Civil Services In India
INTRODUCTION
The term ‘Civil services’ covers the large number of permanent officials required to run
the machinery of Government. The core of Parliamentary Government, which we have adopted
in India, is that the ultimate responsibility for running the administration rests with the elected
representatives of the people called Ministers. These Ministers are accountable to the
Legislatures which are also elected by the people on the basis of universal adult franchise. Thus,
we can say that the Ministers are indirectly responsible to the people themselves. But the handful
of Ministers, however wise and efficient they may be, cannot be expected to deal personally with
the manifold problems of modern administration. Ministers lay down the policy. It is for the
civil servants to carry out this policy.
Classification of Services: The Constitution of India provides for two classes of services in the
country.
These are
(i) Central services; and
(ii) State services
The Central services are concerned with the administration of Union subjects such as foreign
affairs, defense, income tax, customs-, posts and telegraphs, etc. Officers of these services
are recruited by and work under the authority of the Union Government.
The subjects within the jurisdiction of the States such as land revenue, agriculture, forests,
education, etc. are manned by the State services. Officers of the State services are recruited by
different States through the State public Service Commissions.
In addition to these two grades of services, the Constitution also provides for All-India services.
These services are common to the Union and the States and are composed of officers who are in
the exclusive employ of neither and may at any time be at the disposal of either, e.g. IAS, IPS, etc.
Parliament may by law provide for the creation of one or more All-India services common to the
Union and the State and regulate the recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to
any such service.
RECRUITMENT TO ALL-INDIA AND
CENTRAL SERVICES
Recruitment is a process which is of vital importance to the administrative system as a whole,
for it determines the tone and caliber of the public services, and on it rests the usefulness and
relevance of the machinery of Government to the society. Direct recruitment to the
administrative and most of the executive services is made on the basis of a competitive
examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. The examination includes :
attest of intellectual ability and scholastic attainment through a written examination in a
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certain number of subjects (optional papers);
a written test, common to all candidates, designed to test their capacity for effective
thinking, sentence formation, power of clear and lucid expression, and general knowledge
(compulsory papers); and
An interview to assess a candidate’s personal qualities, including some intellectual
qualities which a written examination cannot test.
A combined examination, called the civil service examination is held annually by the Union
Public Service Commission for recruitment to the All-India services (Indian Administrative
Service and Indian Police Service), Indian Foreign Service and Central Services (Group A and
B). In Group A there are services like the Indian Defence Accounts Service, Central
Information Service, Indian Railway Traffic Service, Indian Income Tax Service, etc. In Group
B, there are services such as Central Secretariat Service, Railway Board Secretariat Service,
Indian Foreign Service (Section Officers Grade) and services for Union Territories of Delhi,
Andaman and Nicobar, Pondicherry and Daman and Diu, etc.
Candidates who are Indian nationals, between the age of 21 years and 30 years (relaxable in
certain cases like Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, O.B.Cs. and the upper age limit for
the post of Assistant Commandants, Group A in CISF is 28 years only) and holding a university
degree are eligible to apply for the examination. Each candidate is permitted four chances at the
examination. This restriction however, dose not apply to SC/ST candidates. The candidates in
the OBC category are given seven chances to appear at the examination.
Plan of the Examination : The civil services examination comprises of two successive stages :
(i) Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, objective type test for the selection of
candidates for main examination; and
(ii) Civil Services (Main) Examination, written and interview tests for the selection of
candidates for the various services.
The preliminary examination is held annually in May/June and the main examination in
November/ December. The preliminary examination consists of two papers of objective multiple
choice questions and carry a maximum of 450 marks. This examination is meant to serve as a
screening test only. The marks obtained in the preliminary examination by the candidates who
are declared qualified for admission to the main examination will not be counted for
determining their final order of merit. The number of candidates to be admitted to the main
examination will be about twelve to thirteen times the total approximate number of vacancies to
be fi lied in the year in the various services and posts. Only those candidates who are declared
by the Commission to have qualified in the preliminary examination in a year will be eligible
for admission to the main examination of that year.
The main examination consists of a written examination and an interview test. The written
examination will consist of 9 papers of conventional essay type in the subjects set out by the
Union Public-Service Commission. Each paper carrying 300 marks, and an essay paper which
has 200 marks only. Candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the written part
of the main examination as may be fixed by the Commission shall be summoned for an interview
for a personality test. However, the papers on Indian languages and English will be of qualifying
nature. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.
The number of candidates to be summoned for interview will be about twice the number of
vacancies to be filled. The interview will carry 300 marks (with no minimum qualifying marks).
Marks thus obtained by the candidates in the main examination (written part as well as
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interview) would determine their final ranking. Candidates will be allotted to the various
services keeping in view their ranks in the examination and the preference expressed by them for
the various services and “posts.
The candidate will be interviewed by a board who will have before them a record of his career.
He will be asked questions on matters of general interest. The objective of the interview is to
assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service by a board of
competent and unbiased observers. The test is intended to judge the mental calibre of a
candidate. In broad terms, this is really an assessment of not only his intellectual qualities but
also social traits and his interest in current affairs. Some of the qualities to be judged are mental
alertness, critical powers of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, balance of judgement,
variety and depth of interest, ability for social cohesion and leadership, intellectual and moral
integrity.
The technique of the interview is not that of a strict cross-examination but of a natural, though
directed and purposive conversation which is intended to reveal the mental qualities of the
candidate. The interview test is not intended to be a test either of the specialised or general
knowledge of the candidates which has been already tested through their written papers.
Candidates are expected to have taken an intelligent interest not only in their special subjects of
academic study but also in the events which are happening around them both within and outside
their own State or country as well as in modern currents of thought and in new discoveries
which should rouse the curiosity of well educated youth.
UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
Article 315(1) of the Constitution lays down that “there shall be a-Public Service Commission
for the Union and a Public Service Commission for each State.”
Composition : The Constitution has not fixed the number of members of the Union Public
Service Commission, and has left the matter to the President (which means the Government).
The members of the Commission are appointed by the President. The President determines the
salary and other conditions of service of the members of the UPSC through regulations. The
entire expenses of the UPSC are charged on the Consolidated Fund of India. At least half of the
members should be persons with a minimum often years’ experience in Government service.
Tenure : The tenure of office of a member of the UPSC is fixed for six years or until the
attainment of 65 years of age, whichever is earlier. A member of the UPSC may resign from
office by writing addressed to the President.
Removal : A member can be removed from office only by an order of the President on the
ground of insolvency, infirmity of mind or body, or engagement in paid employment outside the
duties of his office. He may also be removed on the ground of misbehaviour, if, following a
reference to and inquiry by the Supreme Court, the Court has upheld the cause of removal. The
Constitution provides that any concern or interest in any contract or agreement made by the
Government of India, or participation in any way in the profits thereof will be sufficient proof of
misbehaviour.
Provisions for Securing Independence of the Commission
1. The Chairman or a member of the UPSC can be removed from office only in the manner
and for grounds specified in the Constitution.
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2. The conditions of service of members of the Commission are determined by the
President, but these cannot be varied to the disadvantage of the members during their
term of office.
3. All the expenses of the Commission, including the salaries of members, are charged on
the Consolidated Fund of India. This means that they are not required to be submitted to
the vote of Parliament.
4. The Constitution provides that upon ceasing to be member in due time, the incumbent
will be ineligible for any further appointment in the same office or in any office under
the Government except a higher appointment in the same Commission.
5. The Commission has its own staff for carrying out its functions. Its senior staff includes
a Secretary, a Controller of Examinations, a loint Secretary, 18 Deputy Secretaries, an
Officer on Special Duty, a Director (Data Processing), 41 Under Secretaries and one
Finance and Accounts Officer.
Functions of the UPSC
1. To advise the Government on all matters relating to the method of recruitment and
principles to be followed in making appointment to civil services either directly or by
promotion.
2. To conduct examinations for appointments to the All-India and Central services like the
combined examination for IFS, IAS, IPS, other allied and Central services; the
Engineering Services Examination; the Indian Economic Service Examination; the Joint
Services Wing Examination; and the Ministerial Services Examination.
3. To interview candidates for direct recruitment.
4. To advise the Government on the suitability of candidates for promotion and transfer.
Recommendations for such promotions are made by the department concerned and the
Commission is requested to ratify them.
5. The Commission is also consulted on matters like temporary appointments for periods
exceeding one year but not exceeding three years, grant of extension of service, and reemployment
of certain retired servants.
6. To advise the Government on disciplinary matters affecting civil servants.
7. The Commission is also consulted on matters like regularisation of appointments, claims
for the award of pension, claims for reimbursement of legal expenses incurred by
Government servants in defending legal proceedings instituted against them in respect
of acts done in the execution of their official duties, claims for pension or compensation
in respect of injuries sustained while on duty.
8. To advise the Government on any other matter specifically referred to it by the President.
The Constitution also provides for an extension of the functions of the Commission if
Parliament passes a law to that effect. The Constitution requires the Commission to
submit to the President an annual report on the work done by it during the year. The
report, accompanied by a memorandum explaining the action taken by the Government
on the recommendations of the Commission, is to be placed before the Parliament. The
memorandum should explain the reason for the non-acceptance of the recommendations
of the Commission by the Government, if there are such cases.
TRAINING OF CIVIL SERVANTS
In 1959 itself the two sister institutions, IAS Training School, Delhi, and IAS Staff College,
Simla, were amalgamated to start a National Academy of Administration — now (since 1972)
called the Lai Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration — at Mussoorie. The
Academy started functioning at Mussoorie from September 1, 1959. Each organised service
today has its own training institution to impart training to the new recruits.
Training for Indian Administrative Service (IAS)
Recruits to the All-India services (including the Indian Forest Service) and Central services are
required to attend a common course of training, called foundational programme, at the Lai
Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration. The subjects taught in the foundational course,
which is of three and a half months’ duration, are :
1. Basic Economics for Administrators,
2. History and Indian Culture,
3. Law,
4. Political Concepts and Constitutional Law, and
5. Public Administration, Management and Behavioural Sciences.
At the end of the foundational course there is an examination and the marks secured in it are
added to the recruitment examination.
After the completion of the foundational course, the probationers of the services other than IAS
leave for their respective training institutes for subject-matter training. The IAS probationers
numbering nearly 150 stay at the Academy to undergo further training, called the professional
training, of eight months’ duration. It was first introduced in 1969.
After completing the first phase of professional training, the probationers go to the State of their
allotment for district training. Its duration is one year. During district training, the probationers
spend some time at the State training institute. They, thus, acquire knowledge of various aspects
of life (including the language) of the State of their destiny, especially of the districts to which
they are attached. They undertake socio-economic survey of villages. This aspect of training is
particularly emphasised as they spend the initial period of their career in rural areas. During the
period of district training, the probationers remain in touch with the Academy and report
regularly to a faculty member.
Training for Indian Police Service (IPS)
Training for IPS personnel is conducted at the National Police Academy at Hyderabad. The IPS
probationers have been undertaking two courses of in-service training since 1986.
The syllabus of training includes studies of criminal psychology, scientific aids in detection of
crime, methods of combating corruption and fire and emergency relief. The subjects of study
and the training in drill, handling of weapons, etc., have a direct bearing on the normal work of a
police officer.
After the completion of one year training, the probationer passes an examination conducted by
the UPSC. He is, then, appointed as an Assistant Superintendent of Police. But, before this
appointment he has to undergo a year’s programme of training. He is imparted practical training
by requiring him to do the work of various subordinate officers under guidance.
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GENERALISTS AND SPECIALISTS
Generalist: A generalist may be defined as a public servant who does not have a specialised
background and is easily transferable to any department or branch of Government.
A generalist has also been defined as a civil servant who belongs to the managerial class and
who is well up in rules, regulations and procedure of administration. He generally performs
POSDCORB functions, namely, planning, organising, supervising, directing, coordinating,
reporting and budgeting. Specialist: By ‘specialist’ is generally meant a person who has special
knowledge or skill in a specific field, e.g., agriculture, medicine, engineering, education, etc. The
specialist can be easily distinguished on the basis of his education and training.
Two points may be noted in this context:
1. Expert or specialist is a relative term. For example, the generalist medical practitioner is
an expert in relation to the patient, but is only a generalist in relation to a surgeon, dentist
or opthalmologist. In other words, there are degrees of expertise.
2. There is equally a problem between the working engineer in the field and his counterpart
in the laboratory or the university. The Indian Administrative Reforms Commission has
chosen to call such specialized services as ‘functional services’.
‘Functional services’ include not only ‘services’ which are charged with a technical function for
which pre-entry vocational education is required (e.g., the various Engineering Services), but
also those which specialize after entry in a particular area of administration for which no preen try
vocational qualification is prescribed (such as, Accounts, Income-Tax). The Commission
distinguished the ‘functional services’ from ‘a general purpose’ service. For example, members
of IAS start their service in the districts, but soon get dispersed to various posts which cover
different functional areas. The IIPA Conference on Personal Administration attempted a
detailed definition of the term ‘generalist officer’ and ‘specialist or technical officer’.
A generalist officer is one who has received a liberal college education (in whatever subject) and
after receiving initial training in the field is appointed to a middle level supervisory post for
which an educational qualification in technical or professional subjects — engineering,
medicine, etc. — has not been prescribed as compulsory. In due course, he is appointed to
higher administrative positions irrespective of his previous experience and training. A specialist
or technical officer is appointed to a middle level supervisory post for which a technical or
professional educational qualification has been prescribed as compulsory. He is excluded from
areas where his specialized knowledge or training may not find direct application.
Position in India : The public services in India are characterized by the superior position of the
genera-list. By and large, the ‘policy formulation’ and the ‘consideration’ levels in the Central
and State Secretariats are manned by the members of the generalist services. Although the
technical services constitute about fifty per cent of the total strength of Class I officers, they are
generally excluded from holding Secretariat appointments. A good portion of the posts (of
Deputy Secretary and above) in the Central Secretariat are held by civil servants in the IAS. In
general, positions in the field are filled by the specialists. But there are many instances of the
IAS officer working as Director of Education, or Director of Health, or Director of Agriculture,
or even Chief Conservator of Forests in various State Governments. At the district level, there is
the generalist Collector leading a team of technical district officers who are heads of technical
departments at the district level. The Panchayati Raj administration, too, has not escaped this
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phenomenon. Thus, the Chief Executive Officer of the Zila Parishad is an IAS officer, who is the
head of a team of technical officers.
Reasons for the superiority of Generalists :
1. The belief that the high caliber of recruits to the Indian Administrative Services and the
wide and varied experience gained as a result of their postings to a diverse variety of
jobs, equip these services with qualities needed for the performance of the senior
management level jobs.
2. “Another justification for the predominance in the higher administrative position of
services primarily recruited for the general administration, is the facility which this
system seems to provide for contact with the grass-roots of administration.” (IIPA
Conference).
3. Administration in India has traditionally been based on the principle of ‘area
administration’ and the Bruisers continued this tradition. In independent India the
village, the block, the tensile, the district, the division continue to remain the units around
which the administration at that level revolves. The case for the generalists is that there
should be a manager at all levels to perform the managerial functions of planning,
directing, coordinating, etc., and that only an experienced administrator can fulfil this role
with success.
4. The generalists emphasize the need for a Secretariat at the headquarters, predominantly
manned by generalists, to act as an intermediary and link between the specialists in the
field and the amateur Minister at the top.
5. The generalist Secretary is considered to be in a much better position to tender correct
and proper advice to his Minister because he usually has complete understanding of the
total effect of various factors on a particular policy decision.
6. Generalists charge the specialists of being parochial and narrow-minded. Specialists,
according to this view, are prone to display bias and a restricted view of matters. After
all, the specialist is one who knows more and more of less and less and they quote the
authority of Paul Appleby, according to whom, “the price of specialization of every
kind is parochialism.”
Criticism
1. In the conditions prevailing in India before Independence, there were few attractive
openings for the talented, outside the higher administrative services, and so the best
products of the universities tried to get into what was then known as the ‘heaven-born
service’. The situation has changed materially since 1947.
2. With the emergence of the Welfare State with emphasis on development administration,
the demand for specialized and technical talent has been rapidly rising and the best talent
is now being attracted to these technical positions including industry, commerce,
banking, insurance, and other business.
3. It is no longer true that IAS is the only repository of talent and merit.
4. There has occurred a big change in the functions of the Government, which have not
only multiplied in number but have also become very complicated and technical.
5. The needs of contemporary society and the aspirations of the public demand that civil
servants today have to be equipped to tackle the political, scientific, social, economic
and technical problems of our time. They have to keep up with the rapid growth of new
know-ledge and acquire new techniques to apply to it. In short, the civil service is no
place for the amateur. It must be staffed by men and women who are professionals.
6. Questions have been asked as to what constitutes the ‘district experience’ and why
should the experience in land revenue administration, magistracy and general
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administration alone be regarded as field experience. The experience at the operation
‘doing’ level can as well as be acquired in other departments like agriculture, industry,
health or police.
7. It took ordinarily eight to ten years before ICS officers could rise to the position of the
Collector and District Magistrate, and in general, an officer worked for about fifteen
years in the district before being sent to the Secretariat. However, in independent
India, in many cases, it takes only three to five years
for an IAS officer to be appointed a Collector and he is sent to the Secretariat soon after.
In other words, the so called district experience is rather limited in the case of IAS
officers now.
8. It is being increasingly realized that ‘district experience’ is really not called for in the
type of activities now carried on by the Central Government, and that the work of
Ministries/ Departments calls for continuity of specialization rather than periodic
renewal of field experience in districts. Thus, in 1939 a Finance and Commerce Pool
was constituted as ‘an expert cadre of officers with special knowledge, experience and
outlook’ for dealing with the specialized needs of departments dealing with economic
matters. The creation of the Central Secretariat Service soon after independence to man
a certain proportion of superior posts in the Secretariat was another step in the direction
of weakening the Tenure System (introduced by Lord Curzon) as well as the setting up
later of special cadres like the Industrial Management Pool to fill superior positions in
the management of public undertakings. The Central Administrative Pool was also set up
as reserve for manning senior administrative posts of and above the rank of Deputy
Secretary.
9. Even though the tenure system still exists on paper, there are many officers in the
Central Secretariat who have not, for one reason or the other, gone back to their original
posts in the States.
10. The foremost grievance of the specialist service is the discrimination in pay and
allowances as between the IAS and their services, and the greater and quicker chances
of promotion for the IAS.
11. A large majority of top posts both in the Union Government and the State Governments
are manned by the members of the IAS.
Steps taken by the Government of India to resolve the problems :
1. Weakening of the Tenure System.
2. Creation of new specialist All-India and Central Services. Article 312(1) of the
Constitution authorises the Union Parliament to provide for one or more All-India
services common to the Union and the States, if the Council of States declares by a
resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting that it
is necessary or expedient in the national interest to do so. On the eve of independence,
there existed only two All-India services — the Indian Civil Service and the Indian Police
Service. Of these, the IPS was retained and the old ICS was replaced by the new IAS.
Several new services have been added to the list, namely, the Indian Engineering
Service, the Indian Forest Service, the Indian Statistical Service, Indian Economic
Service etc. All these services aim at giving better status and emoluments to
specialists. In the States, provision has been made in many cases to give better grades to
technical services.
3. Appointment of specialists to positions of administrative responsibility. The trend is
visible in most departments. Thus we have Assistant, Deputy and Joint Advisers in
the Ministry of Education working side by side with the generalist Under/Deputy/Joint
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Secretary. The Planning Commission is almost exclusively manned by specialists and
professionals.
One way of achieving the same objective is by combining the role of the Secretary to and the
head of the executive agency in one integrated office. “A composite office will permit more
specialization in the division of work than would be possible in separate offices, ensuring that
every aspect of the work to be done is handled by persons chosen for their competence in that
aspect, reducing the dependence on ‘generalists’, whether they are generalists in the sense that
their educational background and experience have no direct relevance to the jobs given to
them, or in the sense that they are utilized to perform other jobs, though their qualifications at the
time of their recruitment were relevant to the generality of the technical or specialist jobs which
they were expected to do.” (Madhya Pradesh Administrative Reforms Commission.)
Another way of achieving the same objective is the method of giving the specialist head of
department ex officio status of Joint/Additional/full Secretary to Government, e.g., the Railway
Board members while remaining heads of the operating departments are also ex officio
Secretaries in the Railway Ministry.
Various other solutions to the problem have been offered from time to time. Thus, Central
Administrative Reforms Commission (1966 to 1970) has in its report on personnel
administration recommended fictionalization of all services including the IAS. It also
recommended that senior management posts in functional areas should be filled by the members
of functional services.
