The seniormost recruiter to the higher civil services had raised hopes of reform a few weeks ago by listing many proposals as needing consideration. He has now said that one has to be practical on one of them,namely,reducing the age of entry. The road to hell is paved with so-called practical intentions. The Moilly ARC had strongly proposed that the age of entry should be reduced to the mid-twenties,plus a few years for special categories. Dr Moily was generous enough to acknowledge that this emerged from a committee I had chaired and when the new chief of the UPSC said that it was under consideration,I was happy. When you are foolhardy or adventurous enough to advise governments,you win some and lose some,and it seemed that this may go through. But fate,as Wodehouse said,was waiting around the corner to wallop the idea.
The so-called practical argument given is equity. Poor children take time to mature so they must be given that time. But the argument was false. We found out that candidates from really poor backgrounds,as shown by the district from which they were graduating,was actually going down. Now,this is worrisome. For,the concern that more candidates from poor backgrounds should make the IAS or IPS is an important one,and as a very intelligent Minister from a reserved constituency once told me,it is more important that a poor SC/ST girl or boy becomes a Collector or SP than a Minister. In the present system,since there is no limit on the chances a SC/ST candidate can take; many enter after turning 30. Knowing they will never reach the top,they tend to procrastinate at best,and go the easy way at worst.
The case for reducing the age is good and nobody seems inclined to reason against it. I went for a meeting of Common Cause to Delhi since it was set up by the great H D Shourie,and was asked to lobby for the Alagh Committee on higher civil services. I am a university type and said since the Moily report is there,we can relax. I was obviously wrong. But again,you never know. Dont despair Dr Moily,good ideas have a way of coming back some day.
