Lateral exit for lateral entry 

Subhasish Mitra (Wide Angle)

The Narendra Modi government’s decision to recruit 45 mid-level specialists through the lateral entry route ran into rough weather right from the word go. The advertisement stirred the hornet's nest with the opposition parties strongly objecting to it.

 

With key NDA allies like JD(U) and LJP 

-- which share power at the Centre -- too not on the same page on the lateral entry issue,  the result was on expected lines.

 

Another NDA ally, Hindustani Awam Morcha, also expressed his unhappiness over the policy.

 

The government abruptly cancelled the advertisement, cutting another sorry figure after the Waqf Amendment Bill and the Broadcast Bill hit roadblocks.

 

While the Waqf Bill has been referred to a joint parliamentary committee for scrutiny, the draft Broadcast Bill has been put on the back burner to facilitate wider consultations.

 

In his letter to the 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.”

 

A fact that cannot be denied outright is that lateral entry is desirable and that, as it has done in the past, it can bring in much-needed fresh ideas and energy. It is required to enrich state capacities to meet the increasingly complex tasks of governance.

 

Lateral recruitment enables the government to recruit people with expertise and skills. A glaring example is Nandan Nilekani, who was appointed chairman of UIDAI by the Congress-led UPA government in 2009, and held the rank of a Cabinet minister.

 

This, pressure from vocal coalition partners and demands of competitive politics seem to have forced the government to put a sudden halt to lateral entry of babus.

 

Opposition parties were up in arms since day one, dubbing lateral entries as a ploy to deny disadvantaged groups reservation benefits. 

 

Given the political context of the recently concluded general election, this rollback was, arguably, politically inevitable.

 

It may be pointed out that the Second Administrative Reforms Commission in 2005, or the Sixth Pay Commission in 2013, or the Niti Aayog in 2017 have upheld the need for induction of personnel at senior and middle management levels in the bureaucracy.

 

The BJP is likely to convene a meeting of all its NDA partners in a bid to come up with a consensus for the lateral entry policy in government jobs in a new form and convince them that the government does not intend to leave out any socially backward classes from its ambit.

 

The meeting is likely to take place after Prime Minister Narendra Modi is back from his Poland and Ukraine visit.