B L Razdan
Before this, there were selections in ones or twos when people like M.S, Pandit, Vijay Baqaya, S L Bhat, Hiralal Kadalbhuju, G.L.Garoo, M K Zitshi, M K Kaw, Asha Kaw, Kuldeep Khoda, Anil Goswami, Iqbal Khandey, Khurshid Ganai, Pandit brothers from Brari Angan, Anantnag, Farhat Querishi, etc. were selected. However, there was a bumper selection of Kashmiris in 1977, based on the 1976 examination, when we had Girija Ganjoo and Sunil Mattoo in IAS proper, Bharat B Pandit, presently the Deputy CAG, who topped the Allied Services, Anil Dhar in Customs and G. R. Sofi, presently the Chief Information Commissioner, J & K, Ajay Fotedar, who expired in an accident, Dilip Shivpuri, presently the Chief Commissioner at Jodhpur and myself, in the Indian Revenue Service. I distinctly remember when early in the morning, Bharat Pandit came to my house in Nanakpura, Delhi, to break the good news and both of us went to JNU to congratulate Sofi, whom we had come in contact with during the exam preparations. However, when I visited the National Academy of Direct Taxes sometime back as a guest speaker, I was rather dismayed to notice that out of 135 candidates selected for Indian Revenue Service in 63rd Batch, there was not a single candidate from J & K
There is a feeling that the youth in the valley have all along been obsessed with medical and engineering courses with the parents bringing up their children dreaming of making doctors or engineers out of them. Lately, however, it has been seen that it is the candidates with professional degrees that get into services more as compared with the simple graduates or postgraduates in traditional subjects. In this regard I had the occasion to study the data readily available at the National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur and I found that out of 135 candidates selected for Indian Revenue Service in the 63rd Batch, 55 were from engineering background. Besides, there was a sprinkling of doctors, dental surgeons, MBAs, etc. who even after acquiring technical qualifications chose this service in preference to engineering and other professional jobs. The need of the hour, therefore, is to make our youth as well as our elders aware of such developments in the civil services field, so that they give up such apprehensions and also try their hand at the prestigious Civil Services Examination. With the latest pay scales, the services are quite lucrative.
Another reason that led to lack of participation by the candidates from the state was the comparative ease with which they would land Government jobs in the there, which avenue is now shrinking and becoming very competitive, even though not as difficult as the All India Civil Services exam.
One thing that most of us who had received initial education in the state found was that the syllabi of various subjects in both Kashmir University and Jammu University were weak and so was the syllabi prescribed by the J & K Board of Secondary Education. Earlier when the toppers of the state boards were offered direct admission to the IITs, there were instances of these candidates failing the exams there. Only a few years back, a topper from Jammu University committed suicide at Delhi University for her inability to cope up with the course content prescribed at the latter. When I visited my almamator in the Government College Anantnag sometime in 2010, I did not find any change in the syllabi of the traditional subjects even as new subjects had been introduced. For and on behalf of my batch mates and even other whom I chanced to meet during my career, I can say it with certainty that if we did not have the chance of studying outside the state, we would have never been able to make it. No doubt, the examination pattern has changed and there may have been some tinkering with the subject syllabi, there is imperative need to raise the standard of education in the state by improving the syllabi so as to bring it at least near to the standard of the University of Delhi or other comparable institutions.
The Universities can play a leading role in preparing the bright sparks among the student community to face the prestigious civil services exam by coaching them and putting extra effort in guiding them on the pattern of Aligarh Muslim University, where, apart from making the library facilities available round the clock, they would also rope in the officers selected during earlier years to interact and share their experiences with the prospective candidates and guide them to success.
Reasonably meritorious students could be sponsored by the Government to reputed coaching institutes in Delhi and other cities. The mere stay in a competitive environment has an encouraging effect on the candidates and city life in itself is educative in many respects.
No doubt, the selections of candidates in Kashmir Administrative Services is becoming more competitive and transparent with Mr S L Bhat at the helm, there is presently an imperative need to cultivate a spirit and environment of genuine competition among the youth unlike in the past when recruitments to public services was done on discriminatory grounds compromising merit and competence. Times have shown that the future belongs to the competent.
(The author was a senior and prominent member of the Indian Revenue Service and retired as the Director General of Income Tax (Investigation), North-West Region, Chandigarh.)
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