Job placement season is always a heady time. The state of the economy is sought to be assessed by the jobs and salaries offered at elite colleges and institutes. But it is from the civil service list that a measure is taken of the opening up of India’s power structures. After all, one of the first demands of the nascent Indian national movement in the second half of the 19th century was that the examination for the ICS be conducted in India too. After Independence, with administrators no longer servants of empire and now hailed as the steel-frame, early ways of affirmative action were sought to be deepened by reforming the nature of the selection process to make it less loaded towards those privileged enough to have already acquired the manner and the language for the job. Accordingly, the long essay and the interview became less decisive. Additionally, the rules of service were made more gender-sensitive. And in the ’90s, when Mandal’s first impact was felt, it was in quotas for government jobs.

India’s economy has changed, with liberalisation and reform expanding job options. The country’s power structure too has expanded and deepened with panchayati raj. But, even as the bureaucracy is commonly held responsible for so many problems of governance, the fascination with the civil list remains.