"The foremost challenge in governance today is to maintain the highest

standards of probity, integrity, accountability, transparency and fair play"

By Prof. D P Agrawal, Hon’ble Chairman, UPSC

Hon’ble Vice President of India, Shri Hamid M Ansari; Hon’ble Members of the Commission;
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is with great pleasure that I extend a very warm
welcome to Hon’ble Vice President of India, Shri Hamid M Ansari. The Union Public
Service Commission is deeply honoured that he has consented to deliver the second lecture on
‘Governance and Public Service’. The inaugural lecture in the series was delivered by Her
Excellency, the President of India in 2009. We are extremely grateful to you, Sir.

The country has witnessed an all round development in almost all the sectors since last two
decades. The need for maintaining the pace of development and the requirement to ensure that
benefits of development percolate to all citizens pose a great challenge to governance system.

We need to evaluate and re-jig the systems of governance responsible for ensuring an effective
public service delivery and to keep it efficient and people friendly. In the journey of 85 long
years in its various incarnations, the Union Public Service Commission as a constitutional body
while zealously guarding its independence has discharged its mandated functions - not only the
recruitment and selection for the civil service under the Union, but also advising the Government
on matters closely relating to manpower requirement in public services. At the same time, the
Commission has also been fully alive to the emerging challenges of governance.

Good governance for effective public service delivery presupposes that the systems are manned
by the right people with right skills and capabilities. While undertaking the recruitment and
selections in a meritbased manner, the UPSC has always been open to innovations in the area
of selection procedures and processes. The changes introduced in the Preliminary stage of the
Civil Services Examination from this year are a pointer to the Commission’s commitment to
select the most suitable person for the Civil Services. The changes in the scheme and pattern of
the Preliminary Examination are based on the principle of equity in as much as it will provide
equal opportunity to the candidates from diverse educational and social backgrounds. We are
also in discussion with the Govt. of India about an alternative method of selection for induction
into All India Services from the State Services.

Commission handles more than 15 lakhs applications every year. To tackle this challenge
Commission has introduced the system of online application for the candidates, which has been
receiving an overwhelming response. Encouraged by the positive response, the Commission has
recently introduced hundred percent online application for two Examinations, namely
Engineering Services Examination and Indian Forest Service Examination. To facilitate the
candidates from the remote area, Commission permits them to apply off-line also.

Recently, UPSC also conducted successfully one online recruitment test at different centres in
the country. Based on the experience from this experiment, the Commission may, in future,
introduce online examinations and tests for other selections as well. The primary concern of the
Commission is to recommend the selected candidates to the Government as soon as practically
possible. Detailed analysis of delayed cases has been done in the Commission which revealed a
number of lacunae in the proposals submitted by the Ministries. A number of workshops have
been organized by the Commission for the Ministries/Departments to facilitate them to overcome
these lacunas. In the same context, a Single Window System has been introduced, whereby a
preliminary scrutiny of the cases is done at the time of receipt itself. I am happy to mention that
this initiative has shown positive results in disposal of the cases.

Commission recently organised a day long interaction session with the Heads of Training
Academies and Institutes of All India and Central Services. The idea was to benefit from their
feedback and perceptions. During the deliberations, it was learnt that no mechanism exists to
map the performance and behavioural aspects of officers in the field in the early stages of their
career. It was considered necessary by the group that the Government put in place such a
mechanism. The Commission would be interested in knowing whether the selected candidates
exhibit the attitudes, values required and display the skills and competence required for the job.

In today’s globalized world, one cannot remain totally confined to one’s own approaches,
methods and ideas for delivering the given mandate. We have to be a learning organization,
ready to accept the best practices available globally. Towards this objective, the UPSC hosted
the first Conference of the Chiefs of Public Service Commissions of SAARC countries in the
month of November, 2010. The initiative was appreciated by all the Member States and it was
decided to continue such dialogue every year. The Commission has also entered into bilateral
partnerships with Public Service Commission’s of Canada and Bhutan. A similar MOU is likely
to be signed with the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission of
Afghanistan. We are confident that such partnerships will be of professional benefit to all of us.

The Constitution of India, under proviso to Article 320 (3), provides for exemption of posts from
the purview of the Commission. Such an exclusion of posts from the purview of Commission
would be justified only in exceptional circumstances. To allow permanent exemption of
posts/services would run counter to the spirit of the provisions of the Commission. However,
over the years, the Government of India have excluded a number of civil posts /services from the
purview of the Commission invoking this proviso to Article 320(3). Considering the purpose and
spirit of the Constitutional provisions, I would urge the Government of India to bring all such
civil posts/services back within the purview of the Commission.

Article 321 of the Constitution mandates that Parliament may by law provide for exercise of
additional functions by the UPSC in respect of services of the Union and also as respects the
services of any local authority or other body corporate constituted by law or of any public
institution. By virtue of its independent Constitutional status, the Commission inspires the
highest confidence in the public with regard to its fairness, impartiality and objectiveness of its
selection procedures. It is therefore for the government of India to consider amending the
existing Acts of Parliament creating Corporations, Tribunals or other Organizations, to
incorporate a provision for consultation with the Commission in making recruitment, selections,
etc. for these bodies.

As of now, our country has a large number of recruiting agencies which make selection to
various services/posts under the Government. In most of the Developed countries, an
independent authority audits all selections made by different authorities. It may be worthwhile to
adopt such a system in our country also. In our context such auditing could be done by the
Commission.

The emerging dynamics of governance call for a fresh look at the issue of permanent
appointment in the civil services vis-a-vis the outcome-based performance. The life- long job
security provided to government servants perhaps brings in an element of complacency and
inertia. There should be intense assessment of performance of the officers at various stages of
their career to weed out dead woods at an earlystage in order to have a civil service that is
nimble, efficient, impartial, accountable and above all honest.

Another issue that needs attention is opening up of senior positions in Civil Service to all persons
possessing skill sets matching with the job profile. Such selections should be made on a
competitive basis with no prejudice to anyone. Coming back to the subject of today’s lecture by
the Hon’ble Vice President, I can’t resist from mentioning that the foremost challenge in
governance today is to maintain the highest standards of probity, integrity, accountability,
transparency and fair play. I am sure that if we are able to successfully meet this challenge, the
people’s aspirations and expectations are bound to be fulfilled.

Before I end, I take this opportunity to welcome you all and also once again welcome the
Hon’ble Vice President of India.
JAI HIND