ISAS Insights

This is an apocryphal story, even though I got it from a very senior ex-civil servant – Lord Linlithgow was Governor-General and Viceroy to India from 1936 to 1943 and Chairman of a Royal Commission on Agriculture (1926-28) earlier. In 1973, Tamil Nadu constituted a State Administrative Reforms Commission, which also examined existing government positions in the state. It was discovered then that there were positions known as ‘LBAs’ and ‘LBKs’, though no one precisely knew what these job descriptions meant, since vacancies had not been filled up and earlier incumbents were now drawing pensions. The Royal Commission felt Indian cows were not good enough and cattle strains needed improvement through the import of sturdier bulls and using them to impregnate Indian cows. As was common, this recommendation was not implemented until in 1936 when it was announced Linlithgow would become Viceroy. Someone in the Madras Presidency then woke up, realising the incoming Viceroy would be sure to ask about a key recommendation made by a Commission of which he had been Chairman. Creating government jobs was not easy either. Hence, the Viceroy’s name was invoked in the job title to facilitate creation. ‘LBA’ stood for Linlithgow’s Bull Assistant and ‘LBK’ stood for Linlithgow’s Bull Keeper. ‘LBKs’ imported foreign bulls and maintained them. ‘LBAs’ ensured impregnation occurred on time and ensured that ‘LBKs’ did not commit fraud on the exchequer. These posts were abolished in mid-1970s. Apocryphal or not, this beats the story about the British civil service position finally abolished in 1945. It was created in 1803 and a man was asked to stand on the cliffs of Dover, with a spyglass in his hand, to watch out for Napoleon and ring a bell if he saw signs of an invasion.