New Delhi: Six years ago, when the Centre announced its ambitious lateral entry scheme for recruitment to government positions, a fierce debate on “generalists” versus “domain experts” broke out in the country.
In a sharply-worded letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) Association said that officers in non-IAS civil services were domain experts too but went ignored due to the “arbitrary and discriminatory system of empanelment and selection of officers at higher levels in the government” — which favoured the IAS. The government, it said, should use in-house domain expertise it already has, not just the private sector.
Ten years into the Modi government, non-IAS officers form the clear majority at the level of joint secretaries, often considered the most significant position in the central government. According to data ThePrint obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, out of the 236 joint secretaries serving at the Centre, 156 officers—over 66 percent—are non-IAS.
The relatively low-profile railway services benefitted the most from IAS officers’ diminishing dominance. Thirty-two of the joint secretaries currently serving in the central government are from various streams of the railway services. The Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering (IRSME), the Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSSE), and the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) are among these streams.
Close on the heels of the railway services is the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), with its 23 IRS officers—seven officers from the IRS (Customs and Indirect Taxes) and 16 officers from the IRS (Income Tax).
The much less glamorous Central Secretariat Service (CSS) — often known as the permanent bureaucracy as, unlike other civil servants, officers of the CSS stay in the central government in New Delhi — comes a close third. Twenty-one CSS officers are currently serving as joint secretaries. Meanwhile, officers of the Indian Forest Service (IFoS), Indian Accounts and Audit Service (IA&AS), and Indian Postal Service (IPoS) account for 16, 12 and 8 of the total joint secretaries, respectively.
The numbers show a complete makeover at one of the most pivotal positions in the Indian bureaucracy compared to how IAS officers dominated these positions five or six years ago.
Of course, the makeover is a cause for celebration for the non-IAS officers, who have been treated as inferior to their IAS counterparts for decades. From government to post-retirement roles, the IAS officers have held sway over the most plum jobs for a long time.
But, under the prime ministership of Narendra Modi, who has criticised “generalist” IAS officers running every department and ministry in the government from the floor of the Parliament, that is no longer the case.
However, the induction of non-IAS officers in central government ranks did not translate into a push for domain expertise within the government. According to data obtained through the RTI, officers from specialised services such as accounts and audit, railways, forest, revenue, etc., are appointed in ministries having little to do with their domains.
While non-IAS officers feel the change has been a long time coming, IAS officers, who keep shuttling between states and the Centre, see a deliberate attempt to sideline their services, making them politically less committed to one dispensation.
As pointed out by a retired IAS officer, unlike IAS and IPS officers, officers of the Central Civil Services, which includes the other government services, are entirely the “creatures of the Centre”, making them more “committed” to the central dispensation.
Railways & revenue are new favourites of govt
The reason why non-IAS officers are flourishing, several officers say, is that the Modi government rewards merit over service.
As a railway officer working as a joint secretary in one of the central ministries put it: “For my seniors, going to ministries, which have nothing to do with railways, on deputation — where you are actually responsible for making national policies would have been unimaginable. It was not even something that railways officers aspired to because everyone knew that both the political dispensation and the IAS lobby won’t let it happen at any cost.”
An IRS officer said, “Truth is Central Civil Services officers perform exceptionally well in ministries because they are not as entitled and are ready to put in as much time and effort as needed.”
“Even without the perks, which have reduced considerably in the Modi government, they are ready to slog,” he added.
While the railways and revenue service officers account for only 13.5 percent and 10 percent of the total joint secretaries in the government, respectively, these numbers are much higher than what previously could have been imagined.
“The railways has a huge cadre, and therefore, the government has a huge pool of officers to pick from,” a railways officer said. “We had eight (specialised service) cadres within the railways; that makes it a cadre of about 10,000 officers (in total)…So, even if the government picks one officer from each service every year, our numbers go up,” he said.
Besides, railway officers never shy away from work—a key asset for the central government. “The railways is a 24×7 organisation, so a railway officer does not mind coming to work on Saturdays and staying in the office until very late…They can outperform anyone when it comes to effort.”
The IRS officer mentioned above said the Modi government should get the credit for the change. “When it (the government) picks Sushil Chandra (a former IRS officer) as the chief election commissioner, K.V. Chowdary as the chief vigilance commissioner, or S.K. Mishra as the director of the Enforcement Directorate, the message is clear—it wants performers, not just the IAS tag,” he said.
Asked why IRS officers, in particular, are preferred in the key roles by the government, the officer said, “As IRS officers, we have enormous experience in filings, notings, making submissions, correspondences, analysis, etc., from day one of our careers. In ministries, this experience comes very handy—much more than running districts.”
“Whenever officers from the Central Civil Services are sent to the central ministries, they really perform very well,” he added.
But, now in demand are not just the railway or revenue officers.
Officers from much lesser-known and coveted services such as the Indian Audit & Accounts Service (IA&AS) and Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS), among several others, are currently occupying key positions in ministries such as defence, home, law and justice, water resources, to name just a few.
Incidentally, one of the recommendations made in the 100-day agenda of the Modi government for the period after the Lok Sabha elections in June this year was to merge the above-mentioned smaller services to increase efficiency and reduce redundancy in the government.
No push for domain expertise
Six years after the Modi government announced the lateral entry scheme, only three laterally recruited officers are working as joint secretaries now. While the tenures of the first batch of lateral entrants ended, the government recently was forced to withdraw its recent advertisement for lateral entry — including for ten joint secretary-level positions. However, the absence of domain expertise is not just due to lateral entry.
The sustained position of non-IAS officers has been that they are domain experts, and IAS officers are generalists, and, therefore, they should be the ones making policy in their respective domains. By this logic, the Indian Police Service officers should man the home ministry, the Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officers should man the environment ministry, and IRS officers and those from services such as audit and accounts should man the finance ministry.
However, despite the increased representation of non-IAS officers in the central ministry, there is no visible attempt at matching domain expertise and appointments. Consider this: the lone IPS officer posted as joint secretary is in the AYUSH ministry.
IFoS officers are in ministries ranging from health to road, transport and highways. Officers of the Information Service are in ministries such as labour and employment and higher education. Meanwhile, railway officers are in ministries, ranging from food and public distribution to rural development and culture.
“There is no domain expertise in these appointments,” pointed out an IAS officer. “Bringing them is just a way to break the morale of IAS officers, who the government has had suspicion towards from the beginning.”
“There is a certain kind of dynamism that IAS officers bring to the table. But given that the position of the JS has ceased to be a position of actual decision-making and turned into a position of just executing decisions made in a very centralised system, there is no dynamism required in the job,” he said.
Moreover, there are also murmurs that the increased representation of Central Civil Service (CCS) has to do with the fact that they are more “pliable” than IAS officers.
A retired IAS officer said, “IAS officers by definition have political flexibility, unlike officers of the railways, revenue and other services, who report to the Centre from the beginning to the end of their careers…The central service officers are entirely the creatures of the Centre, so it is easier for the government to get them to do its bidding.”
A changed culture
The Modi government has not only overhauled the Indian bureaucracy but also completely changed its culture, officers say.
“The days when IAS officers could exude enormous power in the government and still go off to play golf at 5 pm are gone,” said the IRS officer. “The Centre, now, makes its officers slog—they have to log in by 9.30 pm and go home late in the evenings…As a result, IAS officers don’t want to come to the Centre because there is so much more comfort and status in the states,” he added.
If one looks at the number of non-IAS officers at director levels, the numbers, the officer said, would be even more astonishing.
The railway officer quoted earlier echoed the sentiment. “The position of the JS is not what it used to be during the UPA years,” the officer said. “There is enormous surveillance in the government at the Centre, a lot of work, and diminished say. Non-IAS officers who are happy to work without power, which comes with being a DM of a district, are happy to slog quietly.”
Persisting disparity
In 2015, the 7th Central Pay Commission, in a jolt for IAS officers, came down heavily on them. Weighing in on the perennial debate in the Indian bureaucracy, it argued, “The main cause for resentment among services is that over a period, IAS has arrogated to itself all power of governance and relegated all other services to secondary position… It is time that the government takes a call that subject domain should be the criteria to man the posts and not a generalist.”
One of the biggest complaints of the non-IAS officers has been the allegedly discriminatory empanelment rules that favour the IAS. IAS officers are typically promoted two years earlier than officers in other services, receive two more increments, and are empanelled for positions in central ministries far earlier in their careers than their non-IAS counterparts.
The difference also becomes clear when comparing the last batches of officers serving as joint secretaries across services. For IAS, it is the 2008 batch. For the Indian Information Service, IFoS, CSS, and ICAS, it is the 1998, 2003, 1999, and 2000 batches, respectively.
Speaking of this disparity, the IRS officer quoted earlier said, “This shows clearly how the system has been manipulated and controlled by the IAS lobby for years such that they have successfully ensured that no other service flourishes.”
“Even now, they control ministries such as DoPT, PMO, Cabinet Secretariat, etc. entirely to ensure these changes are not institutionalised,” the officer added.
However, the diminishing numbers of IAS officers in the government could adversely impact governance in the long term, said former finance secretary Arvind Mayaram. Their shuttling between the Centre and the states leads to a nationwide consistency and reflection of central government policies at the state levels, explained Mayaram.
“Considering diversity, it is necessary that ground realities get reflected in the policies. That is why IAS officers must go to the states for some years before returning to the Government of India after every five-year central deputation,” Mayaram said. “Central service officers do not bring that experience to the table. It is not a reflection of their competence. It is their work experience that is telescopic and of a specialised nature,” he added.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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