UPSC advertises for Lateral Entry into Central Administration

In News: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has issued an advertisement to recruit 30 persons at the Joint Secretary and Director level in the Central administration through lateral entry.

• Earlier, eight persons, mostly domain experts, were selected for various Departments and Ministries.

What is Lateral Entry?

• It is the appointment of outsiders with high expertise in the middle rung of ministries especially in the sectors of finance, economy and infrastructure.
• The appointments are mainly to be made for the posts of the Director, Joint Secretary and also Deputy Secretary

Pros of Lateral Entry

• Competitive Environment: The current monopoly of civil servants over senior management positions is creating hurdles in the inflow of new ideas.
  • It will promote Civil Servants to seek specialisation and bring efficiency.
• Shortfalls in number of Recruits: There is nearly 20% shortage of IAS officers in 24 state cadres in India. (Baswan Committee)
  • Lateral Entry can fill such posts in the short run.
• Outside Experience and Talent: The outsiders have been found to be very successful in finance domains.
  • Many successful RBI governors entered through lateral entry. Eg Raghuram Rajan, C Rangarajan, etc.
  • AADHAR project was headed by Nandan Nilekani who was an outsider.
• An Old Practice: Both Centre and State have appointed advisers and consultants on an ad-hoc basis, for fixed tenures or an open-ended basis.
  • Eg. Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

Criticism of Lateral Entry

• Opposition from IAS/ IPS lobby: The lateral entrants have struggled to garner support of IAS lobby.
  • This hampers the smooth functioning of the organisation.
• Different Work Culture: The lateral entrants accustomed to the private sector work culture find it difficult to understand the processes and dynamics of Government works.
• Lack of Training and Field Experience: The IAS/ IPS officers have been properly trained and have field experience required for the job.
  • It is missing in lateral entrants.
• Lack of Long-term Accountability due to Ad Hoc nature of Jobs.

Way Forward

• The government should first focus on the creation of in house specialisation and out of government work deputation.
• For specialised technological upgrades where no Civil Servant is competent enough, a semi-permanent team may be created by Lateral Entry.
• The Limited Lateral Entry with focus on upskilling the in-house teams will help create a balance between much-needed experience and technological upgrades along with smooth functioning constitutional mechanisms.

Source: TH