Issues with lateral entry

♤ Bypassing UPSC: UPSC is a constitutional body and has retained legitimacy and credibility of selection process over the years. Some experts opine that lateral entry is unconstitutional in nature.

♤ Not a Panacea: It is also argued that it is a piecemeal effort to deal with a systemic problem. Bureaucracy needs major overhauling.

♤ Offers not lucrative enough: Most of the times, the terms of recruitments are not rewarding enough to attract best of talents. Even the recent lateral entry initiative would recruit professionals for only 3 years with remuneration not competitive with private sector.

♤ Open door to privatization: Some civil servants believe that it would open the floodgates to privatization. And eventually government would lose its socialist and welfare characteristics.

♤ Transparency is recruitment: Government should ensure that the recruits remain independent of “fissiparous tendencies. The sanctity of the selection procedure should remain for the services to stay insulated from the government of the day.