Praveen Kumar Policing The Police > Quota System

QUOTA SYSTEM CAN WEAKEN CIVIL SERVICE

It is a historical fact that India was never a single nation at any time till the 20th century. Neither Asoka of the Maurya dynasty nor Samudra Gupta or Chandra Gupta of the Gupta dynasty nor Akbar or Aurangzeb of the Mughul dynasth could boast of binding al the regions stretching from Kanyakumari to the Karakoram pass, and from the Rann of Kutch to Arunachal Pradesh under a single rule. If India is a single nation today the credit should go to a large extent to its distinguished civil service of the early and middle 20th century which was rightly called the steel frame of India unity. Should India continue as a single nation, it has to be again mainly through the grit, strength and quality of its civil service.

The worst curse for India is the classification of people on the basis of birth with the lower strata being denied equality of opportunity for growth and a decent life. Post –independent India, as a welfare state, took a number of measures, both constitutional and legislative, to erase the sins perpetrated on the unfortunate sections of society, like removal of untouchability, prevention of atrocities, reservations in jobs and providing educational opportunities. Such measures are not only the compensation India must pay for having deprived some of its children of their growth opportunities, they are also a kind of remorse the country suffers for its past sins.

But the cardinal question is the direction such measures must take. Wrong policies in such matters may not only fail to make the measures efficacious; but may also block the existing opportunities. It may weaken the country’s social fabric and pose a real threat to even the existence of India as a country. The policy of job reservation in civil service carries the danger of undermining the quality of the steel frame and deprive India of its main binding force.

The victims of the age-old stratified class system deserve many more special privileges. They need easier access to educational opportunities to prepare them for higher slots in life. Hence, the need for reservations in educational institutions. To remove their poverty for which Indian society is historically responsible, they have to be provided with easy finance, whether for higher studies or business ventures. Perhaps, an apex development bank with branches in all districts exclusively for their financial needs of a non-consumptive nature has to be set up to provide funds at a nominal rate of interest. Liberal scholarships, concession in or exemption from application fees for jobs, a wider network of board and lodging facilities for students, special vocational training for men and women, concessional hostel facilities for working men and women, easy housing schemes, free advanced medical treatment, etc are other schemes for the underprivileged that may help to bring them on par with the rest of society, without in the process affecting the quality of its governance.

Basically, democracy signifies the rule of the common man. But this definition applies principally to the political system and not to the civil service which is expected to

be the spine of democratic rule.

A sound civil service draws the boundaries of

governance within which the democratic system must function and also inspires a sense of moderation, discipline, fairness, legality and reasonableness in the political leadership. It absorbs the shocks of political follies and helps the political leadership in taking sound and intelligent decisions.

The well-being of the repressed classes of the India depends upon the survival of India as a single nation and therefore on the quality and soundness of the civil service. Measures like job reservation are bound to be counter-productive by weakening the civil service structure. Quality and excellence are inseparable from pride. Any allowance to mediocrity leads to flight of quality and excellence till mediocrity completely takes over. This is what is feared about the present India civil service thanks to the reservation policy.

The apprehension that the steel frame of pre-independent India has crumbled into a mediocre set-up because of wrong policies of selection and recruitment needs serious attention. Several opinion polls point to the diminishing attraction of the civil service for the Indian youth who prefer jobs in foreign and private industrial houses and banks. This trend deserves to be noted by those who are interested in the survival of India as a nation and a democracy, The interest of the country lies in marshalling the best talents of the country to run its administrative services.