The Union Government’s notification (http://lateral.nic.in/) for hiring 10 policy makers at the Joint Secretary level has created a stir among the student community in Hyderabad aspiring for civil service jobs. Grimly determined students who lead a spartan life away from family, shacking up with friends near various IAS coaching centres in Ashok Nagar, Chikkedpally and RTC Crossroad area are worried about their job prospects.
“It is a double-edged sword. As an aspirant, I feel vacancies may get limited due to this move, but as a professional working with the Home Ministry, I feel there is a need for specialists in the higher echelons of the government. For handling cyber-security, data-storage and cyber-crime, the need for technocrats is very high. While the lower cadre are tech-savvy and good, senior officials need a vision for their departments. Hopefully, this will happen now,” says Divya Chowdhury.
A look at the hiring pattern shows a marked decline over the past few years. From a high of 1,291 notified civil services jobs according to the notification for Prelims in 2014, this year only 780 jobs have been notified — a drop of almost 40%. This has already limited the job prospects for aspirants.
“The hiring at a senior level will have a cascading effect on the intake if this is implemented and expanded. This year, only 780 posts have been notified as against last year’s 980. Aspirants will start weighing career options as vacancies become limited in the already tough exam,” says Gopalakrishnan, who runs an IAS coaching centre in Hyderabad. He also red flagged the likely impact of proposed post-training marks before allocation to different cadres.
“I hope the government retains cadre-based system through promotion of IAS officers. Only that will justify the hard work by aspirants who get ranks in civil services exam,” says M. Santosh, who has finished his engineering from NIT-Warangal and is now preparing for the civil services exam in Hyderabad.
“There is no dearth of talent among IAS officers. Instead of hiring from outside, the government can recruit more IAS officers and promote the more qualified to a higher level,” feels K. Ramesh Reddy, another aspirant who is preparing to takee a shot at the upper rung of Indian bureaucracy.