The story so far: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Saturday issued an advertisement for the recruitment of various roles in certain Central Ministries through lateral entry, on contract or through deputation. The advertisement is for 45 posts in 24 ministries, including 10 joint secretaries and 35 director/deputy secretaries posts. Submissions must be completed by September 17th.
The recruitment call sparked protests from the opposition, which alleged that the Center was trying to circumvent the existing reservation policy.
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The advertisement is looking for experts to fill the posts of joint secretary, director and deputy secretary in several departments/ministries.
Of these, joint secretary positions are in areas including emerging technology, semi-conductors and electronics, environmental policy and law, digital economy, fintech, cyber security, investment in economic affairs, shipping, science and technology, economic / commercial / the following industries. Minister of Steel, renewable energy, policy and planning, and the National Disaster Management Authority.
Director and deputy secretary vacancies are in departments related to climate change, forestry, integrated nutrition management, natural agriculture, rainfed farming systems, organic agriculture, urban water management, aviation management, chemicals and petrochemicals, commodity prices, landings and insolvent. , education law, education technology, international law, finance, tax policy, manufacturing/auto, advanced chemical cell battery manufacturing for the automobile sector, and official languages. One position is in digital media, and it is in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Applications are open to “talented and motivated citizens of India who are willing to contribute to nation building,” in addition to State/UT officials and employees from the public sector. For applicants from the private sector, appointments will be made on a contractual basis, while applicants from the public sector will be sent as representatives. In particular, directly recruited Central government employees are not eligible for the advertised posts.
The term of office for the post is three years, which can be extended up to five years based on performance.
The joint secretary position requires 15 years of experience in the relevant domain, and the candidate must be between 40 and 55 years of age. For the position of director, the age requirement is 35 to 40, while for the position of deputy secretary, 32 to 40.
What is lateral entry?
In additional entry into the civil service, people are recruited from outside the regular bureaucratic setup for specific positions in government departments. In India, this may include mid- or senior-level positions in services such as the Indian Administrative Service. The usual practice is that the posts are filled by civil servants, who enter the service through an examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission.
Lateral entry refers to the inclusion of domain experts or those with experience in policy making and implementation from outside the civil service. Private sector employees have often been tapped for advisory roles, but this model sees entry into the hierarchy of administrative services. An example of such a role is India’s Chief Economic Adviser, usually a renowned economist who must meet the prescribed upper age limit of 45, a government source highlighted.
In India, lateral entry to certain posts in the Central government was implemented by the Modi government in 2018. However, the concept was reportedly spearheaded by the Congress-led UPA government, and was recommended by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission formed in 2005 below. charimanship of former Union Law Minister and Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily.
In a telephone interview with Hindu, Mr Moily admitted that the Commission was recommending such entries for special roles not readily available in the traditional civil service. “This (lateral entry) is meant to add value to the government’s recruitment process. We have recommended a very transparent process for lateral induction,” he said, adding that the suggestion “is not intended to bypass the usual government recruitment process or for political reasons.”
According to the reply in the Lok Sabha tabled on July 24, 63 appointments have been made through lateral entry so far. Of these 35 are from the private sector. 57 persons hired through lateral entry remain with the designated Ministry or department.
The concept of lateral entry is also reportedly in line with the recommendations of the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) and NITI Aayog in 2017, which stipulated that around 40 individuals can be recruited through lateral entry to fill government vacancies. Further, in 2019, sources in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) revealed that the government is working on a plan to recruit individuals for the post of director/deputy secretary under the Central Staffing Scheme, which works to select/select officers. secretary rank and above.
A similar notification has been issued by the Union Public Service Commission since 2018. For example, a notification was issued last July – again for the posts of joint secretary, deputy secretary and director in various departments/ministries.
Lateral entry in other countries
In particular, other countries have regulated lateral entry into administrative posts – including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Belgium.
Around the world, the phenomenon of government officials moving to lobbyists and corporate entities and vice versa has often been baptized as the “revolving door” model of governance. In these systems, there is a flow between government positions and decision-making roles in companies or industries.
These positions include legislative positions – such as members of Congress in the United States – as well as civil servants and executive members appointed by successive political administrations. In the US, there is usually a “cooling off” period before government officials can engage in lobbying, with laws varying by State.
The revolving-door system has been attacked for harming the public interest, especially in industries such as Big Pharma, the energy and fossil fuel sectors and defense. A paper notes that participating public actors can “manage so that the company can secure a post-governmental position in the private sector or, when moving from private office to public office, because it has been socialized in the industrial environment.”
Furthermore, questions arise regarding conflicts of interest and influence. Frequent movements of individuals with specialized domain knowledge — such as cybersecurity or antitrust — may affect the work of congressional committees and offices.
Concerns about the revolving door between government and the energy industry and fossil fuels in particular have been raised in several countries, including the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Norway.
What caused the controversy in India
Lateral entry has invited criticism and controversy since its inception in India. In 2019, Dalits and other civil servants objected to the scheme saying that candidates hired through lateral entry were not subject to reservation requirements.
“We do not deal with the reservation aspect at all,” Mr. Moily said, referring to the 2005 Commission chaired by him.
The DoPT rules state that a government appointment can be exempted from the reservation policy only if it is a temporary role for a period of less than 45 days. Lateral entry, however, has been considered a private contract between the individual and the government, thus eschewing the requirement to comply with the policies usually ascribed to government services.
The latest ad invited Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as well as leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. In a post on X, Mr. Kharge accused the BJP of launching a “double attack on reservations” and asked whether there should be any reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC) or Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in this lateral entry post.
He wrote, “As a part of a well-planned conspiracy, the BJP deliberately made these recruitments on the ground so that SC, ST, OBC categories could be kept away from reservation.” He said that casual and contract recruitment increased by 91% and posts for SC and OBC communities reduced by 1.3 lakh by 2022-23. “SC, ST, OBC, EWS posts will now be given to RSS people,” he said.
Mr. Gandhi, meanwhile, accused the government of “blatantly confiscating” posts from the SC, ST and OBC communities. “Lateral entry is an attack on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis. BJP’s distorted version of Ram Rajya seeks to destroy the Constitution and take away reservations from Bahujans,” he wrote in a post on X.
Opposition members also highlighted another issue related to the new reservation – the alleged scam in the recruitment of 69,000 assistant teachers in Uttar Pradesh, regarding the Supreme Court’s decision.
