Question : “A well-designed module-based training for Civil Servants is the best way to achieve the goals of good governance.” Analyse.
(2007)
Answer : The good governance is a form of governance where the administration works for the welfare of the people. Here, the citizens take centre stage in the administrative set up. Since, till now, the bureaucracy has been dominating the administration and its attitude has been that of self-aggrandizement and possession of power.
But the emancipation of good governance requires bureaucracy to change its mindset for the betterment of the public. For this to happen a well-designed module based training is the best way.
A well-designed training helps in changing the attitude of the civil servants from rules to the citizen, from facts to values, from rigidness to flexibility, from secrecy to transparency, from self towards public and from domination to accountability.
A training to make this happen must comprise best experts and teachers, well qualified professionals, best Human Relations Theorists, best available techniques and all possible means e.g. seminar, lecture, case-study, excursion and practical based training.
To sum up, the Civil Servants has to act as catalyst to achieve the goals of good-governance. The foremost need is to change the attitude of Civil Servants.Question : “One of the most distinctive characteristics of Indian administrative service is its multipurpose character”.
(2005)
Answer : The Indian Administrative Service, since independence has always been the glamour service for young men in the small towns and village. The IAS acts as the eye, ears and mouth of the government and symbolizes in person in essence of state sovereignty.
This service reflects its multi-purpose character. It is composed of ‘generalist administrators’ who are expected, from time to time, to hold posts involving a wide variety of duties and functions; for example, maintenance of law and order, collection of revenue, regulation of trade, commerce and industry, welfare activities, development and extension work, etc. In brief IAS is intended to serve all the purposes formerly served by the ICS except providing officers for the judiciary. Thus, this service is a kind of generalist service and its officers are liable for posting in almost any branch of the administration. Further the hopes and aspirations of the people of independent India created new tasks and responsibilities, which were assigned to the newly created IAS, but with no radical break with the British administrative traditions. In the course of 55 years of independence, the IAS has emerged as the elite corps who staff the key positions close to the president and the prime minister as well as the other highest level position charged with coordinating cabinet policies, training and discipline of the upper civil services and formulating administrative policies.
Question : One of the greatest inherent in a federal polity is the responsibility on the part of public servants as between central and state government.” Elaborate and comment.
(2004)
Answer : The responsibility on the part of public servants as between central and state government is a bit complex one.
The union government has pointed out that it has the sole responsibility for all matters relation to public servants especially of All India Services character. According to Article 312 of the constitution confers power on parliament to regulate recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to AIS. However, the states are not completely removed from the picture. The AIS Act, 1951 provides that the rules for regulation of recruitment and conditions of service of members of the AIS shall, be made by the Union Government after consultation with the State Governments. In practice, the Union endeavours to accommodate the viewpoints of the States in the matter of framing rules, as members of these services have actually to work in the states for the better part of their career.
The wisdom feature of the parliamentary system of government is that while the policy of the administration is determined and laid down by ministers responsible to the legislature, the policy is carried out and the administration of the country is actually run by a large body of official who have no concern with politics. In the language of political science, the official form the’ permanent’ executives a distinguished from the Ministers who constitutes the Political Executive. While the Political Executive is chosen from the party in majority in the legislature and loses office as soon as that party loses its majority, the permanent executive is appointed by a different procedure and does not necessarily belong to the party in power. It maintains the continuity of the administration and of the neutrality in politics that characteristics the civil servants who constitutes the permanent executive and accounts for their efficiency.
Some state government have expressed their views. According to them, all key position in the state police are held by members of this service, The state government’s responsibility in regard to public order has got whittled down. According to some state, the AIS should be wound up and the union and the state governments should have their own separate civil services.
Thus, the public servants are not able to cater to the demands of both centre and state governments.
Question : “In-service training of officers belonging to higher civil services has been perhaps the most conspicuous development in Indian administration”. Discuss with reference to training designed for the Indian Administrative service officers.
(2003)
Answer : The importance and significance of training of civil service personnel cannot be underestimated in todays administration. It is rather rightly felt that unless these personnel are properly trained they cannot deliver the goods and the nation shall be the sufferer. But at the same time it cannot be forgotten that training has its own problems. The main objective of training is to make service personnel more efficient and bring them up to the task, which they are required to handle. In one sense training means the imparting of knowledge of facts and their interrelations knowledge essentially specialized or provisional nature.
Through our service commissions only raw hands are recruited. They have no knowledge of the work of the organization in which they will be required to work. It is therefore, essential that some training should be given to them while they are in-service.
One of the methods which is usually adopted in many countries, including India, is that of giving an employee actual responsibility of doing his work and then let him take his own care. It is felt that this is the most practical in-service training.
The advantage of this in-service training is that each one will try to be efficient and pick up the work every efficient to avoid stigmas of inefficient and lethargy; but the defect of this system is that without proper training an employee is bound to pick up work at public cost and for his inefficiency the whole nation is bound to suffer. It is however being increasingly felt that in-service training must be imparted because it helps a public servant in efficiently shouldering new responsibilities.
Training of administrator is one of the most important processes of personnel administration and an essential ingredient of a career civil servant like IAS.
The first regular competition examination for the IAS was held in 1947, and selected candidates were sent to the IAS training school. The Ministry of Home affairs decided to amalgamate the two sister institutions IAS Training School, Delhi and IAS Staff College, Simla and to start a National Academy of Administration.
It is — Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration since 1972.The Academy started functioning at Mussoorie from September 1959.
The in-service training for civil service has received a definite impetus since coming into power of Rajiv Gandhi in October 1984. It was Rajiv Gandhi himself who had repeatedly emphasized on the need for training of civil servants and it was among the priority activities of the Govt. of India.
Since then, there is a provision for in-service training programmes for IAS officers, consisting one week and two-week programmes. One week training programems are conducted at different National Level Institutes as well as the State Training Institutions.
The subjects covered in these programmes are many. Two week training programmes for senior IAS are also organized.
Higher jobs in civil services, involve an element of skill and if they are to be performed at optimum efficiency such skills have to be methodically and systematic cultivated. A well-designated training programme can be a real weapon to accommodate the philosophy and tools of organizational change to achieve optimum performance.
Question : “All India Services is an institution-is the result of history”. Comment.
(2002)
Answer : In India All India Services occupy pivotal position in our bureaucratic set up. Their creation has historical background.
Since India is a vast country in which there are several subjects which are to be handles at national level, therefore need for all India services has always been felt. Before independence these services were known as Indian Civil Services. Indian civil services was created as early as in 1854.It was however in 1923 that Royal Commission on superior services was set up under Viscount Lea. Thereafter several All India Services continued to be created.
India being federal polity in which central government has certain responsibilities to discharge. Similarly in our federal set up there are states, which have their own constitutional and legal obligations to discharge towards the citizens. For proper discharge of these obligations in the country there is a strong bureaucracy, which is a steel framework of our administration. In the bureaucracy employees belong to (a) All-India Services (b) State services and (c) those working in the ex-cadre posts. All India Services are controlled by Central Government.
All India services continued even after independence as it was felt that under those existing conditions centralism was essential and unavoidable. All India services personnel were likely to be less exposed to local pressures and that talented persons needed for national development could easily be attracted with the help of All India Services.
Thus, All-India Services is an institution-is the result of history.
Question : “All India Services plays a cubical unifying role in the whole administrative system of the country.” Explain.
(2000)
Answer : Presently, India has three All India Services - the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service. Article 312(1) of the Indian constitution says that, if Rajya Sabha has declared by resolution supported by not less than too third of the members present and voting, that it is necessary or expedient, in the national interest to do so, parliament may, by law provide for the creation of one or more of All India Service common to the union and states, and regulate the resentment and conditions of service of persons say pointed to any such service.
In 1951, the parliament enacted the All India Services Act, empowering the union government, in consultation with the state governments, to make rules for regulation of recruitment and conditions of services of persons appointed to the All India Services. The State Re-organisation Commission had recommended in 1955 that technical personnel at the central and the state levels should have uniform standards of efficiency and a feeling of belonging to common and important cadres.
The All India Services have a national vision and perspective and hence, are important bulwarks against parochial and regional thinking. Accordingly the members of these services act as instruments of national integration. Their national perspective and occasional interaction with international institutions facilitate the resolving of state and regional problems from a wider perspective and improves the quality of policy and decisional systems. The All India Services was conceived as an elite corps and the key element in the government of the country. The service was extremely cohesive and exclusive and had developed an admirable esprit de corps. The great achievement of the civil service in the last century and half was building up the moderns administrative system of the country and transforming an administration based on discretion into one based on the rule of law to the extent possible into a colonial regime. Through out the length and breath of the country administration was effective and came to have basic uniformity. It was fact that All India Services with their wider outlook and larger experience of administration and grater competence mere necessary in the period of transition for maintaining the continuity of administration. The All India Services are needed at present for maintaining and strengthening the unity of the country; to ensure uniform and high standards of administration in the states to provide competent administrative personnel for the new development tasks of government and to make possible the better coordination of policy between the centre and states and greater co-operation between them. The All India Services, as the necessary instruments for unifying the administrative process of the country, shape the minds of the people in national integration.
Question : “Article 320 states that the Government shall consult the U.P.S.C. on certain specific matters.” Comment.
(1999)
Answer : Articles 315 to 323 deal with the establishment of Public Services Commission for the Union and States. Article 320 deals with the functions of the Public Service Commissions. The duty of the Commissions is to conduct examinations for appointment to the services.
Article 320 (3) specifically provides that the Public Service Commission should be consulted:
The Public Service Commission is an independent expert statutory body. The object of the commission is to ensure that appointments in government service are free from patronage and other unfair practices.
Once appointed, the employees are assured of fair treatment by involving the Public Service Commission. Even though it is an advisory body; certain safeguards have been taken to ensure that its advice is not disregarded without sufficient considerations.
Question : “The All-India Services have, naturally, to be remunerate on a higher level than services recruited purely on a local bodies.” Comment.
(1999)
Answer : The remuneration of the All-India Services is more favourable than the state services or local services. This is mainly to attract talent from all over the country. But this imposes heavier financial burden on the states. Not only this, the financial burden leaves correspondingly less resources for development tasks. Apart from this, the All-India Services keep the members of the state services alienated and thus, have a demoralizing effect on the totality of the services. Besides the All-India Services earns higher reputation and status than the local services. The kind of work-load which All-India Services hold is much more than any other services hold be it local or state services.
The pressure which the personnel of All-India Services like IAS, IPS hold or deal needs to remunerated with equivalent amount of wages, salary and other allowances.
Secondly, Deviation from normal standards of lack of integrity takes various shapes in the form of corruption patronage and undue influence. This needs to be tackled with proper salary package to maintain the moral and ethics of All-India Services. All-India Services is considered the steel frame of Indian administration, without which the efficient running of administration would be void.
Thus, the All-India Services have, naturally to be remunerated on a higher level than services recruited purely on local bodies.
Question : It is argued that the recruitment and training of All-India and Central Services have not kept pace with the changing needs and time. Give suggestions for improving these processes in order to make administrators more effective, committed and honest.
(1998)
Answer : Training and recruitment as an instrument of human resource development in organization and public administration is as old as organization and administration. Training and recruitment can solve a variety of manpower problems through adding to their apperceptive backgrounds specific, identifiable items of additional knowledge skills or understanding. To understand the real import of training in the civil services, particularly in the changing perspective, it is necessary to discover its correct foci, which undeniably: the man, the job and the environment.
Indian training structure, though one of the most elaborate in the developing world needs to be strengthened and moulded into a more effective instrument of intervention in the process of socio-economic and administrative development. Training is also not linked to the placement policy, as an officer, after the completion of training, may find himself in a work environment. Moreover, it is generally observed that planning is a ‘political’ process and does not confine itself to the technical aspects and therefore bargaining at the level of planning commission considerably depends upon the clout that the state political leadership enjoys with the central political leadership.
As per as District Planning is concerned, district planning cells have largely remained units of academic importance. The situation is bound to change in the wake of the implementation of the provisions of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act. Most states have not demarcated the district sector and resultantly, therefore, the district plans become only disaggregations of the state plan. Another problem relates to the absence of metropolitan planning particularly for urban areas. Cities have been left outside the usual planning. It was only in 1993. Through 74th Constitutional Amendment Act provided for the creation of separate Metropolitan Planning Committees. Similarly for rural areas, Panchayat have been only partial success that too in few states.
Thus in our planning system, planning at state and district level has not been so fruitful as at national level, which is totally unrelated to the training received. The impact of the training is thus lost. There is a dearth of competent and qualified trainers to conduct in-service programmes.
Following are the few suggestions which if adopted can lead to improvement in the training and recruitment process which will ultimately enhance the effectiveness, committedness and honesty of the administrator:
It has been observed that behavioural training, unless supported by a favourable organizational environment, has little impact on a trainee. Since large-scale training in behavioural change is not possible currently – on account of paucity of expertise and funds – whatever investment is made in this sector does not bear the optimum results. Only a more vigorous, intensive behavioural training conducted by trained behavioural scientists can generate tangible results.
Question : “Central services are more “All-India” in character than are the All-India Services.” Comment.
(1998)
Answer : The Central Services enjoy a crucial place in the Indian administrative system. The personnel of these services occupy important specialized technical and functional positions in various central government organizations. Though governed by their respective cadre-managing ministries and departments of the Government of India, the personnel belonging to these services serve in the central government, union territories and states. Unlike the officers of the All-India Services, the central services officials do not work under the state governments while working in the states.
Further, central services are in the area of bringing a national perspective to their job. All central service officers work on a tenure system for three years or so and then move to the centre or to other states. In fact a central service officer by the time he retires, has served in eight to ten or even more states, which is quite not possible in All-India services like IAS or IPS, who are encadered in a particular state, and who, at the most, works in the centre for a few years, a central service officers has served in a much larger area of the Indian territory. Thus central services are more inclined towards “All-India” character than All-India services.
Question : “The public services in India have been conferred a constitutional status.” Comment.
(1996)
Answer : Public services generally defined to mean, constituted by the government to translate all its plans and programmes into implementable action.
Part XIV of the constitution deals with the services under the Union and States. It lays down that the appropriate legislature may regulate the recruitment, and conditions of services of persons appointed, to public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the union or of any state. A person of the All-India Service holds post during the pleasure of the President, and in the case of a service of the state during the pleasure of the Governor.
The constitution originally permitted only two All-India Services, namely, IAS and IPS, which increased to three in 1966 involving Indian Forest Service (IFS).
Matters like tenure of office of the public servants and disciplinary action against them, and the constitution and function of the Public Service Commissions, which are independent bodies to advise the government on some of the vital matters relating to services, exposes the influences of constitution on public services.
Question : “Independence of the Public Service Commissions has been ensured under specific provisions of the constitution.” Examine.
(1996)
Answer : The constitution seeks to maintain the independence of the Public Service Commission from the Executive in several ways –
In short, the bar against employment under the government is absolute in the case of the chairman of the UPSC; while in the case of the chairman of a SPSC, there is scope of employment in a higher post within the Public Service Commission but not outside.“
