The opposition has opened a front against the government over the recruitment of officers through lateral entry to the top posts of ministries. Opposition parties including Congress say that the Modi government is conspiring to end reservation. UPSC has recently issued an advertisement for direct recruitment to 45 posts of Deputy Secretary, Joint Secretary and Directors. When the opposition started cornering the government over this, the government also gave a befitting reply and said that it was the UPA government that started it. Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said on Monday that the Leader of the Opposition is speaking anything without thinking while the Congress had made Montek Singh Ahluwalia the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission through lateral entry. In 1976, Manmohan Singh was also made the Finance Secretary through direct recruitment.
Arjun Ram Meghwal said that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had opposed OBC reservation in 1961 on the basis of Kaka Saheb Kalekar’s report. After this Rajiv Gandhi also opposed it. He also raised questions on making Sonia Gandhi the head of the National Advisory Council. Let us tell you that since the time of the country’s first Prime Minister Pandit Nehru, experts from different fields have been appointed to top positions from time to time.
Direct recruitment is being done since 1950
Talking about direct recruitment, since 1950, there are many names like IG Patel, Dr. Manmohan Singh, V Krishnamurthy, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and RV Shahi who were given big responsibilities through lateral entry. However, these recruitments were done only on senior posts. When the government needed economic experts, people like Vijay Kelkar, Bimal Jalan and Rakesh Mohan were given the responsibility. Recently, in the advertisement released by UPSC, recruitment has been announced in such sectors which are not currently in the civil service setup.
Who all came through lateral entry, BJP listed many names; Click to read
Pandit Nehru had made recruitments in 1959
Former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had started the Industrial Management Pool in 1959 itself in which people like Mantosh Sodhi were included in the government. Later he was made the Secretary of Heavy Industry. The second name in this series was V Krishnamurthy who took charge of BHEL, SAIL and PSU. Similarly, DV Kapoor took charge of three important ministries. This included Energy, Heavy Industry and Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals.
Direct recruitments done to improve the economy
IG Patel was appointed as an economic advisor in 1954. After this, he was made the Secretary of the Finance Department. Later he also became the Governor of RBI. Similarly, former PM Manmohan Singh was recruited as an economic advisor in 1971. He was first given responsibility in the Ministry of Commerce and after that he held many posts. During the Janata government also, railway engineer M Menezes was made the Secretary of Defense Production.
Direct recruitment was done in Rajiv Gandhi’s government
KPP Nambiar, chairman of Kerala Electronics Development Corporation, was made Electronics Secretary in Rajiv Gandhi’s government. Apart from this, Sam Pitroda was also given the responsibility of the Center for Development of Telematics. In 2002, RV Shahi was brought from the private sector to the Energy Ministry in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government. He was brought to bring reforms in this sector.
In the 80s and 90s, many economic experts came directly to the government and were made joint secretaries. Later they went up to the post of secretary. The Modi government tried to organize lateral entry in 2018 and prepared a strategy for large-scale recruitment. The Modi government said that many IAS officers do not want to come to the Center. In such a situation, talent is needed for big reforms. In such a situation, people who have done good work in their respective fields can also help the government.