Professional Documents
Culture Documents
C IVIL S ERVIC E
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PRAVEEN KUMAR
GB, HAYES HALL, HAYES ROAD,
BANGALORE-560025. ( Karnataka, INDIA )
pryveen@yahoo.com / pryveen@gmail.com
Phone : 080-41125309
Mobiles : 09901979567 / 09945336849
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TIME TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF CIVIL SERVICE
PRAVEEN KUMAR
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PUBLISHED WORKS OF PRAVEENKUMAR
English writings
English poems
UNKNOWN HORIZONS
PORTRAITS OF PASSION
Kannada poems
DIVYA BELAKU
BHAVANA
PRIYA CHAITRA TAPASVINI
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COMMENTS
BHAVANA
(Poems In Kannada)
THE HINDU
UNKNOWN HORIZONS
(Poems In English)
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The language is flowery.....there is a need to
appreciate his ruthless exposure of the
criminalisation of politics and the politicisation of
the police... His treatises on dowry deaths and
their investigation and on police dogs are
characteristically thorough and sound meriting
universal attention.....there is no doubt that the
author who has already acquired a reputation as
a poet is a highly sensitive and cultured person.
THE HINDU
THE HINDU
Praveen Kumar is not only an upright police officer but also a poet and a
prolific writer.……..Policing the Police—an analytical Study of the
philosophy and field dynamics of the policing in practice highlight
various problem areas including defective selection and
recruitment,unsound training and unhealthy job culture and identifies
likely solutions for its redemption.
DECCAN HERALD
Praveen Kumar gives an insight into the Indian police set-up and analyses
the problems of the department, with interesting illustrations from the
field. Mr Kumar's book is a departure from the routine, where he not only
analyses the problems, but also suggests solutions.
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The author expresses concern over sycophants climbing the ladder and
reaching the top to hold the reins and guide the destiny of the police.
The result — a spiritless culture created by incompetent
leaders…….Policing the police involves self-policing. Through the book,
the author has made an honest effort to throw some light on the state of
affairs of Indian police.
INDIA TODAY
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TIME TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF CIVIL SERVICE
India wanted its All India Services of the post-independent era to break away from the British
legacy and as a first step altered the names of the services. It is an irony that the process led to and
marked a dilution of quality. The present Indian Administrative Services is not even a poor shadow of
the old Indian Civil Service; nor does the Indian Foreign Service bears a resemblance to the Indian
Political Service; and the present Indian police service lacks the vigour of the good old Indian Police.
The old All India Services was built on the tripod of faultless selection and recruitment, perfect
training and exposures to the highest standards of professionalism and character to sustain it
throughout. But, new India just failed to give these factors the importance they deserved.
Reasons for this deterioration are many. The first is inherent lack of passion for quality and
excellence. The agency incharge of selections, the Union Public Service Commission, is manned by
people unequal for the task either in their professionalism, efficiency, passion for brilliance or basic
Merciless pruning of the extant services to create a compact and highly responsible core of
administrative potentialities to handle a few sensitive key positions in the colossus of the
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administration is needed now. Nothing short or brilliance and highest potentiality to handle the affairs
of the country should find a place in the wing that is responsible for constituting the nerve-centre. The
administration must be kept beyond the purview of extraneous constraints such as reservation of any
kind and even age restrictions by way of multiple point entries for different age groups. The guiding
principle here is drawing the best talents from whatever sources without restraints of any kind for the
best results. The services should not be treated as an employment opportunity to the elite, but as the
HUMAN RESOURCE
The basic source of manpower for these services has to be boys and girls below the age of 16
years who have completed secondary education. The selection must be made part of the final
secondary examination. The UPSC must be made responsible for grooming those recruited. The
commission must handle their further academic studies at the government’s expense for the next seven
Identifying the best talents of the country at higher age groups has to be the goal of the
Establishment Cell created within the UPSC on the lines of the Establishment Officer of the Home
Department of the British Raj. The cell must get busy scouting for best talents from whatever source
for direct absorption to the All India Services at the appropriate levels after initial training.
Outstanding professionals, technocrats and creative minds of proven calibre can be the candidates.
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Every recruit has to be put in independent charge of a subordinate job for two years under the
supervision of a competent senior officer. His performance in this sphere must from a vital ingredient
in the annual assessment. The trainee must be judged at every stage at different levels to decide his
Five years of regular service after the field training must pave the way for the first promotion.
This must function as a natural filtering process as those fit should be promoted in the mainstream
while others get elevated to higher ranks in the related subordinate departments to man posts covered
Mr.B.K.Nehru, in his memoirs “ Nice Guys Finish Second” refers to an incident in 1950s
wherein the then Finance Minister T.T.Krishnamachari, asked the chairman of the Central Board of
Revenue to show him a particular income-tax file. The latter refused point blank on the ground that
the law did not allow it. While he agreed that T.T.K. was his superior, he contended that he himself
could see the file as the chief of the Income-Tax Department while TTK could not as he was not
While the Ministers must lay down objectives and policies, their secretaries must formulate
programmes including drafting appropriate laws and rules to channel the government objectives and
policies. The onus of implementation of the programmes must be left to the departments concerned.
India, in the pre-independent years needed brilliant people to handle its administration. British
India, with all its brilliant ideas and administrative wisdom, created the All India Services. It recruited
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brilliant people for the services, imparted the best possible training to them, exposed them to the
highest standards of the profession and presented them the best of trust, powers and opportunities to
carry out their responsibilities. The Government took care of all their personal needs, provided them
with many opportunities for growth and bestowed on them a halo of invincibility.
The training programmes for the services should be relevant to the time and highly advanced in
content. Subjects taught have to be updated every year by experts and made challenging even to the
brightest among the members of the services unlike present training programmes which are
intellectually impoverished, irrelevant to the time and do not help tune attitudes to higher levels.
Another need is making the promotional tests mandatory and of a high standard. Overhauling the
present mediocre Union Police Service Commission to create an efficient and responsible set-up
capable of handling the enormous responsibilities under Article 320 that compels attention to arrest the
degeneration set in, in the set-up that led to blunders in identifying talents and managing the services.
A recent case is from Karnataka where three promising officers from the state cadre were
denied selection by the UPSC to an All India Service for no obvious reason for ten years from 1990
while their juniors scored the elevation. The acute frustration and demoralisation caused led to the
break-up of family life of one of the promising trio and subsequent divorce, repeated violent
behaviour by him in public leading to public humiliation and ultimately involvement in a murder case
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The answer to unprofessional transgressions by the UPSC lies in transforming it to a highly
objective can be achieved by suitable amendment to Articles 316 and 317 to ensure that only right and
sensible people become members and chairman of the organisation and remain in the saddle only till
This can be made possible by the constitution of a committee comprising the Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court, Chief Commissioner of Central Vigilance Commission and Speaker of Parliament
as members and the Vice-President of India as the Chairman to clear the names for appointments as
members and chairmen of the UPSC for a fixed tenure and initiate actions for their removal by an
appropriate procedure in fit cases. Changes to this effect in Articles 316 and 317 plug the loopholes
in the existing provisions that provide too much scope for political interferences in the selection of
All –India Services as the nerve-centre of the administration has to be made responsible to an
apex body called All India Services apex board. The board should oversee, supervise, study, control
and manage every affair pertaining to the Services at its own collective wisdom and discretion with
powers of rewards, punishment and placements invested with it. Sensitive posts in the governments
and public undertakings have to be identified in advance for the All India Services and once it is done,
placements have to be left to the wisdom and discretion of the apex board. The governments
concerned and public undertakings as employers must keep the apex body constantly and periodically
informed about the performances of each official placed under it and request changes wherever
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necessary with reasons therefore. The final decision on such requests has to be left to the judgement of
the apex board based on its constant research, study, enquiry and assessment.
The best bet for professional resolve and high commitment in such an apex body is having
senior most officers of the All-India Service in fine fettle as members of the apex board under the
seniormost member as the chairman, appointed strictly on seniority. It is these members with tow-
thirds majority who must be empowered to bar a competent senior officer from becoming a member or
remove an existing member of chairman from the board by recording sufficient reasons for the act.
Under the new scheme one should be committed to service for life unless one offers to retire on
health or personal grounds or forced out by the apex board for valid reasons. Except in cases of
retirement on request before the age of 60 years for nonmedical reasons or removal by the apex
board as a punishment, every officer should be entitled to all the benefits as in service for life even
after retirement. However, once confirmed in the service, one should be prohibited from taking up any
private or other government jobs while in service or after retirement or even after resignation from the
The country should take cognisance of all the legitimate needs of these officers and provide
them with the best possible living standards. Instead of salaries, these exceptionally brilliant officers
must be allowed to decide and draw emoluments against performances every month on their own
assessment which include liberal perks such as free education for children in any kind of educational
institution, free educational supports, free medial aid of whatever kind, free club membership and
other entertainments, free foreigh tours, free housing and transportation of whatever kind, help to earn
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permanent assets, free supplies of daily needs and other movable properties. Each officer must submit
to the apex board a periodical report of his performances. The board must study each report to judge
The Government is doing nothing to arrest the decline of the All India Services on all fronts.
India is preoccupied with myriad issues of economic and social developments and perhaps the rapid
deterioration of its All India Services does not seem important. But, the Government should realise
that a strong civil service is mandatory for the survival of India and act fast.
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