Look east policy

It seems to be destination Arunachal Pradesh for several young Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers. The past few days have seen a handful of young officers being transferred to the state abutting China. Interestingly, the move comes at a time when the Union Home Ministry is considering a proposal to carve out a separate Arunachal Pradesh-Mizoram cadre in the IAS. The two states are currently serviced by officers from the AGMUT (Andaman Goa Mizoram Union Territories) cadre. But Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram have been demanding their own cadre so that they have access to officers who understand the states. The only concern within North Block is that smaller cadres have their own drawbacks, not the least being that the small pool of officers from which the states can choose will limit those government’s options.