Hierarchical protocol is the bedrock of governance, and its absence is horrendous anarchy. Respect is a voluntary feeling, but adherence to official protocol is not. Protocol is not a private subject, like an individual’s own choice of the quantum of dignity that he has to accord to his family elders and others. It is the basic minimum dignity and respect that is officially prescribed as a hierarchical mandate upon every civil servant…Read More
May 23, 2024
Civil servants should go by the rulebook alone
Politics has, unfortunately, come to theatrics, tantrums, rewards and retribution. But these mantras are not for the civil servants to practise. No chief secretary would have thought of skipping an official meeting presided over by the PM while in his own state, because there is nothing more important than that for the chief secretary, and if there is something more important than that, surely the PM knows about it and would prioritise accordingly.
