Newly unveiled book documents the journey of IAS officer Anil Swarup

In a recent book launching ceremony where there were atleast 300 Indian bureaucrats present, a book about the journey of an Indian Administrative Service Officer, Anil Swarup was unveiled. The book is about the travails and tribulations, successes and failures of a civil servant.

It brings forth the challenges in traversing the difficult terrain of governance and public service. The book also reflects the excitement of spending sleepless nights on account of the potential of what could be done for the poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich.

Anil was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, and he earned his Master’s Degree in Political Science from Allahabad University in 1978, where he was also awarded the Chancellor’s Gold Medal for being the Best All Round Student. Before joining the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1981, he served the Indian Police Service for a year.  He won the Director’s Gold Medal for the best Officer Trainee at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Trainee at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration amongst the officers of his batch.

The book drafts the journey of Anil Swarup as a civil servant who survived despite being politically incorrect. He has invited readers into this world chronicling the experiences that shaped him from growing years as a student to his years of rigorous training as a civil servant and finally managing crisis, both man-made and otherwise, that confronted the government.

The book speaks of his career spanning 38 years, that revolved around tackling myriad of issues that ranged from dealing with corruption in the state of Uttar Pradesh to coal mafias, witnessing the aftermath of Babri Masjid demolition to handling education mafias.

The book also highlights his experience in conceptualization, articulation and implementation of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana that came to be hailed by international organizations, that implemented a new idea in the Government, especially the Labour Ministry wherein in any case it was difficult to “deliver”.

Anil has developed a transparent and IT enabled platform that not only expedited clearances but also led to to the resignation of Jayanti Natarajan, a Cabinet Minister. She was allegedly sitting on a number of clearances.

As a civil Servant, he held various assignments within both the state (Uttar Pradesh) and Central Government. During the final years of his career, he served as secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Coal where he handled the aftermath of the coal scam, and about the manner in which the coal production was increased to unprecedented levels. He has cleaned the coal mess created by the so called coal scams in the country. Thereafter, he served as Secretary, School Education and Literacy where he attempted to foster public private partnership to improve quality of school education.

Lastly, the book speaks about the experiences in the education sector. It describes the journey from the dark dungeons of coal mines to the apparent but not-so-bright light of the education sector. 

The book reveals a culmination of Swarup’s initiatives and intense engagement with various contentious issues, both at the state and at national level. This memoir is a deeply personal reckoning of a man who attempted to make-things-happen with the hope to inspire others to do the same.