MEA ad is a small start to lateral entry, but PM Narendra Modi needs to re-envision government

By Indrani Bagchi

Last week MEA attempted a leap into the unknown, a potential blow to the caste system of the Indian bureaucracy. An advertisement for research assistants in the policy planning and research division of the foreign ministry is expected to open the door to ‘outside’ talent to add some zing to the musty corridors of South Block. The more optimistic have entertained thoughts that this could be the thin end of the wedge for lateral entry of normal Indians into government.

For a country of over a billion people, we have a remarkably talent-starved government. This is after all a nation that produces some of the best brains which are hoovered up by multinationals or foreign countries. Our private sector does not do too badly either, particularly in knowledge-based industries, finance and banking — in fact, Russians regularly grumble that Indians would naturally take over the running of the Brics Bank because ‘you guys are all over the international financial system’.

So why is there a Lakshman Rekha between the nation and the system that runs it?

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was elected last year, his mandate was for transformational not incremental governance. He was expected to get the system cracking and move India into a different orbit. What we see a year later is the PM personally working impossible hours and trying to push uphill a very large rock called ‘The Establishment’.

Whether the rock crests the hill or whether he is squashed trying will determine, to a large extent, how India moves forward and how distant will be our goal of becoming a global power. One thing is certain — he’s not going to get there with the crop he has on hand.

The battle is between generalists and specialists, between those who have toiled through the ranks after clearing a general aptitude test called UPSC decades ago and those who have spent those years specialising in specific domains and are generally on top of their game.

Which may be why in one year we have celebrated under double-digit cracks in the glass wall, including Adil Zainulbhai as head of Quality Council of India, K V Kamath as chairman of Brics Bank and Arvind Panagariya in Niti Aayog. This isn’t to say that bureaucrats don’t step up to the plate when called to — one only has to see their phenomenal achievements during, say, Libya and Yemen evacuations or relief to Nepal. But those are special times when regular rules don’t apply.

Let’s start with the PM’s office — by all accounts this is a large one under Modi, and most decisions in the government, big or small, get thrown up there. The system there has not changed probably since the infant years of the Indian republic. So there is the regular alphabet soup of secretaries — joint, additional or deputy — balancing agriculture and culture, with minimal interest or knowledge of either. Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet is clearing MoUs on healthcare cooperation with Burkina Faso or cultural exchanges with Timor-Leste.
Why? It’s not because Modi is the great centraliser, but much more because the system has evolved so that even such minor matters go right up to the top. Can he think differently, perhaps? The Australian PM is armed with something called ‘PM in Cabinet’, a kind of PM’s thinktank — whose job it is to make policy recommendations for different sectors. Instead of his current setup could Modi conceive of an office with mini-verticals for major areas like energy, education, economy, etc where a more specialised army of secretaries would be tasked with pushing the government agenda through the system, to speed up decision making?

There must be other, better alternatives, but they require two things — first, a willingness to do things differently, and a willingness to accept that ‘outsiders’ could actually make valuable contributions to government.

There is the larger systemic issue of the IAS — which has barely evolved but serves the kingdom of babus who can, through a complex set of voodoo rules and regulations, either make things happen almost magically, or stall them for years. As we become a more modern state, the appalling paucity of domain expertise, and transparency in operating systems is costing us — we find ourselves falling short in trade negotiations, or flubbing complex defence acquisitions, because it’s entirely possible that before evaluating the specs of a fighter jet, the official was doing roads in Bengal.

We might want to take a leaf out of the Singapore playbook — their Management Associates Programme provides a high entry point for specialists to enter government, frequent targeted rotations within the civil service, and a significant salary hike, almost 50% over other services. The US, UK and Australia have all made it easier for domain specialists to serve in government for a while, before going back to the private sector.

And attractive. The average person would leave a lucrative private sector job for government for a few reasons, not always money — making a difference in governance of the nation, unbeatable experience which would be a great addition to their CVs.

That’s not the sense they get when they read the MEA ad — it’s boring and intimidating, not appealing. You want bright people? Give them something interesting to hook them to low pay and poor accommodation. Give them a job they can be proud of.