A designation by a similar name would be as inspiring as dishwater

Once upon a time, the humble (or sometimes reviled) babu, or clerk, was immortalised in the collective consciousness —and on celluloid as a wiry gent in shirt, dhoti, jacket, spectacles and thin moustache, poring over dusty files in a generic government or private establishment. Once files gave way to computers, and dhotis to trousers, it was just a matter of time before the term clerk — upper and lower — also got a commensurate makeover. So, the reclassification of Class III (note, not third class) government staff as Senior Secretariat Assistant and Junior Secretariat Assistant comes as no surprise, especially since the wider world now fairly bristles with catchy if sometimes mystifying designations such as Chief Belief Officer, Ninja Analyst, Mighty Eagle or Combat Designer. By comparison, this renaming of the Lower and Upper Division Clerk actually seems rather tame.

Indeed, there is a distinct lack of action inherent in the title, which may bode ill for any plans to speed up the creaky government apparatus via these spiffy new nomenclatures. Perhaps more job-specific designations such as Junior Red Tape Cutter, Senior File Diviner or Chief Efficiency Officer would nudge the incumbents to do the needful expeditiously, taking a cue from the apt redesignation of that other office institution, the peon, as multitasking staff.