The role of Civil servants:

i. Traditional Roles - The traditional role played by civil services includes policy formulation as well as policy implementation. The elected representatives who represent the needs and requirements of the society form the policies with technical support of the civil servants who help them to fulfill the needs of the society.

a. As a Collector - The civil servants perform the function of collecting the revenue and maintenance of law and order.

b. As a District Magistrate - As a district magistrate, a civil servant performs the functions of maintenance of law and order and supervision of the police and jails.

ii. Contemporary Roles - More than the traditional roles, it is the contemporary role that demands greater attention of the civil services. Following are the contemporary roles the civil services need to focus on for smooth functioning of the society and the democracy in whole.

a. National Integration - Today maintaining the national integration and security has become a major challenge as the various extremists and separatist forces are a constant threat to it. A democracy consists of diverse and multi-culture people and this leads to the need to ensure that the unity in diversity is maintained. The civil services have to play an effective role in fostering an environment of tolerance and cooperation among the different sections of society. Cases of the suppression of minorities, voices demanding separation and hate speeches to mobilize people for communal rights have increased and this calls for stringent measures to curb such cases.

b. As a change agent for the society - In this age of ever increasing globalization and decentralization, the civil servants have become the agents of change, good governance and development administration at the very base of our democratic structure. Government attention has shifted from providing physical and human infrastructure enabling individual players to compete in the global markets. The objective of welfare administrate” has also shifted from welfare maximization to people empowerment. At the district level, DC expected to act as a facilitator in the developmental process rather than being a director a regulator as was during the previous regime. For the process of globalization to be successful, it has to be inclusive. This will mean every section of society must be able to benefit from the process of reform. It requires immediate attention to issues of agriculture, rural development, health, education, infrastructure, focusing in particular, on the weaker sections and ensuring of communal harmony at all costs. Civil servants with their modern approach and attitude can reduce the influence of intermediaries between local producers and consumers and the international market through the use of computers and internet.

c. As a whistle blower - The civil servants need to act as the whistle blower against the malpractices and malfunctions in the administrative system which has become the accepted norms now. It is morally and ethically permissible for them to promote transparency and accountability into the system to remove corruption and all forms of malpractices.