Lateral entry into civil services is seen as a reformative step, yet it continues to attract criticism and controversy. Discuss. (15 marks, 250 words)
Main Body
Lateral Entry refers to entry into civil services from outside fields at mid-level
Senior level
Lateral Entry - Reformative Step:
(i) Improves expertise thus improving quality of civil services (Meher Singh)
(ii) Infuses competition for Career Civil Servants thus infusing performance
(III) Awarded efficiency of skil servants due to hardened of subject matter experts
Criticism & Controversy:
(I) Short tenure of lateral entrants may not enable adequate impact
(II) Industry - Govt collaboration between govt civil services & original field of lateral entrants
(IV) Raises concerns due to enhanced of subject matter experts & hence insufficient knowledge of administrative processes
(V) May lead to political cynicism & patronage of Government
(VI) No provision of reservation for historically marginalized sections due to limited vacancies
(IV) Against free election - May lead to voter surveillance by compiling demographic + voter ID information
(vi) Several illegal immigrants have on Aadhaar, thus they may get added to electoral pool
Way Forward:
(i) Ensure 100% accuracy of bio-metric before linking
(II) Explore letter alternatives such as blockchain voting
(SIII) Voter stakeholder (consult before any design
Elections are the greatest 'symbols of a democracy'. Thus all necessary measures should be taken to ensure integrity of electoral process
(IV) Against free election - May lead to voter surveillance by compiling demographic + voter ID information
(vi) Several illegal immigrants have an Aadhaar, thus they may get added to electoral roll
Way Forward:
(i) Ensure 100% accuracy of bio-metric before linking
(II) Explore better alternatives such as blockchain voting
(SIII) Voter stakeholder (consult before any design
Elections are the greatest 'symbols of a democracy'. Thus all necessary measures should be taken to ensure integrity of electoral process
(IV) Against free election - May lead to voter surveillance by compiling demographic + voter ID information
(vi) Several illegal immigrants have an Aadhaar, thus they may get added to electoral roll
Way Forward
(i) Lateral entry only at fixer or field level led to allow sufficient tenure
(ii) Better framework & authority to avoid alleged corruption
(III) Adequate training to non-entrants for new entrants
Karmayogi Mission
(VI) Regulatory clarity regarding discretion
Lateral entry are a novel 'method to prevent minimisation of civil services in India & must be implemented with necessary safeguards
Conclusion
Elections are the greatest 'symbols of a democracy'. Thus all necessary measures should be taken to ensure integrity of electoral process Lateral entry are a novel 'method to prevent minimisation of civil services in India & must be implemented with necessary safeguards
42 words
- Clear definition of lateral entry at the start
- Balanced presentation of both merits and demerits
- Addresses specific concerns like vacancies and reservation
- Proposes alternative technological solutions
- Emphasizes stakeholder consultation
- Strong concluding statement about electoral integrity
- Provides constructive way forward with specific measures
- Emphasizes democratic principles
- Addresses stakeholder involvement
- Proposes concrete safeguards for lateral entry implementation
- References government scheme (Karmayogi Mission)
- Addresses training and regulatory aspects
ARYAN SIRSIKAR
Government Policies and Interventions
Civil Services Reform
Lateral Entry Mechanism
425
Total words
10
Paragraphs
formal
Tone