Recruitment and Training of Civil Services of India in a Reform Framework

Abstract

India is a Parliamentary Democracy whereby the Executive is drawn from the Legislature after a free and fair election. However, to maintain the permanency in Executive, there exists a Permanent Executive which remains to ensure continuity of Government, implementation of public will by enforcing policies laid down by the representatives of people (in form of Political Executive), uphold Rule of Law and ensure impartial advice to the political executive. The civil servants who form part of the permanent bureaucracy in India follow the ‘Weberian Model of Bureaucracy’ and hence are recruited on basis of merit. This recruitment happens via the Annual Civil Services Examination (CSE) conducted by a Constitutional body called the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The pattern of exam has changed over years and considering the changing nature of job profile of civil servants in current globalised era, the examination needs reforms. Further, India is a diverse country with many social, linguistic groups and thereby sole focus on merit cannot be the basis of civil services examination and thereby, there needs to be special provisions for these social and linguistic groups. Also, the civil servants who are selected undergo a training together called the ‘Foundation Training’ and this is not used for allocation of services, only the CSE is used for allocation. This dissertation focuses on the pattern of the CSE and the foundation training and tries to ascertain if there is need for reforms and if reforms are required then proposes such reforms.