Civil Services Examinations: A Blueprint for Reforms

In this rapidly changing world, every sector of our economy is witnessing reforms or is perhaps calling for reforms in order to keep pace with the volatile environment. Administrative sub-system, being an ‘open system’, also has to renovate and rejuvenate itself constantly. Otherwise if left to itself, will drag itself towards entropy or simply degeneration. Amidst this, a number of reforms have been put forward by the government for the civil services but one area that has escaped drastic change is the civil services examination itself. Though, a change in the form of introduction of Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) and scrapping of Optional subject in the preliminary examination has been attempted this year, a comprehensive overhaul may justify the step taken. This article attempts to overview the examination process and suggests some changes.

From the last few years, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has been trying to move away from rote learning to an application based conceptual understanding. This can be judged from the type of questions asked in the recent years. This is a welcome step because the earlier pattern gave undue advantage to candidates who have been preparing for some time. Presently, a candidate has to answer questions worth 300 marks in 3 hours. This breaks down to 6 minutes for every 10 marks (100 words). This does not include time wasted for signing for admit card, extra sheets and the occasional water break. Now when the questions have become more conceptual and analytical that requires more application of mind, it becomes difficult to put forward your point of view in a structured manner in the required time limit without compromising on the quality of the answer. As a result, candidates attempt initial answers carefully but have to speed up at the end. Though time management is the key to this examination, the present time limit seems insufficient. The solution can be that the number of questions can be reduced and the candidate be asked to give a structurally and conceptually balanced answer and marks given strictly on the basis of the quality of answers.

Secondly, there is an urgent need to update the syllabus and make it detailed as well. Many of the present issues for the administration must be included. For example, in Public Administration, International Affairs, Environment, International agencies, Communitisation etc can be included. Moreover, topics like regulatory authorities, disaster management should be detailed as these are huge topics in themselves. A candidate can’t be expected to know everything about the topics. Though, few years back some changes were brought about in the syllabus, this has to be a regular process as issues change as the time flows.

Thirdly, UPSC has also been trying, successful to some extent, to discourage students from joining and relying on coaching institutes. These institutes have been quite successful in inculcating rote learning in the students and this has even helped candidates to enter civil services without having the inherent zeal towards public service. The present change in the pattern of examination though tries to prevent candidates to join these institutes, it unconsciously is forcing many to do the same. By creating more uncertainty as to what kind of questions will come, the candidates are ever more leaning towards coaching teachers. This can be tackled by publishing some model answers of past year question papers. In GMAT (test for MBA examinations), Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), that conducts GMAT, publishes standard answers for the retired past year questions. So a candidate can know how the test makers think. Similarly, UPSC can form a team of academicians and come out with model answers so that candidates can understand what the examiner looks for in the answers and therefore can prepare on his own. Ofcourse, these answers should only be tentative. In the same way, some standard sources must be listed for every subject so that in case of divergent views in different books, candidate can rely on only the official source.

Fourthly, the issue also props up whether the exam tests the candidates on the traits that are expected of an administrator. It would be pertinent to talk about Second Administrative Reforms Commission (SARC) that argued for scrapping of optional subjects and substitute them with common papers of General Studies that would comprise Economy, Constitution, Law, History, Geography etc. This is again a welcome initiative as some of the optional subjects do not test administrative traits at all. Infact, it has also been argued that many of the pressing issues such as land acquisition, civil society, Black money have not been asked. Therefore, the recommendations of SARC are worth following in this regard. Infact, papers like English and Indian language must also be tuned to what can be actually predict administrative qualities.

Fifthly, it is well noted that not all who take the examinations become civil servants. Those who miss even by few marks are not drastically different from those who get selected. Many of these candidates start coaching centers and this answers the flourishing of coaching centers. Government can take steps by inviting candidates who have taken Main examination to join other sectors. The marks of Main exam can be a criteria followed by an interview by the concerned department. This has already been done by Sports Authority of India (SAI). This can be extended for other comparable jobs.

It is no doubt, civil services examinations are the toughest examination in our country. Our administrators selected by way of these exams have done exceptional work in public sphere. This is the same civil service which was considered to be the ‘Steel Frame’ during the British Raj. When reforms have been the answer on all fronts, some changes in the examination process and pattern can better justify the response of administrative system towards the environment.

Catch ‘Em Young

Amidst all the outrage over corruption, one entity that has not caught much of the attention in the public debates is the bureaucracy, esp. the higher bureaucracy. Considered as the ‘Steel Frame’ during the British Raj, Bureaucracy was ‘predicted’ to be inadequate for the newly independent India until Sardar Patel vocally supported it. Since then, many Committees and Commissions have given recommendations that have tried to uproot the bureaucracy from its status quo-ist inclination. The two Commissions viz. First Administrative Reforms Commission (FARC) and Second Administrative Reforms Commission (SARC) are worth mentioning as they dealt with comprehensive analysis and restructuring of the administration.

In one of the reports of SARC – ‘Refurbishing of Personnel Administration – Scaling new heights’, there is a suggestion of a new type of recruitment procedure for the civil services. The Report talks about two proposals – Post School recruitment system and Post-school grooming for Public services. The essence of both the suggestions is that administrators be recruited at a young age by putting the age limit of 21 to 25 years with usual relaxations for reserved candidates. The main reasons given are:
1. At a young age, the mind is open and receptive to values of public service whereas at a late age the mindset is already entrenched and the person is set in his views.
2. Recruiting at a young age would allow the candidate to reach higher levels of Bureaucracy where he can give his vital inputs towards policy formulation (given his expertise and experience developed all throughout his career) and hence it would lead to better realization of his potential.
The Arguments given for the above proposals are commendable but there are few notes of dissent before such a step is considered.

Firstly, the report assumes that the special institutes i.e., National Institutes of Public Administration (NIPA) and other selected institutes, that are being proposed to be established would be successful in creating the ‘ethos’ and skills desired of a public servant which will guarantee a successful career in the civil services. Practical experience says that our education system has failed to deliver be it on the grounds of inadequate policies or ineffective implementation. If that is the case, what is the guarantee that the NIPAs would be qualitatively so much better than any other institutes, infact even than the IITs and IIMs (which are few of the institutions that are recognized globally). Many critics also argue that ‘ethos’ is not something that develops in 3-4 years i.e., the time when the person is in NIPA. Early childhood has a greater role to play in the grooming of an individual. So structuring a vibrant education system should be the priority of policy makers and implementers.

Secondly, it can also be ‘inferred’ that recruiting at a younger age also gives a chance to the system to mould the malleable candidates as per the needs of the system. But it must also be understood that the system, presently, is craving for reforms. Many former bureaucrats and academicians have talked about not only an entire overhaul of the archaic laws but also of the entire system- be it political, economic or administrative. There is a fear that a person under the garb of diseased parts of the system may become a ‘Yes Man’ who may hesitate to give his dissent on the issues which go against the larger interest of the society. Often analysts talk about the degrading ethical moral levels of the society (refer the recent judgment of Supreme Court on the Euthanasia case) and the competitive politics being played in the country which often looks for short term interests. In this case, there is a fear that bureaucracy, over a period of time, may be hijacked by the very status quo-ist system, maneuvering the bureaucracy as per its own interests.

Thirdly, when the maturity factor is taken into consideration, not many of the people attain maturity (quite a subjective term) at a young age, perhaps at around 21 years when the person is just out of his college. Maturity is generally defined with respect to the social interactions a person has. Administration is one such profession where the decisions you take have larger implications for the society and moreover the person starts taking these value laden decisions the moment he comes onto the field. In the present system, many of the candidates joining civil services have a working experience in different organizations which greatly helps them when they become a part of the esteemed civil services.

Fourthly, as far the present criteria is concerned, it is already having a three-layer check (Preliminary, Mains and Personal Interview) which can look for the desired ethos in the candidates and with the major changes already done in the syllabus and the pattern of the examination, in the form of civil services aptitude test and nature of questions asked, the examination is beginning to inch closer to the new challenges and values required of an administrator.

Fifthly, when the Union Public Service Commission has already moved towards an aptitude test (aptitude being defined as a combination of characteristics indicative of an individual’s capacity to acquire, with training, some specific knowledge or skill or a set of organized responses)the crux of which is that the candidate must have the administrative aptitude so that he can keep himself flexible all the times and mould himself as per the dynamic environment he finds himself in, the assumption of older students not easily accepting new values may not arise.

Sixthly, regarding the assumption that older candidates may not be able to reach higher levels, where their potential, experience and expertise can be better realized for policy making, may also have a solution. From other recommendations of SARC, it has been highlighted that merit system be promoted and a closer scrutiny on performance should be the norm. If this is so, a meritorious candidate regardless of his age would be able to reach any level. This will be a win-win situation both for the government and the candidate.

From the above arguments, it should not be deciphered that the recommendations of SARC are not justified. These reports are infact a gold mine of suggestions. But before going for any piecemeal changes, systemic reforms should be introduced so that if and when a person enters the system, these ethos and values become a source of inspiration not only for the administrators but for many who feel bureaucracy is one such institution which has stood the test of time.

The article can be read here as well:
http://www.wisdomblow.com/?p=2343

Personalities - Three Types

This may be the one of the many times that I will be iterating that every individual is different. One more factor that certainly embellishes this fact is the way we tackle problems in life. Right since birth we encounter various problems in life and we try to find a solution of those problems either with the help of people who are closely related to us or alone. In Erik Erikson’s (a neo-freudian psychologist) words, these problems are termed as ‘conflicts’. His idea of categorizing one’s development into stages also incorporates the significant role of conflict. Every stage, in his view, comprises conflicts which ideally need to be successfully accomplished. How well a person tackles them determines how his personality would be shaped up and also how well his other stages would be confronted. Anyways I don’t intend to discuss Erikson here. My idea of writing is to zero upon some of the ways I have seen people tackling their problems which says a lot about their personality.

I generally categorize people into 3 broad categories on the basis of how they confront a particular problem. We all know that socialization is something that has a great impact on one’s personality though heredity shouldn’t also be ignored. Now the first set of people when they come out of a particular problem sit with themselves and think about what all went wrong. Was there something lacking from their side that they could not handle the situation? What were the things that they lacked? What steps should they have taken to effectively handle it so that if it confronts them again they are all ready for it? Or was the situation something that they could never have handled or what steps should be taken so that it can be avoided if they come across the same problem in future? And finally they would end up doing a kind of SWOT analysis every time this happens to them. And these are the people who know themselves well because you can contemplate only when you know your strengths and weaknesses. This category, I would term, is the best of all because they don’t live their life in deception and also emerge as successful creatures in whatever they do.

The second category is one that doesn’t know anything about itself. They are total frauds as I would term them. They continue to deceive themselves all through their life and also end up deceiving others. They come across problems but since they have zero or near zero self awareness, it is highly likely that they don’t waste time on their failure (quite positive!) but they continue to face the same problems and hence commit the same mistakes. Since they are ‘lost in their own world’, they are the distanced very far from the word ‘Success’. They are poorly adapted to their environment and luck, if any, plays a very important role in their success.

The third category is one that can be really said to be ‘lost in its own world’. They do face problems and are very much aware of the things that go wrong but they consciously or unconsciously fail to act upon their failure. May be they are too lazy or too arrogant that they refuse to change. They may feel that they are right in their own way and there is no need to change and it was the problem’s nature that it can’t be solved and nobody could have solved it they way it came. They also live their life in deception (as seen from an objective perspective) but ‘their’ perception doesn’t term it as deception. This category may consider everyone else useless and itself to be of superior breed. And probably that is the reason that they don’t even try to change or act upon the problem so that it doesn’t bother them again. They are comparatively better adjusted than the second category because they find themselves comfortable only in the company of people who are similar to them in most of the ways.

Finally, if seen from a holistic picture the first category may appear to be an ideal one but it is hard to find oneself in one category all the time. I do agree that sometimes it happens that we jump onto other categories because human nature is hardly static but the major proportion of which category the person lies in ultimately decides what kind of person he is and a lot can be predicted about how he would be in the years to come. Anyways neither am I here to pinpoint anyone nor to tell that I lie in ‘x’ or ‘y’category. Its just that I wanted to give a concreteness to my observation.

Nothing Else matters (Metallica) - Main solo

Although I did this solo some years back, I thought i should put it on my blog. I ain't a professional guitarist. I just manage to play something on Guitar.

Perception is reality

One thing that I learnt from my Psychology lessons is that every person is different. And when I say that every person is different it is self explanatory that everyone perceives differently as well. Whatever we comprehend about the world completely depends on how we have perceived the world. The world may not in fact be really like that.

I have come across many people who say that they have been used by other people. But then a question comes did the other person force you to behave like that? It was you who gave yourself in to the other person’s requests. It was completely your choice that you succumb to that person. But then another question comes – What made you to succumb to that person? The answer lies in the perception. People perceive the world and of course its inhabitants as they themselves are. And therefore people who see themselves as ‘Can never do bad to anyone’ will perceive the world a fair place. But since I have told that the real world is not what you have perceived, you may come across people who take advantage of your innocence and when they are sure that you are not beneficial to them anymore they are ready to part with you giving excuses which have no logical basis. It becomes very late to realize that you have been used to hell and hence you waste time on repenting what the other person did although the fault lays largely with you. It is human being’s tendency to blame others for the wrongs that we try not making improvements in ourselves and tend to commit the same mistake again and again. One repercussion of this is that some people start taking a negative view of the things around them but this is not a good strategy to go with. The best thing is to consider every person as a good person but never expecting anything from him. The moment you start expecting and forcing other people to do what you feel is the right way, that very moment you have chosen the path of utmost ‘selfishness’. This is what my psychology teacher has taught me.

You must believe that people who care for you will never ask questions to you and the ones who don’t care, I don’t think you need to explain anything to them. So just be yourself giving importance to only those people who are selflessly tied to you. But it is hard to find people of this kind in this world. Bad experiences in one’s life should only be taken as a cue to caution you of what lies ahead and not develop any kind of prejudice against anyone. The moment we are able to carry out these things, our life becomes more meaningful and the rewards, if not now, will definitely come later in life.