IAS-IPS crunch fails to bridge
deficit till 2025, Centre in no hurry to increase number of recruitments
The government has decided not to recruit beyond 180 IAS and 150 IPS officers each year
India is facing a shortage of more than 3,000 ias and ips officers. And though the government has increased the intake of babus, it will still not be enough to bridge the deficit till 2025.
The government is not planning to further increase the
number of recruitments because it apparently doesn't want the career
progression of bureaucrats to suffer
The department of personnel and training (DoPT) feels a
bigger intake of officers could disturb the pyramidical structure of the civil
services.
This year on, the government has started recruiting 180
officers in IAS and 150 in IPS every year. But it has decided not to recruit
more officers despite the pressing need to have more bureaucrats at the service
of the people as important cadres such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have a
shortage of almost 40 per cent. "In direct recruitment posts, the intake
in IAS cannot be increased beyond the limit as it will disturb the pyramidical
structure of the service and there are issues regarding inadequate capacity to
impart training to a bigger batch," minister of state for personnel V.
Narayanasamy told Parliament recently.
The ministry's decision is based on a recent report
submitted by the Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), which was endorsed
by most states whose opinion was sought by the Centre.
The report says the deficit of IAS officers could be wiped
out by 2020 only by recruiting more than 180 officers a year, but that would
"compromise quality" and distort the career pyramid of IAS officers
for senior posts in the Indian government. Besides, the report says, the Lal
Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration - where IAS officers are
trained - does not have a capacity for an intake of more than 180 officers in a
year.
The
recruitment of 180 IAS officers from this year through the civil services
examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission is the
highest-ever in India's history.
There were only 87 and 89 vacancies in the IAS in 2005 and
2006 respectively. The numbers were 110 in 2007, 120 in 2008 and 130 in 2009.
In 2010, 150 people were recruited while 170 posts were advertised last year.
The IIPA report says if the government wants to end the
deficit in the administrative service by 2020, it should recruit 456 IAS
officers in 2014, 280 in 2013 and 332 in 2019.
It points out that the number of positions up for grabs in
the service would grow by four times in 2020 as 1,408 IAS officers will retire
in the coming years.
Based on the recommendations of the report, the government
has shot down the idea of having a limited competitive exam for recruiting IAS
officers (other than the civil services exam) on the lines of the one started
this year by the home ministry for the IPS recruitments.
The home ministry has got the nod from the Centre to conduct
the limited competitive examination till 2020 to recruit 70 IPS officers from
the existing paramilitary cadre, apart from the 150 IPS recruitments through
the UPSC exam.