KTR slams mediocre bureaucracy as biggest hurdle in Indian politics

BRS working president KT Rama Rao has criticised India’s bureaucracy and judiciary, calling them the biggest challenges to governance. Speaking at the Shiv Nadar Foundation’s IGNITION summit in Chennai, he described the bureaucracy as “static” and resistant to change since the Licence Raj era.

Hyderabad: BRS working president and former IT Minister KT Rama Rao on Tuesday said the bureaucracy and judiciary were the major challenges being faced by politicians and governance in India today.

Addressing the Shiv Nadar Foundation’s IGNITION summit under the theme Rebooting the Republic in Chennai, he shared his personal but candid insights into the difficulties of public life. He said much of the difficulty was with a ‘mediocre’ bureaucracy that has been ‘extremely static’.

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“They are extremely static bureaucrats. They are resistant to change. Ever since the Licence Raj, they used to sit in ivory towers with people going around and begging for them to act,” he said.

Drawing a stark contrast with elected representatives, he added: “They look at us politicians as people elected for five years, and ‘I am here for 50 years’.” “In a democracy, the dog should wag the tail, it should not be the tail wagging the dog.”

Turning to the judiciary, Rama Rao termed it the ‘second biggest challenge’ in Indian politics today. Highlighting the massive backlog, he pointed out that over five million cases remained pending across courts in the country.
“There is no expeditious justice delivery system in the country. Justice should come to your rescue. A dispute redressal mechanism should be there. But that does not exist in the country today,” he remarked.