Become an Ias Officer

Why do professionals prefer IAS

A new subject has attracted legislators, thinkers, journalists and one could say the economists as well. Why should not we ban the entry of professionally qualified personnel into the IAS or IPS Services ?

Some have argued that government spends, directly or indirectly, a lot of money on the education of an Engineer or a Doctor and in case these professionals join general services like IAS or IPS the hard spent government money goes into the gutter. Good some thinking of the type has emerged to care for the state expenditure.

It was even in the year 1995 as well that some candidates from the general education side had suggested that engineering graduates should not be allowed to appear in entrance examination for IAS /IPS/IAAS/IRS and such like services. The reaction had been in response to the high rate of success in UPSC prime entrance examination from amongst the candidates with engineering degree, even clear walking away with almost 75 % of top ranks by engineering graduates ( doctors etc were not named at that time because they did not figure at the rate as the engineers figured to oust the generalist). The position is not much different in 2008.And now expenditures made by the society/ government have been talked about.

But the question that needs to be answered is …..WHY DO THE TECHNOCRATS ATTEMPT JOINING SUCH SERVICES WHERE EVEN ORDINARY GRADUATE COULD WELL FIT ?

Better before starting such discussions those so concerned with the subject would have asked the Engineers, Doctors, Post Graduate in Sciences, and the like and more so the rank holders amongst these categories of technocrats from even premier institutions like Indian Institute of Technology, BITS Pilani, IIMs that why do they try all hards to enter the general services like IAS ( where minimum qualification is any graduate degree) and let go waste the technical expertise/ professionalism they otherwise acquired through so much of hard work and investment , even as acquired out of aims and ambitions ? have observed that the engineering graduates prefer to enter IAS than to go for IES ( Indian Engineering Service ) since they feel that the top seat of civil governance in the Union Secretariat will generally be occupied by an IAS officer and not by the IES( Indian Engineering Service) officer. Such views were expressed by one of the engineering graduate who had ranked in top 5 of IAS list and had laid preference for IAS and not Indian Engineering Service.

I had been investigating in this direction for more than 12 years now. And have been able to work out some reasons for such type of thinking being developed. A few years earlier in India we used to talk of brain drain to out side India and it was reasoned that since the engineers/ scientists/ doctors are not well paid in terms of cash and career in India that is why they attempt leaving for US/UK/ other countries. And now the question is of brain drain from professional bank to the general service bank. The reason in this case lies both in Career Prospects, involvement in governance of the affairs of the society and perks in terms of monetary as well as social authority. The disparity between the IAS and other Government services is so huge that any one would prefer IAS . This aspect has been neglected by the Legislature as well as the executive all these years