Examine the key issues in the present cadre-based organization of Civil Services in India. To what extent, the government's proposed policy addresses these issues? Do you think that such a policy would help in national integration also?
Bureaucracy plays an important part in administration. For administrative convenience Offices of All India Services are organized into cadres.
Issues related to cadre based organization
- One’s a cadre allocation is done the Civil Servant will have to spend a major part of its service into that allocated cadre. This permanency sometime results in inefficiency and ineffectiveness in the working of civil servants.
- Also due to permanent nature of cadre sometime there is collusion between bureaucrats & local politicians
- Cadre based restrictions limit the scope of sharing of best practices.
- Limited talent pool of persons to important positions in government.
- The mechanism of allocation has acted as a hindrance for lateral entry.
Government recent policy on Cadre allocation
As per the new policy 26 existing cadres will be divided into 5 Zones and candidates will have to indicate states from each zone. However, the allocation to a particular state will be done on the basis of merit, preference, and vacancy.
However, the cadre allocation policy does not talk about performance evaluation as well as about lateral entry
Role in national integration
The rationale behind new policy is that this zone based allocation will ensure that officer from a particular state for example from north India will get a chance to work in south and north east which may not be a place of domicile. Therefore the policy will ensure national integration of bureaucracy. This will also give them varied experience.
This is a good initiative. However such initiatives should be embedded with other reforms like lateral entry , early exit , incentive based on performance to ensure a robust bureaucracy. A nation can be as good as the people who serve it.
Topics: GS-II: Role of Civil Services in Democracy