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The Civil Services refer to the civil services, the permanent executive branch of the Republic of India. The civil service system is the backbone of the administrative machinery of the country.
Contents
- History
- Modern era
- Creation of new services
- Power purpose and responsibilities
- Head of the Civil Service
- Values
- Codes
- Construction
- All India Services AIS
- Central Services
- Group A
- Group B
- StateProvincial Civil Services SCSPCS
- Reforms and corruption
- Employment by agency
- Civil Service Day
- References
In the parliamentary democracy of India, the ultimate responsibility for running the administration rests with the elected representatives of the people which are the ministers. But the handful of ministers cannot be expected to deal personally with the manifold problems of modern administration. Thus the ministers lay down the policy and it is for the civil servants to carry out this policy.
The executive decisions are implemented by the Indian civil servants. The members of civil service serve at the pleasure of the President of India and Article 311 of the constitution protects them from politically motivated or vindictive action. Civil servants are employees of the Government of India; however, not all employees of the Government are civil servants. Civil servants in a personal capacity are paid from the Civil List. Senior civil servants may be called to account by Parliament.
As of year 2010, there are total 6.4 million government employees in India, and less than 50,000 civil servants to administer them. The civil service system in India is rank-based and does not follow the tenets of the position-based civil services.
In 2015, the Government of India approved the formation of Indian Skill Development Service. Further, in 2016, the Government of India approved the formation of Indian Enterprise Development Service.
History
Lord Warren Hastings laid the foundations of civil service and Charles Cornwallis reformed, modernised and rationalised it. Hence, Charles Cornwallis is known as the 'Father of Civil Service in India'. He introduced Covenanted Civil Services (higher civil services) and Uncovenanted Civil Services (lower civil services).
The present civil services of India is mainly based on the pattern of the former Indian Civil Service of British India. The civil services were divided into two categories - covenanted and uncovenanted. The covenanted civil service consisted of only Europeans (i.e., English personnel) occupying the higher posts in the government. The uncovenanted civil service was solely introduced to facilitate the entry of Indians at the lower rung of the administration.
With the passing of the Government of India Act 1919, the Imperial Services headed by the Secretary of State for India, were split into two – All India Services and Central Services.
The All India and class 1 Central Services were designated as Central Superior Services as early as 1924. From 1924 to 1934, Administration in India consisted of "ten" All India Services and five central departments, all under the control of Secretary of State for India, and 3 central departments under joint Provincial and Imperial Control.
Modern era
The present modern civil service was formed after the partition of India in 1947. It was Sardar Patel's vision that the Civil Service should strengthen cohesion and national unity. The values of integrity, impartiality and merit remain the guiding principles of Indian civil services.
Since the early 20th century, Indian civil servants have been colloquially called "babus", while Indian bureaucracy is called "babudom", as in the "rule of babus", especially in Indian media.
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions located in New Delhi is "unofficially the Ministry of Civil Services" in India. The Ministry is responsible for training, reforms and pension for the civil service system in India.
Creation of new services
The constitution under Article 312 provides for All India Civil Services branches to be set up by giving the power to the Rajya Sabha (upper house of the Parliament of India) to resolve by a two-thirds majority to establish new all-India services. The Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service are set up under this constitutional provision.
Power, purpose and responsibilities
The responsibility of the civil services is to run the administration of India. The country is managed through a number of Central Government agencies in accordance with the policy directions given by the ministries.
The members of the civil services represent as administrators in the central government and state government; emissaries in the foreign missions/embassies; as tax collectors and revenue commissioners; as civil service commissioned police officers; as permanent representative(s) and employees in the United Nations and its agencies and as Chairman, Managing Director, full-time functional Director/Member of the Board of Management of various Public Sector Undertakings/ Enterprises, Corporations, Banks and financial institutions. Civil servants are employed to various agencies of India and can also be appointed as advisors or special duty officers or private secretaries to ministers of the Union and the State Government.
All appointments in the rank of Joint Secretary to Government of India and above, other major appointments, empanelment and extension of tenure is done by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. However, all appointments in the rank below Joint Secretary in the federal government is done by the Civil Services Board.
Head of the Civil Service
The highest ranking civil servant is the Cabinet Secretary. He is ex-officio Chairman of the Civil Services Board; the chief of the Indian Administrative Service and head of all civil services under the rules of business of the Government of India. He also holds the 11th position in the Order of Precedence of India.
The position holder is accountable for ensuring that the Civil Service is equipped with the skills and capability to meet the everyday challenges it faces and that civil servants work in a fair and decent environment.
Values
A member of the civil service in discharge of his/her functions is to be guided by maintaining absolute integrity, allegiance to the constitution and the law of the nation, patriotism, national pride, devotion to duty, honesty, impartiality and transparency.
Codes
The Government of India promotes values and a certain standard of ethics of requiring and facilitating every civil servant:
Construction
The Civil Services of India can be classified into two types - the All India Services and the Central Civil Services (Group A and B). The recruits are university graduates (or above) selected through a rigorous system of examinations: Civil Services Examination, Engineering Services Examination, Combined Geo-Scientist and Geologist Examination, I.E.S./I.S.S. Examination, Combined Medical Services Examination, Central Armed Police Forces of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for Group A posts. For Group B posts, the Combined Graduate Level Examination (CGLE) is conducted by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC).
All India Services (AIS)
All appointments to All India Civil Services are made by the President of India.
Central Services
The Central Civil Services are concerned with the administration of the Union Government.
Group A
All appointments to Civil Services, Group A are made by the President of India.
Group B
All appointments to Group B are made by the authorities specified by a general or special order of the President. However,Appointing authority of officers of the Central Secretariat Service is the President of India himself.
State/Provincial Civil Services (SCS/PCS)
The Provincial Civil Services (also known as State Civil Services) examinations and recruitments are conducted by the individual states of India. The state civil services deals with subjects such as land revenue, agriculture, forests, education etc. The officers are recruited by different States through the State Public Service Commissions.
Reforms and corruption
As of 2011, in a duration of past three years over 450 chargesheets have been filed and a total of 943 cases are at different stages of investigation by CBI against civil servants.
A study by the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, released in 2012, ranked and rated Indian bureaucracy as the worst in Asia with a 9.21 rating out of 10. According to the study, India's inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy was responsible for most of the complaints that business executive have about the country. A paper prepared in 2012 by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions states that corruption is prevalent at all levels in civil services and it is institutionalised.
On 28 November 2011, the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions created a proposal to retire and remove incompetent, inefficient and unproductive All India Service officers after 15 years of service, instead of tolerating them until their retirement. Former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian welcomed this move with caution, saying, "Periodical weeding out is very good. But the process to determine who needs to be prematurely retired should be fair and transparent. There is a possibility that even good officers may be targeted because of political reasons,". Former UPSC chairman PC Hota echoed his sentiments remarking that, "We need drastic remedies. The situation has become terrible. The other day an officer in Delhi was arrested for disproportionate assets of Rs.31.5 million. She is just a 2000-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer with 11 years of service. But at the same time, the officers' service records should be analysed before a decision against him was taken". The proposal has been accepted and rule 16(3) of the All India Services (death-cum-retirement benefits) Rules of 1958 was amended on 31 January 2012.
In October 2013, the Supreme Court of India, in the case of TSR Subramanian & Ors vs Union of India & Ors ordered both Government of India and State governments to ensure fixed tenure to civil servants. The court asked senior bureaucrats to write down the oral instructions from politicians so that a record would be kept of all the decisions. This judgement was seen on the similar lines of the Supreme Court's 2006 judgement in Prakash Singh case on police reforms. The judgement was welcomed by various bureaucrats and the media who hoped that it will help in giving freedom and independence to the functioning of bureaucracy.
In 2016, the Ministry of Finance for the first time, dismissed 72 and prematurely retired another 33 Indian Revenue Service officers for non-performance and on disciplinary grounds. In 2016, it was reported that Government of India has decided to empower common man to seek prosecution of corrupt IAS officers. Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (DOPT) has accepted to receive requests from private persons seeking sanction for prosecution in respect of IAS officers without any proper proposal and supporting documents.
Employment by agency
Union/Federal Government executive branch civilian employment:
Independent agencies:
Civil Service Day
The Civil Service Day is celebrated on 21 April every year. The purpose for this day is to rededicate and recommit themselves to the cause of the people. It is observed by all Civil Services. This day gives civil servants the opportunity for introspection and thinking about future strategies to deal with the challenges being posed by the changing times.
On this occasion, all officers of Central and State Governments are honoured for excellence in public administration by the Prime Minister of India. The 'Prime Minister Award for Excellence in Public Administration' is presented in three categories. Under this scheme of awards instituted in 2006, all the officers individually or as group or as organisation are eligible.
The award includes a medal, scroll and a cash amount of ₹100,000 (US$1,500). In case of a group, the total award money is ₹500,000 (US$7,400) subject to a maximum of ₹100,000 (US$1,500) per person. For an organisation the cash amount is limited to ₹500,000 (US$7,400).