Why some Indian civil servants become heroes for doing their jobs

ByNikita Yadav BBC News, Delhi.

Key points

• When he was district magistrate of Uttarkashi in what was then undivided Uttar Pradesh, a senior minister was contesting the state legislature election, in 1974.
• The commissioner of Maharashtra's Food and Drug Administration, he has led a series of enforcement drives since taking charge in May.
• "What should have been normal has become exceptional, " notes retired civil servant Kamal Kant Jaswal.
• In Gurugram, a suburb of Delhi, district town planner RS Batth has won praise for acting against illegal construction and encroachments.
• "What is supposed to take 24 hours, I have personally experienced being stretched to six months with no guarantee of a positive outcome even then, " he notes.

Among the thousands of civil servants who keep India's vast administration machinery running, a small number become unlikely public figures every few years. Tukaram Mundhe, 51, is one of them.

In practice, the commissioner of Maharashtra's Food and Drug Administration, he has led a series of enforcement drives since taking charge in May. His teams have inspected restaurants and other food businesses, uncovering pest infestations, poor hygiene and expired food.

He has additionally highlighted substantial gaps between what hospitals pay for common medical supplies and what patients are charged.

These actions have created Mundhe a social-media celebrity, with videos and images from inspections widely shared online. Hundreds of individuals have commented that they wished officers like him could be sent to fix food safety worries in their state.

Mundhe is not alone. In Gurugram, a suburb of Delhi, district town planner RS Batth has won praise for acting against illegal construction and encroachments.

But why are these authorities treated like heroes for doing their jobs?

In India, civil servants are responsible for plenty of services residents rely on every day, from issuing documents to policing, food safety and healthcare. But plenty of are additionally accused of delays, bribes and making individuals run from pillar to post.

So when an official appears to cut through the red tape, the response can be surprisingly enthusiastic.

For plenty of citizens, delays, bureaucratic hurdles and indifferent treatment have become so familiar that efficient governance now stands out as an exception, he adds.

Mundhe is not the first official to gain recognition for doing exactly that.

One of the most prominent examples is TN Seshan. This person became a household name as India's chief election commissioner in the 1990s for fearlessly enforcing rules.

Kiran Bedi, the first woman to join the officer ranks of the Indian Police Service, was nicknamed "Crane Bedi" in the early 1980s after it was widely documented that she secured an illegally parked car belonging to then prime minister Indira Gandhi towed away (it was removed by a sub-inspector who documented to her. This person remarked years afterwards that she backed, external his decision).

While police officer Neeraj Jadaun was praised for confronting a mob during deadly religious violence in Delhi in 2020, ashok Khemka became nationally known after intervening in a controversial land transaction in 2012.

These stories have created the idea of the "honest" or "no-nonsense" bureaucrat both familiar and rare.

Jaswal, nevertheless, points out that thousands of office-holders in India do their jobs without attracting public attention.

"Their work may not involve much direct contact with citizens, or may simply be less visible."

For ordinary individuals, even so, a visit to a administration office is often seen as an exhausting process.

Rajesh Singh, 43, who works at a finance firm in Delhi, states he has experienced long waits to obtain his work done and even longer processes to solve complaints.

But an officer praised for enforcing rules can additionally face criticism for applying them too rigidly without taking into account ground realities.

Mundhe has been criticised by sections of the food and hospitality industry over his enforcement drives. He has rejected allegations of selective or unlawful action, saying inspections are evidence-driven and licences are suspended only in serious cases.

Batth, too, has faced flak for acting against illegal encroachments, with critics alleging his enforcement is selective and disproportionately affects vulnerable individuals. In a number of viral videos, he has stated his actions are carried out strictly under town-planning rules.

Jaswal explains a street vendor's stall may be an unauthorised structure in the eyes of the law, but could be a family's only source of income. And in a country where millions migrate to cities in search of work, unsanctioned living spaces could be the only way to find a place to stay.

This tension between the law and economics helps explain why the same enforcement action can be viewed as both lawful and harsh.

Bureaucrats additionally face challenges of their own while carrying out their duties.

Pushpa Sundar, who briefly served as a civil servant and has written extensively on development problems, states officers can face political pressure and transfers when they refuse to comply with demands.

"They too have families, careers and financial responsibilities and it needs extraordinary courage to risk those things in order to act independently, " she notes.

She argues that officers need stronger institutional backing when they refuse to do something illegal or improper. Jaswal remembers facing such pressure himself.

He notes he had to turn down a number of demands from the minister as they were against the rules. The minister won the election and Jaswal notes he secured his "marching orders soon after".

But when he left for his next assignment, individuals stood in the summer heat for a number of kilometres on his way to say goodbye.

In practice, the relationship between politicians and civil servants, he notes, is rarely straightforward.

While standing up to political pressure entails certain costs, he notes, plenty of civil servants who seek desirable postings or rely on political backing choose the path of least resistance.

Social media has additionally changed how swiftly an officer can become a public sensation.

Meanwhile, an action once limited to a district can now be filmed, shared and viewed by millions within hours.

"Social media can turn an official into a national talking point almost overnight, " Sundar notes.

That is partly what happened with Mundhe, whose inspection videos have turned routine enforcement into a widely watched spectacle. Mundhe, nevertheless, sees it differently.

Speaking to the BBC last month, he remarked his actions were driven by public-health worries and that businesses complying with rules had nothing to fear.

In short, why some Indian civil servants become heroes for doing their jobs is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.