(Article) IAS Versus IFS

The mains form is here and i guess it will be with you all very soon if it isnt already there. i’m having some last minute jitters filling up the services could some of you kindly give your opinions on what i’ve written below…

IFS - because of navtej sarna, nirupama rao, arundhati ghose - I want to be in their shoes someday!! early career is great you get to learn new languages interact with new people visit distant capitals. there is greater camaraderie amongst batch mates because of a small batch size. time for intellectual blogging. good exposure and opportunity for personal growth. usually the best working environment which govt can provide. organising cultural programs. I enjoy going to the india habitat centre often and organising the same abroad will be great e.g. dance music. you don’t get thrown away to distant villages and states. your cadre doesn’t become a reason for one to contemplate leaving the job.

Later in career too one could possibly join rajya sabha or like our new VP mr. ansari hope to reach a titular office of grandeur.!

IAS - because the tag is easily recognised by one and all. it reverberates through peoples head as someone not to be messed with. minor irritants in life get sorted out easily. how far is it true for ifs? however early in career to be thrown amongst the villagers in an office which is a leaky road side shack wouldn’t be a great thing. ass licking your way up the postings and promotions ladder for getting anything worthwhile. I believe right now im comfortably placed in new delhi, with ias, delhi itself would become a luxury destination. why demote myself in life? but then top 45 ranks without an aberration have picked IAS in 2006! maybe I missed some point? or maybe they are all way too inspired to help the down trodden.?

Policy formulation quite interesting but implementation is only - alright. preparing answers for parliament more clerical sort of work in my opinion.

Messing around with goons of politicians when polling has gone wrong and I’ve to order a repoll would be dangerous for the family. staying in states I will get a meagre Rs. 15 per month for children education. it would be much better putting them in british school or american school via ifs. what use is the intelligence and
energy which I will bring to the government if integrity itself will be battered and will force me to kill my ideals or get out to save my skin! later in the career one could again join rajya sabha or join politics e.g. yashwant sinha, jaswant singh, manmohan singh and so on..

I believe there is some restriction imposed by mea against interacting with certain people when on a mission abroad. is that true?

Eventually I reasoned it will be luck if I got in top 50! so why not put ias on top, ifs has a greater chance to come anyway! and would I be leading a frivolous/fake life in ifs for the work profile available?
e.g. in the nuke deal what couldn’t be sorted out by the diplomats was eventually sorted out by ias and technocrats. so will I only be a curious traveller and a drama organiser in ifs at the end of it?

How difficult is it for an ias officer to go abroad… my neighbours just returned from a 3 year posting to washington, he is from the 1979 ias batch but he seems to have some major links as he was in delhi 10 years prior to that and has now shifted his madhya pradesh office to MP bhawan in new delhi and will stay here till his retirement! this is just an exceptionally well connected case. what is the usual life.