Answer 4.docx

ANSWER 4: A policy which the government is soon bringing on the floor, that in my opinion is not necessary at all is the ‘lateral entry’ in the civil services. It was first proposed in the second administrative reforms 10th report which stated that government should appoint outsiders(not candidates from civil services examination) in the middle rung of the ministries especially in the sectors of economy and infrastructure. Shortlisting of the candidates would be from private sector executives or social workers, entrepreneurs and academicians based on a preset experience and educational qualification criteria. Here my point of view is why to add an post for these lateral entries, because if industry specific suggestions are required then government can consult some eminent citizens by appointing them on ad-hoc basis in the same manner as several committees, some of the famous committees are M S Swaminathan , justice hedge committee etc. Appointing on adhoc basis would not burden the exchequer. Also, when compared to civil servants, they are trained in a manner that they can very well understand the link between the top policy making positions and field level implementations which an individual belonging to private sector or someone who has never worked with public sector his/her entire life, cannot be at ease and consistent with. If lateral entry is allowed to these senior decision making levels it will result in an unfair and inequitable distribution of benefits and burden wherein the career civil servants will have to prove their excellence to reach the position of policy making from the ground level implementation, the outside candidates will straight forward go to policy making positions without having to bear the burden of toiling examinations and trainings. Recently on 1 January 2019, the government has invited applications from private sector specialists for 10 joint secretary posts in different departments and this has again heated the arena among the critic’s fraternity. There is a need of some serious internal reforms, rather than having a lateral entry system the government should focus on increasing the recruitments through UPSC civil services examination. This can also be done by introducing industry specialised seats at the entry level to administration for the fresh candidates every year. This will prove to be a moral booster for the candidates. Also, by increasing the number of training institutes for advanced public management studies for promoted officers will prove helpful in clearing out the administrative backlog. Hence internal corrections should be the priority of the government.