SPEECH OF UPSC CHAIRMAN D.P.AGRAWAL ON UPSC AND GOVERNANCE
The country has witnessed an all round development in almost all
the sectors since last two decades. The need for maintaining the pace of
development and the requirement to ensure that benefits of development
percolate to all citizens pose a great challenge to governance system. We
need to evaluate and re-jig the systems of governance responsible for
ensuring an effective public service delivery and to keep it efficient and
people friendly.
In the journey of 85 long years in its various incarnations, the Union
Public Service Commission as a constitutional body while zealously
guarding its independence has discharged its mandated functions - not
only the recruitment and selection for the civil service under the Union,
but also advising the Government on matters closely relating to
manpower requirement in public services. At the same time, the
Commission has also been fully alive to the emerging challenges of
governance.
Good governance for effective public service delivery presupposes
that the systems are manned by the right people with right skills and
capabilities. While undertaking the recruitment and selections in a meritbased
manner, the UPSC has always been open to innovations in the area
of selection procedures and processes. The changes introduced in the
Preliminary stage of the Civil Services Examination from this year are a
pointer to the Commission’s commitment to select the most suitable
person for the Civil Services. The changes in the scheme and pattern of
the Preliminary Examination are based on the principle of equity in as
much as it will provide equal opportunity to the candidates from diverse
educational and social backgrounds. We are also in discussion with the
Govt. of India about an alternative method of selection for induction into
All India Services from the State Services.
Commission handles more than 15 lakhs applications every year. To
tackle this challenge Commission has introduced the system of online
application for the candidates, which has been receiving an overwhelming
response. Encouraged by the positive response, the Commission has
recently introduced hundred percent online application for two
Examinations, namely Engineering Services Examination and Indian
Forest Service Examination. To facilitate the candidates from the remote
area, Commission permits them to apply off-line also.
Recently, UPSC also conducted successfully one online recruitment
test at different centres in the country. Based on the experience from this
experiment, the Commission may, in future, introduce online
examinations and tests for other selections as well.
The primary concern of the Commission is to recommend the
selected candidates to the Government as soon as practically possible.
Detailed analysis of delayed cases has been done in the Commission
which revealed a number of lacunae in the proposals submitted by the
Ministries. A number of workshops have been organized by the
Commission for the Ministries/Departments to facilitate them to overcome
these lacunas. In the same context, a Single Window System has been
introduced, whereby a preliminary scrutiny of the cases is done at the
time of receipt itself. I am happy to mention that this initiative has shown
positive results in disposal of the cases.
Commission recently organised a day long interaction session with
the Heads of Training Academies and Institutes of All India and Central
Services. The idea was to benefit from their feedback and perceptions.
During the deliberations, it was learnt that no mechanism exists to map
the performance and behavioural aspects of officers in the field in the
early stages of their career. It was considered necessary by the group
that the Government put in place such a mechanism. The Commission
would be interested in knowing whether the selected candidates exhibit
the attitudes, values required and display the skills and competence
required for the job.
In today’s globalized world, one cannot remain totally confined to
one’s own approaches, methods and ideas for delivering the given
mandate. We have to be a learning organization, ready to accept the
best practices available globally. Towards this objective, the UPSC hosted
the first Conference of the Chiefs of Public Service Commissions of SAARC
countries in the month of November, 2010. The initiative was appreciated
by all the Member States and it was decided to continue such dialogue
every year. The Commission has also entered into bilateral partnerships
with Public Service Commission’s of Canada and Bhutan. A similar MOU is
likely to be signed with the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil
Service Commission of Afghanistan. We are confident that such
partnerships will be of professional benefit to all of us.
The Constitution of India, under proviso to Article 320 (3), provides
for exemption of posts from the purview of the Commission. Such an
exclusion of posts from the purview of Commission would be justified only
in exceptional circumstances. To allow permanent exemption of
posts/services would run counter to the spirit of the provisions of the
Commission. However, over the years, the Government of India have
excluded a number of civil posts /services from the purview of the
Commission invoking this proviso to Article 320(3). Considering the
purpose and spirit of the Constitutional provisions, I would urge the
Government of India to bring all such civil posts/services back within the
purview of the Commission.
Article 321 of the Constitution mandates that Parliament may by
law provide for exercise of additional functions by the UPSC in respect of
services of the Union and also as respects the services of any local
authority or other body corporate constituted by law or of any public
institution. By virtue of its independent Constitutional status, the
Commission inspires the highest confidence in the public with regard to its
fairness, impartiality and objectiveness of its selection procedures. It is
therefore for the government of India to consider amending the existing
Acts of Parliament creating Corporations, Tribunals or other
Organizations, to incorporate a provision for consultation with the
Commission in making recruitment, selections, etc. for these bodies.
As of now, our country has a large number of recruiting agencies
which make selection to various services/posts under the Government. In
most of the Developed countries, an independent authority audits all
selections made by different authorities. It may be worthwhile to adopt
such a system in our country also. In our context such auditing could be
done by the Commission.
The emerging dynamics of governance call for a fresh look at the
issue of permanent appointment in the civil services vis-a-vis the
outcome-based performance. The life- long job security provided to
government servants perhaps brings in an element of complacency and
inertia. There should be intense assessment of performance of the officers
at various stages of their career to weed out dead woods at an early
stage in order to have a civil service that is nimble, efficient, impartial,
accountable and above all honest.
Another issue that needs attention is opening up of senior positions
in Civil Service to all persons possessing skill sets matching with the job
profile. Such selections should be made on a competitive basis with no
prejudice to anyone. the foremost challenge ingovernance today is to maintainthe
highest standards of probity,integrity, accountability, transparency and fair play.
I am sure that if we
are able to successfully meet this challenge, the people’s aspirations and
expectations are bound to be fulfilled.
VICE-PRESIDENT OF INDIA, HAMID ANSARI LECTURE ON “GOVERNANCE AND
PUBLIC SERVICE”
.It is a truism that an overwhelming majority of human beings live in politicallyorganised societies that require for their normal functioning a set of personsentrusted with the implementation of laws and rules made by the polity for its welfare. The concept of civil services, as of judiciary and of defence forces, isinextricably linked to this requirement.It is for this reason that every state in history has utilized the instrumentality ofcivil services, tailored to its requirements. These needs have changed with times,with the nature of the state, and with its end purposes. Some essential traits havenevertheless persisted down the ages. We can, therefore, read with benefit to this
day Kautilya’s short chapter on ‘Service with a King’ and its emphasis on the need
to give advice at all times in accordance with dharma and artha.
The relevance of the civil servant to the ruler (individual or a collective) was
perhaps best described by the medieval historian Ibn Khaldun: ‘you are’, he wrote,
‘the ears through which they hear, the eyes through which they see, the tongues
through which they speak, and the hands through which they touch’.
This need to seek the best available talent, and condition it appropriately for the
requirement of society and the state, was practiced at all times in our own history.
Modern India thus inherited an established tradition. Its imperative necessity was
appreciated by the Founding Fathers of our Republic. The end product was
incorporated in Part XIV of the Constitution.
In the past six decades, the Union Public Service Commission has ably discharged
its constitutional function in the recruitment of the higher civil services. The civil
services, in turn, have responded in varying measure to their core mandate of
dispensing social, economic and political justice. The framework of the political
and bureaucratic Executive has made a significant effort at ameliorating the quality
of life of citizens and in doing public good.
In the same time span, however, the socio-economic and political context has
evolved in good measure and substantive notions of justice and equality have filled
the interstices of the constitutional principles and fundamental rights. This has
brought about a virtual revolution in expectations.
It is therefore essential to comprehend the impulses at work. Together, they pose a
set of six challenges:
First, government interventions are now viewed by citizens through the prism and
framework of rights. The days of the so-called mai-baap sarkar are over. Today,
and particularly in matters relating to education, health, roads or good governance,
the operative expression is right and entitlement. Increasing levels of literacy and
economic success has contributed to this conceptual shift in some measure.
Second, advances in technology, means of communication and interaction, and
changes in civil society perceptions have multiplied manifolds the instrumentalities
available to a common citizen to engage with the government, assert entitlements
and rights, and challenge decisions of the government that impact adversely.
Third, given the unsatisfactory record of dispensation of justice through the court
process, the burden of dispensing it has shifted in considerable measure to the
government, civil society and the public in general. Enhanced legal literacy,
establishment of regulatory frameworks in various sectors, and reliance on
administrative facilitation have enabled citizens to assert their rights without the
need for interventions of courts. The role of civil servants and public service
delivery has become critical in this effort.
Fourth, as an economy and as a society, we are in the process of transition from
the use of controls and regulations to bring about desired public policies to
harnessing of incentives and markets for the same. The market looms large in all
spheres of personal and public life. It affects our choices of profession, ways of
life, modes of living and entertainment, education, health care, and even,
ideologies and belief systems.
Fifth, the broad framework of our social and political contract that sustains the
legitimacy of the government and its interventions for public and social good is
increasingly facing erosion. This has come about principally on account of the
actual and perceived inequities of the growth process, marginalization and
impoverishment of segments of citizenry and also perhaps, a balkanization of the
mind. It has wider, perhaps disturbing, implications for our democracy and the rule
of law.
Sixth, we have a young generation that is exposed to global standards of living and
service, is impatient with the pace of change, and demands equal opportunity in
sharing the fruits of development. This is more pronounced in urban areas, but
equally true for rural India. Their despondency finds reflection in hostility towards
elites in polity, business and industry and society; at times, it takes violent forms of
protest targeted against the state, its structures and agencies. These manifestations
retard growth, erode democracy and legitimize anarchy.
Friends
Emanating from the above, a set of questions come up for consideration:
How should we deal with the huge asymmetries of power, and the sociocultural
propensity of tolerating its misuse through dilution of systemic and
institutional safeguards?
How can public policy bring the citizen to the centre stage of service
delivery and governance, and not put him/her at the mercy of the State and
its agencies, or of the market and its mechanisms? and
What role can the civil service play in this regard?
I venture to think a good starting point is recognition that the civil services in our
country represent the societal elite and that elite behaviour represents a significant
challenge to the supremacy of Rule of Law.
We do not need to go far to substantiate this. The national and international media
is full of reports of how the elite are able to subvert the Rule of Law with money or
influence. Sections of society and polity even accept this as a way of life. As a
result, Rule of Law norms are being sidelined or subverted through systemic
discrimination and exclusion based on community, gender, class and other limiting
and distorting considerations. Its impact on the quality of governance is all too
evident.
The higher civil services in the country, therefore, must be role models of elite
behaviour upholding the Rule of Law. This is not a homily; it is part of our
constitutional scheme of things and a professional and moral obligation of a civil
servant to the nation and to the citizens.
This necessitates an element of out-of-the-box thinking on quality and content
issues pertaining to our higher civil services.
The UPSC, I understand, is already implementing some reforms in the recruitment
pattern, especially in the syllabus and examinations. The issue of life-long cadres
for All India Services, reluctance or inability to serve adequate period of careers
outside the cadres whether at the Centre or other States, equitable access to posts
covered under the Central Staffing Scheme, and possibility of lateral access into
and out of the civil service are issues that could benefit from such out-of-the-box
thinking.
A review of the performance of the civil service since independence would show
that in terms of Sardar Patel’s parameters, while the polity has delivered by giving
constitutional safeguards to civil servants and implementing sound recruitment
procedures, the political leadership has at times faltered on discipline and control
and the civil servants themselves have often enough succumbed to the temptation
of tailoring professionally sound advice to subjective considerations.
The need for introspection and correction is compelling; inaction is no longer an
option, nor is reticence in the face of evident wrong. The need is also for a moral
imperative that is comprehensive, not selective, and which emanates from and
encapsulates constitutional morality.
We do need reiteration that Civil servants are functionaries of the state and not of
the government alone, that they are paid to render honest professional advice
however unpalatable, and that they should be guided in their work by the principles
and objectives, and the charter of rights and duties, enshrined in our Constitution.
Systemic improvement in governance and service delivery to citizens is an ongoing
process and effort of the Union Public Service Commission in this regard deserves
our appreciation. It is time to remember, and remind, that the objective in the final
analysis is indeed - “Public Service”.
