Chirag Paswan 1st BJP ally to counter Centre’s lateral entry move
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 19
Ruling BJP’s ally troubles resurfaced on Monday with Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief and Union Minister Chirag Paswan becoming the first NDA ally to question the Centre’s lateral entry move.
“Our party is absolutely not in support of this (scheme). This is completely wrong...The provision of reservations (for SCs, STs and OBCs) has to be there in all government appointments. There can be no ifs and buts about that,” Paswan said when asked about UPSC advertising 45 joint secretary, director and deputy secretary level posts (the highest tranche since 2018 when the scheme was first introduced) for lateral entry from private to public sector.
Paswan said he would raise the issue with the government and argued that since private sector had no reservations, government hiring without quotas was a matter of concern.
This is the second issue where the BJP has faced resistance from NDA partners who recently prevailed on the government to refer a bill to regulate Wakf properties to a joint parliament panel for consultations.
The push to lateral entry - a contractual three-year job with extension to five years subject to performance - could attract opposition from other BJP allies too with quotas emerging as a sentimental issue for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs during the recently held national elections.
BJP’s own deliberations have flagged opposition’s successful “NDA wants 400 plus seats to dilute the reservations” narrative as one reason why it could not cross simple majority in the Lok Sabha.
Centre’s lateral entry move could further fan that narrative with opposition Congress, Samajwadi Party and even Bahujan Samaj Party alleging a design to fill key government positions with RSS people. The Congress today intensified its attack on the issue with party president Mallikarjun Kharge saying the scheme is an affront to the Constitution.
“Instead of filling up jobs in government departments, the BJP has eliminated 5.1 lakh posts in the past 10 years by selling off GOI stakes in PSUs alone. There has been an increase of 91 per cent in casual and contract recruitment. SC, ST, OBC posts have been reduced by 1.3 lakh by 2022-23,” he said.
Lateral entry concept first surfaced under the Congress-led UPA-I government when the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) chaired by veteran Congress man Veerappa Moily in 2005 backed it stressing reforms within civil services and suggesting lateral entry in higher government positions that require special skills. ARC advocated merit-based selections for lateral entrants.
Asked why the Congress was opposing the reform a committee formed by its own government had backed, Kharge said: “We brought in select lateral experts for sector-specific positions as per their fitment, but the Modi government’s scheme is not to appoint experts but to snatch rights of Dalits, tribals and backwards.”
The government, however, rejected these accusations saying lateral entry scheme has operationalised the ARC’s vision.
Plan that has triggered row
- The Second Administrative Reforms Commission in 2005 for the first time recommended lateral entry for government posts that need special skills.
- In 2018, the BJP government introduced lateral entry scheme to hire private experts on 3 to 5-year contracts in specialised sectors.
- In India, lateral entrants have been hired twice so far — 8 joint secretaries in 2019; 30 officers (3 joint secretaries, 27 directors) in 2022. UPSC has now advertised 45 posts (10 at joint secretary level).
- SC, ST, OBC quotas — applicable to all government posts — do not apply to lateral entry.
