Don’t politicise lateral entry

The biggest problem with lateral entries into the bureaucracy is that there are too few. With the government asking UPSC to withdraw its advertisement seeking applications for lateral entry to 45 posts, it’s worth remembering that. In his letter to UPSC, Jitendra Singh, the minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, wrote that “it is important that the constitutional mandate towards social justice is upheld so that deserving candidates from marginalised communities get their rightful representation in the government services.”

The government may have had no option but to review its decision after Opposition parties, led by the Congress, sought to define the issue through the prism of reservation. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, said in a tweet: “Lateral entry is an attack on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis. The BJP’s distorted version of Ram Rajya seeks to destroy the Constitution and snatch reservations from Bahujans.” Lateral recruitment is not a vehicle for affirmative action, and never was; it is a means for the government to recruit people with either domain expertise, or proven leadership and managerial skills, who would otherwise have not considered joining the government, for very specific roles. Nandan Nilekani, who was appointed chairman of UIDAI by the Congress-led UPA government in 2009, was a lateral entry into government (although he wasn’t termed that). He had the rank of a Cabinet minister. And he gave the country Aadhaar, the basis of the government’s highly successful welfare architecture. There have been others through the years, and the current government’s lateral entry scheme — it hasn’t had great success, by the way — was aimed at formalising the process of selecting such lateral entrants and make it more transparent.

But the minute an issue is narrowly defined in terms of reservation, it becomes difficult for any political party to do something that can be perceived to be against the interests of OBCs, SCs and STs. Expectedly, Dr Singh’s letter said, “for our Prime Minister, reservation in public employment is a cornerstone of social justice framework…” and “…the PM is of the firm belief that the process of lateral entry must be aligned with the principles of equity and social justice enshrined in our Constitution, particularly concerning the provision of reservation”.

It is unfortunate that Mr Gandhi and the Opposition see caste as a politically expedient tool to take on the government, especially after their relative success in the general elections. But the repeated emphasis on caste may end up being counter-productive, perhaps creating more fractures than it heals.

Unlock a world of Benefits with HT! From insightful newsletters to real-time news alerts and a personalized news feed – it’s all here, just a click away! –Login Now!