SUNNY KUMAR SINGH, AN IAS OFFICER, IS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR By Mihir Srivastava

The civil services, particularly the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), is a unifying factor as far as our nationhood is concerned. An edifice of the colonialism that gave India an administrative unity; since independence has become the steel frame of a welfare state (though the need for reforms can’t be overstated). Profiling a young IAS officer, Sunny Kumar Singh, is to exemplify that the steel frame is a binding force for a country like ours of sub-continental propositions, home to twice the population of Europe, and as many languages and ethnicities, if not more.

In his early 30s, Sunny grew up in a landed family in rural Bihar and studied in a local school till class tenth, when was forced to come to Delhi to finish his schooling as there was no school in the region that offered CBSE, a national-level education board. After finishing his school, he joined the Delhi College of Engineering to pursue mechanical engineering. He did a corporate job for a couple of years before he got selected to Intelligence Bureau (IB, as popularly known), the internal security and counterintelligence agency, and honed his intelligence gathering skills and observed closely how nefarious activities are carried out while being posted in Mizoram.

There he competed to get into the coveted civil services. Sunny got selected to the IAS in 2018. On an average, one in a lakh makes it to IAS and the selection is more of an elimination process. He was allotted the AGMUT cadre. After a year-long training, he was posted in Arunachal Pradesh.

Sunny is not afraid to act, for he is urged by different motivations. He belongs to a well-off family; content and values are sacrosanct. He has no extraneous considerations, and takes his statutory oath seriously, is driven by, and only by, the rule of law. He managed the politicians and the locals and the mafia in a way to get the job done.

A brainy and driven young man from rural Bihar was to administer a distinct society that was alien to him. He did his best, which was very good for he stirred up a hornet's nest a few times, and disturbed the status quo, and prevailed upon the mafia carrying out illegal coal mining, drugs, timber smuggling and what not!

The drug abuse is a social menace in this part of the country and was a serious impediment to the progress of the state. A new administrator, with scientific temper and fresh perspective wouldn’t get bogged down by the conventions, and cultural nuances and political pressure or threats. A host of things in the way it functioned needed to change, in the years to come he became the change agent for the better. However, it is easier said than done. He risked his life, in the process, many a times.

His family advised him to create bridges and win the confidence of the people, before he starts to dismantle the status quo by making right noises and taking bold measures. He did so and became a popular figure. He took a series of initiatives and this one is my favourite. There was an isolated patch of land in Miao of Chanlang district, where wayward youth would find necessary seclusion to do drugs. He got the place floodlit and cleaned of the filth that had accumulated over the years of neglect; got the field levelled to make a football pitch, cricket nets and other sports. The young would do sports here instead of drugs. One of the recovered addicts, Nongseng Singpho, now runs a popular snack shop here, young assemble after playing, to chitchat over a cup of tea or coffee. A considered act by a conscious officer changed the fate of this locality.

Children don’t find school particularly enjoyable. That’s an open secret. Sunny applied his mind, why are school not fun places? He founded New Age Learning Centre (NALC) in the Miao subdivision of India’s easternmost Changlang district, later was replicated in other parts of the state. A library was more like a reading café, comfortable, inviting, state of art facilities, well stocked with books of varied genres, but also academic, vocational books, and those that prepare for entrance exams—engineering, medical, design, army and more. A free wi-fi would mean that children will have access to e-books as well.

Sunny made it into a fun place for children and youth who’d spend their a lot of their time happily and productively, not just studying or researching but also playing and pursuing hobbies, for instance NALC hosts dance and acting classes. No marks for guessing it right NALC got an overwhelming response.

This was the easy part, and he gained popularity and acceptance as the benevolent face of the government. The real adventure started when he took on the mafia that has over the years almost institutionalised. In the remote parts of the state, government machinery is thin, fuelled by money and muscle power, embolden by the political clout, organised crime and nefarious activities are rampant.

Sunny was not afraid to act, for he is urged by different motivations. He belongs to a well-off family; content and values are sacrosanct. He has no extraneous considerations, and takes his statutory oath seriously, is driven by, and only by, the rule of law. He managed the politicians and the locals and the mafia in a way to get the job done.

To me, he is an emotional man who makes decisions programmatically. He has an element of fearless optimism untouched by systematic apathy. In the way government functions, most of the things that happen become a routine, on an autopilot, and the rest is conveniently ignored. In that sense, Sunny is contrarian, he questions things, and in the ways things are done. He is a breath of fresh air in the government.

He held various positions in his six years stint in Arunachal, managed two districts as a deputy commissioner. A transfer order sent him to the national capital as the district magistrate of New Delhi. Though the same job, but the contrast couldn’t be starker. In his current district is the seat of power: the president, the prime minister with his cabinet and the chief justice of the Apex Court with his brother judges; not to forget the diplomatic missions, and one of the busiest railway stations.

Two months after he was posted, the Delhi assembly elections took place. The constituency of the former chief minister and the supreme AAP leader, Arvind Kejriwal, falls in his jurisdiction. The latter carried out a vehement campaign about the fudging of the electoral rolls, alleging that the election process is purposefully manipulated against him.

Sunny was not happy but was asked to do his job, and not participate in mudslinging. However, he took to X (formerly twitter) and clarified the factual position and shared data. The elections were conducted flawlessly, and he received kudos from all the parties, even the AAP members. Soon after the results started pouring in, the trend became increasingly clear that AAP will be ousted out of power and Kejriwal will fail to even retain his seat--the former CM was quick to concede defeat.

It’s amazing how much a civil servant, who’s heart is in the right place, can do for the people at large. A job satisfaction that is unparalleled, feels Sunny, who is still a young lad, a thinking one, works with missionary zeal, and by temperament focuses on solutions, rather than worrying about the consequences.