Nirmal Mukarji

Nirmal Mukarji was a founder member of the Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD). He was one of the first eight member delegation from India which went to Lahore for a joint meeting with like minded people in Pakistan and was a signatory to the first Lahore Declaration in 1994. Since then he was not only been an active member of the Forum but became the first founder Chair Person of the Forum. Under his leadership the Forum grew and became vibrant. He continued to provide inspiring leadership to the Forum for the first 3 joint conventions, Delhi (February 1985), Lahore (November 1985) and Calcutta (December 1986). The India Chapter of the Forum also became strong and evolved its independent character under his leadership. Till he was the Chair Person of the Forum he advocated that the Forum should not be institutionalised but should be a movement. He was extremely focused with regard to the 4 core subjects on which the Forum was founded namely; Kashmir, Religious Intolerance, Democratic Governance & Demilitarisation and Peace Dividends.

The Forum gained immensely not only because of his contribution but also because of his stature and the Forum began to be respected. It is sad that he had to withdraw from active participation in the Forum due to ill health. The Forum has missed his presence and participation in the past few years and his death has taken away a leader, democrat and a friend of all of us. His contributions to the Forum will always be remembered by the members. The Members of the Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy would like to express its deepest sympathies and condolence to the members of the family.

Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy

Nirmal Mukarji, who belonged to the last batch of the "heaven-born" colonial Indian Civil Service (ICS), before recruitment to it was discontinued in
1943, fervently upheld its ethos of probity, decisive administrative skills
and fair play in a career spanning nearly four decades.

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As Cabinet Secretary, India's senior-most civil servant for three years, and
Federal Home Secretary earlier, Mukarji displayed remarkable neutrality in
dealing with the omnipotent political establishment, bent upon steamrolling
the bureaucracy to achieve its questionable aims.

Nearly two decades after retiring in 1989, he was briefly Governor of the
northern Punjab state, at the height of the Sikh terrorist movement that
lasted nearly 13 years and claimed over 40,000 lives. But, convinced that
the two-faced politicians who appointed him were insincere about dealing
with terrorism, Mukarji resigned six months later, unmindful of the post's
untrammeled powers and perquisites.

Mukarji's reputation as an upright and principled officer, schooled in the
strongest democratic traditions, led to the prime minister Indira Gandhi's
arbitrarily transferring him as her home secretary hours before she imposed
an internal emergency in June 1975 when her continuance in office was
threatened judicially for her grossly misusing political power.

The Emergency, in which human rights were suspended, the press censored and young men forcibly sterilised, led to tens of thousands of people who
opposed it being arbitrarily arrested for the 19 months it lasted and fresh
elections held.

But the Emergency had a more invidious fallout on the bureaucracy - one that
Mukarji anticipated - that is still impacting negatively on the country
today. It ensured the politician's supremacy over the civil servant simply
by invoking the "transfer raj" stratagem by which steadfast and
conscientious officials were issued fresh posting orders every few weeks.

Most capitulated or resigned with the result that today the "steel frame" of
Indian bureaucracy that Mukarji helped nurture has become a rusted, mangled
and ineffectual heap.

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Mukarji was born in 1921 in Delhi, the fourth of five sons of one of India's
best-known educationists, S.N. Mukarji, who was principal of the prestigious
St Stephen's College in Delhi for almost two decades. After being schooled
locally, Mukarji graduated with honours in mathematics from St Stephen's
before going on to get a Master's in the same subject. He also kept wicket
effectively for his college.

In 1943 Mukarji topped the highly competitive ICS entrance test and
exhaustive interview - the last the British colonial administration
conducted - and after a year's training was allocated the prestigious Punjab
province in undivided India, normally reserved for the best candidates.

ICS officers, along with the similarly recruited Indian Police recruits,
comprised the administrative backbone of British rule and its officers –
both English and native - were largely incorruptible, known for their
intellectual integrity and unwavering impartiality. So just was their tenure
in remote, rural districts that even today, several decades later their
names, like Mukarji's, are invoked with reverence, even by those who never
knew them.

At independence in 1947 and the partition of the subcontinent into a
supposedly secular India and an Islamic Pakistan - which triggered off the
largest ever migration of people - Mukarji was a junior under-secretary and
became part of the team that divided civil servants between the newly formed
nations. Apart from civil servants all moveable assets like military
personnel, defence hardware, railway rolling stock and even official desks,
chairs, cutlery and crockery were equally apportioned between India and
Pakistan.

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Mukarji was also involved with controlling the interminable flow of Hindu
and Muslim refugees across the hastily drawn borders between West Pakistan
and East Pakistan separated by over a thousand miles of hostile India and
the communal riots that accompanied the division. East Pakistan eventually
broke away after a bloody war in 1971 to become Bangladesh.

After several district postings across Punjab, Mukarji moved on deputation
in 1964 to the federal government in Delhi to the Industries ministry. After
a year's stint at Harvard University's Centre for International Affairs in
1970 he returned as chief secretary in the northern Muslim-majority,
disputed Jammu and Kashmir state that is also claimed by Pakistan.

In 1973 he was appointed Federal Home Secretary by Indira Gandhi, but
swiftly moved out two years later to the relatively unimportant civil
aviation department shortly before she imposed the Emergency to enable her
to continue as prime minister.

In 1977, following elections in which Gandhi's Congress Party was routed,
Mukarji became Cabinet Secretary of India's first coalition government at a
time of immense political turbulence during which he served three prime
ministers in as many years, uncompromisingly and with distinction. "Crisis
travelled with me from post to post, shortening each posting for reasons
beyond myself," Mukarji wrote. "Outside circumstances operated in such a way
that despite important assignments I was never allowed to finish the job,"
he declared.

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After retiring Mukarji busied himself with working on federalism and
devolution of power to village councils, writing research papers and
speaking at seminars on these topics close to his heart. In December 1989 he
was appointed Punjab governor, but, realising the federal government's
insincerity in resolving the Sikh terrorist movement that had paralysed the
country, demitted office six months later in June 1990.

A warm and cheerful person, Nirmal Mukerji remained the eternal optimist
despite most Indian institutions, especially the civil service, slowly
crumbling and going irretrievably wrong around him.

Educated in Delhi, joined ICS (October 1944), Punjab cadre; Assistant Commissioner, Ferozepur (October 1944-May 1945), Sargodha (May 1945-March 1946) and Kulu – under Settlement Training, Sub-Divisional Officer-cum-Assistant Settlement Officer (April – December 1946); Under Secretary (Politial), Punjab Secretariat, Lahore (January – August 1947) and Government of East Punjab, Simla (15 August – September 1947); Secretary to Governor, East Punjab, Jullundur (September 1947-December 1948); Deputy Commissioner, Hissar (January 1949-March 1951) and Ferozepur (March 1951-March 1953); Secretary to Chief Minister, Punjab (May 1953 – August 1956); Secretary Anti-Corruption Department (May 1956-November 1957), Irrigation and Power (November 1957-September 1959) – concurrently officiating Chief Secretary (November – December 1958) and Planning Commissioner (June – December 1958) – Industries (April – December 1960); Education Commissioner and Secretary to Government, Education and Language Departments (April 1961-November 1962); Commissioner, Jullundur Division (December 1962-August 1963); deputed to Government to India to become Development Commissioner, Small Scale Industries (November 1963-April 1964); Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs (April 1964-September 1969); Additional Secretary, Department of Adminstrative Reforms (September 1969-1970); Senior Fellow, Centre for International Affairs, Harvard University, USA (1970-71); Chief Secretary, Jammu and Kashmir (September 1971-July 1973); Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India (July 1973-June 1975); Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (June 1975-March 1977); Cabinet Secretary (April 1977-March 1980); retired from ICS (31 March 1980); Governor, Punjab (December 1989-June 1990); visiting Professor, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi (since 1980).

Former Punjab Governor and erstwhile Cabinet secretary, Nirmal Mukarji, 81, breathed his last in New Delhi on Thursday evening (August 29, 2002). He leaves behind his wife, two daughters and a son. Born in 1921, he was educated in Delhi at Government School, Kashmere Gate and Modern School as well as St. Stephen’s College. He topped the list of entrants for the Indian Civil Service in 1942 – that was the last batch of ICS recruits – and was allotted to the Punjab cadre. Initially he was Deputy Commissioner, Hissar. At the time of partition he was Under Secretary (Political) at Lahore. After Independence he helped insetting up the new Secretariat in Simla. He served in various capacities in Punjab in the Planning Commission, as the Education Secretary in Chandigarh, as the Commissioner of the Jullundur Division Department before being shifted to the Administrative Reforms Department as a Joint Secretary under Morarji Desai. He was the Chief Secretary, J&K (1971-73) before being appointed the Home Secretary, Government of India in 1973. His principled opposition, within the government, to the Emergency when it was imposed on June 26, 1975, resulted in his transfer to the Civil Aviation and Tourism Department. After the Janata Party was installed with Morarji Desai as the Prime Minister in 1977, Nirmal Mukarji was appointed the Cabinet Secretary and he functioned in that capacity even after Indira Gandhi’s return to power in early 1980. He retired from the service in March that year. Following his retirement he was a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Policy Research. During the tenure of the National front Government headed by V. P. Singh he served as the Governor of Punjab (December 1989 – May 1990) and played a crucial role in offering the much-needed healing touch in the State and taking concrete steps towards the political settlement of the Punjab problem. A lifelong democrat he was an ardent advocate of Indo-Pak amity at the people’s level and functioned as the Chairman of the India Chapter of the Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) for several years. In the early nineties he toured West Bengal with D. Bandhopadhyay, the former Secretary, Rural Development, and the positive effects of decentralisation of power and panchayati raj in the State.

1. District Governments, Nirmal Mukarji, Ed. George Mathew, Institute of Social Sciences (forthcoming).
2. People's Representatives and Bureaucracy: The Interface in Panchayati Raj, by Nirmal Mukarji, B.N. Yugandhar, S.P. Mukherjee and S.S. Meenakshisundaram, 1995. Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi. 52p. Paperback. Rs. 50.00/$ 5.00. Size: 5.5" x 8.5". [Pub. No. OP-017]
3. New Perception On Local Government, by Nirmal Mukarji and Abhijit Datta, 1996. Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi. 66p. Paperback. Rs. 50.00/$ 5.00. Size: 5.5" x 8.5". [Pub. No. OP-020]
4. Report of A Panel Discussion on the Constitution 72nd Amendment Bill, 1991: The Panchayats by Panelists: Nirmal Mukarji, L.C. Jain, Arun Ghosh, 1991. Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi. 23p. Paperback. 25.00/$ 3.00. Size: 5.5" x 8.4". [Pub. No. OPR-002]
5. Federalism in India: Origins and Development by Nirmal Mukarji and Balveer Arora, New Delhi, Vikas Publishing House, 1992, P.297.
6. New Horizons of West Bengal's Panchayats: A Report for the Government of West Bengal by Nirmal Mukarji, Government of West Bengal, Kolkata, 1993, p. 68.
7. "District Government: Move away from Collector Raj", Indian Express, 11 September 1985.
8. "District Government: A third federal tier", Indian Express, 12 September 1985.
9. "Roots of Democracy: Restructuring District Administration", Mainstream, 21 September 1985, Pp.1-3.
10. "District - The third tier", Hindustan Times, 21 November 1988
11. "Decentralisation below the State Level: Need for a New System of Governance", Economic and Political Weekly, 4 March 1989, Pp. 467-72.
12. "Panchayat governments", Seminar, No. 360, August 1989, Pp.29-32.
13. "The Third Stratum", Economic and Political Weekly, 1 May 1993, Pp. 859-72.
14. "Self-Government and its instrumentalities", Economic and Political Weekly, 2 April 1994, Pp. 789-791.

15. Decentralisation Below the State Level: Need for a New System of Governance (New Delhi, 1983)

16. Co-authored African Seminar on Rural Development: The Indian Experience(New Delhi, 1986).


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