Rust in the frame

Not a month passes by when the department of personnel does not get an application for voluntary retirement by a civil servant. Many of India’s bureaucrats are no longer finding their jobs attractive — they are in turn being lured by private organisations with higher remuneration.

A pointer to the government’s concern over the situation came recently, when the Union Public Service Commission notified a total of 671 vacancies for civil services examinations this year. Of these,110 vacancies are for the IAS alone, when the average IAS intake has been at 65 seats in the last few years. This number is expected to shoot up to 130 in the next two years.

Moreover, a new government order aims to entitle IAS officers to higher pay and eligibility for commissioner or secretary-level posts in their cadre states after 14 years in service — two years less than what the current norms stipulate. There may be more doles in store for our bureaucrats when the 6th Pay Commission presents its report.

But civil servants’ salaries are still meagre compared to those of their counterparts in the private sector. The prestige and aura associated with being a civil servant that used to be a major draw till a few years ago has also tapered off.

We should look at a bottom-up overhaul of the civil administration, beginning with suitable amendments in job descriptions and responsibilities.

The writer is a Congress MP in Rajya Sabha