Officers' Guide To The Officer Record Brief - Soldier Support Institute: Fill & Download for Free

Thanks for the A2A.Surabhi Surendra, wife of a young IAS officer, has already given a beautiful and honest answer to this question. There are some other good answers by Surya Kulshreshtha, Kunal Mehra, et al. I thought of using some of my grey cells to further elaborate and supplement all these answers. After 25 long years in the IAS, I am living in my 16th house and, my executive record sheet shows, I am on my 28th assignment. The positions included field assignments, positions in State secretariats and in the Government of India, each having different nature of job, perks and facilities.Lifestyle, which includes nature of work and perks available, depends a lot on the assignment handled and can be broadly classified into 3 categories:Field assignments (SDM, DM, etc.)State SecretariatCentral GovernmentThe answer by Surabhi Surnedra broadly covers the field assignments. For a sincere and committed officer, field assignments can be extremely demanding. Days usually begin early morning and end by late evening/night. As DM, my work schedule usually started at 9 am, the office hours were mostly spent in meeting the public, handling official meetings, court works, etc. On days I could follow my routine, I would take a break for about 2 hours in the evening for a visit to gym, some time with the family and early dinner. File works could usually be done only during night from 8 pm onwards and could go upto 11 pm. Tourings, esp. during summer, would start early morning. There were many occasions when the work schedule extended upto 16-18 hours. I put in a max of about 36 hours of continuous work during a crisis situation. Many of my colleagues might have put in even more. Till about 15 years back, when the polling in elections was through ballot papers, counting of votes usually continued for 24-48 hours and all staff (yes, not only DM/IAS officers) involved in the counting, once inside the counting hall, could leave only after it was over.A position at the State Secretariat/ Directorate is usually not that challenging and neither are the facilities so good. Nature of work depends on the department one is posted in and also the work allocation within the department. Facilities vary a lot across the states. Usually, houses (at the same seniority levels) are modest compared to what a DM/SP/DFO and other field functionaries get. Telephone bills are usually reimbursed only upto a certain limit; no reimbursement of electricity bills; and houses are usually not furnished. While posted in Ranchi secretariat, I, and many other officers, stayed in rented accommodations, many of us paying rents higher than our HRA entitlements.Work in the Government of India is usually more demanding than the state secretariats but less than the field assignments. Central Ministries provide a much broader canvass and exposure of dealing with national and international issues. To my young colleagues in IAS, my strong advice will be to do a mix of all the three kinds of assignments.In Government of India, houses are even more modest compared to the State capitals, if you draw a comparison at the same levels of seniority. The pics posted by Surya Kulshreshtha are of the New Moti Bagh Colony and, as things stand now, only officers of 25+ years of service may expect to get an allotment there. Telephone reimbursements are limited to about Rs 2200 p.m. (including landline, mobile and broadband), depending on your rank; no reimbursement of electricity bills; no furnishings; and, except the positions of Private Secretaries to Ministers, usually no vehicle upto the Director level. So, if someone decides to come to the Centre at Director level or below, i.e., during the first 17-18 years of service in IAS, he needs to arrange for his own transport.And this is what I did.In 2005, after 13 years of service, I applied for central deputation and was posted as Deputy Secretary in Defence. Since purchasing a new car would have taken some more time, I borrowed the car of my father-in-law, a Maruti 800 DX, and sent the car to Delhi at a friend’s house a couple of days before I was to reach there. My flight landed at 9 am on 27th June 2005. I went straight to my friend’s house, picked up the car, drove it to the State Bhawan, which was to be my temporary shelter for the next few days, freshened up and drove to South Block. I drove up the Raisina Hills but didn’t find a place to park the car. As I was driving around Vijay Chowk slowly looking for a parking place, I found a traffic police, stopped and asked him if there was parking place around. He guided me to the parking place, close to Vijay Chowk and asked for Rs 100. Aghast, I asked him if he charges for showing directions. He politely said, “You are not using seat belt.” He checked my driving license and handed over the receipt. I thanked him for reminding me of an important lesson on the very first day in Delhi and drove on. Since then, using seat belt has been a part of my driving culture.A few days later, I parked my Maruti near the inner circle of CP (and there were quite a few cars parked there) and went to purchase a couple of kids’ books to keep my sons busy in the single room accommodation in the State Bhawan. After 10 minutes, I came back and found my car missing. It was towed away for being parked in the “no parking” zone. But why my car only when there were many other cars around? Well, someone pointed out that in all the other cars, drivers were sitting. So, people in self-driven mode are more vulnerable! The wise men around showed me the direction to the spot near Hanuman Mandir where I could get my car. I walked to the place in the sweltering heat, paid around Rs 400, major portion of which was the towing charge, got the car back and moved on. Another lesson learnt, I emerged wiser.So, yes, “all powerful” IAS officers are also equally responsible when it comes to abiding rules and regulations and vulnerable if they violate.Borrowed Maruti was only a temporary solution. I needed to purchase a car. Since childhood, my concept of car was “car with a boot” (well, it has changed now, considering Delhi traffic). The least expensive “car with a boot” was TATA Indigo costing a little over Rs. 5 lakh. Even that was beyond my means, so I decided to purchase a second hand car. I got a decent deal for Rs. 3.46 lakh, financed part by car loan of Rs 1.80 lakh, maximum amount that the government could provide, and the rest from my PPF. The previous owner, incidentally, was a former civil services aspirant, who stayed in Delhi and tried thrice (max number of attempts during those days). After exhausting all his attempts, he became a contractor. During 3 years of his business in Bihar, he had purchased a TATA Indigo and was selling it off to purchase a Skoda. Not bad! Sure there are better ways of earning money than getting into IAS. He might have thanked his stars that he didn’t get into IAS.At this point, a comparison with similarly qualified persons will probably not be out of place. A close relative of mine had done mechanical engineering from IITD and MBA from IIM, Calcutta. I have done Mech from IITK and getting into IAS is perhaps tougher and almost as grueling as doing an MBA from IIM. He started working in 2004 with a multinational company getting Rs 15 lakh per annum and, in just a little over one year of service, purchased a Ford Fiesta for himself and a Hyundai Santro for his father.And here I was. After 13 years of service, monthly salary was about Rs. 22000 (with GPF reduction at the minimum possible), out of which Rs 5000+ was for school fees of two children. The balance was for paying all utility bills and the day to day expenses, apart from maintaining a decent standard of living which “IAS officers are supposed to have”.So, all dear friends out there, the lifestyle is not lavish and not luxurious, just decent. That too, with a lot of struggle. And that is the case with most of the IAS officers if you leave out the fringe elements who are corrupt and dishonest and, unfortunately, have become the face of IAS. They are the news materials for the media, not those who are honest, upright, capable and efficient.So, what are the takeaways? Should one join IAS despite so many constraints? Sure yes, if you are looking for challenges. Despite all ups and downs, IAS provides unmatched challenges and ample opportunities to work for the country and for the people. All our power, privileges and facilities are meant to achieve that goal and not to be exercised in our own selfish interests. IAS provides a fairly decent lifestyle, esp. after the sixth pay commission. But if someone is looking for a lavish lifestyle, 5-star luxuries, destination wedding and lots of power to be exercised at his/her own sweet will, my request to him/her will be … ….please have mercy on the people of this country and look elsewhere!