Modi government’s U-turn on lateral entry, PM Modi’s decision under pressure from NDA allies?

New Delhi: Lateral entry in the central government has been banned on the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. UPSC has been told not to make appointments through lateral entry. Personnel Department Minister Jitendra Singh has written a letter to UPSC Chairman Preeti Sudan saying that social justice and reservation should be kept in mind while implementing this policy. Actually, the issue of reservation in lateral entry was raised by the Congress party, after which NDA allies JDU and LJP (Ram Vilas) also objected. BJP, which had suffered a major setback on the issue of reservation in the Lok Sabha elections, took a step back before the politics heated up on this issue.

Departmental Minister Jitendra Singh has said in his/her letter to the UPSC Chairman that people are being appointed to many important posts in the Central Government through ‘lateral entry’. Recently, UPSC had issued advertisements for ‘lateral entry’ at various levels of the Central Government. he/she said that there have been many controversies regarding ‘lateral entry’ in the past as well. he/she said that in the previous governments, people were appointed to many posts like the post of Secretary in various ministries or the post of head of UIDAI etc. through ‘lateral entry’ without any reservation. he/she has said that this was an adhoc medium and nepotism was prevalent in it.

Singh further said that the present government is striving to make the process of lateral entry institutional, transparent and open. he/she stressed that this process should be in accordance with the principles of equality and social justice enshrined in our Constitution. he/she specifically referred to the provisions of reservation and said that the Prime Minister believes that reservation in government jobs is the foundation of our social justice, which aims to remove historical injustices and create an inclusive society.

Singh said that there are many posts in the central government which are specialized and have a system of single cadre posts. There is no provision for reservation on these posts, which needs to be reviewed. he/she said that this aspect is not in line with the Prime Minister’s goal of ensuring social justice. Therefore, he/she has directed UPSC to cancel the advertisement for recruitment from ‘lateral entry’ issued on August 17, 2024. Singh said that this step will be a significant progress for social justice and empowerment.