Editorial
New round of promotions
Based on what criteria?
THE government has embarked on yet another promotion spree in the civil service. Going by media reports, some 70 deputy secretaries have been elevated to the rank of joint secretary. What has become apparent is that though these individuals have gotten a promotion, they will continue to perform the duties of their erstwhile rank. Then the question that begs an answer is why on earth it was necessary to initiate this mass scale promotion in the first place.
Any such changes in the civil service, especially at the senior level and with only a few months of tenure left in the government naturally raise eyebrows. Are we then to assume that the latest round of promotions was made on the basis of political consideration? This certainly is not the first time such ad-hoc promotions have taken place in the bureaucracy. The latest round of promotion comes in less than two months when a batch of 345 deputy secretaries got upgraded. What is interesting to note is we are now facing a situation where there are 943 joint secretaries against 250 posts.
Needless to say, this undermines merit and competence, not to mention breaking the morale of the administration. It is hardly a secret that in an atmosphere where promotion is largely dictated by political considerations, the government officials suffer from a lack of motivation, which has a debilitating effect on the administration.
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