PM Narendra Modi wants to appoint officers picked by RSS in civil services: Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday gave a call to students to rise in protest, warning them that “your future is at risk! RSS wants what’s rightfully yours.” In a tweet, he revealed the Prime Minister’s alleged mischief to deprive meritorious students who shine in the civil service examination of what is rightfully theirs by manipulating the merit list using subjective criteria, instead of exam rankings.

Thus far the selection of the civil service cadres – IFS, IAS and IPS — used to be on the basis of the UPSC exam, but now the appointments will be based on the combined score obtained in this examination and the 3-year foundation course which the candidates take after selection. Rahul’s charge stems from an official letter in which the Prime Minister’s Office had asked the department of personnel to examine if the services can be allocated after the completion of foundation course. The duration of foundation course for officers of almost all the services is three months

However, the PMO note is silent on whop will assess the candidates. Will the instructors at the training academy in Mussoorie, where the foundation course is held, serve as judges?  Those who have cleared the exam this year and past UPSC toppers say this will be an arbitrary assessment at odds with the transparent procedure followed thus far, which allots recruits purely on the marks they scored in the entrance exam.

The Indian Administrative Service or IAS draws the highest scorers, next is the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), followed by the Indian Police Service (IPS).Kashmir’s recent topper and IAS officer Shah Faesal tweeted, “If the newly proposed IAS service/cadre allocation policy is approved, it will turn IAS into ICS- Indian Chamcha Service.” In his tweet, Rahul has suggested that PM Modi wants RSS to select officers of their choice. However, there is no mention of the RSS in the official document shared by the Department of Personnel and Training.

BJP chief Amit Shah on Tuesday ruled out any role of the RSS in the government’s move to tweak selection of the cadres. “Where does RSS come in picture,” he shot back at a Press conference. There was nothing wrong in putting together training and performance to select the best hands and the selection will be based on the examination after the foundation course which will be as good as the UPSC examination, Shah said.