Wednesday, August 22, 2018

LATERAL ENTRY: 1 out of 607 applicants will make it into the post of union joint secretary


AS MANY as 6,077 individuals want to joint as union joint secretaries, according to reports. This is in response to 10 JS vacancies for which the Central government in the month of June had invited applications for lateral entry of “talented and motivated Indian nationals”. The overwhelming response of the applicants means, only one out of 607 applicants will finally make into the corridors of power with a position usually reserved for…
IAS officers as well as the officers belonging to other All India Services, Group “A” services et al. The conventional route to become a JS is as follows. The officers first need to get empanelled as JS and then join a union ministry or department as JS on a central deputation. There are many an instance where an officer gets empanelled as JS, but does not get posted because of paucity of posts.
The details of the applicants through the lateral entry route and their backgrounds are, however, not known as yet. But according to the advertisement, the government wanted officers woking with the state government, public sector enterprises (PSEs) and even private companies, to apply. The minimum age to qualify is 40 years, as on July 1, 2018. 
The job for those coming through the lateral entry route won’t be permanent. It will instead be a contractual employment — with a salary of Rs 1.44 to 2.18 lakh per month — for three years, extendable by two more years. No written examination is needed for their selection.
The newly selected 10 joint secretaries from the open process, will be absorbed in the ministries or departments such as revenue, financial services, economic affairs, agriculture, road transport and highways, shipping, environment, forests and climate change, new and renewable energy, civil aviation and commerce, according to the June notification. 
There are some apprehensions though that if the lateral entry into powerful positions like the joint secretary becomes a trend, the number of vacancies will be squeezed, thereby affecting the career prospects of the middle-age career bureaucrats. Presently, there are about 5,000 IAS officers serving in positions both at the Centre and the states. 

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