There is fierce competition for entry into the Union civil services. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) does a remarkable job in terms of periodicity, impartiality, honesty and efficiency in recruitment in a society that glamourises civil services and most bright youngsters want to compete to join them.
These civil servants have been serving us well in some vital respects. They helped us preserve unity in a diverse country. Our administration has been reasonably effective in mission mode operations or crisis management – public order, conduct of elections, disaster management and VIP visits. But in general it has been weak in service delivery and routine governance. Not all of it is under the control of bureaucracy, but any objective analysis shows that in many critical areas for eradication of poverty, promotion of prosperity and upholding rule of law we are poorly served by the administration.
If we take the 50 largest economies in the world (GDP > $ 200 B), on all important indicators (like gdp per capita, life expectancy, mortality and morbidity rates, educational outcomes, power consumption per capita etc.) India ranks among the bottom five! True, in some areas like infrastructure significant efforts are made to improve the situation. But the fact that we still consistently rank at the bottom in the company of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria should give us a pause to reflect deeply. We need to radically reform our politics, economic management, justice system and bureaucracy.
Govt Withdraws Lateral Entry Ad Into Bureaucracy On PM Modi’s Directions, Writes To UPSC Chairman
So, what ails our bureaucracy? While recruitment at the national level is impressive, the incentives after recruitment are not conducive to best performance. First, in an era of rapid changes in technology and management, our bureaucracy is still antiquated without any focus on specialisation. In this day and age, it is obvious that top public managers should be experts in the field, and we cannot have dilettantism as the primary qualification in managing the most complex challenges plaguing our vast and diverse nation.
Second, the point of entry of a young civil servant shapes her future for the next 35 year or so, and there is almost automatic, time-bound rise to the top, notwithstanding the perfunctory performance assessment system. Almost everybody ends up with a rank of Chief Secretary or Director General of Police. Unlike in the armed forces, there is no proper screening based on performance, and instead of a pyramidal structure narrowing at the top, we have a cylindrical structure bloated at the top. Once we have too many available in the top management, ranging from the outstanding to mediocre, often the pliable, convenient, mediocre officials occupy key positions. There is no incentive to excel in order to rise to the top.
Third, for the premier civil services like the IAS, there is monopoly of all key jobs at the top level. As there is no need to compete with other services, or with those from the academia and market for key positions, we are denied the services of the best in the county to serve in a manner our taxpayers deserve and need. Some of our public servants are outstanding; but far too many lack the incentive, knowledge, skills and motivation to overcome the myriad challenges we confront as a country.
Lateral entry is not a panacea; but creating genuine competition for key public offices, removing the artificial barriers between the government and market, and allowing the entry of fresh talent, passion and purpose into key positions will vastly improve the culture of administration and outcomes. If bureaucracy becomes a permanent priesthood, and is obsessed with preserving its own monopoly and privileges, then the nation is poorly served. We need a culture in which public service is not a job, but a calling.
Lateral Entry To Government: PM Modi Stoops To Conquer
If all services are allowed to compete, and if the accomplished managers or experts in private sector and academia are allowed to enter government at the top levels through competition, we will get the best public servants to transform 18% of humanity. We cannot treat an examination at the age of 23 as the only means of measuring a person’s suitability to face the challenges of governance at the top. Competition and fresh breeze elevate the performance of every public servant across the board. Highly successful individuals in private sector have highly marketable skills, and are often rewarded hugely in monetary terms. They join government for tenure out of passion to improve things, not for a salary or job security. We should welcome the best into government, not perpetuate monopolies of career civil servants alone. All major economies and successful countries recruit 40-50% of top managers through competition and lateral recruitment, not by time-bound promotion.
What about diversity and representation of various deprived sections of society? We need to give space to the SCs, STs, OBCs, and women. But reservation through quotas, roster system and rotation while filling a few top jobs is simply not feasible. There is abundant talent in every segment of our society. There is a broad political consensus to embrace diversity. The best affirmative action in filling top jobs in government would be to have an indicative goal – of say 50% from deprived sections and women on the whole, not individual quotas for each department when very few top jobs are filled – and give weightage to the deprived sections if all else is equal. If a Civil Services Authority is created as recommended by the Second ARC (with the PM and LoP being involved in appointing the Authority), and if it monitors the lateral recruitment policy, we can trust the UPSC to recruit the best, while assuring adequate representation to marginalised sections. We have creative solutions and best practices. Let us not be afraid of change. Let us not throw the baby out with the bath water.
The author is the founder of Lok Satta movement and Foundation for Democratic Reforms. Email: drjploksatta@gmail.com / Twitter @jp_loksatta
