"80% Of Our Work Is...": Top Rajasthan Bureaucrat On IAS Work Culture

Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers spend over 80 per cent of their work doing "non-core work", Rajasthan Principal Secretary (Energy) Ajitabh Sharma has said. In a critique of the existing administrative work culture, Mr Sharma, a 1996-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, raised concerns over what he described as an overwhelming focus on routine and procedural tasks that detract from the core responsibilities of governance.

"More than 80 per cent of our work is related to attending generic meetings where all other departments are present, handling human resource issues, attending litigation matters, dealing with transparency and right to information laws, sending replies to news clippings, responding to mundane correspondence, and compiling all sorts of reports," Mr Sharma wrote in a lengthy LinkedIn post.

"I call this 'Non-Core Work'."

Mr Sharma, who recently took charge as Principal Secretary of the Energy Department in the Rajasthan government, used his new role as a moment to reflect and challenge the status quo within the bureaucracy.

In his post, Mr Sharma also questioned a long-standing belief in administrative circles, that all assignments within the IAS are equally challenging.

"I have never been able to convince myself of the thought that all assignments are of the same difficulty level," he wrote. "This narrative perhaps arises from the conceived generic nature of the administrative services we are part of."

He argued that this mindset has led to a loss of focus on department-specific goals, with officers often caught in an endless loop of administrative formalities that offer little sectoral insight or impact.

Mr Sharma drew a clear line between what he considers non-core and core responsibilities. While non-core tasks include meetings, litigation, and routine correspondence, core work, according to him, involves hands-on engagement with the mission and vision of specific departments such as water, energy, education, health and infrastructure.

"These common-to-all-department tasks are important though. But they leave you with little time for the Core Work," he added. "Handling the Core Work of the department successfully is a real challenge and a true contribution to the organisation and society."

He warned that a persistent neglect of core departmental functions can not only stall innovation but also create a "false sense of being an expert administrator," ultimately harming service delivery in the long term.

As he steps into his role in the Energy Department, his resolution is to reverse the current pattern and dedicate 80 per cent of his time to core work.

"The Energy Department is one of those places that essentially needs a greater emphasis on the Core Work," he noted. "So, the resolution this time is to reverse the scenario."

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