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Journalism of Courage
The year 2024 wasn’t just marked with challenging questions, motivational topper stories, or films depicting struggles for those related to UPSC. It was a year of controversies, tragedies, and debates which affected UPSC, civil servants, and aspirants in real life. In fact, these issues grabbed the nation’s interest and headlines throughout the year.
Here are the top six controversies from the UPSC Universe which hit the headlines and created a huge buzz.
Three UPSC aspirants died in July after they were trapped in the basement of Rau’s IAS coaching centre in Central Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar, which was flooded when a drain burst during heavy rain. The incident came days after a UPSC aspirant was electrocuted on a waterlogged Delhi street.
The UPSC Universe pondered: Why would the UPSC aspirants continue to risk their lives by studying in such unregulated libraries?
While most underground libraries — advertised via collapsible boards, posters, flex hoardings, painted display boards — have shut shop soon after the tragedy, some aspirants told The Indian Express on July 29 about some establishments that “even officials will not be able to find unless they are aspirants themselves”.
Talking to indianexpress.com in July this year, Ankit, a UPSC aspirant, said that he spends most of his waking hours in a library located in a narrow lane of Old Rajinder Nagar. There’s nothing in the lane that indicates the existence of a library but for a blank LED digital display board, which announced “24×7 Library” in bold colours until the July incident in Old Rajinder Nagar.
“Such hidden libraries exist in almost all lanes of Old Rajinder Nagar and Karol Bagh (located around 2 km away). An outsider needs an aspirant’s eyes to find these places. Without posters and banners, most pass off for just another part of a residential building,” says Ankit, a resident of Ghaziabad who has been preparing for civil services while staying in Karol Bagh for the past three years.
“Aspirants who dream of becoming IAS officers are usually so focused on their preparations that they do not realise the dangers of their surroundings till a tragedy strikes,” said Ankit.
Click here to read the full article written by Manas Srivastava. Also, don’t miss to read “First person account — Diary of a former UPSC aspirant: Studies in basement, dabba deliveries and sealing drives.” (Click here)
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in July cancelled trainee Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Puja Khedkar’s candidature in the 2022 Civil Services Examination (CSE) and barred her from appearing for any future examinations of the commission, after finding she had violated rules by appearing for the exam more times than what was allowed.
The UPSC Universe pondered: Are the examinations process conducted by UPSC, the training process by LBSNAA and the conduct of civil servants ethical?
Speaking to The Indian Express, Dr Sanjeev Chopra, Former Director of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) helped us to understand why this case was only an aberration and that one incident cannot tarnish the image of UPSC.
Speaking on the role of UPSC he said, “ It is not that UPSC has failed, it is the ecosystem surrounding it that has caused this incident to happen. While the whole ecosystem is not wrong, some minor loopholes need to be addressed. Such breaches can take place on a functional and operational level.” On being asked what is the relevance of having an Ethics paper in the UPSC exam, if the officers do not follow ethical conduct, he suggests removing the Ethics paper and replacing it with a reform.
Click here to read the full interview which is a part of UPSC Essentials’ special series, ‘Expert Talk’.
The Central government directed the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on August 20 to withdraw its advertisement issued three days ago, seeking applications for lateral recruitment to senior bureaucratic posts at the Centre. Opposition party leaders had criticised the policy for not having reservations for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates. Some of the NDA’s allies also opposed the move.
The UPSC Universe pondered: Is lateral entry a disadvantage for Civil Services or UPSC aspirants?
“The recall of the government’s lateral entry advertisement appears to be driven by political interests under the guise of social justice, rather than a genuine assessment of the policy’s merit,” said one of the former civil servants in an interview to the UPSC Essentials of The Indian Express.
Click here to read the full interview which is a part of UPSC Essentials’ special series, ‘Expert Talk’.
Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal said in a series of posts on social media platform X, “As mentioned, it (is) perfectly fine to attempt the UPSC or other such exams, but only if the person wants to be an administrator. The problem is that lakhs of people are spending 5-8 years repeatedly doing this exam as a ‘way of life’. This is such a waste of youthful energy.” Former bureaucrats described this view as “absurd” and “avoidable”.
The UPSC Universe pondered: Isn’t it demotivating and disrespectful for those who prepare for Civil Services with a purpose?
Reacting to his comments, former IAS officer G Sundaram said, “It is absurd. India is a vast country. We are interested in a united India and that is why Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, (the first home minister of Independent India) created these services such as the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), among others. It is all working well.” There may be certain deficiencies which can of course be rectified, he said.
“If you fail at anything in life, someone will come up to tell you that you wasted your time. UPSC aspirants deserve respect for the path they choose and not discouragement”, said our expert Ravi Kapoor (Ex-IRS) in an interview to UPSC Essentials of The Indian Express. He also found Sanyal’s statement ‘absurd’.
Click here to read the full interview which is a part of UPSC Essentials’ special series, ‘Expert Talk’.
Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has proposed an overhaul to the civil services, recommending that Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service officers be recruited from business schools and private sector rather than solely relying on the Union Public Service Commission examinations.
The UPSC Universe pondered: To what extent is Narayan Murthy right about not solely relying on UPSC examinations for hiring civil servants?
While speaking at an event this month, Murthy said, “It is time for India to move from an administrative mindset to a management mindset. The administration is all about the status quo. On the other hand, management is all about vision and high aspiration. It’s about achieving the plausible impossible.”
According to the Infosys co-founder, the current system of competitive UPSC examinations can only produce civil servants trained in general administration. He recommended a management-based approach that focuses on vision, cost control, innovation, and rapid execution to cater to the changing demands of governance.
Ravi Kapoor (Ex-IRS) in an interview with UPSC Essentials said, “Narayana Murthy’s advice of hiring IAS, IPS from B-schools, not solely from UPSC can be disheartening for aspirants. The core principle of civil services is not to sell, but to serve.”
Click here to read the full interview which is a part of UPSC Essentials’ special series, ‘Expert Talk’.
Indian Foreign Service (IFS) was in the news due to Nijjar murder case causing rift many developments in India-Canada relations. The two countries on October 14 announced the expulsion of their top envoys along with other diplomats in a sharp escalation of the row between the two countries over last year’s killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The UPSC Universe pondered: What diplomatic expulsion actually means for a diplomat?
T.P. Sreenivasan (IFS 1967), former Ambassador of India to Fiji, provided his experiential narrative on life in the Indian Foreign Service involving expulsion and other challenges in an interview with Manas Srivastava of The Indian Express. He was the first Indian Head of Mission to be ever expelled by any country.
Sreenivasan said, “The expulsion of diplomats is a kind of ‘letting out the steam’ or an instrument of diplomacy in international relations applied in exceptional circumstances. Although it appears to be a drastic measure, it is a way of dealing with an extremely difficult situation peacefully. It would not be wrong to say that expulsions are a precaution against any deterioration of the bilateral relationship.”
Telling us about another important element of expulsion — reciprocity, Sreenivasan said, “You will often hear that when one country expels diplomats for a reason, the other country reciprocates the same number of diplomats even if there is no charge against them. Would you believe that even the countries that are best friends, expel each others’ diplomats? Such expulsions are not announced and are kept secret. What is often not talked about is how diplomatic expulsions are part of the exercise causing inconvenience to diplomats and their families only. It is the diplomat and their family who have to go through problems.”
Click here to read the full interview which is a part of UPSC Essentials’ special series, ‘Expert Talk’.
Dear Aspirants,
The top picks from 2024 mentioned above, were dealt with in detail in UPSC Essentials’ special series, ‘Expert Talk’. This exclusive series is one of the oldest and most popular initiatives of the UPSC Section of The Indian Express where Manas Srivastava talks to academics, civil servants and subject area experts on various issues which affect the lives of UPSC aspirants directly or indirectly.
From exam tips and UPSC controversies to news headlines concerning aspirants and addressing their doubts — the series captures not only what aspirants would need in the exam particularly but also what they should know for their knowledge in general. We promise to continue with the series in 2025 as well. Do let us know what issues and topics you want us to engage with the experts. We shall be happy to take them up.
Wishing you a very Happy New Year.
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