"We, not I"

President Droupadi Murmu, in her maiden visit to the elite Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) at Mussoorie on Friday, said the most important mantra for civil servants and government officers is to replace "I" with "We". She also said that the government and the people expect "and have a right to expect" the best out of every civil servant in whatever position of responsibility he or she may be. But, though President Murmu said that the country can now proudly say that the civil servants have lived up to these expectations, the ground situation may not be similar to what the first citizen of the country thinks. The real situation can be gauged from media reports quoting Union government data, according to which there were 581 complaints of alleged corruption against IAS officers across the country during 2020-21. Though the figure had considerably declined from 753 cases during 2019-20, it is not a matter to be simply brushed aside that there are so many complaints of alleged corruption against officers of the elite civil service. Moreover, it is also on record that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered about 44 cases against IAS officers and 12 cases against IPS officers in the country between 2016 and 2021. In most of the complaints and CBI cases, the issue was allegedly taking bribes. It is also pertinent to recall that the government had in February 2021 informed Rajya Sabha that seven IAS officers were arrested in the country between 2018-19 and 2020-21. What is also disgusting to note is that as many as five IAS officers and one IPS officer were arrested in a span of one month (June-July) in 2022. Moreover, according to media reports, three IAS officers were arrested in October 2022 in Chhattisgarh on charges of corruption. All these stories do not go in line with what President Murmu said on Friday. She referred to the Lal Bahadur Academy's motto of "Sheelam Param Bhushanam" which means "character is the highest virtue" and pointed out that the method of training at LBSNAA is based on the principle of Karma-yoga, in which character is of great importance. The arrest of IAS officers or a large number of corruption cases against IAS officers does not speak well of India's elite bureaucracy.