{"id":28004,"date":"2018-10-23T17:34:11","date_gmt":"2018-10-23T12:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=28004"},"modified":"2018-10-23T17:34:11","modified_gmt":"2018-10-23T12:04:11","slug":"reforming-the-civil-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/reforming-the-civil-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Reforming the civil services"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reforming the civil services<\/a><\/p>\n

News:
\n1. Amitabha Bhattacharya, retired IAS officer, discussed his views on reforming the civil services and also discussed pros and cons of lateral entry into civil services.<\/p>\n

Important facts:<\/p>\n

1. Recently, the centre\u2019s decision to seek applications from outstanding individuals to fill posts of Joint Secretary has raised many issues.
\n2. Retired bureaucrat has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against this decision.
\n3. The move was critized for the following reasons:
\n\u2981 Many serving bureaucrats see this move as threatening their hegemony.
\n\u2981 For some retiring officers the move is the beginning of the end of a \u201cneutral and impartial\u201d civil service with the likely induction of loyalists to the current dispensation.
\n\u2981 It has also been argued that this marks the \u201cprivatization of the IAS\u201d.
\n\u2981 Private people may plant their people for influencing government policies.
\n1. The author discussed the functioning of the secretariat as follows:<\/p>\n

\u2981 In Cabinet system of government with collective responsibility, the secretariat plays a crucial role.
\n\u2981 Higher bureaucracy in the secretariat examines proposals received from specialized departments\/corporations and in consultation with other ministries and departments.
\n\u2981 This is a complex consultative process for which detailed procedures have been formulated.
\n\u2981 A Joint Secretary to the government has crucial \u201cline\u201d function to perform in policy formulation and its implementation.
\n\u2981 The original proposal is often prepared by technical experts and sent to the \u201cgovernment\u201d, the final decision rests with the Joint Secretary\/ Additional Secretary, the Secretary and finally the Minister\/Cabinet.
\n1. Generalist v. specialist
\n\u2981 Terms like \u201cprofessionalism\u201d, \u201cspecialisation\u201d, and \u201ctechnical expertise\u201d are often used vaguely and inter-changeably.
\n\u2981 Specialists like engineers, doctors, agricultural scientists, lawyers have always had a substantial say in the decision-making process.
\n\u2981 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.
\n\u2981 Similarly, in departments like the Railways, Posts, etc., all senior positions are manned by Indian Railway or Postal Service officers.
\nDemerits of lateral entry:
\n\u2981 Such lateral entrants may be increased with time and that the political leadership, by creating a \u2018divide and rule\u2019 mechanism, would further demoralise the \u2018steel frame of governance\u2019.
\n\u2981 In the garb of recruiting outstanding individuals, politically indoctrinated persons will be inducted into the system.
\n\u2981 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.<\/p>\n

Way ahead:
\n\u2981 The government must ensure that only candidates, the likes of whom are not available in the existing system, are appointed.
\n\u2981 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.
\n\u2981 Ideas have also been advanced for IAS and other officers to gain work experience, for a limited period, in the private sector.
\n\u2981 The automatic mode of every member of the higher services reaching the top echelons requires a hard look.
\n\u2981 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reforming the civil services News: 1. Amitabha Bhattacharya, retired IAS officer, discussed his views on reforming the civil services and also discussed pros and cons of lateral entry into civil services. Important facts: 1. Recently, the centre\u2019s decision to seek applications from outstanding individuals to fill posts of Joint Secretary has raised many issues. 2.… Continue reading Reforming the civil services<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}