UPSC IAS exam preparation - Indian Polity and Governance - Lecture 2

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The state of Indian bureaucracy

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

The Civil Services of India make up the bureaucracy, and plays a crucial role in policy formation and implementation.

The role and function of the bureaucracy in India has increased enormously. The normal function of the bureaucracy is to execute the policies of the Council of Ministers. Under the system of delegated legislation, the powers of bureaucracy are steadily increasing. As India has accepted the principle of welfare state, the economic and social functions of the State are steadily increasing. Every increase in the power of the government means a corresponding increase in the powers of the bureaucracy. It is on the successful and satisfactory functioning of the bureaucracy that the success of the government to a very large extent depends. However it has also been observed that a weak and indecisive parliament usually makes the bureaucracy more powerful. 

However in recent times, the relationship between the minister and the bureaucracy has been in a state of unstable equilibrium.

2.0 NATURE OF THE INDIAN BUREAUCRACY

The founding fathers of the Indian constitution were fully alive to the need for a well organized bureaucracy in India. Indeed, our bureaucracy is the inherited model from the British Raj. The constitution improved on the model left behind by the Raj.

India being a federation has a system of dual civil service; service under the Union and service under the State governments. In the words of Dr. Ambedkar “the dual polity is followed by a dual service in all federations”. Ambedkar emphasized that the Indian federation will have a dual service but with one exception. The constitution provides that without depriving the states of their right to form their own civil services, there shall be an All India Service, recruited on an All India basis with common qualifications, uniform scale of pay etc.

Thus the Civil service in India is divided into two categories: All India Services and the State Civil Service. Besides, the Article 312 of the Indian Constitution creates a special category of service which is common to both the Union and the State. Two services of this type are 

1. The Indian Administrative service and 
2. The Indian Police Service.

The All India Services are designed to give greater cohesion to the federal structure and to introduce greater efficiency in the administration of the Union and the States. Such an integrated Civil Service is a unique feature of the Indian political system. All India service further emphasises the unitary nature of the Indian state.

The members of the civil service are recruited on merit on the basis of competitive examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in case of All India Services, and by the respective State Public Service Commissions (SPSCs) in case of State services. The members of the services hold office during the pleasure of the President in case of All India Services and of the state governor in case of state services (Art. 310). But the pleasure of the President or the Governor cannot be arbitrary. Such pleasures are exercised subject to legal limitations stipulated by Art 311 of the Constitution. Recently the Supreme Court has come out with clarifications regarding the same.

3.0 ADVANTAGES OF BUREAUCRACY IN INDIA

The Civil Servant in India being the President's or the Governor's appointee, and serving during the President's or the Governor's pleasure, has to rise above party considerations. The bureaucrat takes order from the minister and acts accordingly within the limits of the constitution. The civil servants also being administrative experts, remind the minister about the feasibility or otherwise of a particular course of action. Thus the top civil servant has two duties towards his minister

1. He/she has to remind the minister whether or not a particular course of action is constitutionally permitted, and
2. Whether or not a particular course of action is practically feasible or not. The advice of the top civil servant on both counts is of immense value to the minister.

The Civil Service provides the permanent element in government. As the fortunes of the civil servants are not suppose to depend on political uncertinities, they can take a dispassionate view on political developments. Their long term view of national interest, not colored by immediate political considerations, gives the minister a glimpse of long term interest of the nation. However with many instances of transfers of civil service officers for various reasons this aspect has come under question.

The bureaucracy, through experience, knows what policy is or is not feasible. Hence the minister listens to the advice of the top civil servant(s) as to the desirability of a policy from an administrative point of view. Thus, in an ideal situation, the minister and the bureaucracy are mutually complementary - the minister contributing the policy decisions and the bureaucracy executing the decisions.

The bureaucracy in India works under the cloak of ministerial responsibility. For every act of the government, the minister is answerable to the Parliament. Though the bureaucracy executes government policies, they remain in splendid anonymity. They do not take part in Parliamentary debates nor are they members of political parties. The actions of the civil servants must be defended by the minister on the floor of the House. This system compels the minister to keep a close watch on the actions of the bureaucracy and the bureaucracy to behave in such a way that the minister is not put into difficulty.

4.0 Training Agencies in India

National Academy of Administration: It is the premier training institution in our country. It was established in 1959 at Mussoorie, a famous hill station in Uttaranchal. In 1972, it was renamed as the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. Presently, it is under the Ministry of Personnel. It provides the following training courses.

• A combined four months foundational course for all the probationers of All India Services and Group - A Central Services (except the Central Secretariat Service).
• Professional training for the IAS probationers (in two spells).
• In service training courses for officers of All-India and Central Services (Group-A). These are of two types-

1. Management Development Programme of 4 weeks duration for officers of 11 to 16 years of service.
2. Executive Development Programme of 6 weeks duration for officers of 6 to 10 years of service. 

• Short courses of one week to one month duration for senior officers.

National Police Academy: In 1948, the Central Police Training College was set up at Mount Abu in Rajasthan. During the internal emergency (1975-1977), it was shifted to Hyderabad and renamed as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy on the recommendation of the Kohli Committee of 1966. It provides the following training courses.

1. Professional (Institutional) Training for the IPS probationers.
2. Refresher courses for senior IPS officers.
3. Induction training for State Police Service Officers on their promotion to IPS. 
4. Special courses to train the trainers/instructors of police training institutions of the state police as well as paramilitary forces.

The academy is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs. It (the academy) also promotes study and research on police-related topics.

National Forest Academy: In 1938, the Indian Forest College was established at Dehradun. In 1987, it was renamed as Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy. It is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. It provides the following training courses:

1. Professional (institutional) training for the IFS probationers. 
2. In-service training courses for senior IFS Officers.
3. Induction training for State Forest Service Officers on their promotion to IFS.

Foreign Service Institute: In 1986, the Foreign Service Institute replaced the Indian School of International Studies in New Delhi. It provides the following training courses:

1. Professional training for the IFS probationers.
2. Refresh courses for senior IFS officers.
3. Orientation programmes for Heads of Missions.
4. Professional courses for foreign diplomats.
5. Short-term programmes for the staff of Ministry of External Affairs.

Institute of Secretariat Training and Management: In 1948, the Central Secretariat Training School was established at Delhi. In 1971, it was renamed as the Institute of Secretariat Training and Management. It provides the following training courses.

1. Foundational course and professional training for the new-entrants of the Central Secretariat Service.
2. Refresher courses for senior members of the Central Secretariat Service.
3. Specialised and sponsored training courses on various aspects of Secretariat administration. 

Indian Institute of Public Administration: It was set up at New Delhi in 1954 on the recommendation of Paul H. Appleby Report of 1953 on Indian Administration. It is a quasi-governmental body. It is engaged in the following activities:

1. Organising refresher courses (in-service training) for the officers of Central Government, State Governments and Public Undertakings. 
2. Administrative research.
3. Publication of Indian Journal of Public Administration. 
4. From 1975 onwards, it has been organising a nine months Advanced Professional Programme in public administration for senior civil servants.
5. Organises short term courses for university teachers in public administration. 

The Indian School of Public Administration which was a constituent part of Indian Institute of Public Administration since 1958 was abolished in 1968.

National Institute of Rural Development: In 1958, the Central Institute of Study and Research in Community Development was established at Hyderabad. In the mid 1970s, it was renamed as the National Institute of Rural Development. It is engaged in the following activities.

1. Organising short term orientation courses of 25 days for officers who are engaged in rural development administration.
2. Research in rural development.
3. Publication of material on rural development.

Administrative Staff College of India: It was set up at Hyderabad in 1957 on the recommendation of the All-India Council for Technical Education. It is developed on the pattern of the British Administrative Staff College located at Henley-on-Thames. It provides a four month training course for senior administrators drawn from both public and private sectors, that is, government, public enterprises, industry and business. It imparts training through participative techniques like syndicate method, group discussions, and so on. It is also engaged in administrative research. It is an autonomous body.

Other Training institutions: In addition to the above major training institutions, there are a number of other training institutions in India.They are listed below:

• Institute of Government Accounts and Finance, New Delhi. 
• Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal.
• National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science, New Delhi.
• National Civil Defence College, Nagpur.
• Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, New Delhi.
• National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore.
• National Informatics Centre Training Division. New Delhi.
• National Institute of Financial Management, Faridabad.
• National Law School, Bangalore.
• National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad.
• Post and Telegraph Training Centre, Saharanpur.
• Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Indore, Kozhikode and Lucknow
• All-India Institute of Local Self-Government, Mumbai
• Administrative Staff College for Educational Planners and Administrators, New Delhi
• Central Emergency Relief Training Institute, Nagpur
• Customs and Central Excise Training School, New Delhi
• Family Planning Training and Research Centre, New Delhi
• Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi
• Indian Institute of Mass Communications, New Delhi
• Institute of Applied Manpower Research, New Delhi
• National Institute of Health Administration and Education, New Delhi
• National Institute for Training in Industrial Engineering, Mumbai a  Small Industries Extension Training Institute, Hyderabad
• Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management, Pune
• Management Development Institute, Gurgaon
• National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi
• Central Labour Institute, Bombay
• National Fire Service College, Nagpur
• Defence Institute of Work Studies, Mussoorie
• Institute of Social and Economic Change, Bangalore
• Public Enterprises Centre for Continuing Education, New Delhi
• Regional Centres for Urban and Environmental Studies at Kolkata, Lucknow, Hyderabad and Mumbai
• Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies, New Delhi
• Indian Audit and Accounts Service Staff Training College, Simla
• Indian Revenue Service (Direct Taxes) Training Institute, Nagpur
• Railway Staff College, Baroda
• Postal Staff College, Ghaziabad (UP)
• National Forest Research Institute, Dehradun

5.0 Bureaucratic staffing in India

As on 2011, India had 18.5 million governments employees - 3.4 million with central government, 7.2 million with state governments, 5.8 million with PSUs, and 2.1 million with local governments. As a share of total employment (around 400 million) it was just 4.6%. However, as a share of organized sector employment, it stood at 62.2% in 2010. In contrast, in the US, governments now employ 15.9% of all Americans with jobs. The relevant statistical comparisons are 4.6% and 15.9%, which is itself a deceptively favourable comparison and with wide variations across states and departments.

Data compiled from multiple sources, including a 2008 official survey, Right to Information applications, media reports and the 2011 census show that India has 1,622.8 government servants for every 1,00,000 residents. In stark contrast, the U.S. has 7,681. The Central government, with 3.1 million employees, thus has 257 serving every 1,00,000 population, against the U.S. federal government's 840. This figure dips further if the 13,94,418 people working for the Railways, accounting for 44.81 per cent of the entire Central government workforce, are removed. Then, there are only about 125 central employees serving every 1,00,000 people. Information technology and communications services account for another 7.25 per cent of the Central government's staff.

For the most part though, India's relatively backward States have low numbers of public servants. Bihar has just 457.60 per 1,00,000, Madhya Pradesh 826.47, Uttar Pradesh has 801.67, Orissa 1,191.97 and Chhattisgarh 1,174.62. This is not to suggest there is a causal link between poverty and low levels of public servants: Gujarat has just 826.47 per 1,00,000 and Punjab 1,263.34. The data could explain, though, why even well-off States like these have found it tough to ensure universal primary education and eradicating poverty.

These deficiencies span across all levels. It is as much incorrect to say that Indian bureaucracy is top heavy as it is to say it bottom heavy. Or overstaffed at the center and understaffed at the states. It is understaffed at all levels.

5.1 Recruitment in Civil Services

In 1854, the British rulers introduced the principle of open competitive examination for entry into the Indian Civil Service (ICS). Although Indians had a right to sit for it, the only examination centre was in London and the system operated as a bar to those who could not afford to travel so far. The Indianisation of the ICS started only in 1922, when the entrance examination was held simultaneously in Allahabad, under pressure from the Indian National Congress. However, the ICS continued to be dominated by the British, and it was often denigrated as 'neither Indian, nor Civil, nor Service'. The 'Brown Sahibs', as the Indian civil servants used to be called, were in a difficult position. During the non-cooperation movement, they were tempted to align themselves with their white masters. Hence, after Independence, the loyalty of ICS officers was suspect. Public opinion was generally hostile to the ICS in view of its identification with foreign rule and its obstructing role during the freedom struggle. But Sardar Patel, the leader of the conservatives in Congress, did ultimately succeed in forcing his proposals down the throat of an unwilling Constituent Assembly. He advocated the importance of administrative continuity for the stability of the country. Finally, the institution was maintained under a new name, the Indian Administrative Service.

From enforcement of law and order and collection of revenue, the post-independence civil service has grown as an important tool for implementing national and state policies of welfare and planned economic development. These new tasks and objectives led to an increase in the size of the bureaucracy.

There was an urgent need to organise new recruitments after the depletion caused by the resignation of British civil servants and the emigration to Pakistan of many Muslim officers. Since Independence, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), in charge of the centrally-organised recruitment, conducts every year a combined civil service competitive examination on a nationwide basis. The minimum qualification demanded of eligible candidates is a Bachelor's degree in any discipline from any recognised university. Half of the seats are reserved for the depressed classes. The reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) are equal to their proportion in the total population, respectively 15 and 7.5%. The Other Backward Classes (OBC), who are more than half the Indian population, have benefited since 1993 from 27% of reserved seats, as the quota totals should not exceed 50%, according to a Supreme Court order aiming at preserving the merit principle. The 2nd ARC and the Alagh Commmittee in 2010 recommended changes in the exam pattern which have since been implemented. 

5.2 Affirmative action (Mandal vs. Kamandal debate)

Affirmative action for SCs and STs is a constitutional provision and is relatively well accepted by the rest of the population, since it has never threatened to revolutionise the social order. In contrast, the extension of civil service quotas for OBCs at the beginning of the 1990s created violent reactions among the upper castes. They protested against the loss of their supposedly hegemonic position in the higher administration, which they regarded as their monopoly, and against the challenging of a socio-political order they had always dominated. Their anger lessened as the opening up of the Indian economy (by PM Rao’s government) was offering them new avenues for employment in the private sector. But in 2006, the project of Manmohan Singh's government to extend the reservations for OBCs to the higher educational institutes (the Indian Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Management, the medical colleges), and to the private sector, gave a new impetus to the anti-reservation movement. Upper caste students argue that the quota system is contrary to the merit principle and jeopardises performance. To a large extent, this is not untrue.

6.0 Educational profile, social and geographic origins of I.A.S. officers

The recruits of the IAS belong to an educational elite, as well as a social elite, since even the lower caste candidates are usually part of the 'creamy layer'. From the primary level, there is a gap between the urban middle-class children who are sent to private English-medium schools, preferably to Christian missionary schools, and the rural children who attend the village public schools, and who are taught in vernacular. Two-thirds of the IAS officers of the surveyed sample did their primary education in cities, whereas 72% of the Indian population live in rural areas. 40% of the IAS officers studied in private schools, half of them in convent schools. One third studied in English-medium schools at the primary level, but two-thirds at the secondary level.

As far as higher education is concerned, 60% of the interviewed IAS are post-graduates, holding a Master's degree and sometimes even a PhD, whereas a simple graduation is enough for eligibility in the civil service examination. Those who fail at the first attempt, in fact the majority, and who want to sit again for the examination, generally pursue their studies in the meantime. That is why so many candidates are overqualified at the time of selection. The average age of entry into the civil service, which is now 27 years, has increased because of longer studies. The age limit for eligibility has been progressively extended to 30 years (with concessions for reserved categories), while it was only 24 during the two decades following Independence. In 2014, the Commission came out with new guidelines which further increased the age limit by 2 years for candidate subject to certain conditions. 

Until the 1980s, the university profile of the IAS officers used to be homogeneous and primarily based on humanities (Subramaniam 1971). But among the IAS recruited between 2001 and 2005, only one third were arts graduates, 13% science graduates, the majority holding a professional degree, with 25% engineers, 15% medical doctors, 8% managers (MBAs) and 6% lawyers (LBSNAA database). Economic reforms and more remunerative employment opportunities in the private sector were expected to make the civil service less attractive. Yet, that has not happened because the prestige of the civil service is still very high, and its members enjoy a status and influence in society that compensate for their comparatively low salaries.

In the 1950s and 1960s, most of the high-level civil servants were drawn from the well-off urban classes and belonged to the upper castes. While they form less than 6% of the Indian population, Brahmins were long overrepresented in the IAS where they occupied 40% of the seats on the average (Subramaniam 1971). The Brahmin hegemony in the higher civil service was challenged by the introduction of reserved seats for OBCs in the 1990s. After the Brahmins, the most represented in the IAS used to be the literary castes of scribes (Kayasthas). Coming next were the upwardly mobile landowning castes who had invested in their children's education. Some of them were later classified as OBCs, but the prosperous agrarian dominant castes are not entitled to reservations. 

They are nevertheless well represented in the IAS. In the beginning, the quotas for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were rarely filled, due to lack of qualified candidates. With the spread of education among them and the emergence of a middle class coming from lower castes, the reserved posts are presently being filled. 

7.0 CORRUPTION

A 2005 study done by Transparency International in India found that more than 62% of the people had firsthand experience of paying bribe or peddling influence to get a job done in a public office. Taxes and bribes are common between state borders; Transparency International estimates that truckers pay annually  222 billion (US$ 4.5 billion) in bribes.

Government regulators and police share in bribe money, each to the tune of 43% and 45% respectively. The en route stoppages including those at checkpoints and entry-points take up to 11 hours in a day. About 60% of these (forced) stoppages on road by concerned authorities such as government regulators, police, forest, sales and excise, octroi, weighing and measuring department are for extorting money. The loss in productivity due to these stoppages is an important national concern. 

The number of truck trips could increase by 40%, if forced delays are avoided. According to a 2007 World Bank published report, the travel time for a Delhi-Mumbai trip can be reduced by about 2 days per trip if the corruption and associated regulatory stoppages to extract bribes was eliminated.

 

A 2009 survey of the leading economies of Asia, revealed Indian bureaucracy to be not only the least efficient out of Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, China, Philippines and Indonesia, but also that working with India's civil servants was a "slow and painful" process.

7.1 Corruption methods 

7.1.1 Land and property: Officials are alleged to steal state property. In cities and villages throughout India, consisting of municipal and other government officials, elected politicians, judicial officers, real estate developers and law enforcement officials, acquire, develop and sell land in illegal ways.

7.1.2 Tendering processes and awarding contracts: A 2006 report claimed state-funded construction activities in Uttar Pradesh, such as road building, were dominated by construction mafias, which are groupings of corrupt public works officials, materials suppliers, politicians and construction contractors. The telecom scam, the Coalgate scam and corruption in the Commonwealth games are examples of the deficiencies in this system.

Corruption caused problems in government funded projects are not limited to the state of Uttar Pradesh. According to The World Bank, aid programmes are beset by corruption, bad administration and under-payments. As an example, the report cites only 40% of grain handed out for the poor reaches its intended target. The World Bank study finds that the public distribution programmes and social spending contracts have proven to be a waste due to corruption.

As an example, the government implemented the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on 25 August 2005. The Central government outlay for this welfare scheme is  400 billion (US$6.7 billion) in FY 2010-2011. After 5 years of implementation, in 2011, the programme was widely criticised as no more effective than other poverty reduction programmes in India. Despite its best intentions, MGNREGA faces the challenges of corrupt officials reportedly pocketing money on behalf of fake rural employees, poor quality of the programme's infrastructure, and unintended destructive effect on poverty. However making the tendering procfess online due to e-governance and the system of direct cash transfers are expected to mitigate this problem. 

 

7.1.3 Medicine: In Government Hospitals, corruption is associated with non-availability/duplication of medicines, getting admission, consultations with doctors and availing diagnostic services.

 

7.1.4 National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is another health care-related government programme that has been subject to large scale corruption allegations. This social spending and entitlement programme hoped to improve health care delivery across rural India. The programme has been managed since 2005 by the Ministry of Health of the Indian government. The Indian government mandated a spending of INR 277 billion in 2004-05, and increased it annually to be about 1% of India's gross domestic product. The National Rural Health Mission programme has been clouded by a large-scale corruption scandal in which top government appointed officials were arrested, several of whom died under mysterious circumstances including one in prison. Corruption, waste and fraud-related losses from this government programme has been alleged to be  100 billion (US$2 billion).

7.1.5 Science and technology: CSIR, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, has been included in the ongoing efforts to root out corruption in India. Despite being established with the directive to do translational research and create real technologies, CSIR has been accused of transforming into a ritualistic, overly-bureaucratic organisation that does little more than churn out papers. 

There are many issues facing Indian scientists, with some - such as MIT systems scientist VA Shiva Ayyadurai - calling for transparency, a meritocratic system, and an overhaul of the bureaucratic agencies that oversee science and technology. Sumit Bhaduri stated, "the challenges of turning Indian science into part of an innovation process are many. Many competent Indian scientists aspire to be ineffectual administrators [due to administrative power and political patronage], rather than do the kind of science that makes a difference". Prime minister Manmohan Singh spoke at the 99th Indian Science Congress and commented on the state of the sciences in India, after an advisory council informed him there were problems with "the overall environment for innovation and creative work" and a 'warlike' approach was needed.

 

7.1.6 Income tax department: There have been several cases of collusion of officials of the income tax department of India for preferential tax treatment and relaxed prosecutions in exchange for bribes.

 

7.1.7 Preferential award of mineral resources: In August 2011, an iron ore mining scandal became a media focus in India. In September 2011, Janardhana Reddy - an elected member of Karnataka's legislative assembly - was arrested on charges of corruption and illegal mining of iron ore in his home state of Karnataka. It was alleged that his company received preferential allotment of resources, organised and exported billions of dollars worth of iron ore to China in recent years, without paying any royalty to the state government exchequer of Karnataka or the central government of India, and these Chinese companies made payment to shell companies controlled by Reddy and registered in Caribbean and north Atlantic tax havens.

 

It was also alleged that corrupt government officials cooperated with Reddy, starting from government officials in charge of regulating mining to government officials in charge of regulating port facilities and shipping. These officials received monthly bribes in exchange for enabling the illegal export of illegally mined iron ore to China. Such scandals have led to a demand in India for consensually driven action plan to eradicate the piracy of India's mineral resources by an illegal-political-corrupt government officials-business nexus, removal of incentives for illegal mining, creation of incentives for legal mining and domestic use of iron ore and steel manufacturing.

IAS officers who have worked on to put up a stronghold against the illegal mining mafia have faced severe backlashes from the government in direct and indirect ways in the past. Recent and glaring example of this is the suspension of the IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal in UP after her strong response to illegal sand mining mafia in the corruption riddled state. The Supreme Court during the past 2 years has given a series of judgements halting mining operations in various states like Goa and Karnataka.

                                                  

Professor Bibek Debroy and Laveesh Bhandari claim in their book Corruption in India: The DNA and RNA that the public officials in India may be cornering as much as  921 billion ($18.42 billion), or 1.26 per cent of the GDP, through corruption. The book claims most bribery is in the transport industry, real estate and government delivered services.

7.2 Studies

Bribery and corruption are pervasive, but some sectors tend to witness a relatively higher degree of such instances. A 2013 Ernst & Young study reports following sectors, perceived as the most vulnerable to corruption: Infrastructure & Real Estate, Metals & Mining, Aerospace & Defense, Power & Utilities. There are a range of specific factors that make a sector more susceptible to bribery and corruption risks than others. Factors like high use of middlemen, large value contracts, liasioning activities etc. drive the depth, volume and frequency of corrupt practices in vulnerable sectors.

A 2011 KPMG study reports India's real estate, telecommunications and government-run social development projects as the three top most corruption plagued sectors. The study found India's defence, information technology industry and energy sectors are the most competitive and least corruption prone sectors.

 

CMS India claims in its 2010 India Corruption Study report that socio-economically weaker section of the Indian society is most adversely affected by government corruption - these include the rural and urban poor. The study additionally claims that corruption perception nationwide has decreased between 2005 to 2010. Over the 5-year period, significantly more number of people from the middle class as well as the poorest segments of Indian society surveyed, in all parts of the India, claimed government corruption had dropped over time, and they had lesser direct experiences with demands for bribes. 

The table below compares the perceived anti-corruption effort across some of the major states in India. 

A rising index implies higher anti-corruption effort and falling corruption. According to this table, the states of Bihar and Gujarat have experienced significant improvements in their anti-corruption efforts, while the conditions have worsened in the state of Assam and West Bengal. Consistent with the results in this table, in 2012, a BBC News report claimed the state of Bihar has transformed in recent years to become the least corrupt state in India.

8.0 SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENTS

(From The Hindu dated 1st November 2013)

To insulate the bureaucracy from political interference and to put an end to frequent transfers of civil servants by political bosses, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre and the States to set up a Civil Services Board (CSB) for the management of transfers, postings, inquiries, process of promotion, reward, punishment and disciplinary matters.

A Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Pinaki Chandra Ghose, giving a series of directions while disposing of a public interest writ petition — filed by former Union Cabinet Secretary T.S.R. Subramanian; former CECs T.S. Krishnamurthy and N. Gopalaswami; former Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Abid Hussain; former CBI Director Joginder Singh; former Manipur Governor Ved Prakash Marwah and 77 others — also said bureaucrats should not act on verbal orders given by politicians and suggested a fixed tenure for them.

Writing the judgment, Mr. Justice Radhakrishnan said “the CSB, consisting of high ranking service officers, who are experts in their respective fields, with the Cabinet Secretary at the Centre and Chief Secretary at the State level, could be a better alternative (till the Parliament enacts a law), to guide and advise the State government on all service matters, especially on transfers, postings and disciplinary action, etc., though their views also could be overruled, by the political executive, but by recording reasons, which would ensure good governance, transparency and accountability in governmental functions.”

The Bench asked Parliament to enact a Civil Services Act under Article 309 of the Constitution setting up a CSB, “which can guide and advise the political executive transfer and postings, disciplinary action, etc.” The Bench directed the Centre, State governments and the Union Territories to constitute such Boards “within three months, if not already constituted, till the Parliament brings in a proper Legislation in setting up CSB.”

The Bench said “We notice, at present the civil servants are not having stability of tenure, particularly in the State governments where transfers and postings are made frequently, at the whims and fancies of the executive head for political and other considerations and not in public interest. The necessity of minimum tenure has been endorsed and implemented by the Union Government. In fact, we notice, almost 13 States have accepted the necessity of a minimum tenure for civil servants. Fixed minimum tenure would not only enable the civil servants to achieve their professional targets, but also help them to function as effective instruments of public policy.”

Deprecating repeated transfers, the Bench said minimum assured tenure ensures efficient service delivery and also increased efficiency.The Bench directed the Centre, States and Union Territories to issue appropriate directions to secure providing of minimum tenure of service to various civil servants, within three months. 

9.0 CONCLUSION

The argument that the IAS serves to promote the unity and integrity of the Indian nation, transcending cleavages and differences which form the basis for states' identities, seems much less convincing in the contemporary situation than it might have been at Independence. The contribution of the All-India Services to cementing or safeguarding the Union cannot be reckoned as crucial, compared with the historical, political and cultural factors which make Indians feel that they belong to the same nation, whatever their differences. The efforts to make the higher civil service more representative through reservations are limited to a purely quantitative approach to national integration, and do not transcend the social, religious and ethnic cleavages that divide Indian society. How could an elite administration itself affected by casteism, communalism and regionalism offer the perspective of a collective quest for common goals? Vertical solidarity between bureaucrats and politicians seems to prevail over the horizontal solidarity of a composite body of IAS officers, who align themselves with political parties on a caste basis, or simply for opportunist motives of career advancement.

Some upright IAS officers resist this trend, but they cannot alone change a system which victimises them through harassment and pressures from local politicians, frequent punitive transfers and threats to their families. To put an end to this abuse of power, the UPA II Manmohan Singh government decided to limit the prerogatives of Chief Ministers with regard to All-India civil servants. But in a democratic set-up, politicians will continue to be at the helm of affairs. If they do not find political incentives in reforming public service institutions towards achieving good governance, any alternative institution, however well designed in theory, is likely to face similar pressures.

That is why the abolition of the All-India Services, which have not proved efficient in fulfilling national integration policies, does not constitute a solution in itself. It would lead to the preeminence of the State Civil Services, which are considered to be even more parochial in outlook. Reforming the IAS is neither an easy task. Successive commissions for administrative reforms have submitted reports and recommendations over the years, without bringing any fundamental change to the institution. The IAS officers form a powerful lobby at the national level, and they will certainly resist any proposal that threatens their position, even when the objective is to make them more accountable to the public, especially by removing the constitutional protection given to them. The officers who fail in their mission of public service, the openly corrupt, the partisan, still enjoy the security of tenure guaranteed to them by the Constitution, which makes their dismissal very difficult.

The elitist character of the higher civil service was supposed to ensure the probity of its members and to put them above special interests. But today some Indian commentators admit that 'we have been expecting too much from the bureaucracy because it was elitist. Elitism is not synonymous with neutralism or with fair play' (Venkataratnam 2005). The partisanship of high-level civil servants goes against their mission of national integration. If nothing is done to increase the effectiveness of the IAS as a binding force of the country, and if, instead of contributing to national unity, its members deepen even more the existing social cleavages by their partiality, then the whole institution loses its reason for existence.

REFORMING INDIA CIVIL SERVICES - LATERAL HIRING

• In keeping with the principle of reform, perform and transform, the government has taken several measures to reform bureaucracy.
• Removing dead wood from bureaucracy (compulsory retirement) is among the reforms. Between 2014 and 2019, the government forcibly retired 312 group-A and group-B officers under the 56(j) provision in the central civil services rules. It has also instituted a 360-degree review process which, in the words of a serving officer "is only transparent to the top babus, but opaque for the one being reviewed."
• On lateral hiring programmes, the government says that "prominent persons have been appointed earlier on a lateral entry basis to man specific assignments from time to time". 
• However, many feel that talent is mis-utilised in civil services. People whose capability is sector X are often posted in sector Y. Why does this happen? It may be the fear that domain experts may not listen to those who want to set the agenda.
• The three-year action agenda released by NITI Aayog in August 2017 said "policymaking is a specialized activity" and "lateral entry will have the beneficial side effect of bringing competition to the established career bureaucracy". It also cautioned that the current practice of rapid rotation of civil servants across ministries is inimical to specialization and hence needs to be replaced by longer postings. The external talent is being seen as the silver bullet for some marquee initiatives—from specific items like the sale of Air India to broader sectors like public healthcare, agriculture insurance, data protection and trade negotiations which need unique skills.
• The moot question also is: will a fixed tenure of five years (three years, with a two-year extension) be enough to show results?
• The process of lateral hiring : The basics were missing when the Department of Personnel and Training put out the advertisement for lateral entrants in June last year seeking "talented and motivated Indian nationals willing to contribute towards nation building". The advertisement only mentioned generic areas of expertise—such as agriculture, civil aviation, environment, etc.—without specifying what specialization the ministries were looking for. 
• The minimum required qualification was graduate, which led to a flood of 6,000 applications for 10 positions. The recruitment process was handed over to the UPSC in December 2018.
• Experts also say that the lateral entry scheme may turn out to be a ploy to introduce a committed bureaucracy which is aligned with the ideology of the ruling government.  

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