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Reforming India’s Steel Frame
Context:
India’s impressive economic strides, marked by growth and innovation, coexist with deep-seated challenges such as income inequality, underinvestment in critical sectors, and bureaucratic inefficiency.
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- At the heart of these governance challenges lies the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), often described as the nation’s “steel frame.”
- While the IAS has been instrumental in shaping India’s administrative landscape, persistent inefficiencies and systemic flaws call for urgent reforms to modernise the bureaucracy and unlock the country’s true economic potential.
Legacy
- The IAS, with roots in the colonial Indian Civil Service (ICS), became the backbone of India’s administrative machinery post-Independence.
- Over the decades, its officers have occupied pivotal roles in governance, policymaking, and implementation.
Challenges
However, this legacy is increasingly marred by challenges like political interference, lack of specialisation, and outdated personnel practices.
- Politicisation: One of the most significant issues plaguing the IAS is its politicisation.
- Frequent transfers, suspensions, and promotions influenced by political allegiance rather than merit have eroded morale and professionalism.
- Specialisation: The lack of domain expertise, exacerbated by frequent rotations across departments, hinders officers from becoming effective specialists in complex governance scenarios.
- Corruption: Corruption and inefficiency further undermine the IAS, as reflected in India’s moderate ranking on the World Bank’s government effectiveness index.
- These systemic flaws not only impact policy implementation but also threaten the country’s economic growth.
- Centralisation: Centraliased decision-making, a hallmark of executive-led governance in India, presents a mixed picture.
- While it has facilitated rapid reforms and infrastructure development, it has also created bottlenecks and diluted bureaucratic accountability.
- Critics argue that recent trends, such as the centralisation of power in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), risk disempowering senior bureaucrats, reducing their effectiveness as policy executors.
Past Efforts at Reform
India’s need for administrative reform is not a new realisation. Since Independence, over 50 commissions and committees have proposed changes to the bureaucratic structure.
- 1st ARC: The First Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) in 1966 emphasised the need for specialisation, accountability, and merit-based promotions.
- 2nd ARC: Similarly, the Second ARC, established in 2005, recommended measures such as performance-based promotions, lateral entry, and safeguards against arbitrary transfers.
- However, implementation has been slow, hindered by bureaucratic inertia and political resistance.
- Lateral Entry: Recognising the limitations of the IAS-centric governance model, the present government has introduced lateral entry into senior bureaucratic positions to bring in domain experts from the private sector and other fields.
- Since 2018, lateral recruitment has sought to infuse fresh perspectives into governance.
- By 2023, 57 individuals, many from the private sector, were appointed to senior positions.
- However, the initiative has faced resistance, with critics arguing it could undermine morale within the IAS and distort promotion incentives.
- Concerns over the lack of reservation provisions for marginalised groups have also been raised, complicating efforts to institutionalise these changes.
Lessons from Global Models
- The U.S.’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under President-elect Donald Trump offers valuable insights for reforming India’s bureaucracy.
- DOGE aims to streamline operations, reduce inefficiencies, and eliminate redundancies while leveraging expertise from leaders in various fields.
- A similar advisory body in India could identify inefficiencies, promote data-driven decision-making, and develop metrics to assess bureaucratic performance.
- A time-bound commission could ensure focused and actionable reform initiatives.
Challenges to Reform
- Seniority-based progression, generalist approaches, and resistance to change within the IAS pose significant obstacles.
- Political interference further complicates matters, as evidenced by the stalled Civil Services Standards, Performance, and Accountability Bill (2010), which sought to protect bureaucrats from arbitrary transfers.
- Even judicial directives, such as the Supreme Court’s 2013 mandate to establish civil services boards, have had limited impact due to poor enforcement.
Way Forward
- A multifaceted approach is essential to modernise India’s bureaucracy.
- Recruitment processes should prioritise merit and domain expertise, while promotions must be tied to measurable performance rather than seniority.
- Protecting bureaucrats from politically motivated transfers and fostering specialisation will enhance efficiency and accountability.
- Additionally, investments in robust data infrastructure can track performance, inform decisions on placements and promotions, and improve policy implementation.
