Curbing the politician

The remarks by Pinky Anand in her article “Keeping politicians at bay” (Nov. 26), and against a class of IAS officers in the penultimate paragraph, are unkind, to say the least. Hasty generalisation is writ large in the attribution of dishonesty and lack of integrity to a few IAS officers who the writer describes as “conferred” officers.

There is no such classification. The IAS is neither a degree nor a title. It is a service to which appointments are made through two streams according to well-defined and time-tested rules. One stream is recruitment through a competitive examination and the other through the State civil services on the basis of merit. Dishonesty and a lack of integrity are personal traits which cannot be attributed to a class of officers.

Chengappa,

Hyderabad

Ms. Anand’s statement about conferred IAS officers is unfortunate. As far as integrity is concerned, they are as good or bad as those recruited directly. Once in power, politicians spend their time making money. This suits many government employees who, while helping their bosses make money, make money for themselves too. This emboldens politicians to interfere with the administration.

Mathew Gainneos,

Thiruvananthapuram