Discuss the training process of civil servants in India.

 Prior to the attainment of independence, a coordinated and well-concerted plan of training of public services both at the Centre and in the provinces did not exist. They expected the employees to learn by experience. However, the I.C.S. recruits used to be attached with the Oxford or Cambridge Universities for a year in order to attend a series of lectures on Indian history, Indian criminal law and procedure and some Indian language.

In the words of Bapat, “There was very little in the training they received during probation which had any bearing on the job they would have to do as members of the Indian Civil Service.” With the dawn of independence, the Government of India decided to pay some attention to the problem of organisation and training of the civil services.

An Officers’ Shortage Committee was appointed in November, 1947 to go into the matter. The Committee recommended for the establishment of a Directorate of Methods, Organisation and Training at the Centre with a view to supervise the training programme of the various departments. It also recommended the establishment of a training school for I.A.S. In 1951, A.D. Gorwala also made a similar recommendation in his report on Public Administration.

He suggested the creation of such a Directorate with two branches—one for the Organisation and Methods and the other for Training. Dr. Paul Appleby—a visiting American professor-also recommended the same in his report on Public Administration submitted to the Government of India in 1953. Even Planning Commission remarked, “Next to recruitment, the training of personnel has considerable bearing on administrative efficiency…” The Commission also recommended the appointment of Director of Training for training programmes.

The Methods and Organisation Division was created and a Director of Training was also appointed. However, I.A.S. Training School had been established earlier in 1947. This school was eventually converted into the National Academy of Administration (at Mussoorie) which imparts foundational training to all superior civil services and also professional training to I.A.S. personnel. As already said since 1972 it is known as Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration set up at Mussoorie.

Besides some of the State Governments also have started training schools for training their fresh recruits. The Home Ministry in 1956 suggested to all the State Governments to start Refresher Courses for officers of the All India Services and Central Services Class I and asked them to participate in the proposed scheme in order to break down service exclusiveness and to increase the utility of study and discussion of the subjects included in the syllabus for the Refresher Course.

A Refresher Course at the I.A.S. Staff College, Shimla, was started in 1957 for the I.A.S. officers with a standing of six to ten years. A combined course of I.A.S. Training School, Delhi, commenced from July 1959. Thereafter, the Ministry of Home Affairs amalgamated the I.A.S. Training School at Delhi and L.A.S. Staff College, Shimla, and started a National Academy of Administration at Missouri on September 1, 1959. There are about 20 national institutes set up by the Government of India to provide initial and in-service training to train varied services.

The actual programme of training new recruits to All-India and Central Services is at present being carried out by the Central Secretariat Training School for recruits to the Central Secretariat services and the National Academy of Administration for the L.A.S. probationers. New entrants to other All-India and Central Services are imparted a five-month foundational course at the Academy and then are sent to the Training Institutions for their respective services. 

Such a course develops among recruits to different services a feeling of belongingness to common public service and a broad common outlook. After the completion of four months’ Foundational Course, the probationers of the services other than the I.A.S. are given institutional training in their respective training centers. Since 1969, the Indian Government has started a new type of training, viz., and ‘sandwich’ course for the I.A.S.

The fresh recruits to the I.A.S. have to undergo two spells of training at the Academy with a gap of one year which is utilized for practical training in the States. At the end of this training, he is to come to the Academy for a second spell of training. At this stage, the probationers discuss the administrative problems they were confronted with or they observed during the practical training in the State. Training at this stage is more problem-oriented. The Academy also organises short-courses, seminars, conferences, etc., for senior officers of fifteen years’ standing.

Such courses are connected with the higher problems of government and deal with special subjects like social security, fiscal policy planning and inter-departmental coordination. Both the technical and administrative officers are invited to these courses.

Thus, the Academy takes up three types of courses, viz:

(a) A one-year course for the I.A.S. officers to cover the syllabus prescribed under the All-India Services Probationers’ Final Examination Rules:

(b) A six-week refresher course 

(c) a combined course of five months’ duration for the All-India Services and the Central Services Class I for imparting training in foundational subjects.

Such courses aim at widening the outlook of the probationers and other trainees. They are general in nature and make a provision for the imparting of general education in liberal arts to the personnel recruited for posts of specialized nature. This fills a big void which previously existed and is a step in the right direction.

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