Loyalty test

A LETTER hurriedly drafted by the Department of Personnel and Training and sent to all Ministries on May 17, 2018, has created a flutter in political and administrative circles. Making foundation course performance a part of this exercise will make it totally subjective, prone to pressures, and lead to the misuse of discretion.” According to Punia, this is part of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh’s agenda to put its own people at the forefront of the bureaucracy: “ yet another attempt by the RSS to capture yet another institution.” What this could also translate into is the downgrading of Dalits and minorities and those not toeing the RSS line. “Since the test conducted by the academy is likely to be less objective and less rigorous, I apprehend that this will have the potential of upsetting the merit ranking secured by the civil servant trainees through a highly competitive examination system and render the procedure for determining the inter-service allotment of the civil servant trainees somewhat subjective, an approach that will introduce an unhealthy distortion in the otherwise credible testing procedure of the UPSC.” Sarma said it was a matter of concern that such an idea should emanate from the PMO and moreover, was sought to be implemented with a great deal of urgency. According to Sarma: “This is yet another move on the part of NDA to tinker with the integrity of the existing institutions and introduce subjectivity to suit its intentions.” Harsh Mander, a former bureaucrat who has served at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie as deputy director, is also of the view that this is a mischievous idea which will strike at the root of yet another democratic institution. They could then select officers for the most sensitive administrative and police services with the same ideological sympathies.” Mander opined that the move to tamper with the bureaucracy was fraught with long-term damage to India’s democracy because unlike ideologically committed vice chancellors, judges, heads of cultural institutions, and so on, who could be changed once their term ended or if there was a change of government, bureaucrats cannot be changed and would remain in service until their retirement.