About Narayana Murthy
Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy recently advised companies to hire IAS and IPS officers from business schools instead of going through the UPSC examination, and this sparked a discussion. Another ex-IAS officer and former director of LBSNAA, Sanjeev Chopra, also refuted such charges against the UPSC system and said that there is no favoritism on the basis of caste or creed in the UPSC process and only merit is considered for selection.
UPSC Framework and Its Inclusivity: Reply by Chopra
Addressing the CNBC-TV18 Global Leadership Summit on November 14, Narayana Murthy urged changing the focus of India’s civil service from an “administrative model” to a “management model” to address present-day governance challenges.
He complained that through UPSC, India put in place generalists and called for management-dominated modes of decision-making that placed a premium on innovation, budget constraints, and speed.
In response, Chopra said that the functioning of UPSC is entirely fair and that candidates are free to write the examination in any one of the 22 scheduled languages.
’It would exclude a large part of Indian society, particularly those who are rural or underprivileged, if the UPSC framework is abandoned,’ Chopra said, noting the potential reduction of chances for non-urban learners.
Public Service Goals Bear Differences with Corporate Ones
Chopra also asked if there was a possibility of solving the governance issues originated from democratic policy-making by management business orientation. Stating that many public services provide important social functions, he stated that they do not give top priority to the problem of efficiency in the use of financial resources.
He provided such examples as, for instance, the presence of such institutions as AIIMS and the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), defining their social significance in contrast to private counterparts.
”Public governance is the integration of economic development with people-oriented practices such as work-to-family ratio and social security,” said Chopra in disagreement with Narayana Murthy’s recommendation for stratifying efficiency models based on the corporate world.
Blessing the Role and Function of Civil Service Institutions
In the end, Chopra recognized institutions such as UPSC, LBSNAA, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy for displaying the capabilities to support democratically elected leaders. ‘
Such institutions are vital in the process of implementing laws formulated in Parliament and state assemblies, ‘ he stated, further emphasizing the importance of such institutions in India’s present system of government.
