Amid the debate over lateral entry in UPSC, the Central Government has taken a step back and ordered a ban on the advertisement of lateral entry. In this regard, the Central Government has written a letter to the UPSC Chairman. Amidst this move of the government, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has reacted.
Rahul Gandhi said that we will protect the Constitution and reservation system at all costs. We will foil conspiracies like BJP’s lateral entry at any cost. I am saying once again that by breaking the 50 percent reservation limit, we will ensure social justice on the basis of caste count.
Why did the central government give the order?
The central government said in a letter to UPSC that the government has taken this decision as part of a comprehensive re-evaluation of lateral entry. Most of the letter entries were before 2014 and were done at the ad-hoc level. The Prime Minister believes that lateral entry should be consistent with the principles of equality and social justice enshrined in our Constitution, especially with respect to the provisions of reservation, there should not be any tampering.
This letter said that it is necessary to maintain the constitutional mandate towards social justice so that eligible candidates from deprived communities have respectable representation in government jobs. Since these posts are special, there is no provision for reservation regarding appointments to these posts. There is a need to review and improve them as per the need because Prime Minister Modi’s entire focus is towards social justice.
The letter said that Prime Minister Modi believes that the government should have a commitment towards social justice in public jobs. Lateral entry posts need to be reviewed. In such a situation, cancel the lateral entry advertisement issued on 17th August.
What was the order of 17th August?
Earlier, UPSC had issued an advertisement on August 17, in which 45 Joint Secretary, Deputy Secretary and Director level recruitments were done through lateral entry. In lateral recruitment, candidates are recruited without appearing for UPSC exam. There is no benefit of reservation rules in this. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had opposed this and said that reservation for SC, ST and OBC classes is being openly snatched away by recruitment on important posts through lateral entry.
When the controversy over this escalated, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav took the lead and said that lateral entry in bureaucracy is not a new thing. Lateral entry has been taking place during Congress-led governments since the 1970s, and former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and Montek Singh Ahluwalia are prime examples of such initiatives.