Public Administration Mains 2018 : Model Question and Answer - 90
(Public Administration Paper I / Chapter: Personnel Administration)
(Current Based) Question: The
recruitment to bureaucracy needs to be modernized as per new demands. Comment.
(15 Marks/250 Words)
Model Answer:
The government’s proposal to revise the present system of recruitment to the country’s elite civil services has set the cat among the pigeons. Now, we have the PMO proposal seeking replacement of the existing mode of recruitment to the civil service by a system in which after initial recruitment by the UPSC, allotment of service and secondment to a state will be finalised on the combined basis of UPSC results and performance in the 100-day Foundation Course at the LBSNAA.
Place this in the modern context, wherein a person whose calibre has been so tested will have many options before her. This is a positive step towards bringing the services in line with modern management practice. However, it will require a host of collateral reforms to succeed.
The Foundation Course is designed simply to acquaint the trainees with the service to which they are assigned and with colleagues from different services. It leads to life-long bonding, bringing an esprit de corps. But it is not a testing laboratory, nor can it be in the period assigned for a service of such vital importance.
The LBSNAA, though ably led and staffed with outstanding faculty, is not equipped to make the evaluation necessary for so a large a number of recruits in the short space of a few months. The LBSNAA with its superb facilities would be the apposite instrument for formulating such a project. However, it would need to be restructured with training courses redesigned and faculty selected in line with the new demands. (Total Words- 253)
Valuable inputs from The Indian Express Coulmn: ‘A bureaucracy for our times' by Wajahat Habibullah
(Linkages: Bureaucracy and Recruitment, Recruitment and Sound Management Principles, Recruitment and Single Examination)