Institutional quality, pivotal for economic performance, necessitates Civil service reforms for a stronger Democracy. Implementing transparent recruitment processes, merit-based promotions, and professional development, alongside checks and balances, fosters an accountable and efficient Civil service, crucial for democratic governance and sustained economic growth.
UPSC Mains General Studies Paper – 2 Mains 2020
UPSC Mains Civil Services IAS Exam Question Paper – 2020
Tags: Role of civil services in a democracy.
Approach
- In Introduction, about Institutional Quality with the focus on Civil Services as an institution.
- In Body,
- Challenges faced by Civil Services in India.
- Reforms to overcome the challenges to Civil Services.
- In Conclusion, about the mission by the government in this direction.
Answer
“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost”– Aristotle
Institutional quality in a democracy determines how successful the government machinery adheres to the principles of public service, rule of law, and social justice. One such institution is the Civil Services, which acts as a link between the Government & Citizenry and strengthens democracy. However, there are many challenges faced by civil services, which act as a roadblock in the path of democracy.
Challenges to Civil Services
- Status Quoist: As instruments of public service, civil servants have to be ready for change. The common experience, however, is that they resist changes as they are wedded to their privileges and prospects and thereby, have become ends in themselves.
For example, the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution have envisaged democratic decentralization. - Rule-Book Bureaucracy: By the rule book bureaucracy, it meant mainly following the rules and laws of the book without taking care of the actual needs of the people. Due to rule book bureaucracy, some civil servants have developed the attitude of‘ bureaucratic behavior’, which evokes issues like red-tapism, the complication of procedures, and the maladapted responses of ‘bureaucratic’ organizations to the needs of the people.
- Political Interference: The political representative for the sake of fulfilling the populist demand, influences the functioning of administrative officials. Hence, an administrative official has to adhere to the will of the political master. This interference sometimes leads to issues like corruption, arbitrary transfers of honest civil servants.
- Performance Evaluation: Performance records being mostly prepared by superiors, leaves a lot of scope for personal biases and prejudice. As suggested by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, reforms can be made to make it more objective. The Prime Minister of India has suggested a 360-degree performance evaluation for the same.
Civil Services Reforms
- Rightsizing the Bureaucracy: It is required to ensure the availability of optimum number of functionaries for effective service delivery.
- Incorporation of Code of Ethics: As suggested by 2nd ARC, along with streamlining of code of conduct rules, there is a need to inculcate ethical underpinning in the civil servants by implementing Code of Ethics.
- Reducing Discretion & Enhancing Accountability Mechanism: There is an inherent need to set key responsibility/focus areas and progressively reduce discretionary aspects to evaluate civil servants. Online Smart Performance Appraisal Report Recording Online Window (SPARROW) should be instituted in all central and state cadres.
- Specialist Recruitment: The growing economy has different sets of needs where a high level of specialization is required in various fields and such appointments cannot be promptly made at the time of need.
- Capacity Building Activities and Human Resources Development: This is required to keep pace with the global development as by the forces of new technologies.
- Other reforms: Strengthening meritocracy in promotion instead of seniority along with introduction of modern reforms like E- Governance could help enhance the proficiency of the service delivery.
Conclusion
Sardar Patel considered the civil service “the steel frame of government machinery”. However, without adequate reforms, this steel frame may start to get corrosion and may collapse. Therefore, in order to deal with present-day challenges and strengthen democracy, there is a need to carry out Civil services reforms in a holistic way.The recent policy by the government- ‘Mission Karmayogi’ is a great step towards the civil service reforms to enhance the quality of civil services as an institution in the country. The Mission Karmayogi aims to empower the Indian Civil Servant with specific role-competencies which would help to ensure efficient service delivery of the highest quality standards.
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