His minister even had the title of Mister 25 per cent!Īs sub-divisional magistrate in Hardoi and later as district collector of Lakhimpuri, he found himself in the thick of riots, agitations, floods, curfews, assassinations, murders and demolitions - rather the mother of all demolitions, that of the Babri Masjid. It was challenging - corruption and crisis-ridden, lawless and dangerous on a daily basis. In the 1990s, UP and its stark reality both 'devastated' and 'shocked' him. He begins by taking me on a quick roller-coaster ride of his career in his state - Uttar Pradesh, compared to which stints in Delhi have been a baayen haat ka khel ( a breeze). I have to push him to eat even an olive or two. He says he likes to keep it light at lunch but as I discover as the lunch progresses, 'light' is putting it mildly. We order two soups and a mezze platter that we agree to share. We are meeting at Verandah, at The Imperial in New Delhi, for lunch. Not only did he survive, he thrived no matter which party was at the helm.Īnil Swarup, 1981 batch IAS officer, who retired on June 30 as secretary, HRD, passed the litmus test for a true civil servant: Managing to stand on neutral ground.

How has he survived in the dull, staid world that represents the Indian bureaucracy? I have met civil servants of all hues during my career, but I am yet to meet one quite like this. Outspoken, politically incorrect and witty. 'But when I meet him, I will definitely tell him how good your scheme is.'Īnil Swarup, who conceived the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana - a scheme the United Nations Development Programme and the International Labour Organisation recognised as among the finest - speaks to Anjuli Bhargava. She told him she no longer wanted to live and was eager to meet her maker. She told him how she was absolutely alone in the world, severely ill, with no money for treatment but she did have a RSBY card. At a Delhi hospital, a feeble old lady bumped into him.

Anil swarup ias book