India, Nov. 22 -- In the early decades after Independence, India's bureaucracy was celebrated as the "steel frame" of the Republic, disciplined, confident, and bold in implementing the national vision. Officers of that generation built institutions, launched the Green and White Revolutions, and planned vast public sector enterprises with limited data but abundant conviction. They were seen as custodians of a new state, driven by purpose and protected by an enabling political and institutional environment.

Seven decades later, that steel seems to have softened. The senior civil service today, once a symbol of courage and nation-building zeal, appears increasingly hesitant, procedural, and risk-averse. The same system that once dared to im...