T N Dhar, doyen of Indian bureaucracy

In our time and country, the passing away of bureaucrats does not merit any news; their suspension or dismissal does. T N Dhar, doyen of the Indian Administrative Service, passed away in Lucknow. He was 92.

Dhar, who hailed from Jammu and Kashmir, had a chequered career. He started his professional life in the private sector and worked for the Thapars. He joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1956 in the special recruitment and was allotted UP cadre. He rose rapidly in service and made a name for himself, as an officer who could be given any responsibility and who would deliver. In the mid-1980s, we, the young officers posted in Garhwal and Kumaon, used to say there were three ‘Naths’; Kedarnath, Badrinath and Trilokinath!

T N Dhar was then the secretary, hill development, in the UP government. Being a man from the hills, he had an affinity for the hills and was very sympathetic to the problems of the people. Much before the state of Uttarakhand was created, the UP government had created an administrative structure exclusively for the two divisions and the secretary, hill development, was virtually the chief secretary of this region.

We were introduced to the bottom-up approach in planning and took great pride in preparation of schemes for the people who were at the far end of the line. Dhar was a great votary of decentralisation, who accommodated the local aspirations while preparing the budget for this area. It was an exciting time to work in the hills where Dhar and his successors also followed direct interaction with the people and elected representatives.

Dhar distinguished himself as a career bureaucrat. But he would be remembered for the organisations he created or managed with aplomb, during his service as well as after his retirement. He was the founder president of the Lucknow Management Association (LMA), which later became one of the most successful management associations in the country. In 1976, while he established LMA outside the government, he was instrumental in establishing Indup in the state sector. His seminal contribution to IIPA can never be forgotten. He served as secretary of IIPA, Lucknow chapter, for four decades and more and it became one of the most vibrant branches. During this period, Dhar co-authored more than three dozen books spanning different sectors of the economy of the

BEING A MAN FROM THE HILLS, HE HAD AN AFFINITY FOR THE HILLS AND WAS VERY SYMPATHETIC TO THE PROBLEMS OF THE PEOPLE.

state. Much before information technology popularised words like big data, data mining, Dhar was the original data miner whose mind fed on data. His brilliant analysis of the state’s economy and the state budget every year in the IIPA conference hall was a treat to listen to. He was ahead of his time and before environment became a core issue, he founded SHERPA to study and do research on the fragile state of the environment in the Himalayan region.

After I moved to Lucknow in the mid-1990s, I was a regular visitor to his house for years, nay for decades. For him age was just a number. I had never found him complaining or discussing something which was trivial or irrelevant. He would discuss the performance of the Central as well as the state government and reel of statistics which were on the tip of his tongue. He had a razor sharp mind which analyzed data like a 256 slice CT scan machine, when most of us were in the X-ray image stage! He was not given to self pity or remorse. I had never seen him in a mood of despondency. His fertile and active mind continued to produce book after book till a few months back. He was planning for the next national seminar of IIPA. His objectivity and precision also can be discerned in his autobiography. ‘A Fair Hand Dealt’ which was written with the same objectivity without any self glory or embellishment.

He lived a full life and he enjoyed doing what he wanted to do. I always looked forward to my occasional visits to him, when over cups of hot tea and munchies, he would dissect and analyze any issue I had taken to him with the precision of a scientist. T N Dhar was an institution builder in the Nehruvian mould, who established forums on public policy so that enlightened debate and research can take place amongst various stakeholders. He would be missed by his numerous admirers, in whom all of us found a kindred soul. He raised the bar a few notches up and made us feel proud to belong to a service to which he also belonged. Farewell Sir, farewell, in your journey to the unknown.

G PATTANAIK