Pradeep Kumar 1

A day in the life of an IAS

(Indian Administrative Service)
There is no typical working day for you performing your duties as a DM. This is the beauty as
well as the burden of this position. Every day comes with new challenges and opportunities
and it is painful for those who seek the fixed routine. Only typical days for a collector might be
the rare vacations he gets for going to his home town. During this period he will have a
relatively predictable day yet there is a rider- he may have to cut short his leave and rush back
to his district to tackle a flood, riot or an aircraft hijacking.( DM is the chairman of District
crisis group and district disaster management authority).
A riot breaks out and the intensity and scale are unprecedented. Local police proves
inadequate. It is as DM that you will call for the State or Central Reserve Police forces. If time
is too short and situation is too dangerous you the DM may order the local army commander to
move the army to aid you in restoring peace. You will have to move around to break up the
riots and you may have to order firing too after the other measures fail namely lathy charge,
tear gas and warnings to disperse. You may have to order the detention of ring leaders and you
have a right to order their detention up to two years in any prison under your warrant.
His atypical day may start with a call in the morning at 5am informing him that the CM will be
arriving at 6am in his helicopter. It will be his duty to alert the control room, get the helipad
ready, call SP and arrange for security. Arrange for the CM's vehicles and the cavalcade which
will consist of fire brigade, ambulance, pilot vehicles, security details etc. He will have around
45 minutes for all this. Simultaneously DM will alert the circuit house, all the district officers
and arrange for a review meeting at 630am.
Another night a telephone call late in the night - fire has broken out in the market for timber
and wood. This fire may move rapidly towards warehouses and slums nearby. DM has to
mobilise fire brigade not only from the municipality but also the airport as well as air force. All
within 15-20 minutes. Subsequently he will arrange for the relief and compensation for the
victims.

Pradeep Kumar 2

Suddenly in the afternoon you come to know of the mutiny/ strike by airmen against the
behaviour of Air force officers which may turn into a riot. As DM you are the only acceptable
umpire in this forward base. You spend several hours reconciling the airmen and officers. You
avert clashes between them.
No armed forces allow mutiny or disobedience still they happen. Better a verbal mutiny than
an armed mutiny with casualties. Between officers and airmen only a 3rd party could have
arbitrated. That could have been a more senior officer from HQ or in this case it was the DM
who tactfully handled it. This avoided violence against the officers and at the same time airmen
were pacified without penalties. In this case airmen had just and sufficient reasons for
protesting. We should not assume that officers are always right remember the mutiny of 1857.

When he is not tackling crisis or emergencies DM has to oversee a wide range of regulatory,
welfare and development activities. A DM has to chair more than 150 committees ranging from
Child welfare and protection committee to welfare of senior citizens. There are public hearings
to be conducted on environmental impact of industrial or construction project. He has to also
conduct public hearings before acquiring lands for public projects like dams, roads, industries
etc. For several days he may be holding hearings for determining the land rights of the tribal
farmers whose forefathers had been cultivating the same land yet forest department chose to
classify them as forest land. He has to ensure due justice to these tribal along with protection
of environment.
There are regular duties too development, law and order, court work, yet each file is unique
each case is different.

To sum up duties and responsibilities of the DM are too numerous and varied. They cannot be
listed exhaustively since he is the anchor for the public safety and public life in his district.