Good action on our inputs
I saw a post from Shri Chetan Choudhary ji stating that the implementation of inputs on ground by Modi Govt was not visible. I want to share with all that about 5 months back I had suggested in one of the discussions on bureaucracy/Govt delivery that equal importance must be given to services other than IAS i.e. Group A like IRS, IPS, IRTS, IFS for selection to Joint Secretary/Secretary positions and cartel of IAS promoting each other must be broken.
Yesterday I saw in the new that PMO has sought empanelment of non-IAS officers in news. This is progress.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Group-A-services-hope-for-end-to-IAS-dominance/articleshow/49796052.cms
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has apparently sought empanelment of non-IAS (Indian Administrative Service) or Group A officers for the senior posts of secretaries in the central government, and it can only be hoped that such a policy change would leaven the existing hierarchical differences among groups of bureaucrats. The genesis of the differences is rooted in the structure of the Civil Services examination. Those scoring high marks and securing top ranking are assigned to the IAS, while others, based on the scale of their marks and rankings, are relegated to services like Indian Accounts and Auditing, Revenue, Customs, Income-Tax and the Railways.
There are a total of 36 services other than the IAS and the Indian Foreign Service (IFS). The pre-eminence of the IAS is reflected in the appointment of its cadres to the higher echelons of the service, with IAS officers taking over as secretaries in the various ministries of the central government. The top bureaucrat, the Cabinet Secretary, invariably happens to be from the IAS cadre. This, not surprisingly, has generated a great deal of resentment among non-IAS groups of bureaucrats.
Ever since the 1991 reforms, there has been talk of reforming the bureaucracy in order to meet the challenges of a professionalised free market economy. It was felt that the administrative skills that an IAS officer acquired over the years were far too general in nature sans the technical knowledge or domain expertise that is necessary to deal with specialised domains like, for instance, international trade, taxation, security et al. It is against this background that those serving in specialised services like the Indian Revenue Service have now laid claims to receiving equal treatment at par with the IAS in postings to senior positions in the Ministry of Finance.
Statistics indicate that though a larger number of non-IAS service officers have over the decades come to occupy the top positions of secretaries and joint secretaries in central government, the IAS officers still continue to have an edge in securing these powerful positions. more
Yesterday I saw in the new that PMO has sought empanelment of non-IAS officers in news. This is progress.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Group-A-services-hope-for-end-to-IAS-dominance/articleshow/49796052.cms
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has apparently sought empanelment of non-IAS (Indian Administrative Service) or Group A officers for the senior posts of secretaries in the central government, and it can only be hoped that such a policy change would leaven the existing hierarchical differences among groups of bureaucrats. The genesis of the differences is rooted in the structure of the Civil Services examination. Those scoring high marks and securing top ranking are assigned to the IAS, while others, based on the scale of their marks and rankings, are relegated to services like Indian Accounts and Auditing, Revenue, Customs, Income-Tax and the Railways.
There are a total of 36 services other than the IAS and the Indian Foreign Service (IFS). The pre-eminence of the IAS is reflected in the appointment of its cadres to the higher echelons of the service, with IAS officers taking over as secretaries in the various ministries of the central government. The top bureaucrat, the Cabinet Secretary, invariably happens to be from the IAS cadre. This, not surprisingly, has generated a great deal of resentment among non-IAS groups of bureaucrats.
Ever since the 1991 reforms, there has been talk of reforming the bureaucracy in order to meet the challenges of a professionalised free market economy. It was felt that the administrative skills that an IAS officer acquired over the years were far too general in nature sans the technical knowledge or domain expertise that is necessary to deal with specialised domains like, for instance, international trade, taxation, security et al. It is against this background that those serving in specialised services like the Indian Revenue Service have now laid claims to receiving equal treatment at par with the IAS in postings to senior positions in the Ministry of Finance.
Statistics indicate that though a larger number of non-IAS service officers have over the decades come to occupy the top positions of secretaries and joint secretaries in central government, the IAS officers still continue to have an edge in securing these powerful positions. more
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It is well known that most IAS officers do not do their work, are corrupt and slow down/transfer the good ones. All IAS can be replaced by a software. If majority of them were good, India would be like a first world country. On top of their salaries, they get all kinds of benefits with public money. But what have they done for India? I think it is a left -over cancer from the British Raj times, and must be eliminated. more
Nov 26
As you rightly said once they score good marks in UPSC they get selected as IAS officers. Then the rot sets in. There is no one to assess their performance. They have enormous power. They Have a knack to justify their non performance also. Whenever something goes wrong they blame the concerned minister. With all the power and paraphernalia they can serve the people and the country. We find very few honest civil servants. It is better to identify non IAS officers to govern. There is one more lacunae that should be plugged. Please do not hire once they are retired. They unashamedly canvass for a post retirement assignment in the corridors of power. This should be stopped. Don't we have able people to occupy as advisors and consultants? more
Nov 26
Decentralizing power: Decentralizing power and Decision Making in education, State polity and elsewhere can provide a fresh insight to issues, and problems and there will be greater accountability and progress at the grass-roots level. For instance, if all eminent Post-graduate Colleges across the country were upgraded to Varsity status, there will be greater flexibility and accountability in such sectors as curriculum making, teaching, employment, and administration. Such a move, besides generating more employment, will unburden Varsities of the responsibility to ‘look after’ the academic and administrative requirements of the concerned colleges. The country requires more than 2000 Varsities, I believe. Similarly, if State polity allow constitution of sub-regional Development Councils and entrust the elected representatives from such sub-regions to take up the responsibility of implementation of ‘Developmental Schemes’, ‘literacy programmes’ and the like in their respective areas, ‘bharat’ will grow faster. This will facilitate elimination / reduction of several societal ills. Poverty, illiteracy, greed, corruption, superstition and lack of opportunities cause a great mass of societal ills. Uttar Pradesh, for instance, can allow nearly nine sub-regions, namely Yamuna-anchal [khariboli area], Brajbhumi [brajbhasha area], Kannauj [kannauji area], Moradabad [Moradabad-Bareilly area], Bundelkhand [Bundeli area], Awadh [Awadhi-baiswari area], Kosal [Ayodhya to Chitrakuut], Ganga-anchal [Chandauli to Robertsganj], and Purvanchal; Bihar can have four major sub-regions/ Development Councils: Magadh, Bhojpur, Mithila, and Angadesh. Administrative as well as academic functioning will get streamlined and the elected representatives, administrators, etc. shall be accountable to the people as well as the media. The media will have to play a critically developmental role in such settings. more
Nov 22
Citizen so far suffered in silence as they did not have a platform to raise their problems. Gradually, things are changing for good. We have to form strong citizen forum to raise our concern as strong consumer platforms are there in European countries. If we want to be heard, only one solution UNITE,UNITE,UNITE more
Nov 20
