NITI Aayog has issued a notification for the formation of a new Indian Railway Management Service by merging all the railway departments.
Prempal Sharma
Unless there is a strict curb on political interference, recommendations based on caste, region in postings and transfers, only changing the name will not save the railways. Every meritorious youth of the country looks towards the examination of the Union Public Service Commission. The Commission certainly chooses the best, but these challenges have to be tackled if we want them to be fully utilized according to the national aspiration.
NITI Aayog has issued a notification for the formation of a new Indian Railway Management Service by merging all the railway departments. Although its decision was taken by the Union Cabinet two years ago, but due to the captive, the matter remained pending. In the year 2020-21, the Union Public Service Commission did not make any recruitment for the Ministry of Railways. The young generation across the country, who see railways as a better career, was disappointed. Now the Union Public Service Commission has also included 150 posts of Indian Railway Management Service i.e. Indian Railway Management Service in the Civil Services Examination 2022.
The need for an integrated rail cadre was felt for the last three decades. In 1994 the Prakash Tandon Committee had first outlined the need for a service merging all the departments in great detail, but they continued the recruitment process in the current structure of the UPSC and accommodated them within a cadre after twenty years of service experience. was asked to do. The committee of then UPSC Chairman JP Gupta and Secretary to the Government of India, Prakash Narayan had also considered to sort out its further intricacies. But this issue was not possible due to the complexity of the issue. The inability to answer a question was also expressed in Parliament.
After the new government came to power in 2014, the Vivek Devrai Committee advocated this and continued the existing process of recruitment and proposed the Logistics Service for the candidates selected from the Civil Services Examination and the Technical Service for the officers selected from the Engineering Examination. Meanwhile, in the year 1999, the committee headed by Rakesh Mohan, who was the Governor of the Reserve Bank, had also asked to take such steps, holding the internal departmental tussle in the railways and the narrow mentality imprisoned in their respective caves responsible for the current plight of the railways. But all this has been decided now.
But the question is, will having a separate management service name solve the problems of a huge, complex organization like the Railways? Certainly, twenty-first century organizations cannot be run by departmental arrogance and superiority, but will such a hasty move prove to be harmful?
Railways is basically a technical organization, in which the best engineers of the country are taken as the toppers of UPSC’s Engineering Services Examination. In five departments- Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Signal and Stores department. Similarly from Civil Services Examination in Traffic, Accounts, Personnel Cadre. Both the exams have different syllabus, age limit, interview structure and they have been improved every time in the last almost hundred years.
Now if only one test requires the best manager of both types then it is not that easy task. For laying railways in Kashmir, we need the best engineer who understands the nitty-gritty of engineering. Similarly, a mechanical engineer equally knowledgeable for building a bridge over a river or a train engine malfunctions. But it never means that students studying social science, history, political science, economics, psychology are less suitable for railways. But it will not be possible with one test.
Is it possible to recruit the best biologist, marketing manager, geologist or civil mechanical engineer through just one common test? Wouldn’t it be a mockery of the candidate and the recruitment process or the entire education system? Not only will it be undemocratic, there will be additional burden on UPSC as well. How good it would be, if a railway management service is made, but the recruitment continues only through the existing examinations. In the past, almost all committees have given a similar view. Then the whole idea became that those who want to stay in the technical department after fifteen years and have such ability, then they should be given a chance to move forward in that direction and others who are found suitable for journalism or general work, they should be given that direction. .
Perhaps it would be better if Indian Railways choose this route. Hope this government will do the same. A more serious question arises that if there is a separate examination, what will be its syllabus? What will be the medium language of those who take the exam, because the Kothari report, which came into force in the civil services from the year 1979, has a provision to give the exam in all Indian languages. However, Indian languages are still not exempted in engineering services etc. This question may also give rise to a new controversy.
What will be the minimum and maximum age limit in the new scheme of recruitment? Will it also be thirty two years for general candidates and thirty seven years for reserved posts like civil services examination? Several committees appointed by the Government of India over the past twenty years have recommended an immediate lowering of the age limit, so that younger youths who join these higher services can be better adapted to the structure of the department and their Capabilities will also be used better.
The Indian Administrative Service is kept at par with the Indian Civil Service, derived from the British rule. The maximum age was initially kept at nineteen, then twenty-one, twenty-two and twenty-four years and this continued continuously after independence. For the first time in 1979, the Kothari Committee, keeping in view the literacy facilities in remote villages, the maximum age limit was twenty-six to twenty-eight years. But after forty years the conditions of education and literacy have improved manifold. But it is surprising that instead of reducing the age, it has been increased time and again under political pressure. If really competent manager is needed, then this government has to seriously consider this question.
In our parliamentary system, it is possible to make recruitment rules for such services only by going through the treacherous paths of the Law Ministry to the Supreme Court. From the changing modern technology to new management options, preparing the exam syllabus will be equally challenging and can lead to losses in a hurry.
More important than this is the training process of these officers. No separate plan for their training has been revealed so far. If the training was given in the current way, it would be exactly the same if you grew organic vegetables, but added oil, spices and cooked it in such a way that it did not get any result.
Unless there is a strict curb on political interference, recommendations based on caste, region in postings and transfers, only changing the name will not save the railways. Every meritorious youth of the country looks towards the examination of the Union Public Service Commission. The Commission certainly chooses the best, but these challenges have to be tackled if we want them to be fully utilized according to the national aspiration. Not only Indian Railways, most of the departments of the country are going through such turmoil. Strong will, but some flexibility at the level of thought can lead to better solutions to problems.