Indian bureaucracy is said to be facing the biggest shakeup in seven decades. During the UPA regime, the Indian civil services had 19% vacancy on average, however, this number has risen to 22.58% during the last 7 years of the NDA government.
New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh has informed the Lok Sabha that there were 548 IAS officers were in position in Uttar Pradesh against their total authorized strength of 652, 298 in West Bengal (against the strength of 378), 250 in Gujarat (against 313), 248 in Bihar (against 342), 59 in Jammu and Kashmir (against 137) and 338 in Maharashtra against their sanctioned strength of 415, among others, as on January 1, 2021. Of the total 5,231 IAS officers, 3,787 officers were direct recruits while 1,444 were promotees (State Civil Services/ non-SCS).
Yesterday, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, in its report on the Demands for Grants of Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, asked the Centre to fill the vacant posts of IAS officers in the country.
The panel, headed by BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, said there is a huge shortage of more than 1,500 IAS officers in the country. “The gap between the sanctioned strength and the imposition strength of IAS officers is as large as 104 in Uttar Pradesh cadre, 94 in Bihar cadre and 87 in Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre,” the panel said in its report tabled in both the Houses yesterday.
How The Shortage Will Impact States
The bureaucracy deficit is, perhaps, compelling States to appoint non-cadre officers to cadre posts and continue them in such posts beyond the permissible time limit. “The Committee believes that such measures would compromise the efficiency of administration. Therefore, the Committee recommends DoPT to increase the annual intake of IAS officers significantly keeping in view the evolving needs of Indian administration,” the panel said in its report.
12 Central Group A services are awaiting Cabinet approval and the cadre review proposals of nine services are pending with the committee.
“The committee hopes that the cadre review of these 21 services is completed at the earliest. In respect of the remaining 17 services, the committee notes that respective cadre controlling authorities have either not submitted cadre review proposals or there are dying cadre issues,” the report said and asked the Centre to take steps to expedite cadre review of these 17 services and ensure that the process is completed at the earliest.
The role and responsibilities of IAS officers include maintaining administration work under the Indian government, ensuring law and order, supervising government affairs, maintain overall expenditure, etc
Bureaucracy Facing Biggest Shakeup in Seven Decades
Indian bureaucracy is said to be facing the biggest shakeup in seven decades. During the UPA regime, the Indian civil services had 19% vacancy on average, however, this number has risen to 22.58% during the last 7 years of the NDA government.
As per the available data, the shortage was least in 2001 (0.79 per cent), and the most in 2012 (28.87 per cent).
Govt Forms Panel For Intake of Direct Recruit IAS Officers
For filling up vacancies, the government has formed a committee to make recommendations on the intake of direct recruit IAS officers through civil services examinations from 2022 to 2030. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, MoS Jitendra Singh stated that the government has increased the annual intake of IAS officers through the civil services examination to 180 until the CSE-2021.
“The government has also constituted a committee for recommending the intake of direct recruit IAS officers every year through CSEfrom CSE-2022 to CSE-2030. As far as IPS is concerned, intake of IPS (RR officers) through CSE (civil services examination) has been increased from 150 to 200 w.e.f. CSE-2020,” Singh added.
