Saturday, 12 Oct, 2024
By: Damini Mehta
Source: Getty
Between 2018 and 2023, a total of 5,384 recruitments were made through the much-coveted civil services exam whereas just a little over 1% or 63 recruitments were made to the civil services through lateral entry.
The Modi-led BJP government's recent decision to withdraw the lateral entry scheme for civil services has sparked significant debate, particularly about the future of administrative reforms in the country. The scheme, which allowed professionals from the private sector and academia to enter the civil services at senior levels, was introduced in 2018 to infuse fresh talent and expertise into the bureaucracy. However, after five years and 63 appointments, the government has decided to halt this initiative, citing several challenges.
Interestingly, lateral entry into civil services has been a commonly accepted tool to induct fresh and professional talent into the country’s bureaucratic framework since the time of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The current political environment with clamouring calls for caste senses and caste quota, however, has created a slippery slope for the scheme which is called out for circumventing reservation provisions.
Lateral Vs Direct Recruits
The lateral entry scheme was conceived as a reform to modernise the Indian bureaucracy by bringing in domain experts with specialised knowledge and experience. The first recruitment round in 2018 saw a significant response, with over 6,000 applications for Joint Secretary positions. Following a selection process managed by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), nine candidates were appointed to various ministries and departments in 2019. This was followed by more rounds of recruitment in 2021 and two more in May 2023.
As of August 2024, a total of 63 appointments have been made, with 57 lateral entrants currently serving in various roles across ministries.
In comparisons, in 2018, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) hired for 782 vacancies through the Civil Services Exam (CSE), which recruits candidates for similar posts. In 2021, when another round of lateral entry recruitments were made, UPSC CSE made recruitments for 712 vacancies, followed by 1,022 in 2022 and, 1,105 in 2013. Between 2018 and 2023, a total of 5,384 recruitments were made through the much-coveted civil services exam whereas just a little over 1% or 63 recruitments were made to the civil services through lateral entry.
Political Game of Opposition
Other than anything else, the current withdrawal of notification for lateral entry appears to be a result of a political game of two things. Firstly, the opposition’s attack on the incumbent BJP for sidelining welfare of backward groups through government hirings that don’t follow reservation provisions, a pitch that yielded significant returns in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. Secondly, it is a case of the incumbent party’s political compulsions to run a minority government dependent on erratic allies.
Opposition parties, led by the Congress were up against the BJP government for using the lateral entry scheme to circumvent reservation provisions and sideline social justice. Some of the BJP’s own allies from the NDA too were vocal in their discontent with this decision.
This inspite of the fact that several key positions were held by lateral entrants during the Congress rule as well. Most notable is former Prime Minister of India and Congress leader Dr. Manmohan Singh. Singh was a professor of international trade at the Delhi School of Economics when he was appointed as the Ministry of Commerce's Economic Adviser in 1971 during Congress Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s tenure. He went on to become the Chief Economic Advisor in the Ministry of Finance in 1972 and later the Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.
IG Patel, former Deputy Economic Adviser at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), later became Economic Affairs Secretary, and eventually the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Appointment of R.V. Shahi in 2002 as Power Secretary by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led BJP government by bringing him from the private sector to drive electricity reforms in India is another case in point. Other prominent names include Sam Pitroda, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Nandan Nilekani, Vijay Kelkar, Arvind Subramanian, Raghuram Rajan and Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan.
In another example of the opposition’s support to similar policies of lateral entry, in 2016, a Parliamentary Standing Committee led by Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor endorsed entry of experts from the private sector, academic and civil society by recommending for the expansion of the pool of applicants for the posts of ambassadors and high commissioners to beyond officers of the Indian Foreign Service.
Reasons Behind the Withdrawal
Despite its potential benefits, the lateral entry scheme faced several challenges. One of the primary issues was the difficulty lateral entrants faced in adapting to the bureaucratic environment. Another significant point of contention was the lack of reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in lateral entry appointments. According to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), reservations do not apply to these posts because each lateral entry position is considered a "single post cadre." This has led to criticism from opposition leaders, who argue that the absence of reservations undermines social justice and the inclusivity that the UPSC system strives to uphold.
Furthermore, there were concerns about the transparency and fairness of the lateral entry selection process. Critics warned that if the recruitment process were not conducted with full transparency, it could lead to perceptions of favoritism or nepotism, thereby eroding public trust in the system. The fear was that the scheme could be used to place politically connected individuals in key positions, bypassing the meritocratic principles traditionally upheld by the UPSC.
Future Implications
The decision to withdraw the lateral entry scheme highlights the complexities of reforming India's bureaucracy and fighting against ten political compulsions of the time. Moving forward, the government must learn from this experience and design reforms that can effectively address the needs of a modern administrative system without compromising on the foundational values of the civil services.
Moreover, the present debate calls one to factor in the political will and the correct socio-political environment while bringing in such reforms. This is even more important when considering that the criticism came not just from those sitting in the opposition benches but also from those within the NDA’s fold.
