{"id":112201,"date":"2024-06-05T23:16:38","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T17:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/?post_type=editorial-analysis&#038;p=112201"},"modified":"2024-06-06T16:17:09","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T10:47:09","slug":"reforming-civil-services-is-key-to-improving-delivery","status":"publish","type":"editorial-analysis","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/editorial-analysis\/reforming-civil-services-is-key-to-improving-delivery","title":{"rendered":"Reforming Civil Services is Key to Improving Delivery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the Indian State is to meet <\/span><b>21st-century needs,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> it will need an ample supply of <\/span><b>fresh thinking and knowledgeable personnel.<\/b><\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 100.301%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 100%; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; background-color: rgba(184, 165, 217, 0.53); text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Relevancy for Prelims: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Article 311 of the Constitution.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Relevancy for Mains:\u00a0 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Values of Civil Servants, Civil Service Neutrality, Need for Reforming Civil Services in India, etc.<\/span><\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><strong>Overview of India\u2019s Present Situation<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>New Government:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The new government in New Delhi will take charge at a time when the <\/span><b>geopolitical winds are blowing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in India&#8217;s favour.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>India as Investment Destination:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The <\/span><b>Sino-American trade war<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has made it increasingly attractive for companies to invest in emerging markets outside the Chinese sphere of influence. <\/span><b>India&#8217;s large market <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is an added attraction.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Major Challenge:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Will the new government be able to seize the moment? A lot will depend on how far the government succeeds in upgrading the plumbing of the Indian State. If the big challenge in 1991 was to get an overly intrusive State out of the lives of people and businesses, the challenge now is to make it <\/span><b>deliver critical lines of support <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to people and to companies.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Lack of State\u2019s Capacity:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Be it <\/span><b>negotiating trade deals or monitoring communicable diseases,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the Indian State often fails to deliver where it is needed most. The<\/span><b> lack of State capacity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is &#8220;the major binding constraint&#8221; to national progress today.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"vc_button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pw.live\/batches\/upsc?utm_source=seo+upsc+batch&#038;utm_medium=seo+upsc&#038;utm_campaign=seo&#038;utm_id=upsc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Enroll now for UPSC Online Course<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><strong>Actions that Corrode the Steel Frame of India<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Roles and Functions:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It is the <\/span><b>police and magistracy, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">judicial courts and other regulatory agencies, not politicians, which have been authorised and empowered by law to take<\/span><b> preventive action against potential troublemakers,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> enforce the laws relating to criminal, economic and other offences, and maintain public order.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Guiding Principles:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In mature democracies, <\/span><b>self-respecting public officials<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> normally discharge their constitutional and legal responsibilities with <\/span><b>honesty, integrity and their own conscience,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> firmly <\/span><b>resisting the dictates of the vested interests<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. What is happening in our country?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><strong>An Erosion in India- Can this happen in India?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Erosion in Civil Service Standards:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Lack of erosion in standards might have been possible in the early years when <\/span><b>Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> created independent India&#8217;s civil services, but no longer.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The deterioration in standards was very<\/span><b> visible during the National Emergency<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> declared in 1975.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Lack of Civil Service Neutrality: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The civil services, like other institutions including the judiciary,<\/span><b> just caved in<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; the trend might have accelerated over the years; now, no one even talks of <\/span><b>civil service neutrality<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, although there is the rare purist who could be sticking to the old standards of behaviour.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Earlier, during <\/span><b>communal or caste riots<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the Administration focused on quelling the disturbances and restoring peace in the affected locality, without ever favouring one group over the other.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, there are <\/span><b>allegations of local officers taking sides<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in a conflict.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Politicisation of Bureaucracy:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> For civil servants who <\/span><b>work with ruling politicians<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> directly, following a political master&#8217;s diktats and identifying with his interests, anticipating his views in official work and acting on them and pandering to his narrow political interests, often become easy options that put them out of harm&#8217;s way.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The politician, lacking the<\/span><b> vision and intellectual grasp of a Sardar Patel,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> could also reward a compliant bureaucrat by offering prized and lucrative assignments both within and outside the country.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He could also have him placed in an inconvenient position or even <\/span><b>punish him if he does not follow his line.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This can happen despite the<\/span><b> protection and safeguards in Article 311<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the Constitution.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That a civil servant&#8217;s pliant and submissive behaviour means an <\/span><b>end to civil service neutrality<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the norms and values that this trait demands, does not seem to bother either the <\/span><b>political or bureaucratic leadership.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"vc_button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/store.pw.live\/govt-entrance-exams\/upsc-books\/upsc-textbooks?utm_source=SEO&#038;utm_medium=PW+Live&#038;utm_campaign=UPSC+Textbooks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check Out UPSC NCERT Textbooks From PW Store<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><strong>Lessons from Partygate<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps, a reference to the recent <\/span><b>events in Great Britain<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will serve to clarify things, as the main features of our governance system the &#8211; <\/span><b>cabinet system with accountability to Parliament <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and a <\/span><b>permanent civil service with political neutrality<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as its hallmark &#8211; are patterned on the English constitutional model.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently, Britain&#8217;s two top Ministers, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister), Rishi Sunak, were accused of <\/span><b>violating their own lockdown regulations for COVID-19 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by attending Christmas and other parties at 10, Downing Street, London (Prime Minister&#8217;s residence) in the months of November to December 2020.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A career civil servant was asked to inquire into the <\/span><b>veracity of the charges<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, she would never want to tarnish her reputation by claims of a<\/span><b> cover-up or a shoddy investigation.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She came to the finding that against the background of the restrictions on all citizens, the <\/span><b>gatherings held were inappropriate<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and represented a serious failure to observe the high standards expected from top public functionaries.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The public and the political establishment accepted the <\/span><b>integrity of the exercise<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then, another wing of the civil service, the London Metropolitan Police, <\/span><b>imposed fines <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of Exchequer for their misdemeanour, and again<\/span><b> both the top Ministers accepted the penalty.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><strong>Non-Negotiable Values<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This objective may, however, be at a discount when <\/span><b>politicians are eager to serve their personal and party interests<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and overzealous and ambitious officials dance to their tune, thereby leading to a dilution of standards. It could also create favourable conditions for both<\/span><b> political and bureaucratic corruption.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>&#8220;Constitutional morality<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is not a natural sentiment,&#8221; wrote<\/span><b> B.R. Ambedkar<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the architect of the Constitution and added, &#8220;It has to be cultivated. We must realise that our people have yet to learn it. Democracy in India is only a<\/span><b> top dressing on an Indian soil <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which is essentially undemocratic.&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>The norms that define neutrality are:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Independence of thought and action.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Honest and objective advice.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Candour and &#8216;speaking truth to power&#8217; even if it is done in the privacy of a Minister&#8217;s chamber.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Associated with these norms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are the personal values that a civil servant cherishes or ought to cherish, namely, self-respect, integrity, professional pride and dignity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All these together contribute to the enhancement of the <\/span><b>quality of administration<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that benefits society and the people.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"vc_button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pw.live\/batches\/upsc\/pw-only-ias?utm_source=seo+upsc+batch&#038;utm_medium=seo+upsc&#038;utm_campaign=seo&#038;utm_id=upsc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Enroll now for UPSC Online Classes<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India&#8217;s governance faces challenges of<\/span><b> capacity and integrity.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Upholding civil service <\/span><b>neutrality and constitutional morality<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is vital for democratic functioning.<\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 100.1%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; background-color: rgba(184, 165, 217, 0.53); text-align: left; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Mains Question:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>GS-02:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Role of civil services in a democracy.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/mains-answer-writing\/the-indian-states-capacity-to-deliver-essential-services-is-often-hampered-by-its-overreliance-on-a-generalist-civil-service-cadre-discuss-this-statement-in-light-of-the-key-challenges-faced-by-civ-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q. The Indian State&#8217;s capacity to deliver essential services is often hampered by its overreliance on a generalist civil service cadre. Discuss this statement in light of the key challenges faced by civil services today in fulfilling developmental roles.\u00a0 (15 Marks, 250 Words)<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 100.307%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 146.294%; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000;\" colspan=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Must Read<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 53.7486%; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/editorial-analysis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UPSC Daily Editorials<\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 92.5455%; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/daily-current-affairs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UPSC Daily Current Affairs<\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 53.7486%; 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