Modi government’s partisan misuse of institutions has pushed the Indian republic to the brink

It is an enormous privilege to be invited to speak in a public lecture organised in memory of JB D’Souza, who would have been 100-year-old on June 3. People like D’Souza were civil servants from an era in the life of our republic when the idealism of the freedom struggle still illuminated and inspired public and social life.

Today, I think of my father, Har Mander Singh. He belonged to this same generation of civil servants and was spurred by the same idealism. He died last November. He would have been 95 seven days from now.

Women and men like D’Souza entered the civil services with the resolve to help build this new nation in ways that uphold the ideals of the freedom struggle and the pledges of the Constitution. Later generations owe them an immense debt of gratitude. D’Souza’s work in the Indian Administrative Service and after is a shining example of public service.

As a young officer, he helped rehabilitate refugees from East Pakistan. He held many prized positions in Maharashtra, heading Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport, the Bombay Municipal Corporation and then Maharashtra Chief Secretary, all with sterling records of integrity, independence…

Read more