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A few weeks ago, it was celebration time at Ankur Garg’s Delhi house even as friends, relatives and acquaintances started trooping in from early morning. His beaming parents were ready with boxes of the choicest mithai which they gave away to every guest. And why not? It is not everyday that a son tops the civil services exam in India. But had the 22-year-old Ankur wanted to appear for the exam a year or two later, chances are he may not have been allowed because he is a qualified engineer from Delhi’s IIT. Not just him. Ten of the top 20 rankers in this year’s IFS, IAS and allied services’ list are either doctors or engineers. If the Pranab Mukherjee Committee Report has its way, all professionals like Ankur can say goodbye to the civil services. And there may be a valid reason for this. "Professional education is highly subsidised in India. The state incurs a huge investment for every person who becomes an engineer or a doctor. Moreover, the skill which is acquired is not properly utilised if a specialist joins the civil services," says Mukherjee, the former Union Finance Minister. The 44-member Pranab Mukherjee Committee attached to the Ministry of Home Affairs has once again revived the age-old controversy that the civil services should be run just by generalists and not by professionals and technocrats. The committee has strongly recommended the debarring of specialists from taking up the civil services as a career. "Besides being a loss to the fields of science and medicine, the per student expenditure incurred by the government in producing engineers and doctors runs into several lakhs. This means that when such young people join the civil services, the money spent on them goes down the drain as their skills are not properly utilised," says Mukherjee. For example, Delhi’s IIT has over 4,600 students at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. On an average, the annual expenditure on every student is Rs 2.10 lakh. The government spends Rs1.8 lakh while the student pays just Rs 30,000 per annum. Technocratic administrators Mukherjee is of the opinion that specialists who go in for the civil services not just waste government money but also steal opportunities from general students. "They block precious seats in medical colleges and IITs that could have gone to other meritorious students." He has recommended the creation of a specialised all-India service for engineers, doctors and students of other scientific streams to run the technical and scientific departments by becoming technocratic administrators.
Needless to say, the recommendations have stirred a hornet’s nest with many experts condemning the report and others strongly supporting it. "This is a free country and no one can debar a doctor or an engineer from entering the civil services," says Prof P.K. Dave, Former Director of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. It is wrong to say that once professionals become civil servants the money spent on them by the state goes down the drain. I feel with their special skills they can be a very important part of civil administration."
Endorsing the views of Professor Dave is the Director of the IIT, Delhi, Prof Rajpal. S. Sirohi, who believes that the choice of a career must be left to the individual and the state has no right in debarring a person from the profession of his or her choice. "In the Indian Constitution the choice of a vocation is a Fundamental Right. No one can take away that right," opines Sirohi and adds, "In the IITs, we don’t just churn out engineers. We give students a broad-based scientific education, hone their personalities and sharpen their analytical skills. Our effort is to build complete human beings who would excel in whatever job they do." The IIT Director gives the examples of former IITians like ITC Chairman Y.C. Deveshwar, Hindustan Lever Chairman Amit Banga, NIIT CEO Rajendra Singh Pawar, Infosys bosses Nandan Nilekani and N.R. Narayana Murthy, Sun Microsystems founder Vinod Khosla and the current Chief Minister of Goa Manohar Parikar. "They are all excelling in different professions which may not necessarily be those of an engineer." Professor Sirohi introduces the Deputy Commissioner of Delhi police, Vijay Gogoi, who has come to his office. "By education he is a doctor but by profession he is dealing with crime and criminals and doing a fine job." Dr Gogoi agrees, "I am of the firm view that doctors and engineers in civil services can play an important role since they have the analytical mind to deliver," he says.
But S.K. Sharma, who recently retired as Secretary in the Inter State Council, Ministry of Home Affairs, feels that the current debate is quite unnecessary. He trashes the assumption that doctors and engineers are more talented than generalists. Advantageous position "Does that mean that people from an arts background coming into the civil services are mediocre or less talented? The truth is that science students are in advantageous position compared to humanities. A score 90 per cent in physics may be common place but 70 per cent in history would be considered excellent," says Sharma, explaining why more and more students with science background are entering the administrative services. He nullifies the postulate that civil services gain when specialists join in." The premise is wrong because three years into the service and specialists lose touch with their subjects. Which is why I feel doctors and engineers are on a par with generalists where the services are concerned. There is no question of superiority." In a way, Sharma endorses the moot point of the committee’s report that specialists are wasted in civil services and they can be put to better use when they pursue the profession they have studied for.
a former DGP of the Punjab Police, K.P.S. Gill does not agree. "You cannot debar medical and engineering students from civil services. Their educational backgrounds can have some positive fallouts. For example, he says, the Punjab police was exposed to computers and the Internet only when a couple of engineers joined the IPS and were posted to his state. Gill feels since there is dearth of good jobs in the country that’s why specialists hanker after civil services. "When they come out of IITs and medical colleges are there any jobs awaiting them? In most cases no. So they keep applying all over and one of the lucrative options happens to be the civil services, where there is both status and good money. They certainly cannot be denied that right. Technocrats have their utility." Professor Dave says that the time has come when technocrats must take over the reins of civil services. He cites the example of Japan’s economic success and social development and says specialists are running most of the technical services. " I don’t think a generalist can handle health issues the way a doctor can," says the renowned orthopaedic surgeon. Here Gill disagrees. Though he says there’s nothing wrong with doctors and engineers coming into civil services, he doesn’t feel they make better officers than people who come from the humanities background And then Gill hits the nail on the head. "This debate is quite unnecessary. It is not the technical knowledge or medical qualifications which make a person good civil servant. The one who has character and integrity will always score over others. The need of the hour is not so much for doctors and engineers but more officers with integrity." — Newsmen Features
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“Debar doctors & engineers from the civil services”
How much money is invested by the state on each engineering and medical student? It is difficult to give a precise figure. It depends on the standard of the college. But the state subsidy is definitely three to four times higher than what is given to a humanities student. This is one very important aspect the committee considered — that the expertise acquired is not properly utilised if doctors and engineers join the civil services. In fact, their skills are wasted. Don’t you feel such a recommendations infringe on a person’s fundamental right? One should be practical and not emotional. When fully-trained engineers and doctors bid goodbye to the profession they have studied for and end up as civil servants they create obstacles by blocking those many seats which other meritorious students could have got who were desirous of becoming practising engineers and doctors. That’s why they must be debarred from the civil services. But don’t specialists make good civil servants? It is utter nonsense to say that only specialists can be good civil servants. Some time back a magazine called me ‘one of India’s most successful Finance Ministers.’ I am not an economist. Technically speaking, I do not qualify to be an expert in order to be an administrator. To be a successful civil servant or administrator one has to have common sense, be efficient and scrupulously honest. Do you think specialists are completely wasted in the civil services? Look, I am not against specialists coming into administrative services. I am recommending a specialised all- India service for engineers, doctors and people from other scientific fields. They should not be allowed to compete through the civil services exam. So you don’t agree with experts who say more and more specialists must be encouraged to enter the civil services? There is no harm in encouraging specialists but these professionals can be better utilised in their respective professional fields. Technocrats complain that unlike the bureaucrats they don’t have adequate powers? They have all the powers.
Only the right approach is needed to do the right work. — NF
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