More than 2,700 scientists at India’s top farm research body — accounting for an overwhelming majority of senior-level hires at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) – have been recruited through lateral entry since 2007, undermining the goals of the reservation policy, documents accessed by The Hindu reveal.
A July 29 resolution of the Agricultural Research Service Scientists’ Forum (ARSSF) — an association representing about 3,750 scientists at ICAR — has sought a ban on lateral entry into the research body. The resolution says that the lateral entry system “creates conflict among these two groups of scientists” and has made for a “toxic” work culture “which affects the efficiency of the system”. It adds: “Scientists who have served for more than 25 years at ICAR, those who were recruited by ARS [Agricultural Scientists Recruitment] examination are not getting Semi RMP [Research Management Positions] and RMP positions as the scientists recruited through lateral entry are blocking the opportunities.”
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The resolution adds that “the lateral entry system in ICAR does not provide reservation for SC/ST [Scheduled Caste and Tribe] candidates, violating the Constitution and disappointing those who have joined the institution through the examination system.”
Direct entry for top posts
The Hindu reviewed the annual assessment reports of the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB) since 2007. The Board is ICAR’s recruitment arm for India’s 113 Centrally-run agricultural research institutes. The reports show that RMPs — those at the grade of Senior Scientist or above — are recruited through “direct/lateral entry” or “recruitment by interviews”. On the other hand, there is the three-tier selection process — based on qualification, a National Eligibility Test, and an interview — called the “single entry system”, which is subject to reservation rules. Two-thirds of ICAR scientists are appointed through this examination process and still form the core of its agri researchers, but they have little chance to make it to senior posts, which are filled through the lateral entry system.
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The ICAR is one of the largest agricultural and allied activities research bodies globally. It employs 6,304 scientists, as per a July 2020 office memo. This is a marginal increase of 23 positions since 1997 across ICAR’s eight divisions. Of the current 6,304 on its rolls, 4,420 hold the grade of Scientists, who are recruited through the single-entry system that adheres to reservation policies. The remaining 1,884 positions — comprising Senior Scientists, Principal Scientists, Directors, Heads of Divisions (HoD), Heads of Regional Centres (HoRC), Project Coordinators (PCs), Directors-General, Additional and Deputy Directors-General — have been filled through the direct interview, or lateral entry process, which restricts affirmative action policies to be only followed for the lowest entrant. Including past appointments, there are more than 2,700 who have been hired using this system.
Exempt from reservation
An August 2023 ASRB advertisement to fill senior-level positions relies on a July 7, 1994 letter from ICAR exempting such vacancies from the reservation policy. While this does not violate existing norms, it overlooks the 1995 Constitutional amendment introducing Article 16(4A) enabling reservations to be followed in promotions for SCs and STs. A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court in 2006 in Nagaraj Vs Union of India upheld the amendments as constitutionally valid, while leaving it to the States to decide the adequacy of reservation based on quantifiable data.
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It should be noted that the recruitment of scientists to government departments such as Space, Atomic Energy and Earth Sciences are also exempt from reservation norms.
Speaking to The Hindu, retired Madras High Court Justice D. Hariparanthaman said, “Just as the Central government has withdrawn lateral entry at mid-to-senior level positions such as Deputy Secretary, Director and Joint Secretary within the Central Secretariat, this should squarely apply to the institutions that are fully funded by the Central government.”
Complex process, says Ministry
The Hindu sought comments from the Agriculture Ministry, ICAR, and ASRB. An Agriculture Ministry official would neither deny nor confirm that the lateral entry system of recruitment is being followed, but said that the hiring process is “complex”, requiring a fuller explanation. While ICAR declined to comment, there was no response from ASRB until the time of the publication of this article.
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RMPs are managerial positions that make up about 2,000 positions nationwide and include 113 Directors, 32 Additional Directors-General, seven Deputy Directors-General, and the top tier, which is the Director-General’s (DG) post. While 267 Heads of Divisions (HoD), 66 Heads of Research Centres/Stations and 27 Project Coordinators are designated as non-RMPs, according to the 2022-23 ASRB report, their recruitments have also been made through the lateral system.
Few SCs, STs at top
Speaking to The Hindu, ARSSF president and Principal Scientist Dr. S. Manivannan said that while the top pay grade at ICAR is the same for those who are Senior Scientists and above, the exposure, administrative stature and visibility beyond ICAR — and particularly, post-retirement opportunities at other research bodies or selection committees — rise manifold once a person is designated a HoD or higher position.
“You can count on your fingers the number of SCs, STs, [other backward classes] OBCs, and minorities who have become Directors, or held RMPs. And a few among them were promoted following prolonged court battles challenging selection committee decisions and procedures,” said Dr. Manivannan, who has been at ICAR since 1998. He added that “past DGs converted a few lateral entry positions to Direct Scientists positions, but still sizable numbers have been left out.”
Dr. Manivannan recalled that around the time he joined, most of the HoD posts were being filled by rotation on the basis of seniority from within the ranks of single-entry recruits, but this changed in the early 2000s.
Three past Directors whom The Hindu approached declined to comment on the matter.
Unrepresentative selection board
The current four-member selection board of ASRB also does not have any representatives from SC, ST, or minority communities, despite a specific direction to the DG, ICAR in 2010 by the Ministry of Personnel and Training. The office memo reads, “The composition of selection committees should be representative. It should be mandatory to have one member belonging to SC/ST, and a member belonging to minority community in selection boards/committees for making recruitment to 10, or more vacancies… Where the number of vacancies against which selection is to be made is less than 10, efforts should be made to have the Scheduled Caste/Tribes officer and a minority community officer included in such committees’ Boards.”
The ASRB was established in November 1973 and the first examination to fill 750 ICAR posts was conducted between March 24 and 27, 1976. While lateral entry into ICAR has existed since 1986, Dr. Manivannan says that the majority of such hires were from State agricultural universities. Now, they are open to everyone including those applying from private sector firms.
