Summary

Governance Class 14

CIVIL SERVICES REFORMS (5:03 P.M.)

Recruitment
The Baswan committee suggested the following reforms:
(a) UPSC must scientifically evaluate the vacancies in the All India Services and other central services by taking inputs from the concerned ministries and departments, and also from the state governments.
(b) The age limit must be reduced from 32 to 26 years.
(c) The number of attempts should be reduced to 3.
(d) There should be separate examinations for IAS, IRS, IPS, and other central services.
In the age of globalization, the committee felt that what is needed is specialization.
A single examination for all the services may not serve that purpose.
(e) The committee also recommended the changes to the main examination.
Optional should be removed, and must be replaced with two other compulsory papers, law, and public administration.
(f) There must be changes to the personality test as well.
The committee recommended that the test be followed by the army
Training
Second ARC felt that the present training modules do match up to the expectations of the service.
It has recommended that through the training of civil servants our generalist civil services must be transformed into specialized through domain expertise.
After completing their field jobs, civil servants come to the secretariat to be part of the policy formulation.
They must be given specific training in one particular area of specialization like education, health, agriculture and rural development, finance and economics, environment, and so on.
This can be used in the age of globalization wherein governance is mostly about specialization.
In the year 2021, our prime minister launched Mission Karamyogi as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
It is felt that our civil servants have shifted their focus to career advancement rather than serving the country.
In the last three decades, radical changes have taken place in the functioning of our political, economic, administrative, social, and cultural systems.
It has been found that our civil servants have failed to integrate those changes into their functioning.
73rd and 74th Amendments, rights-based approach to governance, e-governance, digital public infrastructure, citizen-centric governance, Citizen charters, and social audits, increasing role played by the third sector, and the multisector paradigm in the public administration have impacted the functioning of our civil services.
These changes expect a radical transformation in the attitude as well as aptitudes of our civil servants.

OBJECTIVES OF MISSION KARAMYOGI

(a) Supporting the transition from rules-based governance to outcome-based administration, to overcome the goal displacement.
(b) Shift in the focus from offsite learning to onsite learning.
(c) To make available to all civil servants an opportunity to continuously strengthen their behavioral, functional, and domain competencies.
(d) To make civil servants more creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, progressive, professional, energetic, transparent, and technology-enabled.
The focus would be on an efficient service delivery mechanism of the highest quality standards.
The training program would be delivered by the iGOT (Integrated Government Online Training) Karamyogi platform.
46 lakh government employees would benefit from this training program.
510 crore rupees would be spent over 5 years on this training program.

POLITICIZATION OF CIVIL SERVICES (6:01 P.M.)

Politicization of the civil services takes place due to the power of the political executive in determining the career advancement of the civil servants.
There are promotions, transfers, postings, suspensions, and removals depending on their proximity to the political executive.
Depoliticization of the civil services can take place only when the career advancements of the civil servants are depoliticized.
Reforms required to avoid the Politicization of Civil Services
(a) The Second ARC has recommended that there must be a Central Civil Services Board that should recommend all the career advancement aspects of civil servants.
(b) It must make decisions based on objective performance evaluation so that honest, meritorious, and efficient civil servants can reach the top-level position.
(c) Another area of concern is regarding the ambiguous relationship between the politician and civil servant in the process of giving orders.
In India, we have the ex-post accountability of the civil servants to their political masters.
That is political executive will decide the accountability of civil servants in terms of the ability of civil servants to implement the orders given by him.
This is based on democratic control over the functioning of bureaucracy.
However, it has only resulted in the politicization of the civil services.
Second ARC has recommended that changes should be made to civil services conduct rules and regulations by replacing ex-post accountability with ex-ante accountability.
Under it, the civil servants can reject any unconstitutional order given by the superior by providing the reason for the rejection as per the constitution.
The political executive cannot take any action for insubordination if the civil servant rejects the order.
It can free the civil servant from excessive political interference.
(d) The bureaucrats must demand written orders.

LATERAL ENTRY INTO THE CIVIL SERVICES (6:49 P.M.)

Civil service in India has not been able to realize the expectations of people due to inherent weakness in their functioning.
They include:
(a) Lack of competition within services.
(b) Monopoly of generalist civil service IAS over almost all positions in the secretariat organizations.
(c) Absence of practical experience on the part of bureaucrats regarding the functioning of the system.
(d) Increasing role played by private sector and non-governmental organizations in governance and so on.
To overcome the above problems, and to make the bureaucracy efficient, accountable, and competitive, lateral entry into civil services is suggested.
Lateral entry means entering into the civil service at the middle and higher levels either from the private sector or from any other field.
Advantages of Lateral Entry
(a) It ensures the competition for middle and higher-level positions within the secretariat organizations.
(b) Globalization demands the technical professionals heading the key departments and ministries.
(c) Lateral entry allows specialists from various fields to be part of the government.
(d) It can also make the governmental bureaucracy more efficient by learning the different work cultures focused on outcomes rather than rules and regulations.
(e) It will also ensure diversity in the public policy formulation.
(f) With specialists determining policies, policies can be more realistic, as they have practical knowledge.
Criticism against Lateral Entry
(a) It can lead to a spoils system wherein the political executive can appoint their loyalists to key positions in the government.
(b) It is also strongly opposed by civil servants as their career opportunities will come down drastically with lateral entry.
(c) The government may not be able to attract the best talent due to disparity in the service conditions between the private and public sectors.
(d) The work culture in the private sector is radically different from that in government which may come in the way of their effective functioning.
(e) Their loyalties can also be questioned because they work in the government for only a specific period. It may lead to a conflict of interest.
Second ARC has recommended lateral entry into civil services initially in the technical departments and ministries and later to be extended to the rest of the government.
It also recommended the lateral exit from the civil services to allow the civil servants to spend productive time outside the government, either in the private sector or with NGOs.
It would help them to understand the practical problems of governance, and use the experience for better policy formulation.

DISCUSSION ON THE PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS (7:25 P.M.)

Q1: The crucial aspect of the development process has been the inadequate attention paid to Human Resource Development in India. Suggest measures that can address this inadequacy.
Q2: E-governance, as a critical tool of governance, has ushered in effectiveness, transparency, and accountability in governments. What inadequacies hamper the enhancement of these features?
Q3: “Development and welfare schemes for the vulnerable, by its nature, are discriminatory in approach.” Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer.
Q4: Skill development programs have succeeded in increasing human resources supply to various sectors. In the context of the statement analyze the linkages between education, skill, and employment.
Q5: The Gati-Shakti Yojana needs meticulous coordination between the government and the private sector to achieve the goal of connectivity. Discuss.
Q6: Reforming the government delivery system through the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme is a progressive step, but it has its limitations too. Comment.
Q7: “Recent amendments to the Right to Information Act will have a profound impact on the autonomy and independence of the Information Commission”. Discuss. (Answer in 150 words)
Q8: “The emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Digital Revolution) has initiated e-Governance as an integral part of the government”. Discuss. (150 words)
Q9: “Policy contradictions among various competing sectors and stakeholders have resulted in inadequate ‘protection and prevention of degradation’ to the environment.” Comment with a relevant illustration. ((Answer in 250 words)
Q10: The Citizen's Charter is an ideal instrument of organizational transparency and accountability, but it has its limitations. Identify the limitations and suggest measures for greater effectiveness of the Citizen's Charters.
Q11: How do pressure groups influence the Indian political process? Do you agree with this view that informal pressure groups have emerged as powerful than formal pressure groups in recent years?
Q12: Civil Services in India were initially designed to achieve the goals of neutrality and effectiveness. However, in the present context, these goals seem to be lacking, and there is a growing consensus that drastic reforms are required.
(*Refer to the class for the brief approach to these questions.)

THE SYLLABUS FOR THE GOVERNANCE HAS BEEN COMPLETED.