Why We Need Generalist Bureaucrats with Specialist Outlook, Himanshu Gupta Is One Exemplar

As we progress toward the strategic rise and nurture our whole government approach to nation-building, we need bureaucrats who have both generalist and specialist features. A specialist alone will not work as she/he will not be able to touch the grassroots level, whereas a generalist alone will not be able to add value to work. Either IAS officers crash, making errors in effective communication/assessment and implementation on the ground, or crash in overanalysing and running on the fuzzy approach of "one size fits all". However, the IAS officer of the 2012 batch, Himanshu Gupta's case, is on point. Gupta serves as an exemplar of a generalist bureaucrat with a specialist outlook.  If we closely pay attention to Gupta, recently appointed Secretary of CBSE, some granular details led to Himanshu's vision of making Education reach the last kid. Himanshu perhaps focused on re-engineering intellectual activity with creativity and shaped multiple initiatives that led to the quick absorption of various technical subjects and built the interest of young children. This re-engineering model may sound ordinary, but its implementation is not as easy or ordinary as it looked; making a model and then coordinating at ground level to ensure its successful implementation requires both specialist and generalist skills, which worked well in the case of Himanshu. For instance, the Literati initiative, which inculcated the habit of reading in young children, was dubbed the 30-day reading challenge, which made the learning and reading process easy and effective. Similarly, Gupta worked on pushing young minds towards Science and building their scientific temper through an initiative called "VisionQuest", where various experts from various fields, especially from Science, were called to give talks to young minds. Interestingly, through this initiative, Gupta personally interacted with young children from various schools, which boosted their confidence and morale. For inculcating guidance for competitive exams, such as IIT JEE, Himanshu Gupta, an IIT Delhi alumni, made a dedicated module that prepares young aspirants for competitive exams. Top sources in power corridors say that Himanshu has done an impeccable job in revolutionizing how young minds are educated. This case does not speak of the lone triumph of Himanshu Gupta's work, but it conveys how a bureaucrat equipped with both skills can add value to a nation's comprehensive national power.