25.07.

2022 Editorial Analysis

GS Paper -2

• Role of Civil Services in a democracy

Why Agnipath scheme needs to be extended to All India Services

Crux

• Prakash Singh writes: An Agnipath scheme for the AIS will help to remove complacency and
smugness in bureaucracy, prod officers to become performance-oriented, acquire new skills
and flair for innovation in administration.

Explained

• The government has launched an Agnipath scheme for the armed forces of the country with
a view to make these a leaner force without compromising on their combat abilities.
• A similar scheme is perhaps called for with regard to the All India Services (AIS).
• The AIS have rendered excellent services to the country despite the severe constraints
under which the officers function.
• However, we have reached a stage when some radical rethinking is required. Services have
an inbuilt tendency to proliferate.
• It is true that government activities today cover a much wider spectrum, that welfare
schemes are now undertaken on a massive scale, and that law and order problems have
become far more complex.
• To cope with the increasing responsibilities, there has been a steady expansion of the civil
services. Yet, there is a huge sense of dissatisfaction over their performance.
• Some bureaucrats have gone to the extent of suggesting that the IAS should be scrapped.
No one has suggested the abolition of police because, howsoever inefficient it might be, its
total absence would result in lawlessness and chaos.
• However, the fact remains that people are generally dissatisfied with the performance of
the police and there are credible complaints about its brutality, third-degree methods and
extra-judicial killings.

• It has been noticed that once an officer is selected for the AIS, he/she develops a smug
attitude that his/her career for the next 30/35 years is now secure and that, under normal
circumstances, he/she would be able to reach the top level.

• There is no pressure to perform, no incentive to innovate, and no desire to excel. No

wonder, many of these officers become laid-back and are, most of the time, feathering their
nests. There is no agni in them.
• Senior officers of the IAS and IPS have gone to the Supreme Court for reforms in the civil
services and the police.
• The judiciary has, from time to time, given directions for reforms but these have not been
implemented in letter and spirit with the result that there has been hardly any change in the
ground situation. Reforms are going to be a long haul.
• Meanwhile, the services continue to acquire flab. To give an example, Uttar Pradesh today
has 14 officers in the rank of Director General of Police (DGP) and 42 in the rank of
Additional DGP.
• There was a time when one Inspector General was the head of the entire UP Police. The
bureaucracy is even fatter.
• UP has 29 officers in the rank of Chief Secretary/Additional Chief Secretary, 28 officers
in the rank of Principal Secretary, and 61 Secretaries.
• It is the same story across the country. Not that things are better at the Centre.
• The Government of India has nearly 91 officers in the rank of Secretary (excluding those
in the PMO, Niti Aayog and National Security Council Secretariat) and 21 in the rank of
DGP.
• The AIS have become very, very top-heavy. In fact, there are a number of officers who are
holding top positions but have very little work to do.
• This makes them frustrated. As a result, many of them are politicking most of the time with
a view to getting a top post in the bureaucratic mainstream.
• There is jockeying and lobbying for the highest positions. It is almost a cut-throat
competition. What makes this distressing is that a number of these officers are of just
average calibre or even mediocre. As one senior officer said in jest, “horses and donkeys,
all manage to reach the top under the present system”.
• Under these circumstances, the GoI should think of an Agnipath scheme for the AIS.
• The performance of all AIS officers should be subjected to a strict review at three stages
— once when they have completed 15 years of service, then after 25 years of service, and,
finally, after 30 years of service.
• The objective of the reviews should be to weed out 25 per cent of officers at the first stage,
10 per cent officers at the second stage and 5 per cent officers at the third stage.
• Weeding out should be for poor performance, charges of corruption, any other misconduct
of a serious nature, or for being physically unfit.
• Screening at each stage will have to be very rigorous and the mechanism to do so must be
impartial.
• It will have to be doubly ensured that the officers are not victimised for political reasons.
The officers may be given copper/silver/golden handshakes at the three stages.
• The periodic trimming of services would ensure that officers become performance-
oriented, acquire new skills and a flair for innovation in administration.
• The complacency and smugness, which we presently notice, would disappear in a majority
of cases.
• There would also be less jostling at the top; the top would, in fact, become lighter. It would
also ensure that the structure of services becomes pyramid-shaped and not the trapezium it
is now.
• The All India Services Rules will, of course, have to be amended.
• The weeding out at different stages can be done by a panel, which may comprise retired
judges, officers of impeccable integrity drawn from different services, and distinguished
members of the civil society.
• The panel should have representation from all the states of the country — it may have 40
to 50 persons.
• Every time the review is undertaken, three to five from the panel should be chosen by
lottery, taking care that they are from states other than the one whose officers’ performance
is going to be reviewed. If an officer feels aggrieved by the decision of the panel, he should
be able to approach a tribunal.
• There would be fierce resistance to this scheme from within the AIS. The services,
however, need a shake up. The officers deserve an injection of agni.