The central government has taken a U-turn on lateral entry. There is no doubt that some important posts in the country should be filled by non-IAS and experienced people who have progressed in a particular field in their life and have gained such experience which is not possible for an officer. From a practical point of view, this was a very beneficial decision for the country. Perhaps this was the reason that Congress leader Shashi Tharoor rose above party opposition and called lateral entry a need of the country. But perhaps the government is not proving successful in conveying its message to the common people. And instead of explaining to the public, it is coming under pressure from the opposition. Within just 12 days, the government has taken this third decision which is clearly like surrendering to the opposition. Recently, the government brought the Waqf Board Amendment Bill with a lot of fanfare but suddenly sent it to the JPC. While both the allies were with the government on this issue. Similarly, the decision not to implement the Supreme Court’s decision on Dalit sub-quota was also a decision taken under pressure. Let us discuss the reasons why the NDA government is feeling weaker than its first two terms.
1- This is why lateral entry was necessary for the country
Earlier also, many people who had done excellent work in their field have been included in the Indian government system with the help of lateral entry. Such people who came from outside the civil service have also proved their talent in the country. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Finance Secretary Montek Singh Ahluwalia etc. have been proof of this. On August 17, UPSC created a ruckus by releasing 45 posts for posts like Joint Secretary, which is the rank of senior IAS officers. Not only the opposition parties of BJP, but also the allies of BJP have opened a front against such entry. The result was that the BJP-led central government decided to withdraw the advertisement within 3 days.
Instead of bowing down so soon on this issue, the government should have gone among the people. Against the propaganda of the opposition, the public should have been told that this has been happening before as well. The work of the government has increased a lot. Experience is needed to do many complex tasks. IAS officers have only administrative experience. For example, can an IAS officer take visionary decisions in technical aspects of the budget, space research, etc.? If the government has to make the country number one in car exports or mobile exports, then it is obvious that only someone who is connected to the ground in this field can do a better job than an IAS officer.
The idea behind lateral entry is that the government wants to utilise the expertise and skills of individuals who have long experience in a particular field, be it career diplomats or bureaucrats.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on ‘X’ that lateral entry is necessary for the government to gain ‘expertise’ in a particular field. This helps in working in those areas for which we do not have experts. However, Tharoor said that this is a necessary step in the short term. But in the long run, it is necessary for the government to train the government officials recruited under the existing rules.
2- The government has been quick to act on the Dalit quota and Wakf bills
On August 1, the Supreme Court ruled that separate quota states can be created in the Dalit quota. The Supreme Court’s intention was that the most backward Dalits among the Dalits should also get the benefit of reservation. Initially, be it the RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya or the BJP leaders supported this decision of the Supreme Court. Allied parties JDU and TDP also supported it. Two Chief Ministers of Congress also supported this decision. In the name of opposition, there were only Dalit leaders and their parties. BSP leader Mayawati, Bhim Army’s Chandrashekhar, LJP’s Chirag Paswan, Prakash Ambedkar etc. opposed it. But on August 9, the party’s SC-ST MPs met the PM and on August 9, the Union Cabinet took the decision that the Supreme Court’s decision will not be implemented. Similarly, on August 8, the Waqf Board Amendment Bill was introduced in the Parliament. Despite the support of the allied parties, the government sent the bill to the JPC due to opposition from the opposition. Both these decisions of the government were such that it can be called a decision taken under pressure. If the government wanted, it could have got the bill passed and implemented it. The circumstances were not such that it could be said that things were getting out of control for the government. Remember the second term of the government, when the farmers surrounded Delhi and sat there for several months but the government did not budge. You will also remember the Shaheen Bagh protest, but the government did not decide to bow down. The CAA law was definitely postponed for a few days but the law was not withdrawn. It is clear that the government has become weaker than its first two terms.
3-The government is more afraid of propaganda than allies
The leaders of the alliance parties of the government, Nitish Kumar of JDU and Chirag Paswan of LJP (Ram Vilas) had some objections on lateral entry. Those objections could have been resolved. The most opposition was to the fact that there was no provision for reservation in lateral entry. If the government was afraid of the opposition’s propaganda, it should have made arrangements for reservation in lateral entry. Or the government could have gone among the public on this issue and claimed that even after seventy years of independence, Dalit people could not be raised enough by giving them reservation so that they could make their place in lateral entry. But the way Congress is making false attacks, perhaps the government seems to be afraid of it. In the Lok Sabha elections, Congress and Samajwadi Party built a similar castle based on lies in Uttar Pradesh and reduced BJP to just 33 seats. It seems that BJP has not yet recovered from that defeat.
BJP’s media cell is not able to reach its point to the common people. The government should have gone to the public with guts on lateral entry. The opposition should have asked how many Dalits and backward people were there in the appointments made from outside in the Congress government? How many Dalits and backward people were there in the advisory committee of the Congress’s UPA government. But the government is neither able to reach its good things to the public nor is it able to give a befitting reply to the opposition. It means that somewhere the dialogue between the public and the government has decreased. Without improving it, the government is not going to get rid of such U-turns. The government should be ready for more such U-turns in the future.
Perhaps that is why the Government of India has written in a letter to UPSC that Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that lateral entry should be in accordance with the principles of equality and social justice enshrined in our Constitution, especially there should be no tampering with the provisions of reservation. This letter said that it is important to maintain the constitutional mandate towards social justice so that qualified candidates from deprived communities have respectable representation in government jobs. Since these posts are special, there is no provision for reservation for appointments to these posts. It needs to be reviewed and improved as per the need because Prime Minister Modi’s entire focus is on social justice.
4-Has the government’s confidence been shaken?
It is not that the government has run out of speakers or resources. Still, it has to be understood why the government’s confidence has been shaken. Because the government is developing such an army of speakers who have the capability to blunt every question of the opposition. Recently, some new speakers have made their presence felt in a tremendous way. Nishikant Dubey, Anurag Thakur are already making a mark in the Parliament. Recently in the Rajya Sabha, Dr. Radha Mohan Das Agarwal also surprised people. While speaking on the budget, he silenced the opposition. Actually, the government’s confidence has been shaken due to not getting the expected success in the elections. Or another thing could be that the government is deliberately hanging such issues which are controversial. Actually, the government has now understood the importance of hanging issues instead of solving them. The more it can gain in Uttar Pradesh by delaying the construction of Ram temple, the more it could not gain by building the temple. Actually, the public’s memory is very weak. The public forgets the issue after solving the problems. Therefore it is possible that this is being done as a part of strategy to keep the issue hanging until the public starts agitating. At least this is true for the Wakf Board Bill.