Parley: Should lateral entry in civil services be encouraged?
Last week, just days after issuing an advertisement for 45 lateral entry posts (10 Joint Secretary positions and 35 Director and Deputy Secretary positions), the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) withdrew it after receiving a massive backlash. The Opposition parties accused the government of attempting to bypass reservation policies and “snatching away” jobs from Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), and Scheduled Tribes (STs). Should lateral entry in civil services be encouraged? Ashok Vardhan Shetty and Harsh Shrivastava discuss the question in a conversation moderated by Priscilla Jebaraj. Edited excerpts:
What is the need for hiring people from outside the IAS (Indian Administrative Service)? Ashok Vardhan Shetty: We definitely need expertise. Nobody objects to hi...