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A young captain reports to the Brigadier, a young software pro (B.Tech) reports to the team lead (B. Tech+MBA), a young doctor (MBBS) reports to a Professor/Senior Consultant (MD/MS), a young lecturer reports to the Principal, a young bank PO reports to the branch manager, and a young SDM reports to the DM. But as IAS officers go up the hierarchy and reach the level of Director in the State Government, the reviewing authority is the Minister in-charge of that Department. When he/she becomes a Secretary to the Government, he/she reports directly to the Minister through the Chief Secretary. It is at this stage that the dynamic drastically changes vis-a-vis the other examples given above as the civil servants enter the functional portals of the Constitution of India .The equivalent is the position of the Joint Secretary to the Government of India.All modern industrial societies have bureaucracies irrespective of the form of Government.Bureaucracy thrives under the cloak of ministerial responsibility (Weber). The permanent executive has to work together with the political executive to deliver the Governance Mandate. A Secretary, being a generalist, has access to several specialists and technocrats. Typically in a Department, as you go up in the hierarchy, the level of generalization increases and the level of specialization decreases. At the level of the Minister, the problem is an aggregated abstract both in terms of quality and quantity. The Minister is the ultimate generalist, while the Secretary is partly generalist and partly specialist; acting as a bridge between both the world views.Like in Interstellar, we are not caretakers but pioneers and explorers; and must learn to overcome apparent obstacles to work difficult and dissimilar interfaces.Ultimately ,the Minister is responsible to the people through the Parliament/State Assembly. The minister always has his finger on the pulse of the people and it is for the civil servant to harmonize his/her expertise with the earthiness of the Indian Politician to serve the people as per the Constitutional Mandate, akin to a brilliant matriculate grandfather working with his new age IIT/IIM grandson/granddaughter for the welfare of the family. Many Ministers are highly educated, articulate & committed, and can teach you a thing or two, so we need to respect the position where it is due. Period.When in doubt ,always remember that we are one !

a2aIt seems a pretty obvious thing to say.The reason they manufacture in China is because the capabilities of factories there are better suited: they have a complete eco-system which includes supply of specialist parts, specialist tooling, specialist companies - and specialised labor.It is not "China" in general: it is Shenzhen and the wider local region = Pearl River Delta has an incredibly sophisticated, best-in-world expertise in exactly this.So what?An economy and an environment focussed on certain types of industry will have a supply (and a demand) of workers for those specialist skills.Hollywood has lots of people focussed on film-making.Boston has lots of people focussed on bio-tech.Murano has lots of skilled glass-blowers.North Italy has lots of people focussed on high value ceramics.West Midlands in UK is a centre of expertise in Formula One motor racing engines.And Shenzhen area has lots of people focussed on manufacturing electronic gadgets.Michael Porter wrote a whole book on it.Why is this surprising?

Depending on country, you may be forced to go to the dealer for servicing to keep the warranty intact, and this will cost a bomb. Specialists workshops outside can get the job done for cheaper, if the laws support you.Benz parts are costly. Parts specialists will be cheaper. You can also get the parts minus the Benz logo for much cheaper. Brake rotors and pads for example, our mechanic gets them directly from the manufacturer rather than Benz. They make the same part for Benz, but Benz marks the price up before selling it to you. My local dealer sells windscreen wipers for SGD$150. I got the exact same wipers outside for SGD$90.The increased complexity of Benz car may mean that reliability could be an issue. The cars are generally reliable, but be ready for some unforeseen costs down the road. So far our 2011 E250 CGI with 120k km has had its air-con compressor and starter motor fail. There were a couple of oils leaks, and all four engine mounts were replaced at about 90k km. Still reasonably reliable, but I was hoping for better.Depending on country, Benz breaks the services down into A, B, B+, C, C+ etc. Normal services take a day, but more complex ones can take 1.5–2.5 days, and cost in-excess of $2k. Again, this varies between countries, best to check with your dealer.Going through the MBworld forum, or a local Benz forum will help if you are having issues with your car. Likely, they would have experienced a similar issue, or can help out.People can be resentful towards you sometime, so you may need to be careful of where you park. From experience, if someone dings your car, they won’t leave a note because the repair will be expensive. I usually park next to a wall or the end lot so I can let everyone off, and then park as close to that side as possible so there’s less chance of getting dinged.It would be worth investing in a front and rear dash cam. We’ve had someone reverse into our car and try and worm out of it, but there’s no escaping video evidence.