How political leaders and civil servants often quote classical India’s top thinker, Kautiliya of Arthashastra fame

Chanakya Statue in an I-T office

LAST week, President of India Pranab Mukherjee quoted Kautiliya, once more. “The happiness of the people is the happiness of the king”, he said, quoting the author of the ancient treatise Arthashastra. BoI here picks out a few instances of political leaders and top civil servants remembering classical India’s top thinker Kautiliya, popularly known as Chanakya, to explain the nuances of good governance.

What diplomat Pavan K Varma prescribes in Chanakya’s New Manifesto

WHAT would classical India’s greatest thinker Chanakya do if confronted with the crises that beset contemporary India? Diplomat author Pavan K Varma in his new book Chanakya’s New Manifesto has taken up issues such as Lokpal and decriminalizing of politics to narrate how the author of Arthashashtra would have provided…

Corruption, Lokpal and Kautilya’s observations on officers embezzling funds

Kautilya's statue at an I-T office

CAN the current lot of Indian Parliamentarians bring about an effective Lokpal to eradicate corruption which prevailed since the days of Kautilya, also known by the name Chanakya or Vishnugupta. Kautilya alias Chanakya who was the prime minister of India’s first great emperor Chandragupta Maurya, wrote Arthashastra, a treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy.

Interestingly, the standing committee on Lokpal Bill chaired by Abhishek Manu Singhvi had a reference to Kautilya’s observation on corruption. Kautilya in Arthasastra, gave a detailed list at least 40 ways of embezzlement of funds by treasury officers during his time. The most common ways of corrupt practices as adopted by officers of his time included pratibandha or obstruction, prayoga or loan, vyavahara or trading, avastara or fabrication of accounts, pariahapana or causing less revenue and thereby affecting the treasury, upabhoga or embezzling funds for self enjoyment, and apahara or defalcation.

Kautilya who was known for pragmatism, did not however want people to be hundred percent honest. “Just as straight trees are chopped-down first, honest people are taken advantage of first,” he believed. This may not be the right preaching in today’s context as Parliamentarians have begun the debate of bringing an effective ombudsman. Yet, some of his quotes may be of use even today. He was highly critical of a weak administration. “Prostitutes don’t live in company of poor men, birds don’t build nests on a tree that doesn’t bear fruits and citizens never support a weak administration.” Maybe it’s still a lesson for the government of the day!

248 Independent Directors’ posts lying vacant in PSUs

There are 72 board level positions and 248 posts of Independent Directors in Schedule A and B Public Sector Undertaking (PSUs) lying vacant. A software has been developed to monitor vacancies in CPSUs. The administrative ministries have been issued instructions to ensure filling up of the vacancies in PSUs in a time-bound manner, and these are being monitored by holding regular meetings. In case of Independent Directors, the Central government has recently revised the procedure for selection and appointment of non-official directors on the boards of CPSEs in order to ensure timely appointment.

FM wants IRS officers to think beyond Chanakya's Koso Moolo Dandah theory

INDIA’S finance minister Pranab Mukherjee quoted Arthasaastra’s author Chanakya while addressing the 64th batch of Indian Revenue Service (IRS) probationers in New Delhi recently, but wanted them not to blindly follow what has been practiced in tax collections. He wanted the young I-T officers to keep in mind that the assessee is not an adversary and committed taxpayers are the engines of the nation’s economy and hence they are important clients of the revenue department.

Mukherjee said, “When Chanakya says Koso Moolo Dandah in the Arthasaastra, he makes the important point that the treasury and its inflows are the source of a nation’s might. Historically, the focus of the direct tax administration has been on maximal enforcement of the Statute so as to maximize tax revenue and the collections. Both theory and practice has shown that this did not bring in the intended results.”

Mukherjee reminded the probationers that tax assesses need to be treated as clients, but deliberate evaders and offenders must be punished. “We need to constantly adapt to ongoing changes and update, improve and innovate our systems and practices as well as adopt the best from the rest of the world”, he says.

Also, Mukherjee asked the IRS probationers to remain consistently creative throughout their life in public service. Creativity is one attribute that enhances the quality of leadership, and willingness to learn and humility is imperative for the ready acquisition of effective knowledge and skills, he added.

So what’s the final take away? Has the FM advised IRS probationers to go beyond Chanakya and his Koso Moolo Dandah theory of 23 hundred years ago?
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10 Chanakya quotes for bureaucrats

10 Chanakya quotes for bureaucrats as finance minister unveils statue of Arthashastra’s author in Gujarat's I-T office

HERE is the caption of this picture: The Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee unveiling the statue of Chanakya, at newly built Income Tax Office, at Ambavadi in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

As one of the master politicians of Independent India, Pranab Mukherjee, unveiled the statue of ancient India’s super diplomat with a command over economics and politics, BoI (babusofindia.com) presents 10 quotable quotes of Chanakya which some Indian bureaucrats might have heard before, even without reading his Arthashastra and Neetishastra.

1) A person should not be too honest. Just as straight trees are chopped-down first, honest people are taken advantage of first.

2) An egoist can be won over by being respected, a crazy person can be won over by allowing him to behave in an insane manner and a wise person can be won over by truth.

3) Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it? What the results might be? And Will I be successful?

4) Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.

5) If you get to learn something even from the worst of creatures, don’t hesitate.

6) The four greatest enemies of a man are - the father who has taken a loan, the characterless mother, the beautiful but promiscuous wife and the stupid child.

7) The world’s biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman.

8) There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth.

9) A woman is four times as shy, six times as brave and eight times as lusty as a man.

10) Prostitutes don’t live in company of poor men, birds don’t build nests on a tree that doesn’t bear fruits and citizens never support a weak administration.

Action and Appointments

a) The Madras High Court stayed an inquiry into alleged accumulation of unaccounted wealth by 1990 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer C Umashankar. The interim injunction will be effective till June 28.

b) In the first major reshuffle after Jharkhand came under President’s rule, the government effected transfers of five IAS officials. Rajbala Verma, a 1983 batch Jharkhand cadre IAS, will now be the home secretary becoming only the second woman to become home secretary in the state.