What is the problem with the State administrative services?
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State failure to recruit an adequate number of civil servants
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Inadequate training
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Not fairly managed
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Unsatisfied performance
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Dysfunctional machinery
Shortage of officers/required staff in various departments:
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Manpower shortage is found in almost all the departments. For e.g. in fire department, staff employed is below the prescribed international strength.
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Same thing is with nurses and doctors. Over 20 states have a doctor to population ratio below the WHO norm of 1:1,000.
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On average, the state police force is 24% under their sanctioned strength.
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The condition is same with the best-governed states of India. Like Karnataka, which has conducted only 3 rounds of recruitment into the Karnataka Administrative Exam for over a decade. In which one round was stayed by High Court due to irregularities, another one was notified in 2015 conducted in 2017 and the recruitment remained incomplete.
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A similar shortage has been experienced in almost all the departments like teachers, tehsildars, engineers etc.
What is the reason for the crisis in State administrative services?
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In India, government jobs have become the spoils of power, to be distributed along the caste and regional lines, mostly to help politicians win elections.
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When this political reality meet the government recruitment rules, things got stuck.
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The deeper reason for state failure to nurture competent and professional civil services is the political economy.
How to improve State administrative services?
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The best solution will be adopting the same examination for union and State Public Services.
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States can also adopt the similar criterion of UPSC examination ranks for their state-specific tests.
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This will help to reduce the status disparities between the centre and states and can also raise the standards of state officers.