Indian lawmakers are demanding an accounting of reforms made by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) of the Public Service examination over more than a decade, which they say has had the cumulative effect of drastically altering it.
The Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) says no study has ever been commissioned to assess how the changes impacted the candidates, the nature of recruitment and administration in general.
A statement from the committee said the UPSC had “time and again” stated in its responses that the committee, chaired by former Human Resource Development Secretary, B. S. Baswan, had reviewed the examination in 2015 and had done all that was needed.
“We are well aware that the Baswan Committee was constituted to make recommendations on the eligibility, syllabus, scheme and pattern of the examination, but we seek an assessment of the impact of the UPSC’s administrative decisions,” the Committee said.
“The UPSC has changed the pattern of the Civil Service examination from time-to-time on the basis of recommendations made by various expert committees,” it said.
“However, no study has been commissioned to assess how such changes impacted the aspirants, nature of recruitment and administration at large.”
The Committee said, in light of that, it recommended such an assessment be made by the Department of Personal and Training (DoPT) at the earliest possible time.
An approach to the DoPT over whether it would conduct such a study did not receive a reply.
However, former Secretary of the Department, Satynanand Mishra (pictured) said the USPC changes “have ensured that the bureaucracy is more representative than ever before”.
“What a committee can study is whether the changes brought in by the UPSC over the years have led to greater or lesser efficiency among the bureaucracy,” Mr Mishra said.
“That, in my opinion, would be a more important study,” he said.
New Delhi, 15 April 2021
