Beginnings as an ICS Officer

     

                        Historical Background of the ICS

                                          (The Indian Civil Service)

       The Indian Civil Service was born out of what was the Imperial Civil Service of the British Empire in the 19^th century. “Historians often rate the ICS, together with the railway system, the legal system, and the Indian Army,as among the most important legacies of British rule in India” (ask.com/wiki/Indian Civil Service)

       The nearly 1000 members of the ICS consisted of 688 British and 322 Indians. Of this total of 322, 101 were muslims and only 5 percent were Bengalis.

        S.A.Sobhan was a Bengali officer who, upon partition of India and Pakistan, was absorbed into the Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) while those that went to India became part of the Indian Civil Service. His last appointment with the Government of Pakistan was Secretary Planning, in the President's Secretariat where he with worked directly with Gen. Mohammad Ayub Khan, then President of Pakistan.

         The following is a video that depicts the service life of an Officer of the Indian Civil Service. District Officer was produced  in 1945 by the Information Films of India (IFI), and distributed throughout the British Empire by the Central Film Library, Imperial Institute (London). Ezra Mir, the producer of this film worked both for the IFI and its predecessor the Film Advisory Board from 1940-1946 (the IFI was established in 1943).

 

                                 

                                                                 District Office
                                        (Population of Bengal 1947 - 60 million)

                                             The beginning appointments of S.A.Sobhan

1936 - Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Jessore (First Appointment)
1939 - Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO), Patuakhali
1940 - SDO, Faridpur
1943 - SDO, Brahmanbaria
1945 - Air-Raid Patrol Controller, Dhaka
1946 - SDO, Kalimpong (Darjeeling District)
1946 - SDO, Howrah (Calcutta District)
1947 - District Magistrate, Noakhali
1951 - District Magistrate, Faridpur
1953 - District Magistrate, Rajshahi

                                       
(Correct corresponding dates and sequence in research)