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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Bureaucrats More Wary of 'How' Than 'Why' of Lateral Entry Into Civil Services -Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta

Bureaucrats More Wary of 'How' Than 'Why' of Lateral Entry Into Civil Services -Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta

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published Published on Jun 15, 2018   modified Modified on Jun 15, 2018
-TheWire.in

Veteran IAS officers agree there is a need for greater specialisation in the civil services, but are unhappy with the cut in recruitments over the years and the move to bypass the UPSC system.

New Delhi:
The Centre’s move to allow lateral entry into empanelled bureaucracy has opened up a complex debate that has been ongoing for, at least, the last two decades. While a big chunk of the civil servants has largely been inimical to the idea –although they agree with the need for greater specialisation in the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) – its votaries believe this will infuse new energy in government functioning and help it fill up the shortfall in bureaucracy, especially in large states.

The government of India, in a pilot project, has advertised openings for 10 joint secretary posts on a contractual basis – three years, extendable upto five depending on performance. The candidates should be above 40 years of age and hold at least a Ph.D. The positions are to be filled up by a committee headed by the cabinet secretary in another two months.

One of the first meetings that the Narendra Modi-led government had in 2014, soon after being elected, was on planning a way through which specialists could be brought into the civil services through lateral entry. The prime minister asked secretaries of various ministries to prepare proposals to allow lateral entry of bureaucrats from academia and private sector at the joint secretary level. However, nothing moved for the next three years because no serious proposal was submitted.

However, last July, the prime minister’s office instructed the department of personnel and training to prepare a proposal to hire such professionals in ministries that concerned themselves with economy and infrastructure. The government has, indeed, taken a leaf out of the second Administrative Reforms Commission in 2005, which recommended lateral entry of officers at both the Central and state levels through a transparent, institutionalised process. Various private think-tanks like the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace have been stressing on the need to reform the civil services by allowing lateral entry. The shortage of officers in large states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar has also propelled the government to explore possibilities of recruitment outside the laid-down procedures.

This is not the first time that specialists from outside the civil services are being brought in. At the secretary level, a number of such specialists have been hired by different governments. But it is definitely a first that the government is planning to hire professionals at the crucial joint secretary level, which is responsible for designing most policies.

Not surprisingly, the government’s move has invited both praise and suspicion.

‘UPSC System Bypassed’

First, the doubts. A number of former IAS officers who retired from senior positions look at the move with some degree of reservation although none of them objected to the idea of a lateral entry of experts. They have objected to the fact that the government has allowed lateral entry by bypassing the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which conducts the three-tier civil services examination annually, and has, instead, instructed the cabinet secretary-headed committee to recruit professionals.

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TheWire.in, 14 June, 2018, https://thewire.in/government/bureaucrats-wary-of-how-not-why-of-lateral-entry-into-civil-services


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