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Civil services play an important role in India's democracy as the permanent bureaucratic structure that implements policies and provides stability across changes in political leadership. They are classified as All India Services that operate across states, central services that operate for the central government, and state services that are specific to each state. The key functions of civil services include implementing laws and policies, policy formulation, acting as an apolitical stabilizing force, and providing welfare and development programs.

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52 views4 pages

Wa0042.

Civil services play an important role in India's democracy as the permanent bureaucratic structure that implements policies and provides stability across changes in political leadership. They are classified as All India Services that operate across states, central services that operate for the central government, and state services that are specific to each state. The key functions of civil services include implementing laws and policies, policy formulation, acting as an apolitical stabilizing force, and providing welfare and development programs.

Uploaded by

palneelakshi06
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CIVIL SERVICES

1. DISCUSS THE ROLE OF CIVIL SERVICES IN INDIA.

2. FUNCTIONS OF CIVIL SERVICES IN INDIA.

3. DEFINE THE TERM ‘CIVIL SERVICE’. DISCUSS THE


FUNCTIONS, POWERS AND DUTIES OF UNION PUBLIC
SERVICE COMMISSION.

Answer:
Definition:
Civil Service, the body of government officials who are employed in civil
occupations that are neither political nor judicial. In most countries the
term refers to employees selected and promoted on the basis of a merit
and seniority system, which may include examinations. The civil service is
a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil
servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected,
whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political
leadership. A civil servant, also known as a public servant, is a person
employed in the public sector by a government department or agency for
public sector undertakings. Civil servants work for central and state
governments, and answer to the government, not a political party.
Role of Civil Services in Democracy:
In a democracy, the civil services play an extremely important role in the
administration, policy formulation and implementation, and in taking the
country forward towards progress and development.
Democracy is an egalitarian principle in which the governed elect the people
who govern over them. There are three pillars of modern democracy:

1. Legislature
2. Executive
3. Judiciary

The civil services form a part of the executive. While the ministers, who are
part of the executive, are temporary and are replaced by the people by

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their will (through elections), the civil servants are the permanent part of
the executive.

• The civil servants are accountable to the political executive, the


ministers. The civil services are thus, a subdivision under the
government.
• The officers in the civil services form the permanent staff of the
various governmental departments.
• They are basically expert administrators.
• They are sometimes referred to as the bureaucracy or also the public
service.

Importance of Civil Service:

• The civil service is present all over India and it thus has a strong
binding character.
• It plays a vital role in effective policy-making and regulation.
• It offers non-partisan advice to the political leadership of the country,
even in the midst of political instability.
• The service gives effective coordination between the various
institutions of governance, and also between different departments,
bodies, etc.
• It offers service delivery and leadership at different levels of
administration.

Functions of Civil Service:

• Basis of Government: There can be no government without


administrative machinery.
• Implementing Laws & Policies: Civil services are responsible for
implementing laws and executing policies framed by the government.
• Policy Formulation: The civil service is chiefly responsible for policy
formulation as well. The civil service officers advise ministers in this
regard and also provides them with facts and ideas.
• Stabilising Force: Amidst political instability, the civil service offers
stability and permanence. While governments and ministers can
come and go, the civil services is a permanent fixture giving the
administrative set up a sense of stability and continuity.
• Instruments of Social Change & Economic
Development: Successful policy implementation will lead to positive
changes in the lives of ordinary people. It is only when the promised
goods and services reach the intended beneficiaries, a government
can call any scheme successful. The task of actualising schemes and
policies fall with the officers of the civil services.

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• Welfare Services: The services offer a variety of welfare schemes
such as providing social security, the welfare of weaker and
vulnerable sections of society, old-age pensions, poverty alleviation,
etc.
• Developmental Functions: The services perform a variety of
developmental functions like promoting modern techniques in
agriculture, promoting the industry, trade, banking functions,
bridging the digital divide, etc.
• Administrative Adjudication: The civil services also perform quasi-
judicial services by settling disputes between the State and the
citizens, in the form of tribunals, etc.

Article 312 was promulgated in the Constitution of India on 26 April 1975.


The Chapter was titled the Services under the Union and the States by the
Ministry of Law and Justice. The department that manages the activities is
the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms. The Article
empowers the Parliament to create one or more All India services that are
common to the Union and the States. The recruitment for all these services
was made by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC). Whereas the
State Public Service Commission (SPSC) is responsible for the state-level
administrative services recruitments.

Classification of Civil Service:

All India Services: all in all, there are three types of All India Services
namely-

1. IAS, Indian Administrative Service


2. IPS, Indian Police Service and
3. IFS, Indian Forest Service
The purpose, power and responsibilities of the All India Services are given
under the All India Services Act, 1951. The Act gives the power to Central
Government to make rules for regulating the process of recruitment and
mandatory conditions of services that a candidate must follow.

Cadres that control the All India Services are as follows-

1. Indian Administrative Service (IAS)-Ministry of Personnel, Public


Grievances and Pensions.
2. Indian Police Service (IPS)-Ministry of Home Affairs.
3. Indian Forest Service (IFS)-Ministry of Environment, Forests and
Climate Change.

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Central Services:
Group A:

Central Services comprise various different services/ posts. These include:


1. The Indian Foreign Service (IFS)
2. The Indian Railway Service
3. Indian Postal Service
4. Accounts and Auditing Services (including The Indian Audit and
Accounts Service, The Indian Civil Accounts Service, The Indian
5. Defence Accounts Service, The Indian Revenue Service.)
6. Indian Customs and Central Excise
7. The Indian Ordnance Factories Service
8. The Indian Defence Estates Service
9. The Indian Information Service
10. The Central Trade Services

Group B:
Botanical Survey of India.
Central Electrical Engineering Service.
Central Engineering Service.
Central Excise Service.
Central Health Service.
Central Power Engineering Service.
Central Secretariat Official Language Service.

State Service:

The personnel of state services is solely under the jurisdiction of the state
government. They work in various departments of the state government,
holding various positions (general, functional, and technical). They do,
however, hold lower positions (in the state's administrative hierarchy) than
members of the all-India services (IAS, IPS and IFS). The respective state
governments recruit them through their public service commissions or
other agencies.

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