IFS- IN DESPERATE NEED OF REFORM

IFS- IN DESPERATE NEED OF REFORM

The 12^th report presented by the panel of “Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs” in context to the ‘Standards on Recruitment, Structure and Capacity Building of IFS Cadre’, is indeed an appreciable effort of our policy makers for there is a vital requirement to fortify the already brawny organization of plenipotentiaries of our country. The said committee has recognized that to put forth the best foot on the international front, the need of the hour is follow “specialized domain knowledge rather than to still fuse with exclusive specialization”.

The diplomats while representing the country on intercontinental podium, undeniably, entail premier echelon of potential which indeed has been well exhibited by our delegates’ right from the time of sovereign India originating on the world map. However, now we call for taking up level two on meeting up with elite international standards by considering and effectively accomplishing the following praiseworthy submissions of the committee after their intense research.

Proposals

1. Increase in the number of foreign diplomats:

This proposal is one of the remarkable observations of the report which is now much required due to the “energetic programme of foreign outreach”, where in efforts are made that India must get its rightful place in the comity of nations and international institutions. Consequently, in the process of rebooting and reorienting the foreign policy “diplomatic corps commensurate with foreign policy engagements and goals is sine qua non for the realization of our national interest”.

2. Quality- quantity dilemma:

Another outstanding effort has been made to focus both on quality and quantity of the diplomats and it has been suggested to insert additional parameters like, “international aptitude, curiosity about the world, knowledge or demonstrated interest in foreign affairs, communication skills in English and foreign languages” in their selection process.  It also recommends additional weight-age to the personality test and going much beyond to conduct a separate test for Indian Foreign Services in order to choice the unsurpassed contenders on international arena.

3. The concept of “lateral entry”:

It is also one of the fine annotations through which officers from specialized services shall be sent on deputation for 3 to 5 years. This will assist in “augmenting capacity in the relevant fields without disturbing the existing equilibrium between the domain experts and the generalists”. On one hand the experts of their domain will get a prospect to make contribution in the international policy and the country on the other hand will be the beneficiary while receiving their prudent experiences.

Definitely, there will be many upheavals in achieving what has been desired by the committee but if harmonization and perseverance prevails between distributed factions of our government institution, the day will not be far when our dream of being “leading nation on global map” will be witnessed as veracity.

About the writer:

Dr. Kusum Pal is an Assistant professor at the University Institute of Legal Studies in Panjab University. She is a proficient teacher having expertise in Public International Law and managing director of Resilience Judicial Academy. She is also an alumni of Himachal Pradesh University.