Bureaucrats and Politicians Vs Engineers!!

“hey man can u come up with an articles which mainly beats around "how challenging to an engineer" initially struggle with the studies, once in service it’s even more challenging to face all sort of bureaucrats and politicians, where nobody appreciates the efforts engineers put in instead we bear brunt of everyone...”

Firstly, let me thank Mr. Phunthso Wangdi, Chota Don, for having suggested the topic on my Facebook page.  Because maybe he is afraid of bureaucrats and politicians, or maybe he finds engineering too difficult and challenging while in study, plus in the field that’ll nullify his effort when bureaucrats and politicians get involved.

Engineering in Bhutan is associated with all hype and popularity. The only college in the country offering an engineering degree admits only the top students from various high schools. Only a few students are sent out of the country for various engineering courses to meet the market demand. Still the demand is so high, and the benefits and satisfaction that the rank offers are excellent. 

Students opt for engineering, basically for two reasons. One reason is the parent’s insistence on a greater choice of career. No parent desires to witness their child merely surviving on a meager existence. The number two reason is self-interest. If someone has joined an engineering college because they love engineering, they will be well informed about the future and the enormous effort they will make to substantially contribute to the growth of the country. 

Pursuing engineering isn't as easy as you sometimes may expect. There are loads of burdens of analysis, research, projects, etc., that you have to bear, and sometimes you get buried under them. Scoring the highest possible in high school and expecting the same in the engineering college won’t suffice for your survival in engineering studies. But we should definitely be good at math, though not necessarily geniuses. We should have logic for solving problems scientifically. 

Since Bhutan is in the developing stage, most of the students choose the traditional engineering—civil engineering. Everywhere we go, we can see construction blossoming in the country. The fresh green forest is revolutionizing the concrete jungle. A civil engineer is responsible for using their civil engineering background to plan and oversee various construction efforts in many different areas of this field. They will apply civil engineering principles to ensure that structures are constructed in the safest, sturdiest manner.

On a daily basis, civil engineers engage in many general responsibilities. They analyze various factors concerning a construction job. They analyze the proposed construction site location as well as the entire construction job, which is to be done and completed at the site. They will analyze the process for completing the construction job every step of the way.

The civil engineer must also plan the construction project that will be taking place in conjunction with the results they found due to their analysis of the proposed project. During the process and at the end, the civil engineer must inspect the product to ensure that all rules, regulations, and guidelines have been explicitly followed. 

When a country develops, there are always conflicts between bureaucrats, technocrats, and politicians. The need for bureaucracy results primarily from modernization. Due to the progress of bureaucratization, it encourages democracy. And now we are a democratically elected monarchy. It is a well-known fact that the government accomplishes its precision, speed, and consistency through well-trained staffs of bureaucracies.

In the practice of civil engineering, government bureaucracies’ main function is to ensure fairness, prevent procedural lapses, and shield the negative externalities of development. However, in the process of maintaining fairness and equity through bureaucratic processes, administrators end up processing a high amount of discretionary authority. Citizens too have the right to investigate alternatives and to participate in the decision-making process about how to go about the agenda, which ultimately affects their environment, which is the democratic standard.

There are instances where the effort of the engineer is never appreciated, and they have to ‘bear the brunt of everyone.' It may be because we don’t have the form of government in which experts in technology control decision-making—technocracy. Engineers are tagged corrupt. People say engineers are corrupt because they get more money and are well-off compared to other professions. Their incentives are good. Their work outside the office paid them well. They use more energy, time, and skills to get work done. What is there when someone uses more effort for the benefits of others? 

In the eye of the bureaucrat, whatever visual inspection is possible will not be technically feasible. Their visual possibility of judging may prove wrong technically and scientifically. The technical possibilities and stability for the safety and welfare of people are essential for engineering works; in fact, politicians and bureaucracies should not be blamed for the work done by technocrats. Administrators should not at least wish to get engineering work done according to their lame excuse of authority they possess. 

Yes, everyone has the right and responsibility if the structure or anything that is the result of engineering fails before the stipulated time and causes nuisance instead of mitigation. Whatever is burnt and whatever consequences there will be, engineers should be responsible and questioned for it. And we all should have the fact intact that, through cooperation, we can move ahead for the betterment of our promising tomorrows. 

So, we should never forget that civil engineers work hard. Hours can be long, government funding cuts can destroy a project, deadlines are firm, and weather can throw projects off schedule. If the timetable degenerates, an engineer has to overcome scheduling obstacles with ingenuity. Most of the engineers who are employed in the government sector must be ready for bureaucratic delays, political stalls, and lots and lots of paperwork. Satisfaction is strong; most wouldn’t trade their occupation for any other.