On Saturday, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) published an advertisement for recruiting multiple positions in various central ministries by lateral entry which could be on contract or through deputation. This advertisement has 45 posts across 24 ministries including 10 joint secretaries and 35 directors/ deputy secretaries. All of these posts are to be filled by the 17th of September.
The recruitment announcement has been condemned by the Opposition who alleged that it was an attempt by the Centre to bypass the existing reservation policy.
This advertisment
The advertisment is inviting applications for filling up the positions of Joint Secretaries, Directors and Deputy Secretaries in different Ministries / Departments.
Among them are posts of Joint Secretary in several areas such as emerging technologies, semiconductors and electronics, environment policy and law, digital economy, fintech, cybersecurity, investment in economic affairs, shipping, science & technology under Economic Affairs Ministry, economic/commercial/industrial under Steel Ministry, renewable energy , policy & planning , national disaster management authority etc.
Directors and deputy secretaries have been created under departments dealing with climate change; forestry; integrated nutrients management (INM); natural farming (NF); rain-fed farming systems(RFFS); organic farming(OF); urban water management(UWM); aviation management(AM); chemicals and petrochemicals(CP); commodity pricing(CP) insolvency & bankruptcy(IB) ; education laws(EDL); education technology(ET); international law(IL), finance(FI), tax policy(TG), manufacturing/auto(MA), advanced chemical cell battery manufacturing for automobile sector(MD) &official languages(OL). Another position will be in digital media under information and broadcasting ministry.
Besides State/UT officers and employees from public sector undertakings”,“talented and motivated Indian nationals willing to contribute towards nation- building” can apply. Individuals from private firms would be engaged on contractual basis, and those from public sector organizations would be taken on deputation. Importantly, employees of central government recruited through direct recruitment are not qualified for these posts.
Their term of appointment is three years which can be extended to five years depending upon the performance.
The post of joint secretary requires 15 years relevant experience in a particular sector and the applicants must be within an age bracket of 40-55. The candidates should be aged between 35 and 40 for director’s position while they have to be between 32 and forty years for deputy secretaries.
What is lateral entry?
Lateral entry refers to the practice of recruiting individuals from outside the regular bureaucracy into specific government departments. In India this may mean mid or senior level positions within services like Indian Administrative service. Typically such posts are occupied by civil servants who enter through entrance examinations conducted by Union Public Service Commission.
Lateral Entry means including domain experts/ specialist, who carry some experience in policy making & implementation from outside the Civil Services.The private sector employees have often been called upon to give advice , but here they’ll enter the administrative services structure. Instances include Chief Economic Advisor in India who is usually an eminent economist with upper age limit capped at 45, as stated by government official in this regard.
It was only in 2018 that Modi Government allowed lateral entry into certain positions within Central Government.Except it was said that Congress led UPA Government had mooted this idea earlier which got endorsed by Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) set up during 2005 under former Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily (Congress).
Mr. Moily said in a telephone interview with The Hindu that the Commission had actually suggested lateral entry for some specialized roles which are not easily available in the traditional civil services. The need was to make it a process that would add value to the government’s appointment system, he noted. “We have however proposed an open and transparent method of bringing people through lateral entry,” he commented, adding that “we did this is not intended to cut corners on the normal system of recruitment into government or for any political reasons.”
In a response in the Lok Sabha on July 24, 63 such appointments have been made till date by way of lateral entry. Of these appointees, thirty-five came from private sector organizations. Still, out of those hired under lateral entry, fifty-seven are still serving their respective ministries.
Similarly, CoS recommended about forty individuals must be included in the government through lateral entry as per NITI Aayog (2017). It is worth noting that DoPT sources were cited last year saying the government was planning to recruit individuals for director/deputy secretary positions under Central Staffing Scheme-it chooses/appoints officers of under secretarial rank and above.
In 2018 alone, similar notifications were also issued by Union Public Services Commission. For instance, another notification was also released last July-for appointments as joint secretary, deputy secretary and directors in various departments/ministries.
Lateral Entry in other Countries
It should be remembered that several countries already allow their administrative posts to be filled this way- United States also has this method just like UK Australia New Zealand Belgium
This has often been described as revolving door model of governance whereby officials move from governments into private corporations and back again whilst at times taking up public office again with different administrations. In other words there is a flowing between posts held within governments and key decisions making positions within industries or companies.
This includes legislative positions e.g., members of congress in America, civil servants, and executive members appointed by various political administrations. The US has a “cooling off” period before a government official can begin lobbying, with state laws differing.
This practice is also widely criticized to undermine public interest particularly in sectors such as big pharmaceuticals, the fossil fuel sector and energy sector and defense. As a report puts it-‘public actors involved may “regulate in favor of the corporations either to secure a post-government position in the private sector or, when moving from private to public office, because they have been socialized in the industry settings.”’
There are other concerns over conflicts of interest and influence. Additionally frequent transitions by people who possess specialized knowledge such as cyber security or antitrust may influence work done by congressional committees and offices.
Countries including UK France Italy Spain Portugal Sweden Norway have experienced challenges surrounding revolving doors that exist between government and energy/fossil fuel industry especially.
Why is this controversial in India?
Since its inception lateral entry has attracted criticism and controversy in India. Dalit bureaucrats as well as other civil servants had objected to the scheme pointing out that candidates being hired under lateral entry were not subjected to reservation requirements.”
Mr. Moily said that “we did not touch the reservation aspect at all” with reference to the 2005 Commission which he chaired.
DoPT’s rules state that only government appointments for a period of less than 45 days are exempted from the reservation policy. Lateral entry, however, is seen as private contract between an individual and govt thereby bypassing normal government services policy.
The latest advertisment drew flak from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. On X, Mr.Kharge acussed BJP of launching a “double attack on reservation” and questioned whether these lateral entry posts had any reservation for SCs, STs, OBCs or Economically Weaker Section (EWS).
He observed; “BJP is deliberately making such recruitments in jobs so that people belonging to SC, ST, OBC categories can be kept away from reservation.” He has alleged that casual and contractual recruitment increased by 91% while posts for SC and OBC communities fell by 1.3 lakh by 2022-23. “Now RSS people will get SC, ST, OBC EWS posts,” he added.
Meanwhile Mr Gandhi accused the Government of openly snatching away such seats from Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC). In his Facebook post titled Lateral Entry is an Attack on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis read ‘’BJP’s distorted version of Ram Rajya seeks to destroy Constitution and snatch reservations from Bahujans,’’.
Another recent issue about reservations was also brought up by opposition members – an alleged scam in the recruitment of 69k assistant teachers in UP on which High Court recently gave its judgement.
