At this place, I might emphasize the need of providing adequate training to our lowest functionaries. In our country, training arrangements for the higher echelons of public services have already attained a degree of sophistication, and considerable thought is being given to their grooming from time to time. However, it is at the lowest level that the image of the entire administration is either made or marred. The behaviour of a village accountant, a forest guard, a police constable, a gram sewak and a village school teacher does more to shape the attitudes of the masses towards government than the behavioural patterns at the Union or State headquarters.
I might illustrate this point with an example. We all know that managers of private undertakings can ill-afford to treat their financiers with indifference and rudeness. Whether at high managerial levels or at the bottom, an attitude of hostility and neglect towards the financiers of the enterprise can be built only at perilous consequences. And yet, when we turn our face to the machinery of government, it often happens that the vast bulk of citizens and taxpayers, who are the financiers of this enterprise, do not receive that respect and solicitation which their status warrants. Instances come to our notice when citizens wait for long hours in government offices, are pushed around from desk to desk and are given a very cold treatment. If there is a clear realization of their special position as government clients, perhaps, a greater warmth in the relations of the public servants and citizens could be fostered. We have to remember that in a democratic setting, the citizens possess the authority to change the tallest government functionary through the process of vote, and with such powers at their command, they cannot possibly accept that the vast infrastructure of civil service forms a group beyond the pale of their command and behest. In the days to come, it might not be enough for a public servant merely to follow the instructions and secure the approval of his superiors; if he leaves the bulk of government clientele dissatisfied and restless, his adequacy would be open to serious doubt.
