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Not just Kota factories, we need to talk about delayed induction of state officers to IAS

State civil service officers constitute one-third of the total strength of the IAS, but few rise to fill the vacancies in the IAS and IPS.

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Much like Bollywood and cricket, the IAS coaching industry occupies an important space in media and OTT platforms like Netflix. This multi-crore, multi-starrer enterprise, with photoshopped images of ex-secretaries, ambassadors, and members of the UPSC, including a former chairman offering their expert guidance to ‘crack’ the exam has also added to the mystique and star value of those who succeed. Having said this, the ‘ethicality’ of these centres charging money for the Personality Test and the compulsory Ethics paper in the civil services speaks volumes about the fierce competition that exists in this IAS entrance exam market.

As such, in addition to the multiple announcements on how to make it to the IAS, not a week passes by without an editorial or an opinion article on what the IAS is, what it should be, and why it must be restructured and reformed. Officers who have superannuated and enjoyed sinecures (or are looking for one), are quite active in print and electronic media, as well as on the blogging circuit – either being critical of or marshalling facts to defend the Service. The recent debate between D. Subbarao, the former governor of RBI, and Deepak Gupta, the former chairman of UPSC, is a pointer. The debate on the salience of the IAS to the governance of the country makes for a ‘good copy,’ and the Centre and states slug it out on the issue of ‘control’ over the postings of the officers. Members of Parliament raise questions about vacancies and governance experts talk about lateral entry to meet the cadre deficit.

However, what is not discussed at length – either in newspaper columns, in parliamentary debates or in the discourse on administration – is the delayed induction of state civil service officers to the IAS. They constitute one-third of the total strength of the IAS. Of the sanctioned strength of 6,746 officers, only 5,231 posts are filled today thereby implying a shortage of 22.5 per cent. Of these, 3,787 are direct recruits, and 1,444 have been promoted from the state services.


Also read: Too many IAS chief secretaries, not enough posts — Indian states have a problem


History of states sending officers

Let us delve into the history of state civil services, which has attracted some very bright and talented minds in the country – from Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay to Morarji Desai to Sri Lal Shukla – simply because even though simultaneous examinations for the Indian Civil Service (ICS) were started in Allahabad a century ago, it was an examination for the rich, resourceful and powerful. In fact, those who took the exam in London had better chances on account of the quota system for the two centres. Moreover, the work of managing the districts – on the civil, revenue and judicial sides – required a larger cadre of officers than could be provided by the ICS. Even today, almost all revenue and development officers at the sub-divisional level and about 50 per cent of officers at the district level (District Magistrates, Additional District Magistrates, Chief Development Officers, and Executive officers of Zilla Panchayats) are held by officers belonging to or promoted to the IAS from the state civil service.

The organised recruitment to the state civil services followed the demands of the Indian National Congress, the Indian Association, and the British Indian Association. In 1886, the Aitchison Commission recommended the establishment of a Provincial Civil Service partly by direct recruitment, preferably through a competitive examination for the executive branch, and by nomination from the Bar for the judiciary.

The Islington Commission’s (1912-25) recommendation for a minimum of 25 per cent Indians in the superior posts of the ICS (excluding Indians selected in the London-based) included appointments made by the promotion of officers from the Provincial Services, as well as direct appointments to superior judicial posts from the Bar. The Montagu-Chelmsford Report (1918) proposed that the ICS examination should also be held in India for 33 per cent of the superior posts and that this percentage should increase by 1.5 per cent annually. The first ICS exam was held at the Law College Allahabad in February-March 1922.

As the number of Indians qualifying for the ICS increased, the nominations from the Provincial Services to the ‘listed posts’ in the ICS were brought down from 25 to 20 per cent. The Lee Commission of 1924 proposed that 40 per cent of future entrants should be British, 40 per cent Indians directly recruited, and 20 per cent Indians promoted from the Provincial Services. In Sardar Patel’s meeting with the Premiers of the 11 Indian provinces in 1946, the quota for promotion was again increased to 25 per cent. The first Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) chaired by Morarji Desai recommended that in view of the increase in numbers of state civil service officers in comparison to the IAS, the quota should be enhanced to 40 per cent.


Also read: More women are becoming IAS officers, but only a few get the prize post: District Collector


A new template

Meanwhile, in May 2013, based on the recommendation of the second ARC, and the UPSC, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) wrote to states seeking their views on changing existing rules to select officers from states for three All India Services – IAS, IPS and the Forest Service. The new scheme envisaged that the state civil service officer should appear for a written examination comprising two papers – an aptitude test and a general studies paper with state-specific questions, followed by an interview and assessment of ACRs by the UPSC.

The weightage of written examination would be 30 per cent, length of service 25 per cent, ACR 25 per cent and interview 20 per cent. While the younger officers of the state civil services welcomed the move, the seniors who had waited for decades to be inducted into the IAS were able to scuttle it. The move could have ensured timely induction of officers in a transparent and fast manner. Had this reform been accepted, the existing vacancies in the IAS and the IPS could also have been filled. Perhaps one way out of the impasse could be to fill half the state civil service quota through the Limited Competitive Examination, and the other half through the existing ‘time-scale method.’

Sanjeev Chopra is a historian and Festival Director of Valley of Words. Till recently, he was the Director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. He tweets @ChopraSanjeev. Views are personal.

This article is part of ‘State of the State‘ series that analyses policy, civil services, and governance in India. 

(Edited by Neera Majumdar)

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