The other side of the civil services dream
JYOTHI VIJAYAKUMAR PAARI
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Energy spent with no guaranteed result
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It is well known that even in an era of attractive job opportunities in the private sector, a career in the Indian civil services is a dream for lakhs of youths in India. The prestige associated with this career, mainly the IAS and IPS, is evident from the number of students appearing for the exam, the mushrooming of coaching institutes, the sky-rocketing fees and the coverage that the winners get, especially in the local media.
Being an IAS or IPS officer gives great opportunities to be part of the administrative system of the country in such a way that can help the common man in an effective manner. There are also umpteen opportunities for personal development and knowledge expansion in the career despite the systemic constraints.
Painstaking process
However, while attributing prestige to the job, we have not been able to seriously examine the tedious process that gives one entry as an IAS/IPS officer, i.e., clearing the civil services exam, and the fate of thousands of young men and women, who fail to make it, even after repeated attempts.
A majority of the youth appearing for the civil services exam devotes two to ten years for the preparation. Most of them, in their twenties, give up other lucrative career offers in the pursuit of this big dream. They go through the rigorous, but unique process of prelims, mains, and interview, stretching over an year. Even though some see the process as an ordeal and others enjoy it, there is no difference of opinion on the feeling of insecurity among the candidates. But, every year, the final results in May drastically alter this feeling, in opposite extremes.
The winners feel secure for the rest of their career with a great sense of achievement, job satisfaction, and the social prestige that no other government job can provide. Then, there is the excitement of getting trained under the competent bureaucrats of the country, besides the charm of the initial sub-collector or the DSP post, government accommodation, plum marriage proposals, a hero/heroine-like welcome, and coveted postings in future.
Amid the euphoria, those on the other side of the spectrum, i.e., the losers, virtually become nothings. They might have lost despite their hard work, maybe due to reasons which they could not figure out. Also, the fact that they have prepared for civil services for years or have cleared prelims and mains, but narrowly missed at the final stage is of no use in getting another job, even in other government services. With no alternative career in hand, they come out of the preparation phase at 30 or 35, totally confused about the future. Yet many get back to life due to the mental stamina gained in the process of the exam.
Some succeed; some continue to struggle, a struggle filled with the fear and pain of losing again; some even gradually realise that they are better off outside the civil services.
Restucturing needed
These are the ones who are sharp enough to take the civil services as just one of the missed career opportunities and put to use the vast interdisciplinary knowledge and rare experience gained during the preparation to make the most of an unfinished dream. The recruitment process needs to respond to people like them in the best possible manner. The system needs to be restructured in such a way that the candidates do not have to spend years to get into it and come out of it. There should also be some kind of preference for the candidates who have cleared the prelims or mains in government and appropriate private sector recruitments.
When the fact is that everybody cannot clear the civil services or any competitive exam, the system has the responsibility to make things easier for those who do not make it to the final even though they succeed at some stages. It is an urgency to evolve a selection process that understands the risk in spending the energy of a large number of youth in the country for years, with no guaranteed result.
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