Policy-making is done by Ministers assisted by policy makers from the party who are in touch with public opinion and the Services at all levels. Not only is policy made but its execution at all levels is watched and inspected by political workers, thus depriving Service men of their exclusive monopoly even over administration which they enjoyed under the old regime. There are political committees at all levels to aid the Administration in the implementation of welfare projects, besides the Legislative Committees on various subjects appointed by Parliament and the State Legislatures. Service men have often to meet politicians, businessmen and the ordinary man in the street and cannot keep themselves aloof. They cannot maintain the old stiffly superior or paternal attitude.

This mass contact has led to results not altogether favourable to the glamour of the Services. They cannnot get away with their privileges and prestige associated with their caste. They will be judged more and more on their individual performances and on their attitudes.

Change?

It is a matter for serious consideration by the leaders of the country whether the Services as at present stratified and recruited in this diverse manner could serve the country adequately in the tasks that face it at present. Recent experiences have demonstrated that for a useful service career, neither high academic distinctions nor high ranks in competitive examinations are indispensable.

Of late brilliant young men are turning to trade and industry and to technical careers in larger numbers than in the thirties and forties. The fact that this heavy complex mechanism of administration runs fairly satisfactorily with the type of officers who the Services now, shows that in the past, too much emphasis was laid on the indis

man

pensability of Services recruited on the basis of superior academic merit.

The more brilliant I.C.S. and Central Service officers used to pay much more attention to nicety of style and elegance of diction in their office notes and correspondence, and to the leisurely charm of social

intercourse outside the office. Neither the more polished office notes nor witty demiofficial letters nor well appointed drawing rooms with cocktail and dinner parties are now considered necessary for a successful Service life. Gone also are the days when officers were well-dressed, lived in execlusive houses, and maintained a high standard of life and were in the vanguard of social life.

Younger officers recruited ad hoc or through competitive examinations who do not possess, high academic distinctions and promotees from the ranks manage to distheir duties satisfactorily in spite charge of the variety and complexity of their tasks. An officer at any level is now called upon to discharge heavier and more varied responsibilities than his counterpart 20 years ago.

Promotions are more rapid and changes from one Department to another very frequent. Officers of lower age groups now Occupy senior positions which would not have been possible 15 years ago, and yet there are no visible signs of disaster, though some of the older generation might complain of loss of efficiency.

If must, therefore, be recognised that for the normal day-to-day administrative work, except at very high levels, men of average education and ability would suffice, and as long as the system enables men of high intellectual calibre to come to the top, the administrative machinery will not suffer by changes in recruitment methods.

In the newer nation-building departments, local knowledge and experience and capacity to get on with the ordinary people will be found to be more useful qualifications than academic brilliance or a capacity for taking decisions.

Since distance has been annihilated, and orders can be obtained or consultation effected expeditiously, it is no longer necessary for the man on the spot, the local or Dis

It is worth while examining in the light of these developments whether there should be direct recruitment on high levels for various Services and whether the country really needs so many costly All-India and Central Services. The prestige created by the elder Services has produced and sustained an atmosphere in the country favouring the continuance of the Service hierarchies even in the changed political setup.

But historically viewed, the conditions necessitating such superior Services as instruments of a foreign bureaucracy have changed and to that extent the necessity for the maintenance of these prestige Services has also changed. The change from a centralised to a federal political system also justifies new thinking on Service matters. A number of States do not seem to favour the new AllIndia Services and the formation of newer All-India Services, though the Central Government and Centrally appointed Committees and Commissions seem to think differently.

A foreign Government, in order to maintain its hold over the people, was in need of a steel frame and an intellectual oligarchy to exercise power and authority on its behalf. Now that the Government is in the hands of the people, with the entire resources of the country at its disposal, with its political leadership making policy and supervising its implementation, is it necessary to maintain an expensive Service oligarchy of the British pattern which would develop its own vested interests and build up a caste system of its own?

An oligarchic or prestige Service is no longer necessary to maintain the prestige of the ruling class; nor is it necessary for the maintenance of a common administrative pattern after so many years. The Services are no longer called upon to supply a brains trust for higher thinking at policy making

levels. This is done by the Legislature and the political policy makers.

What the country wants is largely an economic and efficient body of executives to carry out, at the local and regional levels, the plans and projects evolved by the Governments. A greater measure of autonomy and regionalisation are desirable steps.

Regional Heads

Higher Services fall broadly into four categories (a) All-India Services-I. A. S. & I. P. (b) Central Services Financial, Railways, P & T etc. (c) Technical Services and (d) Provincial executive cadres. The I. A. S. and I. P., though recruited on all-India basis, are essentially for the needs of States. The officers are appoited and allotted to the States and the majority of them serve within the State, except for those drafted for Central purposes. Their work overlaps in the earlier stages that of the so-called Provincial Service officers, though the former rise more rapidly because of their higher start to higher positions within the State.

There is no reason why the entire field of work performed by I. A. S. and I. P. cadres, cannot be performed by officers recruited, less expensively on a State-wise basis. If this is done, there will be among these officers, a fuller sense of responsibility and loyalty to the people and the Government of the State. The best among them can be drafted on tenure basis for higher appointments in the Centre. The adoption of regional languages. as State languages will make this transformation of Service patterns inevitable, and the sooner the change is brought about, the lesswasteful it would be for the country's economy in the long run.

The Central Services-the various Central

Revenue and Audit and Accounts Servicescould be merged into fewer cadres after regionalising lower and intermediate posts, thus reducing the need for expensive transfers and avoiding the disadvantages to the officer's families arising from educational and other difficulties. There is no need to transfer Superintendents of Excise or Junior Assistant Collectors, Income Tax Officers, Assistant Accounts Officers, and Junior P. and T. Officials from Nagercoil to Shillong or

Employment Figures

The number of persons employed under the Central Government as on June 30, 1957, was 17,73, 897.* This includes 327 officers of the I.C.S., I.A.S. and I.P.S. in the Central Government. The total number of Central Government employees on April 1, 1948 was 14,45,050. This shows an increase of 22.7 per cent in the 9 years that have intervened, an average annual increase of 2.5 per cent.

In 1948, 8,50,229 were employed in the Railways, 1,43,250 in the Posts and Telegraphs Department and 2,94,659 were civilian employees in the Ministry of Defence. These three departments thus accounted for about 95 per cent of the total staff.

*According to revised estimates, the number of employees in the Central Government includiag quasi-Governmental institutions sponsored by the Centre is 20 laks.

from Coorg to Ludhiana as is now frequently done. A certain exchange at the junior Head of Departments' level and above is all that is necessary, both in the interest of officers and that of the country.

The formation of an industrial and managerial pool of officers for the Cenral projects and commercial ventures may at best provide only administrative and financial officers for State enterprise. It is doubtful whether engineers, chemists and other technscians can be knit together into such a transferable group, wherein everyone is expected to be a jack of all trades.

The formation of Superior Service Cadres is not the surest solution for all administrative problems in these days of specialisation. Talent can always be drawn from the widest open market.

Timely

Before vested interests develop and unhealthy tendencies begin to operate, the entire pattern of higher public Service-administra

tive as well as technical deserves to be examined in the light of the changing face of society, the country's economy and the available and foreseeable resources of manpower.

Administrative personnel at the top level can contribute very little to the unification of the country emotionally. Emotional integration is a political and cultural process, and in India, another strong force to reckon with is linguistic consciousness. In reality, when the States adopt regional, languages as official languages andassert their proper status in a Federal structure, Centrally recruited officers will be having considerable handicaps.

It is much better that Services are recruited on a State-basis and Federal Services are reduced to the minimum. The requirements of the higher Federal Secretariat can be met partly by separate recruitment and partly by transfers from States, and Central Services, and the latter Services also should be regionalised to the maximum extent in the interest of all parties affected.