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PRACHI SAINI
IIGLGGS207140
Diploma in Governance and Government studies
Assignment for Paper-II
Indian Government and Politics

Lateral Entry into Civil Services- The way forward for Indian Bureaucracy?

By Prachi Saini

OBJECTIVE
This research examines the idea of lateral entry into civil services focusing on different aspects
of the same. Starting from the history to present situation. The research is divided into three
portions mainly. Firstly, about what lateral entry is then history and how it went on, reforms in
Indian Administration, pros and cons of the system and conclusion.

Background
The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions had, in June 2018, invited applications for 10
joint secretary-rank posts through lateral entry mode — that is, appointment of private sector specialists
in the government — for the first time.

What is Lateral Entry?

The term lateral entry means the appointment of specialists and experts, mainly those from the private
sector, in government organizations and ministries. Aim: To recruit outstanding individuals, with
expertise in revenue, financial services, economic affairs, agriculture, cooperation and farmers’ welfare,
road transport and highway, civil aviation, commerce among many other sectors to serve for the benefit
of the country.

Right talent for the right role is the principle behind it. This policy is about inducting the private sector in
Governance so as to have better efficiency. The appointments are primarily made for the posts of
Director, Joint Secretary, and Deputy Secretary.

Permanent System of Administrators

In the permanent system, IAS officers get promoted to joint secretary level after 17 years of service and
remain at that level for ten years. Joint Secretaries are at a crucial level of senior management in the
Government of India and lead policymaking as well as the implementation of various programs and
schemes for the department assigned to them.
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The joint secretary-level is usually filled by officers selected through the Civil Services Examination
conducted by Union Public Service Commission. The IAS and permanent system are strictly seniority-
bound — nobody gets promoted ahead of time. That makes the average age of a joint secretary around
45. First Administrative Reforms Commission Inputs.

The first Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) set up in 1965 mentioned why specialization was
important. The 2nd ARC introduced in 2005 recommended an official, unambiguous process for lateral
entry at the national and state levels. The First Administrative Reforms Commission inputs indicated a
paradigm shift from a career-based approach to a post-based approach in senior positions.

It highlighted that performance appraisals may be adopted from the armed forces, which could help in
screening out non-performers. In the armed forces, only 3% of officers make it to the grade of brigadier
and above as the promotions are based entirely on merit.

There is a contrast between delivering recommendations and engaging in decision-making when it

comes to outsourcing, and this is what the contributions from the First Administrative Reforms
Commission inputs are all about. Expert panels, consultations, think tank meetings, contributions from
the First Administrative Reforms Commission inputs, and other sources of knowledge are accessible to
practically every ministry, and they are utilized in almost every department. Perks of Lateral Entry These
lateral entrants into the civil service will be offered a three-year contract, which the government can
extend to five years depending on performance. The highlight of this announcement is the salary these
lateral entrants will receive — Rs 1,44,200 to 2,18,200 per month. These are seemingly competitive
salaries. Making matters better for potential candidates is that they shall be eligible for all government-
mandated perks – for example, transport, accommodation and reimbursement of expenses.

Lateral Entry: Pros

• Lack of Specialization: The lack of specialization across the top tier of Indian bureaucracy is an
unaddressed concern.

• Seasoned Professionals: IAS officers get recruited at a very early age via the UPSC exams. It is difficult
to gauge their administrative judgement and capabilities then. Allowing for lateral entry of seasoned
professionals and experts into the service makes up for this deficiency.

• Compensating the shortage: o According to Department of Personnel and Training data, there is a
shortage of about 1500 IAS officers. Lateral entry can help bridge this deficit.

• Alternative to meritocracy: Career promotions in the IAS move seamlessly with few impediments along
the way. Attempts to introduce ‘meritocracy’ haven't quite worked out. Bringing in experts from the
professional sphere is expected to shake the IAS out of their comfort zone.

• Participatory Governance: o Presently, governance is becoming a more participatory and multi-actor

endeavor.
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o In this context, the lateral entry provides stakeholders such as the private sector and non-profits an
opportunity to participate in the governance process.

• Dynamic Bureaucracy is needed: o It became more critical for the government to ascertain the impact
its policy decisions have on various stakeholders such as the private sector, non-profits, and general
public, i.e., those who have experienced government from the outside.

• Some good case study prevails: This isn’t the first time that the government brought in professionals
from the private sector or academia into the top tier of government.

▪ For example, the Finance Ministry, Reserve Bank of India and even the current NITI Aayog, which have
hired the likes of Raghuram Rajan, Arvind Subramanian and Arvind Panagriya to name a few. Lateral
Entry: Cons • Private and Public work culture: o Lateral entrants from the private sector and academia
may not work well with the bureaucracy. The same pretty much goes for any inter-sector scenario. o
Differences in work culture, turf wars and systemic inertia often come in the way.

• Privilege v/s Merit: One of the distinguishing aspects that the current crop of IAS officers made
through probably the hardest open competitive exam in the world and can hold up is their experience in
the field, serving some of the poorest districts in our hinterlands. Those entering from privileged
backgrounds and the private sector may have never seen a village school.

• Profit Motive vs. Public Service: o Private sector approach is profit-oriented. On the other hand, the
motive of the Government is public service. o This is also a fundamental transition that a private sector
person has to make while working in government.

• Expertise Available: There is a difference between bringing expertise and being part of the decision-
making process. For bringing expertise, the government doesn’t strictly need to hire privatesector
personnel. Expertise is widely available and used by almost every ministry — expert committees,
consultations, think tank engagements, etc.

• Exploitation of Newcomers: It’s important to gauge what processes the Centre has put in place to ease
the transition and establish authority. Candidates coming from the outside may not know the nuances
of the system which can be exploited against them in any number of ways.

• Transparency in Recruitment: o One of the many reasons for the opposition against lateral entry
recruitment is the transparency of the lateral entry process. It is essential to select the right people in a
manner that is manifestly transparent.

Second ARC and other recommendations on Lateral Entry

• Sector Specialists: The second ARC headed by M. Veerappa Moily in 2008 proposed a plan to bring in
sector specialists from various spheres into senior administrative positions in the government.
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• 10th Report: In its tenth report Refurbishing of Personnel Administration, the ARC recommended that:
At higher levels of government, lateral entry from the private sector should be introduced to encourage
competition for the selected posts.

Need for the Transparent Process How the Lateral Entrants are appointed?
• Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) issues a notification inviting lateral entry applicants.
Accordingly:

• Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has the responsibility to select candidates for lateral entry.
•Final selection would be done by a committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary.

• The eligibility criteria include individuals working at comparable levels in o Private sector companies. o
Consultancy organizations. International/Multinational organizations. Central Public Sector
Undertakings. Autonomous bodies. o Statutory organizations. Research Bodies.

• They are needed to have a minimum of 15 years’ experience.

• The recruitment will be on contract basis for 3-5 years.

• The minimum age of applicants should be of 40 years.

• The minimum qualification is graduation from a recognized university or institute. • Any higher
qualification will be an added advantage.

Is lateral entry new in India?

• Specialists like engineers, doctors, agricultural scientists, lawyers have always had a substantial say in
the decision-making and implementation.

• Besides, Secretaries to the Departments of Atomic Energy, Science & Technology, Scientific and
Industrial Research, Health Research, and Agricultural Research have always been scientists of
eminence.

• Similarly, in departments like the Railways, Posts, etc., all senior positions are manned by Indian
Railway or Postal Service officers.

• Therefore, there is nothing very original in the new initiative other than the fact that it is now
institutionalised and implemented for a joint secretary level entry. o Joint secretary level positions are
normally filled by career bureaucrats. o These are those who join the service after passing the UPSC
exam.

What are the arguments in favor of lateral entry?

• Domain expertise: The administrative issues at the implementation level (district, tehsil, panchayat)
need the intervention of specialists with domain expertise rather than generalists (IAS Cadre).
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Moreover, IAS officers get recruited at a very young age when it is difficult to test potential
administrative and judgement capabilities. Mid-career lateral entrants with proven capabilities will help
bridge this deficiency.

• Innovation and Competition: The assurance of a secure career in civil services reduces competition,
breeds complacency, inhibits innovative thinking and prevents the inflow of new ideas from outside
government. The entry at the lateral level would keep the competition alive and bring in new ideas from
those in the private sector.

• Poor performance: The career progression in the IAS is almost automatic. Even with efforts to
introduce meritocracy, very few get weeded out for poor performance. Lateral entry is necessary to
push the IAS out of their comfort zone and challenge them.

• Losing Academic specialization: Even though there is a recruitment of specialists such as Engineers and
Doctors in the IAS by the UPSC at the time of their initial appointment. However, their specialization
comes to an end when they are posted in different departments and are allotted different field posting
irrespective of their academic specialization over the course of their career.

• Past experience: of incorporating domain level experts in RBI, Planning commission/NITI Aayog, UIDAI,
etc. has been quite good so far.

• Recommended by commissions: Lateral entry into civil services has been suggested by several
commissions and committees and hence it is not a new idea. Example – First Administrative Reforms
Commission 1965, Yoginder Alagh Committee 2002, Surinder Nath Committee 2003, Hota Committee
2004 and Second Administrative Reforms Commission 2005.

What are the arguments against lateral entry?

• Fear of Spoils system: There is a fear that lateral entry might turn into a spoils system where politically
committed individuals could get handpicked into important positions that influence policy-making and
implementation and leads to a conflict of interest = against the ideal of politically neutral civil service.

• Undermines career progression: Lateral entry undermines the career progression avenues of existing
civil servants and also affects the employment opportunities of young aspirants looking to enter the
famed civil services for a fulfilling career.

• Generalist job profile: The argument that there is a scarcity of specialists at the senior level of civil
services is flawed due to the fact that a large number of engineers and doctors are being recruited into
the civil services nowadays. However, their field of expertise is rarely matched with their job profile due
to a generalist bureaucratic setup. For example, a District Collector is tasked with responsibilities of
conducting elections, collecting land revenue, overseeing public order, crisis management, chief
coordinator of state and central agencies, etc. all at the same time they became generalist over a period
of time when they reach the senior level positions cannot blame them when the fault is with the
bureaucratic setup that undermines specialization.
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• Undermines Constitutional provisions: Undermines reservation policy: mandated by the constitution.

UPSC’s role not defined clearly: UPSC was specifically established by the Constitution for the purpose of
conducting examinations and recommending candidates to various civil services posts in the
government. However, the Lateral entry does not define the role of UPSC in selection process clearly.

• Alternatives: Rather than lateral entry, it has been suggested to try short term courses for IAS officers
to improve their domain knowledge during service.

• Field experience: The exposure and sensitivity to the country’s complex socio-political issues and to
the needs of the common man, can only be achieved through field experience rather than bringing in
outsiders from the private sector who lacks the field experience.

What should be the way forward?

To summarize, lateral entry into civil services is not a new idea but it has not been followed as an
institutionalized practice earlier. Even though there are some shortcomings with this approach that
need to be resolved, there are several benefits associated with a lateral entry which should, hopefully,
influence the rule-bound bureaucracy to become the agents of change; a role which the founding
fathers, like Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru, had envisaged for the civil services.

Works Cited

Yadav, Shyamlal. “‘Lateral Entry’ Into Bureaucracy: Reason, Process and the Controversy.” The

Indian Express, 4 Mar. 2021, indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-lateral-

entry-into-bureaucracy-reason-process-and-controversy-7208943.

“‘Lateral Entry’ Into Bureaucracy: Reason, Process, and Controversy.” Civilsdaily,

www.civilsdaily.com/news/lateral-entry-into-bureaucracy-reason-process-and-

controversy. Accessed 2 Oct. 2022.

---. www.insightsonindia.com/2021/03/02/insights-into-editorial-lateral-entry-into-bureaucracy-

reason-process-and-controversy.
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BYJU’s. Arc Reports. byjus.com/free-ias-prep/arc-reports-for-upsc-mains-exam/#:~:text=The

%20Administrative%20Reforms%20Commission%20(ARC,services%2C%20conflict

%20resolution%2C%20etc.