Why has this article been published?
A recent move by the Center seeking applications from ‘outstanding individuals’ to fill in 10 posts of Joint Secretary has caused consternation. A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against the decision of lateral entry.
Apprehensions regarding this move of the govt
- Many serving Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers see this move as threatening their hegemony.
- Some retired officers and political opponents consider this as the beginning of the end of a “neutral and impartial” civil service with the likely induction of loyalists to the current dispensation.
- It has also been argued that this marks the “privatization of the IAS”. Doubts have been expressed if private business houses would “plant” their people in order to influence government policies.
- One perceived fear is that the number of such lateral entrants may be increased with time and that the political leadership, by creating a ‘divide and rule’ mechanism, would further demoralise the ‘steel frame of governance’.
- The second related fear is that in the garb of recruiting outstanding individuals, politically indoctrinated persons will be inducted into the system.
Need of lateral entry
- Higher bureaucracy in the secretariat often has to examine proposals received from specialized departments/corporations.
- However, question has often been raised, in this context, is whether the higher bureaucracy is equipped to comprehend complex economic and technical issues in order to properly aid and advise the Minister.
- Can a career civil servant, recruited through a tough competitive examination, cope with the increasingly complex matrix of decision-making at the senior levels of government?
- Can an IAS officer, however brilliant and diligent she might be, based on her experience at the sub-district and district levels, handle diverse portfolios from civil aviation to power to defence?
Is it the first instance of lateral entry?
- Specialists like engineers, doctors, agricultural scientists, lawyers have always had a substantial say in the decision-making process as also in its implementation. Lateral entry at the level of Secretary has met with some success.
- Besides, Secretaries to the Departments of Atomic Energy, Science & Technology, Scientific and Industrial Research, Health Research, and Agricultural Research have always been scientists of eminence.
- Similarly, in departments like the Railways, Posts, etc., all senior positions are manned by Indian Railway or Postal Service officers. Therefore, there is nothing very original in the new initiative to allow entry at the level of Joint Secretary.
Way forward
- Concerted efforts should be made to help IAS officers, after their first decade of “immersion” in districts, acquire specialization in broad sectors like social, infrastructure and financial, based on their qualification, aptitude and preference.
- These fears could have been allayed by letting the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) handle the recruitment process, after defining the job requirements more explicitly.
- The government must ensure that only candidates, the likes of whom are not available in the existing system, are appointed. If they turn out to be truly outstanding, there should be provisions to induct them permanently in the government, with approval of the UPSC, and consider them for higher postings.
- Ideas have also been advanced for IAS and other officers to gain work experience, for a limited period, in the private sector.
- The automatic mode of every member of the higher services reaching the top echelons requires a hard look. In view of this recent move, it is hoped that IAS and other officers will introspect why many of them turn out to be indulgent, self-serving and subservient to the political executive and how the system can be shaken to discourage such officers from ceaselessly moving upward, even after retirement.
- This move to reform the services should have come from within than from without.
- The government should have the best people at the helm of affairs and if there is a need to supplement the existing stock of talent by attracting fresh blood into the system, the IAS, in fact, should welcome such an inclusionary move.
Conclusion
The lateral entry scheme, if implemented properly, may foster more competitive spirit, break the complacency of the higher civil servants and eventually prove to be a pioneering initiative in public interest.
