"I am corrupt, honestly"
By Syed Saadat
THE number of letters to editors imploring the government to increase the upper age limit for appearing in the Civil Superior Services exam is one indicator of how coveted a career it is.

Around 10,000 people apply to take it, and of those around 7,000 have the courage to actually appear in the exam, which is considered to be the ultimate test of knowledge and nerves. Around 700 pass the written exam and at most 350 make it to the final list of candidates who are sent to the prestigious Civil Services Academy for the Common Training Programme.

The average age in my training programme was 27-plus years. This is the age at which the corporate world believes an individual to be his most productive in terms of output, and the latest trend is for CEOs to be in their 30s. It is this aging cream of the country that makes it to the CSA.

But the euphoria of being successful makes time fly, and a month passes by quickly. Then comes the shock: Pakistan’s civil servants get their first salary, an astonishing Rs10,000. Although they know about the amount beforehand, believe me when I say that actually getting it in your hands is, for all the wrong reasons, a different feeling altogether.

The media keeps complaining that bureaucrats are corrupt. I ask, do we have a choice? It is not a matter of choice but a matter of subsistence. If you don’t want your wife and children to starve to death then you have two choices as a civil servant: either don’t marry or don’t be honest.

Ironically, you also have to execute a bond to serve a period of three years after the successful completion of training. If you want to leave, which obviously comes to pass when you are squeezed by circumstances, then you have to pay a sum of Rs1.5m to the government. Can somebody define bonded labour for me?

Our old man, who has by now hit his 30s but looks 55, puts up a smiling face in front of the world because he was never a whiner. He was always a hardworking individual who believed in his abilities, otherwise he would not have managed to get this far. A paradox now grips his mind. The perception created by the media and society is that the bureaucrat is successful, rich and classy. He is somebody who drinks classy wine and smokes Cuban cigars. But the truth of the matter is that Haji Ahmed, the servant working in our home, earns more than I do and, I can bet, works a lot less. I am not pleading a case for Cuban cigars or classy wine, I have no interest in either. All I ask for is a respectable salary that can help me make ends meet.

I can sense that some of you are on the verge of tears after listening to the sob story of a Pakistani civil servant.

Hold on, I have an answer to all this. I am not going to present utopian solutions, such as that the government should revise pay scales in light of the recommendations of the Pay and Pension Commission. Given the pace at which the government works, I would be dead and buried by then. My solution goes as follows.

My fellows from the police service have plenty of options. Apprehending the wrong person instead of the criminal by receiving some gifts from the guilty party is a viable option for jacking up their income.

Customs is self-explanatory; a very lucrative deal would be allowing sophisticated sugar-mill machinery into the country without any duty and showing it as scrap. Inland Revenue Service? The wonderful citizens of Pakistan are so eager to evade taxes. You can help them evade Rs10m by paying a million to you.

A District Management Group officer has 25 to 35 patwaris under his jurisdiction and Rs10,000 a month from each is a piece of cake. After all, who won’t pay to avoid a discrepancy in land records?

Guys in the Information Group can have their share of funds meant for publicising government policies and creating a better image of the government; nobody will notice because this image stays the same and nobody cares about it either.

Railways has plenty of iron that can be sold to steel mills at cheap rates, provided they know who to pay. Deals bringing in defective locomotive engines can take you to a whole new level. Secretariat Group, the people who run ministries, can be the movers, shakers and decision-makers for shady power deals at the right price. Last but not least, the Foreign Service. There are plenty of funds for the welfare of expatriates, and when you are posted out of the country you yourself become the most deserving expatriate. If my memory serves me correctly, an Indian national was caught in the US with a Pakistani passport that he obtained for a few thousand dollars.

Lastly, I would like to suggest to CSS aspirants to please think twice before taking this route. And if you do decide to finally take the plunge, don’t have any doubts about being corrupt. A Chinese proverb goes, ‘If you want to feed somebody don’t give him food, teach him how to fish.’ The GoP does this to a civil servant; they teach you how to fish.

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the writer is a CSS postal group officer from the 37th common.
comments please. i would love to write but for now lets see what the other people are saying.

Yesterday it was my medical at lahore and i can say it with all truth that i can muster that i agree with Syed saadat in toto.Why? Because salary is not an issue for would-be css aspirants.It is the job which is matters the most.Almost all candidates know their fate as has been elucidated very beautifully.CSS as a much touted promising career is a charade.
Private jobs are auspicious but favoritism also runs riot there.Leg-pulling is the hallmark of Pakistani society and the so called class-domination also works at getting a lucrative job.
I agree with saadat that pay scale is appalling,disconcerting and discouraging in all manners.But corruption is now a national institution.It also permeates all echelons of our social life.I have worked in top ranking private mobile companies and there is no denial that they don't pay their taxes honestly.At the level of small and medium enterprises tax evasion is order of the day.I personally vetted six tenders for the installment of a BTS(Base transmission set-up which is an antenna system) by a private mobile company and the tenders had their wording so ambiguous that i couldn't understand what project they were addressing.Then one of the contracting party representative told me that the wording of proposal had been deliberately made ambiguous to avoid GST payment.Tax evasion is a routine affair.Same is true of commercial banks-otherwise commercial banks wouldn't have written private loans worth 50 billion rupees.The culture of corruption is present at all levels because private and public companies receive their share from the same base i.e. society.

And,i will definitely heed Saadat about the corruption.Aristotle said "society prepares the crime and criminal just commits it".But let's be optimistic that the future will hold some rewards for CSS officers.

Regards.

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If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. ~ John Stuart Mill

Mr Sadaat, please just keep serving your Motherland whether you get 10000 or 500 rupees in return from GOP. You are a civil servant. Live like a servant! But do serve your country. And Never Ever even think of doing this "fishing" thing.

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There will always be a You-like hole in my life.

brother there is a bit difference between a slave and sservant...
if a poor is qualifying and he has a huge faimlly to support,can he manage in 10000?

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In the darkness of the might,
I will lead my weary caravan,
My sighs will remit spark,
And my breath will raise flames.

Yes he CAn. Yes you Can. Yes we Can. Every civil servant should learn how to live with limited bucks. Just stop complaining!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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There will always be a You-like hole in my life.

@ Khurshid......

Very good theoretical advice brother...

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Influentials of history have made me realized that they always had flexible principles to others and strict to themselves.

Theoretical iss liye lag raha hay kay hum logon say jab interview may poocha jata hay kay civil service kyon join kar rahay ho tu phir phir ham sab yeh dialogue martay hain " sir i love my country, i want to serve it". Aur baad may yeh bakwass attitude hota hay kay salary kam hay, bungalow car nahi hay and blah blah blah!!!!!!!!!!

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There will always be a You-like hole in my life.

10000 a month? Khurshid with due respect but lets break it down....

Not to talk about entire family he cann't even support one child!
Lets suppose a Civil Servent has one child:
Tuition or School fee= 5000 (excluding, uniform, and stationery)
Utility bills= (What do you want me to put here 200?)
Food=? House Rent=? Transport bills=? Clothes=?
Now if he has a wife=? sister=?

10000 is not enough for even one child and you are talking about living in it my dear??? The article is so true and I slute the write for bringing up the issue. Civil Servent should get healthy pay to ensure that they avoid Corrption. I will request you to look beyond your luxary life how people are living around.

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What is this?

Being paid lowly ,joined with other circumstances, you may know well, turns the genius into an evil genius... and Don't ignore the destruction that an evil genius can cause.



Refer to the letter of Hazrat Ali (r.a) to his governor

" pay the qazis high so that they should not practice bribery, for the basic objective is to implement justice and truth.....


Khurshid I respect your emotions .....Every body should adopt it.....But you know, One can walk a specified distance with his own motivation....The rest is compensated by an incentive......

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Influentials of history have made me realized that they always had flexible principles to others and strict to themselves.

It's not a "Bakwass" (I would mind my Language as I still do not know the inside of this business nor you do) it's a reality. Serving at high post with hactic lifestyle and a termendous responsibity, the man requires to be free from domestic economic problems.

Dear Khurshid...the point is you may survive but what about others? This what democracy is about, not to think about yourself only but for others as well. And demanding better pay is right of every servent whether a clerck or a Civil Servent.

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What is this?