Anil Anand
The best in the political, bureaucratic, corporate and social fields should join hands to help achieve the elusive target of good governance. The best minds in whatever field they might be should be made part of the governing system so as to throw new ideas and achieve goals in public interest.
There are no two views on this thought and there are no two views that governance is not the sole domain of the Indian Civil Services system or what has been termed over the years the steel frame of the governing system. There are also no second thoughts to the need for breaching this steel frame to make the governing system more efficient, people friendly and above all transparent.
The Narendra Modi Government’s move to throw open the crucial post of joint secretary in order to induct Indian nationals other than those coming through the UPSC route into the senior level of bureaucratic system, has to be viewed in the light of these observations. There is hardly any voice including those from the ruling BJP’s bitter critics, who is opposed per se to this “lateral entry of talented and motivated Indians” into the higher echelons of the bureaucracy. However, in question are the timing, coming barely months before May 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and motive behind the move.
There is no harm in initiating domain experts to the governing system. In fact, this experiment till date has remained successful with shining examples of those of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan, economist Y K Alagh and many other distinguished persons making significant contributions on becoming part of the Government, be it the erstwhile Planning Commission, head of the Ministries or Reserve Bank of India. But this is for the first time that the “lateral entry” is being done at the level of joint secretary which is a key post in the administrative hierarchy of any ministry.
Ordinarily the Government’s decision to allow limited “lateral entry” of domain experts in specialised fields namely revenue, financial services, economic affairs, agriculture, cooperation and farmers’ welfare, road transport and highways, shipping, environment, forests and climate change, new and renewable energy, civil aviation and commerce for appointment to 10 joint secretary level posts, would not have created any problem. But these are not the ordinary times and the current dispensation at the Centre is the first of its kind the right wing (read BJP) majority Government. Ostensibly both the vision and viewing prism are different from earlier times.
The process initiated by the government through advertising the posts seems more of a knee jerk reaction with a clear motive. As it entails changing the existing system of Civil Services domain and even challenging the UPSC’s charter, it would have been better to bring this change of far reaching consequences with better planning and discussion at least in Parliament. A more transparent system of selection should have been placed in public domain even before the posts were advertised. But as of now there is none and the expression of doubts by the Government’s adversaries and sections of the public are to some extent justified.
What is the process to identify and pick up the best from among the applicants and what are the yardsticks? Who will play the role of selectors? These questions are begging for answers. Under the circumstances the rival political parties and leaders have got a handle to express doubts that in the absence of a foolproof system the government intends to fill up these vacancies by its handpicked ideologically cosy candidates. The Government and the ruling BJP have naturally sought to dismiss these doubts, which still persist given their recruitment pattern followed during the last four years.
The Government must come clear on issues such as the role of UPSC henceforth and also in the selection of 10 joint secretaries from among the “lateral talent” outside the civil services, and also the need to take this step on almost the verge of general elections. At the same time the Government also needs to take the Civil Services into confidence on the need to inject specialised talent in some areas.
As the process has been initiated through short cuts, it is bound to be marred in political controversies. Firstly the fear of filling these posts with RSS influence has led to most of the opposition parties strongly reacting against the move. Congress spokesperson P L Punia, who was himself a civil servant before joining politics, alleged that the government is trying to recruit people associated with the ruling party.
“This is totally wrong. They will try to recruit people people associated with the RSS, the BJP and their affiliate organisations besides the employees working for top industrialists who are close to the Government,” he said adding: “They will try and influence government policies and these people will not be neutral or fair. This step is not in national interest.”
Expressing similar views CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechuri said that it was an attempt to include ‘Sanghis’ in administrative ranks. “Why are time-tested UPSC and SSC being sought to be undermined? To fill IAS ranks with Sanghis and undermine reservation too, in the BJP’s last few months in office,” Yechury added.
Since the issue is related to recruitment this is bound to rake a controversy regarding the reservation aspect. None other than the ruling BJP’s Delhi MP and a dalit leader Uditraj has already raised the red flag on this count. The others from the rival parties are following the suit.
The Government will have to address this vital concern more so when it is already facing flak from various quarters of the society particularly the beneficiaries of the reservation quota for its alleged “anti dalit” bias.
Politics apart and leaving the question of timing and motive behind this move, the Indian bureaucracy certainly needs to be woken up from the slumber. Certain recent studies have brought out that the Indian bureaucracy is among the worst in Asia leave alone rest of the world.
There is a dire need to induct domain specialists in key areas as the UPSC cleared civil servants end up becoming jacks of all trade and masters of none. Beginning their careers as SDMs or so and making up the post of secretary in Union Government or chief secretaries in the states, they are required to touch upon every subject be it finance, commerce, social welfare, education, internal and external security so on and forth.
It is high time the rust is removed from the steel frame to make the system more people friendly. But in the process all sensibilities need to be taken care of by the Government of the day.
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