What is the issue?
- The NITI Aayog has recently recommended that “lateral entry” from the private sector should be introduced in the civil services.
- The PMO is reportedly considering the matter seriously.
- However, despite the benefits of domain knowledge, the existing generalist nature holds the potential to continue as a system.
What are the concerns in civil services?
- Independence is an essential condition for effectiveness of bureaucracy.
- Unfortunately, the deteriorating quality of political executive has robbed the bureaucracy of its independence and freedom to “speak out its advice”.
- Political governments have used postings, transfers, re-employment, charge sheets, and of late tickets to elections to influence bureaucrats.
- The government, instead of addressing these problems, is opting for a quick fix which will further erode the efficiency of the IAS.
- Notably, the most touted domain knowledge and lateral entry is said to do little to address the present concerns in civil services.
Why should the present system continue?
- A rising complaint is that the IAS is lacking domain knowledge in a fast-evolving, technology-driven world.
- But a deeper look into the demands reveals that domain knowledge may not be the right choice to handle challenges in civil services.
- Role - Technology intersects with the development needs of the common people, which can vary from village to village.
- Clearly, there can be no one size fits all solutions, no matter how good the technology is.
- Thus, the civil servant’s role here is that of a synthesiser i.e. to assimilate a technology or idea, adapt it to the local context, and then implement it.
- One has to be qualified to coordinate the functioning that works through several ministries at the Centre and in the states.
- E.g. construction of a dam - a lateral entrant would regard this a job for a domain (engineering) expert.
- On the other hand, a civil servant's role involves in issues with acquisition of land, resettlement and rehabilitation, environmental and social impact assessments, financial planning, negotiating PPPs, etc.
- Starkly, the limited, one-dimensional vision that technocrats have would make them unsuitable for this role.
- Grass-roots experience - The first 10 years that an IAS officer spends in "the field", exposes her to the dynamics of the actual workings of the government.
- This is an invaluable input to serve the demands, future in the career at policy-making level.
- An IAS officer is uniquely qualified for this unlike a lateral entry recruit who would completely lack grass root knowledge.
- Representation - The “domain knowledge” is understood to be technically qualified people from outside.
- Notably, in recent years there is an increasing percentage of candidates from engineering and medicine backgrounds into the IAS.
- This gives the service, representations from technical backgrounds, to be made use of, if and when required.
What is the way ahead?
- An IAS officer is clearly a domain expert in the most difficult and complex of all domains - the public administration.
- As, this involves policies, demographics, politics, social imperatives, religion, law and order, etc.
- A lateral entrant from the private sector is highly doubtful of getting a balanced role in handling all these.
- Lateral entry would also be a regressive move towards the spoils system, giving the government the freedom to appoint loyalists, favourites and ideological compatibles.
- The government should thus address the concerns only by vesting more independence with the civil services.
Source: New Indian Express
