The Civil Services refer to the career government civil servants who are the permanent

executive branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems ...

of the

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. Elected cabinet ministers determine policy, and civil servants carry it out. Central Civil Servants are employees of the

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

or of the states, but not all employees of the Government are civil servants. As of 2010, there were 6.4 million government employees in India but fewer than 50,000 civil servants to administer them. The agencies with the most personnel are with the Central Secretariat Service and Indian Revenue Service (IT and C&CE). The

approved the formation of Indian Skill Development Service in 2015, and the Indian Enterprise Development Service in 2016. Further, the

Cabinet of India The Union Council of Ministers Article 58 of the '' Constitution of India'' is the principal executive organ of the Government of India, which is responsible for being the senior decision making body of the executive branch. It is chaired by ...

approved merging all the

central civil services The Central Civil Services (CCS) is part of Civil Services of India and are concerned directly with the union non-political executive administration and is the permanent Executive body of the federal Government of India. Most of the specialized fiel ...

under

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...

which are Indian Railway Accounts Service,

Indian Railway Traffic Service The Indian Railway Traffic Service, abbreviated as IRTS is a Prestigious Group 'A' Central Civil Service Cadre of the Government of India. IRTS in its present form was reconstituted in 1967. The IRTS Cadre functions under the Administrative Con ...

Indian Railway Personnel Service The Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) is a Prestigious Group 'A' Central Civil Service cadre of the Government of India. The central civil servants of this service are responsible for managing the Human Resources of the Indian Railways and we ...

and Railway Protection Force Service into a single Indian Railways Management Service as part of a structural reform in the sector in 2019. Civil servants in a personal capacity are paid from the

Civil List A civil list is a list of individuals to whom money is paid by the government, typically for service to the state or as honorary pensions. It is a term especially associated with the United Kingdom and its former colonies of Canada, India, New Zeal ...

. Article 311 of the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

protects civil servants from politically motivated or vindictive action. Senior civil servants may be called to account by the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. The civil service system in India is rank-based and does not follow the tenets of the position-based civil services.

History

British Colonial era

The present civil services of India are mainly based on the pattern of the former

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. During the

British raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first Governor-General ...

laid the foundation of civil service and

Charles Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...

reformed, modernised, and rationalised it. Hence, Charles Cornwallis is known as 'the Father of civil service in India'. Cornwallis introduced two divisions of the Indian Civil service—covenanted and uncovenanted. The covenanted civil service consisted of only Europeans (i.e., British 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 Government of India Act 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5 c. 101) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was passed to expand participation of Indians in the government of India. The Act embodied the reforms recommended in the report o ...

, the Imperial Services headed by the

Secretary of State for India His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India Secretary or the Indian Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of th ...

were split into two—the

All India Services The All India Services (AIS) comprises the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service. A unique feature of the All India Services is that the members of these services are recruited by the centre (Union gover ...

and the Central Services. The All India and Central Services (Group A) were designated as Central Superior Services as early as 1924. From 1924 to 1934, the administration of India consisted of 10 All India Services (including

Indian Education Service The Indian Education Service or Indian Educational Service (IES) formed part of the British Raj between 1896 and 1924, when overseas recruitment ceased. It was an administrative organisation running educational establishments in British India, larg ...

Indian Medical Service The Indian Medical Service (IMS) was a military medical service in British India, which also had some civilian functions. It served during the two World Wars, and remained in existence until the independence of India in 1947. Many of its officer ...

) and 5 central departments, all under the control of the 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 The Partition of British India in 1947 was the change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: India and Pakistan. T ...

in 1947. It was

Sardar Patel Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar, was an Indian lawyer, influential political leader, barrister and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of I ...

's vision that the civil service should strengthen cohesion and national unity. The values of integrity, impartiality, and merit remain the guiding principles of the Indian civil services. By the early 21st century, especially in Indian media, Indian civil servants were regularly colloquially called ' babus' (as in 'the rule of babus'), while Indian bureaucracy is called 'babudom'. The

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions is a ministry of the Government of India in personnel matters specially issues concerning recruitment, training, career development, staff welfare as well as the post-retirement dispensat ...

, located in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

, is unofficially the 'Ministry of Civil Services'. The Ministry is responsible for training, reforms and pensions for the civil service system in India.

Present framework

Constitutional provision

The

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

, under Article 312 gives authority to the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

(the upper house of Parliament) to set up new branches of the All India Services with a two-thirds majority vote. The Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, and Indian Forest Service have been established under this constitutional provision.

Guiding principals

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.

Code of ethics

The Government of India promotes values and a certain standard of ethics of requiring and facilitating every civil servant: * To discharge official duty with responsibility, honesty, accountability and without discrimination. * To ensure effective management, leadership development and personal growth. * To avoid misuse of official position or information. * To serve as instruments of good governance and foster social and economic development.

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 policy directions from the ministries. Civil servants are the actual makers of Indian law and policy. They work on behalf of the elected government and cannot publicly show their disinterest or disapproval for it. It is mandatory for them to form certain rules and policies according to the government's views and interests. However, they cannot be removed by any state or central government, but can only be retired. Among the members of the civil services are administrators in the central government and state government; emissaries in the foreign missions/embassies; tax collectors and revenue commissioners; civil service commissioned police officers; permanent representative(s) and employees in the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

and its agencies; and chairmen, managing directors, and full-time functional directors and members of the board 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, special duty officers, or private secretaries to ministers of the Union and the State Government.

Staffing

Head of the Civil Services

The highest ranking civil servant is the Cabinet Secretary. They are

ex-officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...

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. They also hold 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.

Entry level recruitment

Civil Services Board is responsible for the entry level recruitment and subsequent job promotions below the rank of Joint Secretary to Government of India. The recruits are university graduates or above selected through the following rigorous system of specialisation-based examinations for recruitment into respective specialised departments: *

Civil Services Examination The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a national competitive examination in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to higher Civil Services of the Government of India, including the Indian Administrative Se ...

(

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

) * National Defence Academy Examination ( Defence Service) * Combined Defence Service Examination ( Defence Service) * Combined Geo-Scientist Examination (

Natural Resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. ...

) * Engineering Services Examination (

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

) * Indian Economic Service/Indian Statistical Service Examination (I.E.S./I.S.S. Exam) (

) *

Indian Cost Accounts Service (ICoAS) Examination Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

(

) *

Combined Medical Services Examination The Combined Medical Services Examination or the CMS Examination is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment as Medical Officer in various organisations such as the Indian Ordnance Factories, Indian Railways, Municipal Corp ...

(

Medical Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...

) * Central Armed Police Forces - Assistant Commandants Examination (CAPF - AC Exam) of

Union Public Service Commission The Union Public Service Commission ( ISO: ), commonly abbreviated as UPSC, is India's premier central recruitment agency for recruitment of all the Group 'A' officers under Government of India. It is responsible for appointments to and exam ...

(UPSC) for Group A posts (

)

Promotions and appointments to higher ranks

All appointments in the rank of Joint Secretary to Government of India and above, other major appointments, empanelment, and extension of tenure are done by the

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) appoints several top posts within the Government of India. The committee is composed of the Prime Minister of India (''ex-officio'' Chairman) and the Minister of Home Affairs. Originally the Minist ...

. Lower appointments are handled by the Civil Services Board.

Central Administrative Tribunal

For settling various administrative disputes the

Central Administrative Tribunal Tribunals in India are quasi judicial bodies for settling various administrative and tax-related disputes, including Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribuna ...

(CAT) can be approached. For instance, citizens can approach CAT to obtain the permission to sue corrupt or inept civil servants, and civil servants can approach CAT for unfair dismissal.

Civil Services 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. This date (21 April) was chosen to commemorate the day in 1947 when Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Home Minister of Independent India, addressed the probationers of Administrative Services Officers. 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 of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

. The ' Prime Minister's Awards 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 . In case of a group, the total award money is subject to a maximum of per person. For an organisation the cash amount is limited to .

Types of Higher Government Jobs

The Union Civil Services of India can be classified into two types - the All India Civil Services and the

Central Civil Services The Central Civil Services (CCS) is part of Civil Services of India and are concerned directly with the union non-political executive administration and is the permanent Executive body of the federal Government of India. Most of the specialized fiel ...

(Group A). Additionally, the officers from the ''State Civil Services'' cadre can seek deployment with the

cadre for the Union Civil Services jobs.

All India Services

All appointments to All India Civil Services are made by the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murm ...

. *

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the Public administration, administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services ...

Indian Forest Service The Indian Forest Service (IFS) is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India. The other two All India Services being the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. It was constituted in the year 1966 und ...

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became independent from the British Raj. Along with the Indian Administrative Service ( ...

Central Services

Group A

The Central Civil Services (Group A) are concerned with the administration of the

Union Government The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the Government, national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy lo ...

. All appointments to Central Civil Services (Group A) are made by the President of India.

Group B

For Group B central civil service posts, the Combined Graduate Level Examination (CGLE) is conducted by the

Staff Selection Commission Staff Selection Commission is an organisation under Government of India to recruit staff for various posts in the various ministries and departments of the government of India and in subordinate offices. This commission is an attached offic ...

(SSC).http://dopt.gov.in/sites/default/files/SCHEDULE-2.pdf" ''Central Civil Service Group B - Government of India'', 20 April 2020. ''All appointments to Group B are made by the authorities specified by a general or special order of the President.''

State Services

The State Civil Services examinations and recruitment are conducted by the individual states' public service commissions in India. These services are feeder services of All India Services. All appointments to State Services (Group A) are made by the Governors of States.

Group A

= State Administrative Service (
Civil Services The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
)

= All State Administrative Services officers in India are state civil servants posted as Assistant Collector cum Subdistrict Magistrate in various sub districts of India, Ward Officer in various municipal corporations, notified area councils, municipal councils, district parishads, block parishads and village panchayats and Under Secretary in various state secretariats. They belong to Group 'B' rank and part of state civil services of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. The officers of following state civil services cadre are later promoted to

=All India Judicial Service, All India Legal Service, State Regional Legal Service, Central Legal Service and State Legal Service (
Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
)

= All India Judicial Services, All India Legal Service, State Regional Legal Service, Central Legal Service and State Legal Service are equivalent to

civil services The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

and defence services. Their appointment made by Governor of respective states after the consultation / approval of the respective states High Courts and

in case the appointment is made for

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

and central government establishments. List of State Engineering Services (

) All State Engineering Services ''officers'' are ''Group 'A’ gazetted officers''.

= State Forest Service (
Natural Resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. ...
)

= All ‘ State Forest Services’ of the rank of Assistant Conservator of Forest(ACF) are Group 'B' gazetted officers under state natural resource services. The officers of this state natural resource services are later promoted to the

after 8 years of Service.

= State Police Service (
Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
)

= All State Police Services of the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police/Assistant Commissioner of Police/Assistant Commandant are Group 'B' Officers and is included under state civil services . The officers of following state civil services are later promoted to

Group B

The state civil services (Group B) deal with subjects such as land revenue, agriculture, forests, education etc. The officers are recruited by different States through the respective State Public Service Commissions, and appointed by the Governor of that state. * Sub Divisional Officer (S.D.O.) of various departments (

) * Assistant Registrar Cooperative Societies (

) *

Block Development Officer A block is an administrative division of some South Asian countries. Bhutan In Bhutan, a block is called a gewog. It is essentially for oil a group of villages. Gewogs are official administrative units of Bhutan. The country is composed of ...

(

) * District Employment Officer (D.E.O.) (

) * District Food and Supplies Controller/Officer (D.F.S.O.) (

) * District Treasury Officer (S.T.O.) (

) * District Welfare Officer (D.W.O.) (

) * Excise and Taxation Officer (E.T.O.) (

) * Tehsildar/Talukadar/Assistant Collector (

) *

Forest Range Officer Range Forest Officer / Ranger / Forest Range Officer / Circle forest officer is an officer for a State Forest Service (SFS) in the state government. In some states, they also are referred to as a "Forest Range Officer." Range Forest Officer is a ...

(F.R.O.) (

) * Any other Class-I/Class-II service notified as per rules by the concerned State, i.e. officers, lecturers, assistants, associate professors, or principals of Government Degree Colleges, Class I (

Academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

)

Critique

Criticism

Poor performance on international ratings

Professor

Bibek Debroy Bibek Debroy is an Indian economist, serving as the chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. Debroy has made significant contributions to game theory, economic theory, income and social inequalities, poverty ...

and Laveesh Bhandari asserted in their book ''"Corruption in India: The DNA and RNA"'' that public officials in India are misappropriating as much as 5 per cent of the GDP or through corruption. A 2009 survey of the leading economies of Asia, revealed

Indian bureaucracy Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

to be not only the least efficient among Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, China, Philippines and Indonesia, but also that working with India's civil servants was a "slow and painful" process. A 2012 study by the Hong Kong-based ''Political and Economic Risk Consultancy'' ranked and rated Indian bureaucracy as the worst in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

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 2013 EY (Ernst & Young) Study reports the industries most vulnerable to corruption are: Infrastructure & Real Estate, Metals & Mining, Aerospace & Defence, and Power & Utilities.

Inefficiency and misalignment with strategic national goals

Institutionalised corruption

A paper prepared in 2012 by the

states that corruption is prevalent at all levels in civil services and it is ''institutionalised''.

Bribery

A 2005 study done by the

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

in India found that more than 92% of the people had firsthand experience of paying bribes or peddling influence to get services performed in a public office. Taxes and bribes are common between state borders; Transparency International estimates that truckers annually pay in bribes. There have been several cases of collusion involving officials of the

Income Tax Department of India Income is the consumption and saving opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income is difficult to define conceptually and the definition may be different across fields. For ...

for preferential tax treatment and relaxed prosecutions in exchange for bribes.

Criminalisation

In 2011, over a period of preceding three years more than 450

chargesheet In policing on the Indian subcontinent, a chargesheet is prepared after First Information Reports (FIRs), and charges an individual for (some or all of) the crimes specified in those FIR(s). Once the charge sheet has been submitted to a court ...

s for criminal cases of corruption were filed and a total of 943 corruption cases were at different stages of investigation by CBI against civil servants.

Misappropriation of funds

losses through corruption, waste and fraud occurred from the government's

National Rural Health Mission The National Health Mission (NHM) was launched by the government of India in 2005 subsuming the National Rural Health Mission and National Urban Health Mission. It was further extended in March 2018, to continue until March 2020. It is headed b ...

healthcare programme, several of arrested high-level public servants died under mysterious circumstances including one in prison.

Tendering processes and awarding contracts

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

report stated that the aid programmes are beset by corruption, bad administration and under-payments. As an example, the report cites that only 40% of grain handed out for the poor reaches its intended target. The World Bank study finds that the public distribution programmes and social spending contracts have proven to be a waste due to corruption. A 2006 report stated that the state-funded construction activities, such as road building were dominated by construction mafias, consisting of cabals of corrupt public works officials, materials suppliers, politicians and construction contractors. Snippet: ''... The road sector has always been the main source of income for the mafia. They either ask their men directly to grab the contracts or allow an outsider to take the contract after accepting a hefty commission''

Theft of state property

Corrupt officials steal the state property. In cities and villages throughout India, groups of municipal and other government officials, elected politicians, judicial officers, real estate developers and law enforcement officials, acquire, develop and sell land in illegal ways.K.R. Gupta and J.R. Gupta, ''Indian Economy, Vol #2'', Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 2008, . Snippet: ''... the land market already stands subverted and an active land mafia has already been created ...''

Political interference

Interference by politicians and politicians-babus nexus in corruption is an ongoing concern. In October 2013, the

, in the case of '' TSR Subramanian & Ors vs Union of India & Ors'' ordered both

and

State governments A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, ...

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.

Reforms

Central Civil Services Authority

In order to professionalise the Civil Services, then Defence Minister A. K. Antony led in decision on creation of a Central Civil Services Authority (CCSA) to oversee the higher bureaucracy.

Alignment with strategic national goals

Under Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

's principle of ''"minimum government and maximum governance"'', government undertook several reforms to align country's civil service with the strategic national goals, including lateral entry, forcibly retiring inept and corrupt officers, etc. Previously, newly hired IAS officers were deployed directly in the state cadres. From 2014, to align civil servants to the government's agenda, they are first deployed within the central government ministries as assistant secretaries for a few years. From 2020–21, government will conduct common foundation course for all Group A services to counter the attitude of elite clique operating in silos.PM Modi attempts long-awaited overhaul in bureaucracy
Hindustan Times, 5 November 2019/. Doing away with the earlier discriminatory practice of appointing only IAS officers in the central government, officers from other services with domain experience also are empanelled and appointed; this is said to have widened the pool for selection of competent domain experts.

360 degree appraisal

In 2014, to align the country's civil service systems with the strategic national goals, government implemented a new 360 degree appraisal system which entails ''"Annual Confidential Report"'' (ACR), review of work-related attitude and behavior based on confidential feedback from peers, subordinates, and outsiders stakeholders who have dealt with the officer. This new system replaced the earlier archaic annual performance appraisal based solely on the ACR written by an officer's boss.

Lateral entry of domain experts

From 2018, to attract the best domain expert candidates from across the world for the senior civil servants job, vacancies which were earlier available only through promotion of officers were opened for direct hire or lateral entry as well. This was said to ''"boost the ministry or department's capabilities and proficiency... ndprovide synergies to policy and implementation"''. Initially, domain experts lateral entry candidates were appointed to 10 posts out of total 450 posts of joint secretary in the central government, and a further 40 lateral entrants at the director and deputy secretary level were also inducted.

Removal and punishment of corrupt officers

Empowerment of citizens to sue corrupt officers

In 2016, the government decided to empower citizens to seek prosecution of corrupt IAS officers. The Department Personnel and Training (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. In 2019, Government of India dismissed 12 (IRS IT) and 15 (IRS Customs and Central Excise) officers for corruption and bribery charges.

Forced retirement of corrupt and inept officers

In 2011, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT),

, created a proposal to retire and remove incompetent, inefficient and unproductive

All India Service The All India Services (AIS) comprises the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service. A unique feature of the All India Services is that the members of these services are recruited by the centre (Union gover ...

officers after 15 years of service, which was accepted and rule 16(3) of the All India Services (death-cum-retirement benefits) Rules of 1958 was amended on 31 January 2012. In 2016, the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...

dismissed 72 and prematurely retired another 33 Indian Revenue Service officers for the first time for non-performance and on disciplinary grounds. In 2019, to send a message that the job posting with government bureaucracy is no longer "permanent for the dishonest, corrupt and inefficient" officers, the government fired 22 corrupt officers from the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) and another 284 Central Secretariat Service officers were under performance audit by a review panel headed by the Cabinet Secretary.

Notes

References

External links

Official

UPSC
Union Public Service Commission, India
7th Pay Commission chief recommends 'One Rank, One Pension' for Govt employees
by ''The Indian Express''
Prime Minister instructs DoPT for speedy empanelment of officers from all central services
by ''The Times of India'' *

All India Civil Services

The All India Services Conduct Rules of 1968

Central Civil Services

Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure
14th Edition by Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions

Others

Civil Service Reform in India - Problems and Reforms
{{DEFAULTSORT:Civil Services Of India Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions

History

British Colonial era

Modern era

Present framework

Constitutional provision

Guiding principals

Values

Code of ethics

Responsibilities

Staffing

Head of the Civil Services

Entry level recruitment

Promotions and appointments to higher ranks

Central Administrative Tribunal

Civil Services Day

Types of Higher Government Jobs

All India Services

Central Services

Group A

Group B

State Services

Group A

= State Administrative Service (Civil Services The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...)

= State Forest Service (Natural Resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. ...)

= State Police Service (Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...)

Group B

Critique

Criticism

Poor performance on international ratings

Inefficiency and misalignment with strategic national goals

Institutionalised corruption

Bribery

Criminalisation

Misappropriation of funds

Tendering processes and awarding contracts

Theft of state property

Political interference

Reforms

Central Civil Services Authority

Alignment with strategic national goals

360 degree appraisal

Lateral entry of domain experts

Removal and punishment of corrupt officers

Empowerment of citizens to sue corrupt officers

Forced retirement of corrupt and inept officers

See also

Notes

References

External links

Official

All India Civil Services

Central Civil Services

Others

= State Forest Service (
Natural Resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. ...
)

= State Police Service (
Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
)