Robin and Ross are two good friends. Robin has an uncanny habit of presenting simple things in a complex way. And Ross just hates it. But their friendship was strong enough to curtail the local Tsunamis rising in between them.

Here is an example of how their conversation goes,

Robin: The exceptionally lower temperatures are working wonders on my hesitant-to-adjust metabolic psychology.

Ross: Sorry?

Robin: My underpaid kidneys are working overtime.

Ross: Could you be more specific and simple?

Robin: Due to the cold, I am facing over-urination.

Ross: Phew that was far better. When the hell are you going to come out of this habit of making simple things complex unnecessarily?

Robin: Well it is not that way specifically that I would like to put it but then when I go into the deep cobweb of thoughts and views to present the complex inter-twisting of the grey matter of my cerebellum, the more difficult it becomes to simplify it and then…. It becomes a bit more complex.

Robin is just an example of how simple things in life can be made complicated. And examples of such attitudes are galore to be found. Robin and Ross are the metaphoric analogues of the Indian Administrative System (IAS) and the Stupid Common Man (SCM) respectively.

While the SCM likes things to be simple and straightforward, the IAS loves to make things complex, illegible intellectually to the SCM, who becomes highly dependent on the agents of the IAS to get things done. And it is this dependency that only widens the intellectual divide between the IAS and the SCM, further adding to the woes of the SCM and a justification of the existence and expansion of the IAS albeit at the cost of the SCM.

As an example, let us take the recently proposed amendments in the Criminal Procedure Code as part of the CrPC Amendment Bill 2008. A thorough and extensive research was done by the Law Commission as part of its 154th Report on Criminal Justice System, taking into account the views of various committees formed such as the National Police Commission, the Malimath Committee Report et al.

After a lot of hard work and deliberation, the CrPC Amendment Bill was produced in the Parliament and was approved. Later, the President of India also gave her consent to the Bill. Prior to this, the bill was open to public debate for two years and various serving and ex-IPS officers were also considered for their views.

However, since even after passing of a Bill the government still needs to make an official notification of the amendments to make it a law, various vested agencies formed of agents of the IAS, are protesting the Amendments at this advanced stage in view of their ‘illegitimate income’ being on the verge of extinction. It is nothing but a sorry state of affairs that the government is a mute spectator in the whole drama.

When the Parliament has approved the law, the President has given the consent; can notification of the same law be still a part of decision making?

But the SCM is least empowered to ask this question to the IAS, let alone expect any answer from it as there is no official channel available for the same. The SCM, realising that the amendments are made for his benefits, cannot yet be a contributor to its implementation and has to look up to the IAS to implement the law.

And the IAS, just like Robin, gives complex roundabout answers to simple questions asked by SCM, just like Ross. And the SCM just wishes to be as lucky as Ross to be able to question Robin on his behaviour.