On the controversy over lateral entry into the civil services

Context:

• The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) had withdrawn its advertisement pertaining to lateral recruitment for 45 posts of Joint Secretaries (JS), Directors and Deputy Secretaries (DS) in the government.
• This follows objections raised by coalition partners and the Opposition as well as the intervention of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) about the need for reservation in such lateral recruitment.

Merit versus Spoils System:

• Merit System: It entails appointments to government posts after a rigorous selection process by an independent authority.
• In India, this commenced in the year 1858 when the British introduced the Indian Civil Service (ICS) to select officers for administering the country.
• After independence, the UPSC conducts exams to select officers for IAS, IPS and other central services.
• The merit system is aimed at building career bureaucrats who are expected to function without any political leanings and provide independent advice to the incumbent political executive.
• Spoils System: It works on the adage ‘to the victor belong the spoils.’
• It is a system where the incumbent political executive appoints its supporters to various posts in the government.
• It has its origins in the U.S., and continued until 1883 when it was replaced largely by a merit system.
• At present, out of more than 2.8 million federal government posts, only around 4,000 senior posts are directly appointed by the President.

Lateral entry:

• IAS and other central service officers with more than 15 years of experience are generally posted as JS to head various departments.
• It is a cutting-edge post where the officers prepare cabinet notes, handle parliamentary questions, and liaise with officers of other ministries and State governments.
• Lateral entry is when executives from the private sector, public sector undertakings and academia are appointed to senior and middle management positions in the government.
• There have been instances of lateral entrants who were technocrats being appointed at secretary level posts since independence.
• Notable examples include former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia, agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan etc.
• The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2005) and the NITI Aayog in 2017 had also recommended lateral entrants to bring specialised knowledge and skills into governance.

Pros and cons:

• Pros: Lateral entry brings with it certain tangible benefits.
• It brings much needed specialisation for niche areas of governance like emerging technologies, semiconductors, climate change, digital economy, cyber security etc.
• It results in infusion of fresh ideas from experts to reinvigorate the system.
• It also has the potential of making career bureaucrats more responsive thereby bringing in a positive change.
• Cons: It has its own set of significant limitations.
• The domain expertise and specialisation of IAS officers is their field experience that is hard to match by outside entrants.
• There can be coordination issues with career bureaucrats.
• It may also result in opaqueness and conflicts of interests while hiring recruits from private sector.

Way forward:

• Notable lateral entrants in the past have been appointees at the secretary level which is the highest position in government departments.
• At this level, the lateral entrant will be capable of influencing policy decisions. Their performance will also be subjected to greater scrutiny.
• Even if appointments are to be made at more operational levels of JS, Directors and DS posts, it should be in line with public policy.
• In his book The Tyranny of Merit, political philosopher Michael Sandel discusses the flaws of placing too much emphasis on merit without pursuing equity.
• Hence, appointment at these levels should coalesce technical competence with reservation and social justice.
• Therefore, the intervention from the PMO in the recent episode is welcome.
• Excessive focus on lateral entrants is missing the larger picture.
• The issues plaguing the system cannot be set right with just a handful of lateral recruits.
• While there can be genuine grievances about the red-tapism, inefficiency and corruption in administration, it is equally true that career bureaucrats work in a challenging environment.
• Since governments deal with public money, the system is bound by a plethora of rules.
• Government performs various roles where the objectives are intangible, which the private sector would not do.
• Compounding these operational challenges is excessive political interference.
• A merit system being morphed into a spoils system is a serious threat to Indian bureaucracy and various institutions headed by career bureaucrats.
• Autonomy of career bureaucrats is essential for their effective functioning. This includes reasonable independence with respect to postings, tenures and transfers.
• In this regard, as per Supreme Court judgment in the T.S.R. Subramanian case (2013), Civil Service Boards headed by top bureaucrats should be effectively constituted and strengthened at the Centre and States.

Moving the spotlight to grassroots democracy

Introduction:

• The Election Commission of India (ECI), with its track record of conducting free and fair elections, and on time, to Parliament and State legislatures, has emerged as one of independent India’s most credible institutions. Yet, there are 34 State Election Commissions (SECs) that need serious attention and strengthening.

Systemic disempowerment of SECs:

• The SECs were brought into existence by Articles 243K and 243ZA of the Constitution (introduced by the 73rd and 74th amendments in 1993), which vested them with the superintendence, direction, and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to panchayats and urban local governments (ULGs).
• In reality, however, SECs are increasingly disempowered and, in certain cases, even in litigation with their State governments.
• Karnataka SEC filed a contempt petition against the Government of Karnataka for reneging on its commitment to the High Court in response to an earlier petition filed by the SEC to allow it to proceed with the delimitation of panchayat raj institutions and conduct elections (already delayed by over three and a half years).
• In Andhra Pradesh SEC case (2020), the Supreme Court struck down an ordinance of Andhra Pradesh, which hindered elections to the panchayat raj institutions.
• Analysis of the performance audits of the implementation of the 74th Constitutional (Amendment) Act by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India across 18 States shows that 1,560 out of 2,240 urban local governments (70%) did not have an elected council at the time of the CAG audit.
• The CAG, in its Karnataka report, observed that the disempowerment of SECs is, more often than not, the cause for delays in on time elections.
• Such delays undermine local governments and erode the trust of citizens in these important public institutions.
• Janaagraha’s Annual Survey of India’s City Systems (ASICS), 2023 shows that only 11 out of 34 States and Union Territories have empowered SECs to conduct ward delimitation.
• These States and Union Territories account for only 35% of India’s population, as in the 2011 Census.

Electoral reforms to strengthen third tier:

• Regular and fair elections to local governments are non-negotiable for meaningful grass-roots democracy and ensuring effective first-mile service delivery in the cities and the villages of the country.
• The requirement to conduct elections before the expiry of the five-year term of elected local governments is a constitutional mandate and must be as sacrosanct as the elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas.
• To ensure this, SECs must be fully empowered on all matters of local government elections, on a par with the Election Commission of India, as observed by the Supreme Court in Kishan Singh Tomar vs Municipal Corporation of the City of Ahmedabad and Others (2006).

The following reforms are a must in order to bring about this change:

• There is a need to bring SECs on a par with the Election Commission of India in terms of transparency and independence in constitution and appointment.
• Notwithstanding the recent dilution in the case of the Election Commission of India, can we not aspire to a three-member SEC which is appointed by a committee that comprises the Chief Minister, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha), and the Chief Justice of the High Court?
• A State government-appointed SEC is just not working.
• The Union government should amend the 74th Constitutional (Amendment) Act in this context.
• The delimitation of ward boundaries and reservations of seats must be mandated only at fixed intervals, say once in 10 years.
• The absence of this check can lead to State governments acting arbitrarily, causing undue delays in elections to local governments.
• The powers of ward delimitation and reservation of seats for local governments must be vested in the SECs.
• Further, the SECs must be entrusted with reservations to the positions of mayors/presidents, deputy mayors/vice-presidents of the local governments, say once in 10 years, where applicable.
• Elections to these positions are delayed inordinately after local elections as State governments fail to publish the reservation roster to these positions on time.
• Finally, malpractices by presiding officers appointed by the State governments have also emerged- an example is the election of the Mayor in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Council in 2024.
• SECs, therefore, should possibly be entrusted with the election of mayors, presidents, chairpersons, and standing committees.

UN convention against forced disappearance

Context:

• Bangladesh signed the UN convention against forced disappearance.
• The development comes a day ahead of the UN-declared International Day for the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, observed on August 30, for the convention adopted by the United Nations in 2006.
• Recently, Bangladesh formed a commission to trace and identify each and every case of forced disappearance during Sheikh Hasina’s regime.

International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance:

• It is an international human rights instrument of the United Nations intended to prevent forced disappearance, which, as defined in international law, is part of crimes against humanity.
• It entered into force on 23 December 2010.
• As of April 2023, 98 states have signed the convention and 71 have ratified it.
• Enforced Disappearance: It is defined in Article 2 of the Convention as the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.
• Committee on Enforced Disappearances: The Convention is governed by this committee elected by its parties.
• Parties are obliged to report to this committee on the steps they have taken to implement it within two years of becoming subject to it.
• Optional complaints system: The Convention includes an optional complaints system whereby citizens of parties may appeal to the Committee for assistance in locating a disappeared person.
• Parties may join this system at any time, but may only opt out of it upon signature.
• India: Signed the convention but not ratified.

SHe-Box (Online Complaint Management System)

Context:

• Portal launched for registering sexual harassment cases

About SHe-Box:

• Sexual Harassment electronic Box (SHe-Box) was launched by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• It is a centralised portal for registering and monitoring complaints of sexual harassment of women at the workplace.
• Any woman facing sexual harassment at workplace can register their complaint through this portal.
• Once a complaint is submitted to the ‘SHe-Box’, it will be directly sent to the concerned authority having jurisdiction to take action into the matter.
• It serves as a centralised repository of information related to Internal Committees (ICs) and Local Committees (LCs) formed, encompassing both the government and private sectors.
• It offers a common platform to file complaints, track their status, and ensure a time-bound processing of complaint by ICs.

Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013:

• The Act has enacted with the objective to create a safe and secure workplace for women free from sexual harassment.
• This Act caters to women working both in organised and unorganised sector and establishes a redressal mechanism for the disposal of their complaints.
• This Act is unique in its broad coverage which includes all women irrespective of their work status, whether working in organised or unorganised, public or private sectors, regardless of hierarchy.
• The domestic workers are also included within its ambit.
• It defines sexual harassment at the workplace in a comprehensive manner, to cover circumstances of implied or explicit promise or threat to a woman employment prospects or creation of hostile work environment or humiliating treatment, which can affect her health or safety.
• SHe-Box: Sexual Harassment electronic Box (SHe-Box) is an effort of Government to provide a single window access to every woman, irrespective of her work status, whether working in organised or unorganised, private or public sector, to facilitate the registration of complaint related to sexual harassment.