Public Administration Mains 2017 : Model Question and Answer - 31

Public Administration Mains 2017 : Model Question and Answer

(Public Administration Paper II / Chapter: Civil Services)

(Current Based) Question : How Peter’s principle application to India give way for lateral entry ? (20 Marks/300 Words)

Model Answer :

The Peter Principle — the rise to higher levels of incompetence — applies to many employees, many young IAS officers often fall prey to the incompetency of the framework. The assurance of a secure career offers little incentive to bureaucrats to outperform others, when promotions and postings are hardly linked to merit and competence.

ICS practice of, officers could select a branch of governance after a period of service, such as the social sector or economics, so that they could specialise and perform better has been abolished after independence. Now the nature of training is to create generalist administrator, to fill the gap and demand of specialist administrator, the government established the Industrial Management Pool (IMP) in 1959. The IMP envisaged hiring talented private-sector executives to man high- and mid-level managerial posts.

The Sixth Pay Commission and Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) were unanimous on lateral entry. Lateral entrants bring their own work culture, and this enables renewal and adaptation in government organisations. The ARC also recommended a paradigm shift from a career-based to a post-based approach to senior government jobs. India is not new to lateral entry, in addition to domain knowledge, they had managerial skills and could get results in a government system.

Lateral entrants may not only bring specialised expertise, good practices and work culture, but they could also induce competition within the system. When civil servants are made to compete with outside talent, the lethargic attitude will diminish. So the prospects of lateral entry will always propel overall efficiency. For this, the ARC recommended the establishment of a central civil services authority to deal with issues concerning lateral entries. Therefore, lateral exit is as important as lateral entry. This has the potential to raise the civil services from its slump. (Total Words- 292)

Source : With valuable inputs from the articles of Pradeep S Mehta

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/the-administrative-route-to-growth/article6535337.ece

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/to-renew-the-civil-services/

(Linkages : Peter’s Principle and level of incompetency, Demand for Specialist Administrator and lateral entry, Lateral Entry and Specialized practices and Work Culture)

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