The shenanigans of Puja Khedkar and her family, followed by the tragic deaths of three IAS aspirants in a coaching institute in Old Rajinder Nagar, have brought into question the whole process of selection and training of civil service officers.
Every year, close to a million young hopefuls go through a lengthy and rigorous process of selection for a tiny fraction of seats in all the services put together. The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) itself offers a chance to only about 150 odd youngsters. Needless to say, the competition is, figuratively speaking, and sometimes literally too, killing.
In spite of a three-tier process of selection – prelims, main exams, and interview or personality test – there have been increasing incidents like that of Puja Khedkar. An article in the Print chronicles the number of misuses and abuses of quota provisions through fake disability or caste certificates to get into the services. It goes on to detail brawls in hotels, corruption, misuse of social media for personal aggrandisement and other instances of misuse and abuse of power by IAS and other service officers even after they have got in.
So what are the lacune in the selection or training process which allow such incidents with increasing frequency? Or is the problem in the whole cultural milieu? The answer is in all three.
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A systemic overhaul required
Take the selection process. Over the years the upper age limit for entry via the exams has been steadily raised from 24 to 32 years. While it brings mature individuals into the system unlike the greenhorns who used to be recruited initially, it also means that there is less room for catching them at a young and impressionable age when they have not yet lost their idealism, and moulding them in the desired values of the system. Perhaps the age limits could be reviewed again.
Secondly, the number of quotas under various heads – SC/ST/OBC, ex-service personnel, and the differently abled – have increased manifold. While it is important to give a fair chance to deprived individuals, it has increased the chances of abuse.
Though the UPSC has maintained that the candidates’ applications are screened rigorously, clearly the process is not rigorous enough, given the intense competition and the rewards that follow if successful.
Therefore, though it will add to the time and nuisance value, the applications of the candidates successful under various quotas should be subject to further due diligence. In any case, now with the latest Supreme Court judgment on the matter, the creamy layer candidates should be barred from applying under the caste quotas. Otherwise, candidates like Puja Khedkar stand to gain.
The third step, viz the interview, also needs a review. Having been associated with mock interviews at a coaching institute, I can say from experience that the emphasis is on information rather than personality. The candidates have already been tested on domain knowledge and general knowledge, so what needs to be tested is a person’s character, alertness, idealism and so on. The interview should probe for qualities such as the desire to serve, to change, and strength of character, courage, probity and intellectual honesty. A psychologist or psychiatrist is never associated with an interview panel, which is invariably made up of retired officers of various services. It would be a valuable addition.
Coming to the training. While it has undoubtedly undergone progressive revision to keep up with the times, there is still room for improvement. Building social skills such as when and how many cards to leave when calling on your superior officer for the first time (an item included in our training ) is less important than an intensive ethics course, with greater attention to environment protection, prevention of atrocities against Dalits, what constitutes arbitrary exercise of power and so on.
The relationship between the elected representatives and the civil service is no longer what it was in the infancy of the service when the latter had the upper hand. This is no longer the case. An IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh who had brought tapped water to a village for the first time and held a small “ jal pujan” ceremony was reportedly transferred as that act was considered the privilege of the elected representative! Hence good management of this relationship needs to be taught with good case studies.
Finally, one comes to the cultural milieu today. One of the causes of the enormous pressure on entry into the IAS has been cited as the lack of equally attractive job opportunities. This is not strictly true. If one looks at the profiles of the selected candidates one finds that a good number of them have come from holding equally lucrative and well-regarded jobs as engineers, managers, scientists, doctors and so on. The magnet which draws young men and women to the services is not monetary benefits, stability in jobs, or even a diversity of job experiences though the latter is often cited as a reason for opting for the services. The honey which attracts the bees is power: power for one’s own benefit as well as that of friends and relatives, and status.
In no other country does any government service command such prestige and power. While reexamining and revamping the selection and training process is necessary, it will not by itself overcome the lure of the lal batti, and the national flag on the car, and the long stream of cars following one’s own.
Khedkar came under the scanner for allegedly demanding perks which trainees or relatively junior civil servants are not entitled to, including an official chamber with adequate staff and an official car with a VIP number plate. Many of today’s aspirants have high and unrealistic expectations, of what the IAS can offer them, are ambitious and cannot differentiate between power and responsibility.
A 1994-batch IAS officer Sanjeev Khirwar and his wife Rinku Dugga ordered the emptying of Delhi’s Thyagaraj Stadium so that they could walk their dog! Another IAS is reported to have insisted that a doctor treat him for a nail fungal infection at his home when at least 200 patients were waiting in the outpatient department (OPD) of the hospital.
This self-importance of today’s young officers is buttressed by the social and print media which gives them excessive publicity. A certain lady IAS officer’s “ baby bump” was given publicity on social media, and her maternity leave, return from leave, new posting and so on, was given the kind of publicity normally given to a rock star!
The training at the IAS Academy must disabuse the probationers of what society or government owes them. But a lasting change can only come through a change in cultural values, which emphasise duty and responsibility along with rights, and for that, it is important to begin the process early – at the school level itself.
Pushpa Sundar is an ex-IAS officer, and a writer.
