AMITABHA PANDE - Will Modi’s Lateral Entry Plan Ensure Induction Of ‘Loyalists’?

By Dilip -
A government that appointed a history graduate with thirty-eight years of ‘generalist’ experience as the Governor of the RBI, seems to have no sense of irony while proposing the lateral induction of as many as 400 so-called ‘domain experts’ from the private sector, at middle-management levels in the Government of India. So, it would appear that framing and administering monetary policy, managing inflation, handling the banking crisis etc at the highest level requires little ‘domain expertise’, but carrying out the routine functions of a deputy secretary at the lower end of a ministry hierarchy does.

The Modi government has the uncanny ability to offer solutions which chase the problems they are meant to solve. In other words, first work out a bold and dramatic answer to a question yet to be asked, announce it as a major reform, and then find an appropriate question to which the answer can fit. This was the case with demonetisation, and it is now the case with the proposed ‘lateral entry’ programme. This is governance turned upside-down.

There are a few clues as to why this is being done, and what purpose it is expected to serve.
Is it based on an expert survey or is this another ‘generalist’ conclusion? Have the domain expertise requirements for each of the 400 posts up for lateral entry been separately and specifically listed out, the catchment area from where that specific expertise will be drawn identified, and the manner in which it will be assessed worked out? If not, how can it be said to bring in new expertise which is presently deficient?

There are more unasked questions about the purpose this disruptive measure is supposed to serve:

  • Is it meant to bring in greater efficiency, and is it the case that the present lot of people on the job are inefficient?
  • Is such a conclusion based on empirical evidence which has been scientifically analysed?
  • Is it the lack of expertise that makes for inefficiency, or are there other, more important systemic deficiencies?
  • Will this move invigorate the existing cadres or only demoralise them further, when they see that the hard-earned experience of working within the government system is considered inferior to experience acquired in the private sector?
  • Will not reforming systems, processes and procedures foster greater efficiency, rather than just inducting unproven and untested talent?.. read more:
https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/modi-bjp-govt-lateral-entry-push-all-india-services-bureaucracy-constitution

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