IG Patel, Manmohan, Montek… Lateral entry has been going on since Nehru’s days, yet the Modi government took a U-turn

New Delhi : The government was going to appoint 45 mid-level specialists through lateral entry but has taken a U-turn due to the opposition. On the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Personnel Ministry has asked UPSC to withdraw the advertisement for recruitment through lateral entry. The main opposition Congress as well as NDA allies like LJP were opposing recruitment through lateral entry. The government may have bowed down to the opposition, but the process of direct recruitment to higher posts in the government through lateral entry has been going on since the time of the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.During Pandit Nehru’s era, experts were recruited from the industrial management pool
The government has been hiring specialists since the days of the Industrial Management Pool in the 1950s. Luminaries like IG Patel, Manmohan Singh, V Krishnamurthy, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and RV Shahi were brought into the government. But these appointments were usually limited to senior positions. Now the government’s focus was on areas like technology and environment, where specialisation is not permitted in the existing civil service system. The UPSC had issued an advertisement for recruitment to the posts of joint secretary and director, which makes this clear.

In 1959, Pandit Nehru started the Industrial Management Pool
In 1959, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had introduced the Industrial Management Pool. Under this, people like Mantosh Sodhi entered the government and later became the Secretary of Heavy Industries. V Krishnamurthy, who successfully led PSUs like BHEL and SAIL, also came through lateral entry. he/she too was the Heavy Industries Secretary. Similarly, DV Kapoor headed three ministries – Power, Heavy Industries and Chemicals and Petrochemicals. Earlier, in 1954, IG Patel joined the IMF as Deputy Economic Adviser and later became the Secretary of Economic Affairs and RBI Governor.

Manmohan Singh was first appointed as Economic Advisor in the Commerce Ministry in 1971
In 1971, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh joined the Commerce Ministry as an economic adviser and then held several other important positions. During the Janata government, M Menezes, a railway engineer, was made the Defence Production Secretary. Rajiv Gandhi appointed KPP Nambiar, chairman of the Kerala Electronics Development Corporation, as the Electronics Secretary. Sam Pitroda joined the government to head the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT). In 2002, the Vajpayee government appointed RV Shahi from the private sector as power secretary to push power reforms. Many economists who joined the government in the 1980s and 1990s came at the additional secretary level and then rose to secretary-level positions.

Modi government had moved ahead on the path of lateral entry
Since 2018, the Modi government has pursued a lateral hiring strategy at the top and middle levels on a large scale. Though the government has attributed this to the recommendations of the second Administrative Reforms Commission, the failure to attract the best talent to government jobs has also played a role, especially since many IAS officers are reluctant to come on central deputation. Nonetheless, there are very few officers who are able to specialise during their careers, as they have to shoulder a variety of responsibilities.

The lack of qualified officials has led to the emergence of the Big Four syndrome, where consultants work on everything from designing investment strategies to presentations. “With the level of expertise now available through regular UPSC recruitment (MBAs, engineers, doctors, candidates with high computer science knowledge), there is enough talent within the services,” former Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar told our sister publication Times of India. “It is a question of finding the right person for each job. The government should focus on creating a result-oriented administrative system. We are retaining our old process-oriented colonial system of administration with hardly any changes, while many other countries have moved ahead with new public management and new public governance systems,” he/she added. KM Chandrasekhar is not a supporter of the lateral entry system.

‘There will be opposition to changes in bureaucracy, change is not possible overnight’
One secretary-rank officer told the Times of India that bureaucracy is resistant to change, so overnight change is unlikely. “At Niti Aayog, we institutionalised lateral entry at the level of joint secretaries, directors and young professionals who brought in a lot of new ideas and youthful energy, helping us launch several initiatives, including PLI, aspirational districts and AI,” says Amitabh Kant, a former CEO of a government think tank. Kant advocates a 5-year tenure instead of 3 years for such appointments. “Lateral entry should be two-way, allowing government officials to work in the private sector, international agencies and grassroots civil society organisations,” he/she said.