Satyananda Mishra is a former IAS officer (1973-batch) who retired as secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in the government of India.
As soon as I read the article I wondered who can weave lies so clearly. I read the name and things became crystal clear . People ask what is in the name, but in India actually everything is in the name. Out of 100 plus secretaries how many come from obc ? Around 2 or 3 earlier it was 0. Leave out the SC and ST who face even more discrimination. This author a defender of the false Merit argument tries so hard. But the truth lies in who is writing the article
The description of the service and the perks seemed to be tailor-made to attract expats to serve in distant colonies during the Raj. Last I checked, the British left India over 75 years ago. What is the reason for such perks, lack of accountability, and employment guarantee? Civil servants are neither civil nor consider themselves servants of the public. Along with the politicians, they are like modern-day maharajas lording over the populace. This antiquated institution requires a major rethink.
Author has made a valiant effort to promote a myth that the postings and promotions in the All India Services are caste-neutral and only the officers in subordinate cadres belonging to the SC/ST communities are occasionally discriminated against and not the IAS and IPS officers when he says that The government officers from the SC and ST communities sometimes face discrimination in promotion and postings, just as women officers and those from minority communities might. However, such discrimination is, by and large, limited to subordinate cadres and levels. The All India Service officers, irrespective of their caste, gender, or religion, are promoted in a time-bound manner.
Experience of SC/ST officers in the IAS and IPS has different story to tell and data also indicates otherwise. Secondly, only IAS officers get time-bound promotions, every year on January first but not officers belonging to the other two Services. And who blocks their time-bound promotions, is not a secret. There is a conflict of interest here which cannot be explained in comments like this. Can someone tell who was the last SC officer who became CBI Director and when? Or for that matter as Home Secretary or Finance Secretary?
Kathryn Victoria Bahnken Doner has documented this discrimination in an article titled as Seventy Years Later: Caste in the Indian Bureaucracy.
Donor has insightfully noted in the abstract that Specifically, the upper tiers of the bureaucracy remain dominated by caste elites as during the colonial era. The factors that prevent such diversification of the Indian administrative bureaucracy include rigid social stereotypes about caste-oppressed groups, internal resistance to affirmative action initiatives, as well as institutional obstacles to the entry and promotion of historically oppressed castes.
Article is mainly about the IAS. Situation is much worst in the IPS.
We should stop pretending that the system provides equal opportunities to the SC officers to grow in the AIS and there is no discrimination against them. Discrimination is a reality.
As soon as I read the article I wondered who can weave lies so clearly. I read the name and things became crystal clear . People ask what is in the name, but in India actually everything is in the name. Out of 100 plus secretaries how many come from obc ? Around 2 or 3 earlier it was 0. Leave out the SC and ST who face even more discrimination. This author a defender of the false Merit argument tries so hard. But the truth lies in who is writing the article
The description of the service and the perks seemed to be tailor-made to attract expats to serve in distant colonies during the Raj. Last I checked, the British left India over 75 years ago. What is the reason for such perks, lack of accountability, and employment guarantee? Civil servants are neither civil nor consider themselves servants of the public. Along with the politicians, they are like modern-day maharajas lording over the populace. This antiquated institution requires a major rethink.
Author has made a valiant effort to promote a myth that the postings and promotions in the All India Services are caste-neutral and only the officers in subordinate cadres belonging to the SC/ST communities are occasionally discriminated against and not the IAS and IPS officers when he says that The government officers from the SC and ST communities sometimes face discrimination in promotion and postings, just as women officers and those from minority communities might. However, such discrimination is, by and large, limited to subordinate cadres and levels. The All India Service officers, irrespective of their caste, gender, or religion, are promoted in a time-bound manner.
Experience of SC/ST officers in the IAS and IPS has different story to tell and data also indicates otherwise. Secondly, only IAS officers get time-bound promotions, every year on January first but not officers belonging to the other two Services. And who blocks their time-bound promotions, is not a secret. There is a conflict of interest here which cannot be explained in comments like this. Can someone tell who was the last SC officer who became CBI Director and when? Or for that matter as Home Secretary or Finance Secretary?
Kathryn Victoria Bahnken Doner has documented this discrimination in an article titled as Seventy Years Later: Caste in the Indian Bureaucracy.
Donor has insightfully noted in the abstract that Specifically, the upper tiers of the bureaucracy remain dominated by caste elites as during the colonial era. The factors that prevent such diversification of the Indian administrative bureaucracy include rigid social stereotypes about caste-oppressed groups, internal resistance to affirmative action initiatives, as well as institutional obstacles to the entry and promotion of historically oppressed castes.
Article is mainly about the IAS. Situation is much worst in the IPS.
We should stop pretending that the system provides equal opportunities to the SC officers to grow in the AIS and there is no discrimination against them. Discrimination is a reality.