Railway and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tweets, "INC (Congress party) hypocrisy is evident on lateral entry matter. It was the UPA government which developed the concept of lateral entry. The second Admin Reforms Commission (ARC) was established in 2005 under the UPA government. Veerappa Moily chaired it.
UPA period ARC recommended the recruitment of experts to fill the gaps in roles that require specialised knowledge. The NDA government has created a transparent method to implement this recommendation. Recruitment will be done through UPSC transparently and fairly. This reform will improve governance."
The Central government on August 17 issued an advertisement for 45 lateral entry jobs.
Opposition leaders, including Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, attacked the government, saying it was trying to circumvent the reservation system. Here are answers to five big questions on the lateral entry scheme.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on August 17 circulated an advertisement, seeking applications for “talented and motivated Indian nationals for Lateral Recruitment” to the posts of Joint Secretary, Director, and Deputy Secretary in 24 ministries of the Union government.
As many as 45 posts have been advertised for experienced individuals from State and UT governments, research institutes, PSUs, universities and the private sector.
The advertisement also states that all posts are suitable for Persons with Benchmark Disability (PwBD).
In 2017, NITI Aayog, in its three-year Action Agenda, and the Sectoral Group of Secretaries (SGoS) on Governance, in their report submitted in February, recommended the recruitment of personnel from outside the All India Services for middle and senior management positions within the central government's bureaucracy.
These people would be domain experts and help fill critical gaps. They could be from private companies, public sector utilities and state governments.
The first lateral-entry recruitment took place in 2018, under the NDA government.
The idea of lateral entry is to absorb new ideas and expertise into the bureaucracy, which has traditionally been dominated by career bureaucrats from the All India Services and Central Civil Services.
Experts are recruited initially for a period of three years, which can then be extended to five years.
Till now, the senior-most position for which recruitment has either happened or has been advertised is the joint secretary. A joint secretary is the senior-most officer after the secretary and additional secretary.
The August 17 advertisement by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for 45 lateral entrants, including 10 joint-secretary-level officers, seeks experts in emerging technologies, semiconductors and cybersecurity.
Career bureaucrats most likely do not have the requisite skill sets for these particular jobs. That is why the government looks to hire domain experts through lateral entry.
Beyond politics:
The lateral entry is the need of the hour to fill certain decision-making posts.
Bureaucrats from All India Services and Central Civil Services are routinely shunted from one ministry to another. When it comes to specialised domain knowledge, they fall behind professionals who have honed their skills in the same field for years.
How such inductions help revolutionise processes is clear from the Aadhaar experience. Infosys co-founder and chairman Nandan Nilekani was made the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). It was the rank of a Cabinet Minister and he oversaw the Aadhaar implementation from 2009 to 2014.
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