Hamid Ansari calls for out-of-box thinking on quality of higher civil services
May 3rd, 2011 - 10:01 pm ICT by ANINew Delhi, May 3 (ANI): Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari today called for out-of-the-box thinking on quality and content issues pertaining to higher civil services.
Delivering the second lecture of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Lecture Series on Governance here, Ansari said: “The need for introspection and correction is compelling, inaction is no longer an option, nor is reticence in the face of evident wrong. The need is also for a moral imperative.”
He said the higher civil services in the country, therefore, must be role models of elite behaviour upholding the Rule of Law.
“This is not a homily; it is part of our constitutional scheme of things and a professional and moral obligation of a civil servant to the nation and to the citizens,” he added.
He felt that the issue of life-long cadres for all India services, reluctance or inability to serve adequate period of careers outside the cadres whether at the Centre or other States, equitable access to posts covered under the Central Staffing Scheme, and possibility of lateral access into and out of the civil service are issues that could benefit from such out-of-the-box thinking.
Ansari also pointed out that India has a young generation that is exposed to global standards of living and service, is impatient with the pace of change, and demands equal opportunity in sharing the fruits of development.
“This is more pronounced in urban areas, but equally true for rural India. Their despondency finds reflection in hostility towards elites in polity, business and industry and society. At times, it takes violent forms of protest targeted against the state, its structures and agencies,” he said.
He further said that a review of the performance of the civil service since independence would show that in terms of Sardar Patel’s parameters, while the polity has delivered by giving constitutional safeguards to civil servants and implementing sound recruitment procedures, the political leadership has at times faltered on discipline and control and the civil servants themselves have often enough succumbed to the temptation of tailoring professionally sound advice to subjective considerations. (ANI)
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Tags: adequate period, ansari, civil servant, civil servants, constitutional safeguards, content issues, despondency, global standards, homily, india services, moral imperative, moral obligation, president mohammad, reticence, role models, s parameters, sardar patel, union public service commission, upsc, young generation