INDIA’S INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT TO UNITE NATIONS

STUDY GUIDE
COMMITTEE: NITI AAYOG
AGENDA: DISCUSSING LATERAL ENTRY INTO
BUREAUCRACY
 MANDATE

National Institution for Transforming India or NITI is a public policy institution established by the
Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The main agenda
widens the opportunities to achieve sustainable goals in cooperation with the state government and
central government. It was established in 2015 replacing the planning commission of India in order
to bring up modern strategies to the administration such as artificial intelligence. NITI Aayog has a
vision of a 15 year and 7 year action plan in various sustainable goal achievement.
Council Members:
● State and UT(s) Chief Minister(s)
● Lieutenant Governors of all UTs.
● Vice chairman
● Chairperson - Prime Minister

INTRODUCTION

Status of Indian Bureaucracy

The civil services has always played a major part in past years in India, it's more than a political
agenda. The public servants tend to work orderly for public needs. 7 years after the BJP came
into power the civil services had undergone many severe changes. While the opposition claims
this decision is not accurate enough, this makes more opportunities for political organisations.
Indian Civil Services has been serving the nation for quite a long time, the threats for the
officials has been a major issue and very big question to the ruling party. As some of the honest
officers had done their service orderly they are having serious threats from the wrongdoers, the
government is not looking forward to this issue earnestly. Not specifying a particular party this
issue has been for decades. Activists are raising the concerns regarding the security of IAS
officers.

While some claim a recent move by the ruling party as Lateral Entry. The Government has
appointed public servants from outside the body. These appointments left 20 percent of vacant
positions of civil servants all over the country. The blame of civil servants for lack of
development in every sector is one of the main sources and reasons for the economy of India as
these encourage and help the companies to emerge across the state. The international trade also
plays major parts in development where the civil servants are being held accountable on charges
of corruption and inoperative service.

While privatisation is one of the major roles, the BJP government has replaced the planning
commission with the National Institution for Transforming India or NITI Aayog. And sources
claim the government will privatise the Indian Administrative services.

Recent lateral entries : UPSC had received around 6000 applications for joint secretaries and this
application was unreserved which created a chaos situation by both local and national
activistsactivists.

Lateral Entry1

Later after 90s the Privatisation era was begun and this was done to privatise the public services.
It brought major drift for Independent India. The current government under Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has brought this era to further action as many of the government bodies are being
privatised and now considering the privatisation of planning commission into NITI aayog and
this was a major step and indication of lateral entry into indian bureaucracy. This change will
make a huge difference while some claim it encourages corruption. The government recently
opened the applications for 10 joint secretary level posts2 from individuals from the private
sector who are experts in certain areas (for eg finance, revenue, planning). The government
claims that the private expertise has a wider network of ideology and approach and this will help
in the development of the nation in the individual aspect. The government also intends to widen
the network of private recruitment for the agricultural sector, transport, forests, climate change
etc. The major scenario of the Indian government is the privatization of Civil Aviation. This
brings more professionalism for the governmental body in the future as well as now.

1
https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/lateral-entry-reform
2
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/govt-opens-up-10-joint-secretary-level-posts-to-private-sector-5211944/
These positions are concerned over the political war over the positioning of the enemy, this will
result in a slow development process.

● The individuals who are recruited to the services would serve for the term being 3-5 years

Reserved or Unreserved

The lateral entry into Indian bureaucracy, this is one of the higher positions of recruitment that
needs professionalism. The skilled and deserved should be on table and on ground as well.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has made it clear that there will be no
reservations in the single post cadre. As it mentioned that reservations will not be accurate to
maintain smooth upbringing of the concerned sectors.

The activists had protested for this particular step taken by the government. The protestors have
mentioned that this was the government plan to give entries for their preferred officers.

Reasons for Lateral Entry

Lateral entry into bureaucracy as per the government of India was specified publicly. The lateral
entry will bring up fresh and new talent in the system and it will help in development of the
economy and the services of that particular branch of organization.

● The government also states that this brings values and increases efficiency of public
servants which will result in better evolution of the nation.
● Culture of the private sectors are very accurate hence if the culture is being used in the
government body then it would result in better problem solving outcomes and can be
implemented accordingly.
● The agriculture sector would be much more developed as private organizations would
have the developmental power to handle the problems of every single corner.
Criticism

The criticism for this particular move of the government has started from the unreserved
recruitment as the caste system is one of the sensitive areas of Indian constitution. The activists
protested against this era as the reservations are not being specified when it comes to the hiring
of the officers. Some of them claim this to open the holding for the political era and not
considering the enemies of the ruling party.

The UPSC was being questioned for not being accurate enough for the hiring of young talent and
eligible candidates for the civil services. UPSC is one of the toughest examinations in India and
the opposition adds and questions the government of not precisely taking advantage of
candidates who had appeared for the exam. Adding to this the opposition also criticized the
government for not choosing the officers from the UPSC and hand picking system are being
used.

HISTORY

Although the revenues have been enlisted by the Government of India (GOI) it contributed to
stretch its role extravagantly in the anti poverty programs but not only the social sector, such as
educational, health, tribal welfare, that moreover implemented new sectors such as
telecommunications, information technology, climate change and road transportation.

The senior officials were unwilling to send the IAS officers, as due to lack of senior officials for
central deputation, that would unfortunately create a heavy bizarre headache in the arena of the
officials reputation. Such as an officer working in the railway track, also working in the joint
sector for the health department , also as an ordinance service the officer finds himself in the
tribal affairs. However there are no officials perfect at its domain knowledge, thereby creating
an emphasis on effective policy making and delivery. These certain types of goals fulfil the
failure in achieving the millennium development goals (MDG) such as hunger, health,
malnutrition, sanitation, and gender. As no official can neither design an effective development
nor implementation is accountable.

Procuring the above situation is solved by helping the officials to join in civil services in states.
They are mainly shuffled after short tenures from one department to another departments to
inculcate the technical aspects of the problems and gaining the expertise understanding of the
profession.

For instance, back in the day forwarding years back in uttar pradesh against one chief secretary
there were 18 officers equivalent but far less important posts with the same drawing salary.
Stagnation hence created a problem in the inverted pyramid structure that was hereby created to
avoid demoralisation but the net result has been total opposite.

● This Led to a cutthroat competition that opened up important slots. Where the old
camaraderie has vanished.Instances are not lacking when IAS officers wanting plum job
have gone to the politicians denigrating their competitors
● No holding barred competition exploited by the politicians in pitting one against another
officers becoming more pliable toward the lure of post retirement sinecures that further
increased the number of officers willing to crawl and asking to bend.

However, the government needlessly promotes the internal specialisation by insisting on one
table of tenures in the states so as to make it easier for the officers to gain an expertise in the
chosen sectors. The IAS officers worked in the civil district level and the medical state
development would be far more effective than the joint secretary in ministry of health and family
welfare than one doctor in a particular specialisation. It's counterproductive to fill up the senior
positions with career civil servants, after 10 years of service they should be civilised to work in
one or two sectors by not only giving them long tenures but even permitting them to join
academic or research organisations where they could improve their intellectual skills.
IAS officers should take the entry of 10 outsiders as a challenge because if they do not improve
their performance, there could be repetition of such recruitment every year.

CURRENT SCENARIO

After the announcement of the ambitious plan to reform the civil services by bringing the fresh
talent through the lateral entry process, however no improvement has been seen in the last 2
years after the announcement made by Narendra Modi seems to have lost steam ever since. Some
more ambitious and radical recommendations with regard to lateral entry were put on the
backburner by the government. As the current system of having generalists at all levels of
government is flawed, bringing domains outside of IAS will improvise the decision making and
delivery scenes for India's governance.

There is some consternation and disapproval by the central government’s appointment of nine
joint secretaries from outside of the civil services. To give an analogy, century ago many
practitioners for treating all kinds of ailments, as depending from outside is completely not really
desirable, it is clearly evident by the lack of human expertise has led to a rising situation where
the government is poorly poorly in motivating, incentivising, evaluating and punishing its
officials.

Selection of Lateral Entries

The entry selection of a lateral entry is an important concern that will not be transparent. The
criterion for selection is now determined by experts. As for the new levels opened in Ministries
of agriculture and farmers welfare, commerce, industry and finance. These lateral entrants will
now require 15 years of experience in the above mentioned field for the position of joint
secretaries and 10 years of experience for the position of directors.
This would serve as a twin purpose in bringing domain expertise in civil services and addressing
the rights of officials and the shortage of problems faced by IAS officers.

Lateral Entries Recently

For a very long time there was no push or any improvements in the proposals made by the
government and authorities, due to the world wide covid pandemic, which has been delayed.
With the versed intricacies, the government is now going to take quick action on the movement
of process to get completed as fast as possible due to high concerns of the authorities.

However it is claimed that the centre is facing a shortage of IAS officers as predicted in 2018
that has been grappling the government ever since then. The authorities are managing with 34%
of officers they should ideally have.

The empanelment policy was lately changed due to the surrounding situations, that tweaked its
policy makers to enhance that only one officer who has served the purpose of director or deputy
secretary for two year to become in the joint sector as official.

The recent lateral made of the eight professionals were recruited for joint secretary level
positions in various grounds of the lateral entry scheme. Where 30 positions were advised by
UPSC, 3 joint secretaries and 27 for the directory level.

SUGGESTED MODERATED CAUCUS TOPICS

1) Discussing the quality of professional services in the governmental bodies of India.

2) Reservation category in lateral entry
3) Discussing UPSC hiring individuals and what this will impact in the Lateral entry .
 4) How does unreserved decision will help in the administration
5) Corruption in civil services and how this will impact the nation worldwide.
6) Revisiting the incidents related to security of public servant
7) Government’s role in resource providing initiative .
8) Agricultural sector .Will privatisation help in improving the crop production and quality.
9) Political manipulation in Indian bureaucracy.
10) Criticism of lateral entry by opposition and how it makes sense in a diplomatic way.

RESEARCH LINKS

Note: Delegates, some of the links are only meant for light-reading and may not be accepted as a
source of proof in the council. The decision of the Presiding Officer in regards to the acceptable
sources will be final and binding.

1. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=
8&ved=2ahUKEwisv-DxkbrxAhUS4zgGHdqaDEsQFjAQegQIFhAD&url=https%3A%2
F%2Fthewire.in%2Fgovernment%2Flateral-entry-ias-competence&usg=AOvVaw177vm
JSLXPKNEoqYjdo_yz
2. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=
8&ved=2ahUKEwisv-DxkbrxAhUS4zgGHdqaDEsQFjASegQIDxAD&url=https%3A%2
F%2Fpib.gov.in%2FPressreleaseshare.aspx%3FPRID%3D1577176&usg=AOvVaw383b
92-EOYSzLeSzGjpqOc
3. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=
8&ved=2ahUKEwjRxuC4krrxAhVnyjgGHVPZBAgQFjAPegQIHRAD&url=https%3A
%2F%2Fwww.thehindu.com%2Fnews%2Fnational%2Fupsc-advertises-for-lateral-entry-
into-central-administration%2Farticle33814013.ece&usg=AOvVaw11lk1yEkyRJDjzISIw
Q3Yd
4. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=
8&ved=2ahUKEwi56prCkrrxAhXx4jgGHYcJDokQFjAMegQIIRAD&url=https%3A%2
F%2Fwww.business-standard.com%2Farticle%2Fcurrent-affairs%2Fstory-in-pictures-pr
os-cons-of-lateral-hiring-for-top-bureaucratic-posts-118061100376_1.html&usg=AOvVa
w3eKeXTHin-mE1R7tSYCbfU
5. https://thewire.in/government/lateral-entry-ias-competence
6. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-lateral-entry-into-bureaucracy-reas
on-process-and-controversy-7208943/
7. https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/lateral-entry-into-bureaucracy-reason-process-and-cont
roversy/
8. https://theprint.in/india/governance/modi-govt-gives-lateral-entry-a-fresh-push-wants-to-r
ecruit-30-senior-officers/599797/
9. https://m.timesofindia.com/india/9-professionals-selected-as-joint-secys-in-biggest-lateral
-induction-into-govt-service/amp_articleshow/68857597.cms
10. https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/here-are-the-9-professionals-
who-have-been-selected-as-joint-secys-in-govt-119041300427_1.html
11. https://theprint.in/india/governance/not-much-enthusiasm-for-modi-govts-latest-ias-latera
l-entry-push-just-about-1200-apply/653636/
12. https://www.livemint.com/news/india/lateral-entry-inadequate-to-fill-22-vacancies-gap-in
-ias-posts-11614539649134.html
13. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/upsc-advertises-for-lateral-entry-into-central-ad
ministration/article33814013.ece
14. https://www.jagranjosh.com/articles/lateral-entry-in-civil-services-meaning-advantages-d
isadvantages-1614608930-1
15. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/9-professionals-selected-as-joint-secys-in-bigge
st-lateral-induction-into-govt-service/articleshow/68857597.cms
16. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/30-central-posts-up-for-grabs-via-lateral-entry/a
rticleshow/80717075.cms
17. https://www.business-standard.com/podcast/economy-policy/understanding-lateral-entry-
in-civil-services-the-story-so-far-119041700284_1.html
18. https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2021/feb/06/applications-sought-for-lateral-en
try-ii-by-upsc-2260282.html
19. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/lateral-entry
20. https://www.news18.com/news/education-career/upsc-lateral-entry-recruitment-2021-ope
n-salary-up-to-rs-2-21-lakh-heres-how-to-apply-upsc-gov-in-3513545.html