UPSC lateral entry notification: The Narendra Modi government’s push to recruit 45 senior-level officers through the lateral entry mode has triggered a political storm, with opposition leaders accusing the government of systematically undermining the reservation system that safeguards opportunities for marginalised communities in India.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the move is a deliberate attempt by the BJP to sideline Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) from crucial government positions.
In a post in Hindi on X, Kharge said, “BJP, which has ripped apart the Constitution, has made a double attack on reservation!”
“Under a well-planned conspiracy, the BJP is deliberately making such recruitments in jobs so that SC, ST, OBC classes can be kept away from reservation,” the Congress president alleged.
Read: 57 lateral entrants at joint secretary, director, deputy secretary levels: Govt
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, a key ally of Congress in Bihar, condemned the move as a “dirty joke” on the reservation system and the Constitution drafted by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Yadav underscored that if these 45 posts were filled through the traditional civil services examination, nearly half of them would have been reserved for SC, ST, and OBC candidates.
By opting for lateral entry, the government, according to Yadav, is effectively denying these communities their rightful share in governance.
“In the last election, the prime minister, his stooge parties in Bihar and their leaders used to claim with great pomp that no one can take away their rights by ending reservation, but in front of their eyes, with their support and cooperation, the rights of the deprived, neglected and poor sections are being robbed,” Tejashwi Yadav posted in Hindi on X.
“Wake up “Dalit-OBC-Tribal and poor general class” wake up! In the name of Hindu they are usurping your rights and dividing your rights,” he added.
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UPSC advertises 45 posts
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Saturday advertised 45 posts — 10 of joint secretaries and 35 of directors/deputy secretaries — to be filled through the lateral entry mode on contract basis.
Usually, such posts are manned by the officers of all-India services — the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) — and other Group A services, among others.
The lateral entry initiativeintroduced by the Modi government in 2018, aims to bring specialised talent from the private sector and other non-governmental organisations into the government. The government argues that the rationale behind this move is to infuse fresh perspectives and expertise into the administration, thereby enhancing the efficiency of governance.
So far, 63 appointments have been made through lateral entry out of which 35 appointments were from the private sector. At present, 57 officers are in positions in ministries/departments, according to the latest data.
However, this method of recruitment has been controversial from the outset, with critics arguing that it bypasses the reservation system entrenched in the Indian Constitution. The opposition sees this as a direct affront to the principles of social justice, which mandate that a certain percentage of government jobs be reserved for historically marginalised communities to correct historical injustices.
