New Delhi: ThePrint has learned that the tenure of seven ‘lateral entrants’ who were inducted as joint secretaries in central government ministries in 2019 have been extended by two years.
The Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) Director General Surendra Nath Tripathi said, “The government seems happy with them.” “One of the primary objectives was to hire expertise from the market and place them in the respective ministries. That objective has been served,” he said.
ThePrint spoke to some of these side entrants, who confirmed that while they have yet to receive the papers, the process of expanding them has begun.
As of now, a total of 37 officers appointed through lateral recruitment are serving in the bureaucracy at various levels, out of which seven have been elected in 2019 and 30 in 2021. Lateral entrants were required to sign a three-year contract, which could be extended to two years. , dependent on their performance.
Tripathi said that the performance of seven joint secretaries is yet to be reviewed.
Tripathi said, “The government may initiate a holistic performance review process for lateral entrants, but as of now, no one from the first batch has been sent back to the institute for training.” “To my knowledge, only one person has left the government, everything else is working fine.”
A senior IAS officer from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said: “The concerned ministries have prepared an annual assessment system for the laterals, and based on their performance, they are rated.”
However, the Modi government’s plan to reform the civil services by bringing in experts through the lateral entry process is unlikely to do much to address the issue. shortage of ias officers in the centre.
The DoPT official told ThePrint that the government will continue to recruit laterals as experts in technical and specialized fields, but they will not be inducted into the DoPT or key administrative ministries such as Home. “The scheme for lateral entry will also be reviewed soon,” he added.
In a written reply in Parliament on 28 June, Minister of State for DoPT Jitendra Singh said that the government has decided to make a lateral entry into those ministries and departments which are required to work closely with the private sector such as civil aviation, economic affairs, environment, etc. is required. Forest and climate change, financial services and renewable energy.
There are 37 serving lateral entrants in the ranks of Joint Secretary, Director and Deputy Secretary in 21 Ministries and Departments. Of these, 10 are joint secretaries (seven appointed in 2019 and three in 2021), four of whom are on deputation from state services or the public sector, and six from the corporate sectors.
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‘We knew what we were doing’
In 2019, a total of nine lateral entrants were selected to serve as Joint Secretaries, out of which seven are currently serving – Amber Dubey, Rajiv Saxena, Sujit Kumar Bajpai, Dinesh Dayanand Jagdale, Bhushan Kumar, Saurabh Mishra and Suman Prasad Singh. In December 2020, Arun Goyal resigned to return to the private sector, while Kakoli Ghosh never joined the government despite making cuts.
The three joint secretaries of the 2021 batch of lateral entrants are Samuel Praveen Kumar, who is on deputation, and Balasubramaniam Krishnamurthy and Manish Chadha who are on three-year contracts.
Speaking to The Print, Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, said that he experienced “general hiccups” with other officials, but since he was “totally foreseen”, he took it as his progress. were able to take.
“One just has to be a soldier, because the objectives of the mission are much bigger than the obstacles in the way. Plus, the critics, the skeptics, and the negatives—and I’ve met a lot in the past three years—are a blessing in disguise. They keep us on our toes and make us faster, better and more determined,” Dubey, an IIT Bombay alumnus and former head of aerospace and defense at business consulting firm KPMG India, said.
However, he acknowledged that there was “excessive” attention to paperwork and process in the government.
“It takes a lot of time and is unproductive, and even regular government officials complain about it. Slowly the scene is changing and the focus of most ministries is on outputs and outcomes. This is a welcome sign,” Dubey said.
There were “reports” after e-commerce professional Arun Goel, who joined as joint secretary, commerce, left the service in 2020bureaucratic complicationsLeading up to his resignation. ThePrint contacted Goyal, but he declined to comment on the issue.
When asked about the above complications, Dubey said that bureaucratic complexities in government decision making are common across the world.
“We knew what we were doing, so I have no complaints. One has to keep one’s head low, seek advice from superiors and peers, concentrate on work and ignore the frustrations that come along the way. In most cases, things work out miraculously,” he said.
However, another lateral entrant from another ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was “not enough freedom” to contribute to policymaking or decision-making.
Dubey, however, said his experiences were different and he felt “lucky” to have been able to contribute to various policies, including the Drone Rules, 2021.
“I have received significant independence, guidance and encouragement from superiors and peers in various ministries,” he said.
,‘Market Expert’, but not a substitute for IAS
Minister of State Jitendra Singh in a written reply in Parliament last year Stressed on That the government had done lateral recruitment with “the twin objectives of bringing in new talent and increasing manpower at certain levels in the central government”.
However, it seems that the latter’s purpose is over for now.
a member of DoPT Committee Formed earlier this year to address the shortfall in the number of central IAS officers, it has ruled out lateral recruitment as a solution.
The panel, he said, recommended that the government should use lateral entrants as “market experts” rather than administrators dealing with governance and policy making.
Another senior IAS officer in the DoPT said that the appointment of lateral entrants is confined to the ministries concerned with national or international markets and related matters. He said lateral entrants were not being placed in core administrative departments such as the DoPT, nor with those that deal with state governments such as the Home Ministry.
Jitendra Singh had also said in Parliament last month that there was no plan to post lateral entrants in constitutional bodies as these administrative posts are reserved for IAS officers.
Why not lateral entrants?
Senior IAS officers feel that the government cannot solve the shortage of IAS officers through lateral entry as these recruits, especially from the private sector, do not have the resources to handle matters related to federal functioning and to deal with state and district. Required training is not likely to be required. level officer.
“The lateral entrants, who are posted as joint secretaries, have brought some latest skills from the private sectors, but running a country or a state requires a lot of administrative skills,” said Sanjeev Chopra, an IAS officer. Director of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Dr.
He said: “The service has a chain of command – it involves many administrative, logistical and many other related issues. A civil service officer working in the central government has to be very co-ordinated at all times, across departments and ministries, with states and districts. is required.”
He said that in their current appointments, lateral entrants at the level of Joint Secretary need not be in regular touch with their state counterparts.
Another senior IAS officer, who recently retired as the Chief Secretary, made a similar point.
“I believe that for technical matters, which are highly specialized, the government can hire lateral entrants. But the difficult part is to merge them into a regimented set-up like the Indian bureaucracy,” he said.
The senior official said: “An officer of the level of Joint Secretary earns experience through his 15 years of service. a 15 Days Foundation Course Can’t replace that experience for lateral entrants.”
(Edited by Aswari Singh)
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