The book carefully discusses the civil services in India, USA and China and the key-role played by their respective civil services. During the Covid-19 pandemic, India could save its population despite much meager resources than the USA. The success could be attributed to the rare blending of the political will with the highly skilled and committed civil servants. Eminent civil servant Yogendra Narain politely points out that how in USA under the garb of defining the powers of the states and the federation, the national government's key role in protecting its citizens appeared to be under a seize during the  pandemic.  
The book is likely to trigger off the much-needed debate on the effective use of the civil services especially in a war situation or other emergencies. It also offers an insight  on the issue whether a permanent civil service should be ‘committed’ to a particular political ideology as being done in China, or it should function as an impartial instrument to serve the common people.  

Yogendra Narain, IAS (Retd.) born on June 26th 1942, is an IAS officer of the 1965 Batch. In his administrative journey of 42 years, he has worked as Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha (2002-2007),  Defence Secretary to the Govt. of India (2002-2002), Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh (1998-2000), and Secretary Ministry of Surface Transport.
His love for studies in governance started after doing his M.A. in Political Science from Allahabad University. He was awarded a Gold Medal by the University for topping in the subject. He also topped in the University of Glasgow (UK) in his Diploma course on Development Economics. He did his M.Phil. on the subject of Right to Information. He was awarded Ph.D. on the same subject by the University of Punjab.