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