Govt debates lateral entry into Indian civil services, UK crops up as example

THE government has begun the process of debating whether it should allow lateral entry of talents, from academia, research and private sector to join the civil services. It’s noticed that some civil servants with a time-bound career progress get lazy and lethargic which in turn damage the over-all efficiency of Indian bureaucracy.

“For all civil services, especially for the All-India Civil Services, lateral entry at different levels could be evaluated. The lateral entry would inspire competition among the civil servants,” a government-prepared background paper released on this year’s Civil Services Day writes.

The 56-page long background paper which formed the basis of a panel discussion on April 21 last, also gave the UK example where...

more than 30% of vacancies at the top three levels of the civil services were openly advertised during the recent years.

“It would also give opportunities to such people who might have either missed the bus initially or might think of entering the civil service at a later stage after acquiring expertise in a particular area,” the paper says.

The panelists of the discussion included Dr Jayaprakash Narayan, ex-IAS and now president, Loksatta Party, Pradeep Kumar, Central Vigilance Commissioner, Arvind K Awasthi, Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General. The discussion was moderated by G C Pati, special secretary in the ministry of agriculture.

Currently, a few people with domain knowledge on specific subjects are given ranks like additional secretaries or secretaries. Dr Prajapati Trivedi whose department assesses performances of various ministries holds the rank of a secretary in cabinet secretariat. Pankaj Pachauri who joined as media adviser to PM in January was given the rank and pay of an additional secretary.

Yet, they are only a very few exceptions. Indian civil service has continued to be a long-haul affair.

Babu Marriage

Vijay Kharadi, a 2009 batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer, chose to participate in a mass wedding where 35 men including him tied the knot in a simple function at Bhiloda taluka in Gujarat recently. An engineer before getting into IAS, Kharadi decided to marry Seema Garasia at a mass wedding rather than organizing a fat Indian wedding. It’s probably an innovation and also an inspiration from a public servant who has just begun his career.