Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Good thinking by the Government' that was published in Newsband

Good thinking by the Government

Will experienced officers from various Central and State services be considered by the government for the level of joint secretary to tide over the shortfall of experienced IAS officers? That is what the government is thinking of doing. The IAS-dominated top bureaucracy must wholeheartedly support this move.

But while making this move, the following things should be considered: (1) Capability and skills, particularly in the middle-to-top echelons of the bureaucracy, have to be improved and (2) Direct hires of experienced professionals, particularly from the private sector, is also required.

The move to seek lateral movement is aimed at filling vacancies caused by a shortfall of eligible IAS officers. The bureaucracy and the political class need to recognise that the time for old style governance — where policymaking is mostly in the domain of the administrative structure that was created by the British to govern India — is no longer either effective or efficient.

Appointing experienced officers from the State domain to fill up the vacancies for experienced IAS officers in the main stream as a lateral source is a welcome move since the dearth of such needed talent could be coped up from internal sources, eagerly awaiting to main stream service. But this recruitment

Even though the needed sophisticated man power could be obtained from internal sources they are also bureaucrats and they will deliver their specialities subject to the constraints of bureaucratism. Anyhow, the needed manpower can be procured from lateral sources. But the Government must not set aside the private sources and it may be tried on trial basis.