Public service, as per law, is governed by clearly documented and defined duties, responsibilities, and accountability mechanisms. Yet, over the years, a troubling culture has emerged- the tendency to shower excessive and unwarranted praise on government officials for merely performing their routine, just and above all, salaried duties. Based on my thirteen years of service experience, it has become evident that this culture of unnecessary glorification serves no constructive purpose at the end for the common public.
Government employees like engineers, doctors, patwaris, teachers, clerks, etc, are all heavily compensated from the public exchequer in today’s times to discharge their specific responsibilities within stipulated working hours, and performing these duties, attending the office, processing the files of the public, teaching students in schools, or releasing salaries of the employees cannot reasonably be classified as exceptional service or any extraordinary service. It’s just routine work and nothing more than that! A peculiar narrative often takes shape whenever a new official joins or leaves the station from here for a new assignment.
Social media platforms, especially Facebook, are quickly flooded with praise, portraying the routine administrative tenure of an official as an extraordinary achievement or as if they have conquered the world alone, like Columbus discovered America.
While individual intentions may not always be misplaced, the larger question remains unavoidable. What tangible and substantial lasting improvements have been delivered on the ground? The visible realities of development on the ground are in front of us. The said things offer a far more clear, prudent, and honest assessment than these unwarranted ceremonial tributes being paid by a particular group of YouTubers and self-styled journalists.
On a lighter note, I think renowned rating agencies of the world, like Fitch, Moody’s, and S&P Standards, might be thinking to take a leaf out of these self-styled personalities, as far as the rating system is concerned. Ironically, such exaggerated appreciation undermines the very basic principles of accountability and performance, because when routine work is celebrated as extraordinary, genuine excellence loses its meaning, and mediocrity becomes normalized in the society.
This culture is not limited to administrative departments alone but even in the education sector, day in and day out, we witness teacher’s often excessively praising clerical staff for timely salary disbursement or routine paperwork in offices, which they are supposed to do, as they are getting paid for it. Salary release or documental work for that matter is neither an act of benevolence nor a favor on the part of either the concerned DDO or the dealing assistant, it is a legal entitlement of the employees, processed through well established procedures.
It’s worth mentioning here that neither DDOs nor dealing assistants disburse these salaries from their personal pockets or resources as they simply execute their work for which they are paid, or to be precise, in the eyes of the law, they just fulfill an institutional responsibility. Similarly, at the same time, teachers too are not performing any extraordinary act by teaching students, they too are fulfilling their professional duty and obligation for which they too are accordingly paid heavily.
Respect and gratitude for the public service role is of utmost importance, but respect must not be confused with uncritical admiration and blind hero worship. Unnecessary praise ultimately benefits only a selected few, while quietly eroding transparency and institutional standards.
It discourages merit based evaluation, dilutes public expectations, and fosters a culture where symbolic gestures outweigh the substantive and substantial outcomes. What I think is urgently needed is a paradigm shift, not only in NEP 2020, but in thinking and perspective, especially in Bandipora, from lavishing flattery to fairness from symbolism to substance from rhetoric to reality and from optics to outcome Public servants should be evaluated and appreciated only when they go beyond the call of duty, deliver measurable and substantial improvements, or demonstrate integrity under pressure, not for simply doing what their basic job description requires.
Last but not least, employee associations and civil society forums, too, must reflect on the messages they amplify day in and day out. Praising routine administrative processes does not strengthen institutions, but demanding efficiency, transparency, accountability, and results does. In the long run, it’s the accountability, not the applause, that will determine the credibility and effectiveness of public service.
The writer is a teacher
