Reforming India's Higher Civil Services: Agenda for 21st Century Reforms
| Date | 01 January 2014 |
| Author | Kuldeep Fadia |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120140104 |
| Published date | 01 January 2014 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
REFORMING INDIA'S HIGHER CIVIL SERVICES:
AGENDA FOR 218T CENTURY REFORMS
KULDEEP FADIA
The ramifications
of
global changes are being
felt
by the
government
in
the form
of
increasing citizen expectations
for
better
governance
through
effective
service
delivery,
transparency, accountability and rule
of
law.
The civil service,
as the prime constituent
of
government, must keep pace with
the changing times in order to meet the aspirations
of
the
people.
The
purpose
of
reform
is
to reorient the civil services
into a dynamic, efficient and accountable apparatus
for
public
service delivery built on the public service ethos
and
values
of
integrity, equity and neutrality.
THE HISTORY
of
higher civil service reforms in post-Independence period
is full
of
half-hearted and feeble attempts. The framework
of
reforming
civil services should be holistic and also include questions regarding
integrity, competencies and accountability
of
the services. Any piecemeal
approach, as in the past, is bound to prove futile. The Civil Services
Examination Committee (Y. K. Alagh Committee) in its report submitted
in 2001 observed, "
..............
that recruitment, training and management
of
the civil services are interrelated components
of
the same system and
one cannot succeed without the other. Any effort to rectify only one aspect
to the exclusion
of
others will mean trying to cure the symptom rather than
the disease." 1
The paramount need
of
the day obviously is to take purposive action
to restore confidence in national institutions and to re-establish the
credibility
of
higher civil services. Performance alone will reverse the trend
and restore faith in administration. The bureaucracy must cleanse itself,
refashion its operating culture and
off
er
convincing proof
of
its ability to
handle situations and solve problems. Also, it has to show itself to be more
sensitive, responsive and vulnerable to the changes in the socio-economic
1Report
of
the Civil Services Examination Review Committee
(Y.
K.
Alagh Committee),
p. 4, 2001.
62 I INDIAN JOURNAL
OF
PUBLIC ADMINJSTRATION
VOL.
LX,
NO.
1.
JANUARY-MARCH 2014
environment and to the urges and aspirations
of
the common masses. Instead
of
spending a disproportionately large part
of
its time in dealing with
contingencies it must be alive to emerging situations and deal with
unanticipated tum
of
events. It means that it has to be seriously taken to
research in policy planning. Today, the entire area
of
policy making
in
India remains unchanged and in many sectors
of
national life it
is
difficult
to say
if
a definite policy does exist.
In recent times, there has been accelerated changes globally, brought
about by technological advances, liberalisation, greater decentralisation
and social activism. A primary challenge before the government is to exploit
the advantages
of
globalisation and international interdependence to foster
economic growth while preserving sovereignty and remaining focused on
economic development. The ramifications
of
global changes are being felt
by the government in the form
of
increasing citizen expectations for better
governance through effective service delivery, transparency, accountability
and rule
of
law. The civil service,
as
the executive arm
of
government,
must keep pace with the changing times
in
order to meet the aspirations
of
the people. The purpose
of
reform is also to raise the quality
of
public
services delivered to the citizens and enhance the capacity to carry out
core government functions, thereby, leading to suitable development.
The main components
of
civil service reforms should pertain to the
following:
Civil Se-rvices Perfonnance System
The present promotion system
in
civil service
is
based on time-scale
and is coupled by its security
of
tenure. These elements
in
our civil service
are making the dynamic civil servants complacent and many
of
the promotions
are based upon the patronage system. The non-inclusion
of
incentives or
disincentives for performance is a major drawback for civil services and
is
making Indian civil service largely unaccountable to the state.
Civil servants are
not
only
recruited through open
competitive
examination, but certain officials from the state governments are also being
promoted. The whole idea
of
All India Civil Services gets lost when other
state officials are promoted to the rank
of
All India Services and work
in
the state itself. This is really a retrograde step. It should be made mandatory
for the officers who are thus promoted to serve in other states to keep the
idea
of
creating a working All India Civil Services.
These promotions should be merit based and the respective authorities
have to benchmark the best practices and evaluate the performance
of
the
civil servants both qualitatively and quantitatively with a variety
of
parameters. The performance appraisal
of
civil servants has to be according
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