Has the IAS Failed the Nation? Assess the Situation More Objectively
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COMMENTARY However, certain facts may help us Has the IAS Failed the Nation? assess the situation more objectively. One, in the past too, experts had been An Insider’s View inducted at senior positions in govern- ment, generally without any advertise- ment. Many of them, such as Manmohan Naresh Chandra Saxena Singh, Bimal Jalan, Lovraj Kumar, Vijay Kelkar, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Rakesh The decision to recruit experts he Government of India (GoI) has Mohan, Jairam Ramesh, and Arvind from the open market in certain decided to recruit 10 outstanding Subramanian made a very good impact and contributed substantially in senior departments at the level of joint Tindividuals from the open market with expertise in the areas of (i) revenue; positions. The fact that some of them secretaries is not enough to (ii) fi nancial services; (iii) economic later joined the ruling party and served radically professionalise the civil aff airs; (iv) agriculture, cooperation and as ministers did not invite criticism of service. Internal specialisation farmers’ welfare; (v) road transport and their past contribution when they served highways; (vi) shipping; (vii) environment, as joint secretary or secretary. Nor was must be promoted by insisting forests and climate change; (viii) new the regime criticised for recruiting party- on stable tenure in the states so and renewable energy; (ix) civil avia- friendly professionals. Russi Mody from that there is incentive for the tion; and (x) commerce. Their initial app- the Tata Group headed Air India back in Indian Administrative Service ointment would be for three years and 1993 and, in 2002, former Bombay Sub- exten dable up to fi ve years depending urban Electric Supply (BSES) Chairperson offi cers to acquire expertise in upon their performance. They would and Managing Director (CMD) R V Shahi their chosen sectors. Also, the work at the level of the joint secretary, a was made the power secretary for fi ve IAS offi cers should take the entry post normally occupied by the Indian years. As a general rule, scientifi c minis- of the outsiders as a challenge, Administrative Service (IAS) or central tries such as those of space or atomic service offi cers. It is a crucial level of energy are less hierarchically organised because if they do not improve senior management in the GoI adminis- and have resorted to lateral entry more their performance, there could tration, as joint secretaries lead policy- liberally. Thus, the experiment of induc- be repetition of such recruitment making, design programmes, and monitor ting outsiders in government is not new. every year. their implementation. The second Administrative Reforms Com- This initiative to prefer specialists over mission too had recommended lateral career bureaucrats has been hailed as a entry at senior positions. It is likely that bold and radical step by some who argue some of the joint secretaries who would that it would bring in fresh and vibrant be recruited through the new process ideas, expose the top civil service to are already working as consultants in competition, and promote better policy the same ministry. formulation based on expert domain Two, only 10 positions have been knowledge. On the other hand, many have advertised as against a total strength of condemned the bypassing of the Union about 400 joint secretaries in the central Public Service Commission (UPSC) as an government. This should not cause any attempt to facilitate the backdoor entry insecurity in the minds of UPSC-recruited of people committed to the present gov- career bureaucrats that it would mini- ernment’s ideology, or recruit empl o y ees mise their scope for promotion. working for those industrialists who are Three, there is an acute shortage of close to the ruling party. middle-level IAS offi cers with 18 to 25 years of seniority, as the annual recruitment to Game Changer? IAS A shorter and abridged version of this note was the in the 1990s was curtailed to just published in the National Herald on 17 June It is diffi cult at this stage to guess the about 60 to 70 as against the present re- 2018 titled “The IAS Is Not Really Threatened.” intention of the government; whether this cruitment of about 180 per batch. This Naresh Chandra Saxena (naresh.saxena@ decision is targeted at roping in the best was done under an illusion that the eco- gmail.com) was posted at the IAS academy talent from outside to nurture the civil nomic liberalisation would vastly reduce for eight years and trained several batches services, or to stifl e the independence of the need for central staffi ng. However, of the IAS. He retired as secretary, Planning the bureaucracy by making it subordinate the reverse happened, as with enhanced Commission in 2002. to the ideologues of the ruling party. revenues GoI expanded its role not 14 JUNE 23, 2018 vol lIiI no 25 EPW Economic & Political Weekly COMMENTARY only in the social sector, such as for service that can anticipate emerging offi cers before political masters is the the anti-poverty programmes, educa- challenges and ensure that potential total lack of any market value and lack tion, health, and tribal welfare, but also strategies are informed by better under- of alternative employment potential.1 in many new emerging sectors such as standing of future contexts. It must also Beyond government, they have no fu- telecommunications, information tech- learn to empower people and be able to ture, because their talents are so few. nology, climate change, and road trans- work with them, as traditional vertical Most IAS offi cers, thus, end up as dead port. Due to the overall shortage, most acc ou nta bility systems can act as a major wood within a few years of joining the states are unwilling to release senior impediment to working across boundaries service and their genius lies only in ma- IAS offi cers for central deputation, lead- (O’Flynn et al 2011). nipulation and jockeying for positions ing to a bizarre situation where a rail- Despite initial competence and enthu- within the government. way traffi c offi cer works as joint secre- siasm, the hard reality is that many civil This service is primarily responsible tary, health, and an ordnance service servants in the course of the 30 years of for India’s failure to achieve Millennium employee fi nds himself in the Ministry their career lose much of their dynamism Development Goals (MDGs) in hunger, of Tribal Affairs! and innovativeness, and end up as mere health, malnutrition, sanitation, and pen-pushers and cynics, with no faith in gender, as most IAS offi cers can neither IAS Performance their own contribution to public welfare. design effective programmes nor can Temporary shortages apart, the larger A high degree of professionalism ought they implement them with accountabi- issue is: Have the IAS offi cers been found to be the dominant characteristic of a lity. Some decades ago, one used to com- defi cient in their role as policy advisers? modern bureaucracy. The fatal failing of pare India with China and Sri Lanka, Do these offi cers possess the necessary the Indian bureaucracy has been its low but these countries have left India far domain knowledge so essential for effec- level of professional competence. The behind as far as development goals are tive policymaking and delivery? Histori- IAS offi cer spends more than half of their concerned. On social indicators, India cally, the IAS was needed because India tenure on policy desks where domain unfortunately does worse than countries is a union of states, has a federal system, knowledge is a vital prerequisite. How- even poorer than India, like Bangladesh with all essential subjects with which ever, quick transfers from one post to the and Vietnam (Table 1). the people are concerned, such as educa- other in many states dampens the desire tion, health, agriculture, water, housing, to learn. In Uttar Pradesh (UP) the aver- Credible Reporting and police, being dealt with at the state age tenure of an IAS offi cer in the last 10 Though the IAS is failing on many fronts, level, but largely supervised and funded years is said to be as low as six months. here one would like to concentrate only by the centre. A common civil service In the Indian Police Service (IPS) it is on two issues that are exclusively under not only facilitates coordination, but also even lower, leading to the wisecrack that its domain: monitoring of programmes helps in national integration as almost “if we are posted for weeks all we can do and fl ow of funds. half the IAS cadre in each state consists of is to collect our weekly bribes.” At present, offi cials at all levels spend outsiders. A rigorous process of recruit- With this environment prevailing in a great deal of time in collecting and ment for the higher civil services ensures many states, there is no incentive for a submitting information, but these are that the best talent available in society young civil servant to acquire knowl- not used for taking corrective and reme- joins the civil service in India. edge or improve their skills. There is, dial action or for analysis, but only for A capable public service is essential thus, an exponential growth in both forwarding to a higher level, or for ans- for creating a favourable investment their ignorance and their arrogance. It is wering Parliament/assembly questions. climate and facilitating people’s partici- said that in the house of an IAS offi cer Moreover, outcomes are hardly measured pation in economic life. As countries bec- one would fi nd only three books: the rail- and the system gets away with infl ated ome more globalised, governments face way timetable, because they are always reporting.