beenconsideredas a groupof nine,
therewould havebeenat leasttwo
seatsfor OBCsandoneseatfor an
S.C.candidate.Butsincetheywere
selected for differentdepartmentsin
singleposts,reservationwasnotap-
plicable. ButDr Chandrapal dis-
agreedwiththisview.“Weare poor
peopleandso we withdrewthe peti-
tion,butthereis stilla lot of work
thatneedsto be donethere,” he said.
PranjalKishore,a Delhi-based
lawyer,wroteinTheLeaflet: “A study
of thecurrentgovernment’sactions
overthelastfewyearsshows a sys-
tematicattemptto dentthe policyof
reservation.Thenumberof directre-
cruitmentsby theUPSChasfallen
considerably overthe lastfewyears.
Thenumberof recruits hasfallen
from1,236in 2014to 759in 2018.
Now,dozensof bureaucratsare set to
enterthroughthesystemof lateral
entry—whichdoesnotprovidefor
reservation.If thistrendcontinues,
andit appearsit mostlikelywill,then
the reservation policywillbe severely
undermine.”TheBJPgovernment’s
agendahasbeen to privatisegov-
ernance. Through a policy docu-
ment,“Three YearActionAgenda”,
in 2017, the NITI (NationalInstitu-
tionfor TransformingIndia)Aayog
promotedthe ideaof lateral entry.It
said:“India’schoiceto build a social-
ist patternof production duringsev-
eralpost-Independencedecadeshad
resulted in the government entering
manyactivities thatdid not serveany
publicpurpose andwerebest per-
formedby the privatesector.”
TheGoverning Councilof the
NITIAayog, underAmitabhKant
andArvindPanagariya,withModi as
its Chairperson,proposedthe system
of lateral entry. In a section titled
“Civil Service Reform”, the NITI
Aayogsaidthat policymakingre-
quiredspecialistsandthatservice
delivery ought to be outsourced
whereverpossible.It addedthatit
wouldhavethe beneficialsideeffect
of bringingcompetition to the estab-
lishedcareer bureaucracy.
Dr Chandrapal saidthatthere-
peated dismissing of the services
cadreby theadherentsof theBJP
hadmade the partya buttof ridicule
in Uttar Pradesh bureaucratic
circles.“If the IAScadreis so ineffi-
cient,thenwhyhave P.K.Mishraand
NripendraMishra beenreappointed
as Additional Principal Secretary
andPrincipalSecretaryandgiven
CabinetMinisterranks aboveand
beyondtheirterms? AndwasAjit
Doval not recruited through the
UPSC?”he asked.
At present,theCentralSecret-
ariatServiceprovides an arrange-
ment for the selection and
appointment of eligible officersfrom
37 participatingservicessuchas the
IndianForest Service,the IndianIn-
formation Service,the Indian Police
Service, theIndian RevenueService
andthe CentralEngineering Service
(RoadsandCentralPublicWorks
Department). This is anongoing
processwhereofficersare shiftedor
elevatedfromoneMinistryor de-
partmentto anotherthroughem-
panelment or on administrative
grounds.Circularsare issued twicea
yearrequesting all cadreauthorities
to nominate eligible officers for
deputation.Therein it is indicated
thatthemovement of officers from
Statelevelto theCentre andback
helpsin buildingup capabilitiesat
theState levelandcontributesto-
wardsdeveloping a nationalper-
spective at the decision-making
levelsin the Union government.
Whileit is no one’scasethatthe bur-
eaucracyis perfect,its recruitment
processis robust andtime-tested,
withinherentchecksandbalances.
Oncelateral entryis availableto
peoplefromoutsidethe government
andimplementedin its currentform,
about60 percentof the 650 postsfilledthroughthisprocesswillno
longerbe availableto the cadrefrom
theservices.Thereis serious appre-
hensionthatlateralentrymightbe-
come the norm rather than the
exceptionin thedaysto come.An
IASaspirant said: “In a country
wherelakhsof studentsaspireto join
the eliteservices,I don’t understand
whythegovernmentwould wantto
keepsnubbing them, unlessits only
agendais to hirepeopleof a particu-
lar ideology.In thisway,it canen-
surethateveryonewillfall in lineand
notquestionthe decisionsit takes.”
Thepostof JointSecretaryis an
important seniormanagement post
in thebureaucracyandthepeople
holding it coordinate with other
Ministries on policymatters,court
cases,andimplementationof the
government’s programmes and
schemes.Theyalsodealwithagen-
ciessuchas theCentral Vigilance
Commission,theCentralBureauof
InvestigationandtheComptroller
andAuditor General.Officers who
haveservedfor morethan20 yearsin
thevarious servicesareappointed
througha stringentprocess. Officers
of theIASserveat all levelsof the
bureaucracy,fromthevillage and
districtlevelto the Statebefore com-
ingto theCentre. Theybringto the
tablea unique depthof experience
fromthegroundlevelup andare
thereforeconsideredsuitedto the
taskof policyformulation.
Theelitismandstrangleholdof
the IASon the bureaucracyis being
citedas a reasonfor introducinglat-
eralentry. If thatwereindeedthe
problem, it couldbe addressedby
inductingindividuals fromthe other
services.Thereis no needto openup
the government to private participa-
tion,say retiredIASofficers.
In thepasttoo,individualssuch
as ManmohanSingh,M.S.Swam-
inathan and Montek Singh
Ahluwalia wereappointedlaterally
as Secretaries.Buttheywereall indi-
vidualswithheftwhocouldinfluence
policy.Retiredofficersfeelthatat the
levelof the JointSecretaryandlower
downtheline,lateral entryrecruits
might becomerubber stampsfor
cronycapitalism, eitherwillinglyor
inadvertently. $Therecruitment
processofthe
bureaucracyis
time-tested,
withinherent
checksand
balances.