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Does IRAS make good leaders is a very relevant topic. A Sr. Officer once told us that all vibrant cadres should keep on asking this question in addition to asking about the role of a Finance Officer. Because these two questions will explore the vast scope for expansion in the service. We simply cannot ignore the topic by saying that leaders are born as the leadership is a question of good exposure through opportunities. In the present scenario leadership requires tremendous amount of sophistication and training.
A finance man by virtue of his job is placed in a key position in the organization as he is involved in various functions and activities of the organization. His level of knowledge would ideally be next to the top boss only. A leader should have holistic knowledge of the organization which , therefore, the finance man does possess. Traditionally, the finance man is synonym one to owner.

IRAS is a superior service as it is one of the oldest services in Government of India. It is also one of the few services which has produced full fledged Secretaries to the Government of India. But unfortunately it continued to play a side role in Railways which may be because Finance Department was not under the General Administration till 80s or so. But one of the most important reasons was also a deliberate attempt to keep it out of the key positions in the General Administration. It reminds me of the rules formulated by Indian Telecom Services(ITS) in the Telecom Department before it was corporatised. The ITS made a rule which restricted other services from occupying administrative posts in their department. This went on for a number of years till BSNL was finally formed and interestingly a finance man became the first MD of this organization despite lot of hue and cry from ITS. Thus, the hegemony in the name of technical is broken. In all the spears of life whether Private or Government the finance man is the natural choice for the top post. Even in the State Governments, the Finance Secretary becomes the most important person in the organisation. But finance man could not become Chairman in Railways during last 75 years. Also, the fact that they were rarely considered for the purely administrative jobs like DRMs and General Managers etc or slots were created for them despite spending almost whole carrier in the same organization ! After working with a number of IAS officers, I have a feeling that had the post of CRB been opened to them, IRAS would have got better postings inside as well as outside Railways.

As a service IRAS has become introvert of late. Therefore, the role outside Railways is shrinking. Though still it is one of the few non IAS cadres which has got Joint Secretaries in Government of India. In the outside world this is a service which is known as a best finance service in Government of India. The IRAS Officers have also proved their mental wherever they went on deputations.

In the recent past the Financial Commissioners have been able to feel the pulse of the cadre as the new generation is not ready to accept the existing set up. Madam Viswanathan ensured incadrement of the post of Financial Commissioner and Mr. Sivadasan made a rule that the post of F.C. can be held only by a person who has worked as General Manager. This will ensure that they occupy important spaces in the system. A number of similar steps need to be taken. A great leader himself Mr.S.N.Trivedi got few of the designations changed, which has a moral boosting impact. One of the greatest merit of IRAS is that the seniors have been very caring and the tradition continues.

IRAS does not need any credibility test, however, it is my humble feeling that all said and done we need to improve our professional and administrative skill continuously. At the same time, we must gel with the system and try to drive it towards greater heights ultimately the service to people can be done only by adopting a proactive role.


Hira Ballabh-92
Addl. FA, NDMC