NEW DELHI: Former Foreign Secretary Muchkund Dubey has lashed out at the “IAS-dominated bureaucracy” saying it has “Systematically excluded” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) from the decision-making process bearing on foreign policy.
Dubey blamed a succession of weak foreign ministers for allowing the Foreign Office to get sidelined.
In an interview to The Pioneer on Sunday he alleged that a letter from former Foreign Minister Madhavsinh Solanki to the Prime Minister last August on this question got stalled in the PMO and had not reached Narasimha Rao even months later. Its fate remains a mystery to the former diplomat to this day.
The letter spoke of the “extreme frustration” in South Block and pointed to the need to involve the MEA in the formulation of economic and trade policies which had external implications. It spelled out the specific areas and committees on which the ministry could play a positive role.
Asked why Rao was not approached directly Dubey said “The PM is too busy and it was not thought appropriate to approach him directly. Moreover we have a PM who does not want to rock any boats. So he prefers not to take certain decisions for fear of displeasing certain quarters.”
Dubey said the ministry’s is being headed by weak ministers had been “one of our major problems. The Foreign Ministry is only as good and strong as the Foreign Minister. In recent years with the exception of I.K.Gujral we have not had any minister whose voice was heard in the Cabinet.”
Dubey comments on the “systematic exclusion” of the MEA by the IAS came when asked to respond to the complaint of Foreign Service Officers that commercial wings of Indian missions are unable to deliver largely for want of adequate cooperation from economic ministries at home.
Dubey said “One real and very substantial problem we have faced has been the quarrel over turf in economic matters During my tenure though I did not have any problem with the Committee in such one faced big problems elsewhere particularly in dealing with the system as a whole.”
He continued “At a time when economics is being sought to be given larger play in foreign policy the Foreign Secretary does not find a place in half a dozen secretary level bodies dealing with major economic issues which have a direct bearing on foreign policy. Bodies such as the trade board aid utilization committee project approval committee Foreign Investment Promotion Board and even the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs where all major decisions are foreign economic policy are taken do not have a role for the MEA. This exclusion is not a functional issue but one of turf.”
Pointing to the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations Dubey said “We were consulted in the very early stages but were overlooked completely towards the end.” He regretted that despite IFS officers having performed better than anyone else at GATT and with a longer experience in dealing with it in posting officers to GATT the IAS has always gotten preferential treatment.”
Dubey also referred to the Gulf war crisis during which oil supplies dwindled. “The Petroleum Ministry had knocked at various doors and drawn a blank. Then we stepped in and within no time secured more supplies than we had money to buy. Subsequently given the BJP crunch we needed to buy oil on credit I went to Teheran and met Rafsanjani Mahathir of Malaysia was also there. Both gave me general assurances that we could obtain credit up to one year but we must negotiate.
Continued Dubey “The first delegation to Teheran which involved the MEA secured a credit facility for up to eight months. Diplomatic tact is essential even to make a foreign government exercise its political will.”
Commenting on the frequency with which ministers and bureaucrats travelled abroad Dubey said such visits had achieved very little and were “invariably a bad experience” for missions receiving them;
He revealed that as Foreign Secretary he had suggested to the Finance Secretary that given the foreign exchange crunch no delegations need be sent to deal with any United Nations matter as these could be attended to by MEA officials stationed there. “The result was the exclusion of the Foreign Ministry component but the delegations kept going unhindered” disclosed Dubey. The former Foreign Secretary attributed the IAS attitude to “a great sense of insecurity. They are aware of the kind of performance our officers are capable of and once they give us an economic post we are capable of outshining them. To the IAS each such post is a coveted foreign posting and they cling to it for dear life. “He concluded bitterly “You have to be willing to play second fiddle. And when you have done so they may accommodate you and throw & few crumbs.”
Article extracted from this publication >> April 17, 1992
