and every educated man know this fact well than anything else.

__________________
Opinions are like Wrist watches,
Every watch shows different time from others,
but every one believes that their time is right !!!!!!!!!
That is life..

Preshan Gul,

You have summed it up quite beautifully. Your expression, clarity of thought, coherence and language have been as good as any I have seen on this forum. Definately 60+ material in the English essay paper I cant believe you are requesting others to correct any mistakes, I honestly think it should be the other way around.

As for the 3 P's theory, I totally agree with you. It is really unfortunate that most of us have forgotten that our motivation behind joining the Civil Services should be to serve the people, not to rule them. But in an unjust society like ours where power is synonymous with nuisance value, the thinking patterns are hardly suprising. Deep inside, all of us know that the 3 P's are all that we crave for, but we lack the moral courage to admit this in public.

Honestly speaking I want to join civil services because it sounds good being a CSP. Secondly I will have an option if I am unable to meet the criteria in some other fields. As this is my third preference!!!

This is not to undercut others' prefernce for the field. It is all about personal aptitude..

CSS offers you a lot to learn no matter where you want to be and whether you will go through it or not. You will learn and gain for sure...

__________________
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
Helen Keller

Dear Sidra!
In the heat of your arguement you couldn't grasp my point. I do agree with you that competitive exam should be open for all but would you be kind enough to tell me what a Doctor has to do with police service???? Do you have any idea how much our poor country is spending while preparing a guy to be a Doctor??? It is, no doubt, unfair to stop some one from joining some service on the basis of his/her profession but it is equally unfair to leave a professional job just because it has less privileges and less power. In my view these guys should excel in their own fields instead of leaving them. Our country meeds their 'abilities' in their own fields instead of Civil Service.

Dear Preshan, i respectful disagree with your opinion with regards to the point mentioned below.
But, before i go on to complete my reply, let me first congratulate you on the effort you have put in and the whole passage deserves an honest reply for the sheer amount of aspects that you have explored, and which i intend to do so once i get the opportunity.

So, coming back to the comment under discussion :-

Would you be kind enough to tell me as to why a a police man, who before joining the training and academy et all, was say for argument's sake a sales person / teacher etc, is any better or more eligible than a person who was a doctor/engineer before joining the same academy, going through and coming up via the same system and experiencing the same training etc and in the process joining the same force?
To me the argument itself is based on a false premise and is a case of prejudiced discrimination on the basis of better qualification, and that too against the professional who by virtue of his/her qualification is viewed as more likely to contribute to the social/societal welfare.
Wouldn't you rather agree that a person who has already been through the rigors of becoming one of the top professionals in our post modern society is, if not better equipped but at least as good a choice as any to tackle the myriad of multi-faceted issues that a civil servant faces though out their career? Similarly i could pose you a question as to what does a lawyer have to do being a CSP? or for that matter an accountant or a banker or a teacher? and the list is just endless.

Last i checked, being a CSP still meant serving our beloved country and working for the betterment of its people. So by virtue of the above argument of yours isn't it the very bounden duty of this professional to serve the country which has invested so much into him/her? and what better way than being a dedicated Civil servant, who if is so committed that he/she was going to help thousands being a doctor, would in the same vein might one day be in a position to alleviate the plight of millions by virtue of his/her role as a policy maker and implementer?
All of the above of course assuming that our country is spending 'so much' on training such personnel, regarding which i have my reservations, but which is certainly not the basis of my opinion.

I think i have already covered part of this aspect in my first argument, but for completions sake i would like to add that we need to understand what do the terms we use to identify people represent.
I believe you would agree that being a professional has two aspects to it. The basis aspect, which is applicable to all who carry the title, is that it is a qualification first and foremost. Thereafter, it also signified that kind of social role the qualification "expects" you to play as a contributing member of the society.
The second part, is how good the professional is, and this quite naturally varies for each and every individual based on reason whose elaboration would be superfluous at this stage.
So the real question that arises is how do we quantify "own fields" and "abilities"? Because, who knows whether a person would be a better doctor or a civil servant? Certainly, neither you nor me can ascribe such a role to every one and anyone based on their professional qualifications alone. In the same spirit, 'own fields' just represent the societal expectation of the role a qualification brings and it does not in any way represent the actual ability of a person to excel/contribute in field A ( his/her original profession) and field B ( the one being switched to - and for which the person is again duly trained).
Therefore, in my opinion the person best placed to make such a decision in face of such abstract variables is that very person himself/herself. So rather than judging and weighing them through our own personal objectivity , we should rather trust them to have made the right decision for the right reason, because otherwise it really wouldn't matter which role they eventually played (A or B).

Having said all that, right now there is not a single field in our country that does not require talented, motivated, devoted and committed individuals, be it doctors or engineers or even civil servants. So the higher the number of people committing themselves to serving our country and improving our society the better it would be for the overall progress of its inhabitants. Wouldn't really matter where you contribute, as long as you find your niche and get on with it.

And as far as power and prestige go, then i believe these should serve to be the icing, not the cake themselves. Just as, for a committed doctor helping and curing patients would be the prime motivator and not the one-off killing he/she would make off, of the certain S-Class that comes along once in a while.

In my humble opinion of course.

Regards,

__________________
There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures. ~ William Shakespeare