IAS is a very prestigious cadre and those inducted into administration from IAS cadre recruitment enjoy many powers and privileges. IAS officers are considered the backbone of Indian administration. Usually, officers heading the administration of a department are drawn from IAS cadre. They are known for their efficiency, impartiality and technical expertise.It is said that nothing not even a blade of grass can move in the Indian administration without the consent or approval of bureaucracy of which the IAS cadre form the echelons.
Recently, the Union Government have received a report from the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, and Law and Justice noting that almost all the key and strategic positions under the Union as well as the states are being manned by the IAS and persistent shortage of IAS officers ultimately affects governance in the country. Since IAS officers are directly concerned with governance, it is but natural that in a system of composite administration, shortage of officers hinders the smooth administrative process and movement of cases and files. As on January 1, 2016, the total strength of IAS officers was reported as 1,470. This is against the sanctioned strength of 6,396 in the Indian Administrative Service. This computes to almost one-fifth of the total strength sanctioned. Obviously, we should not expect spectacular achievements from the bureaucracy or the Government. Shortage of IAS officers itself is an indicator of serious deficiency in good governance.
The reason given by the authorities for such a big shortfall in the number of IAS officers is the inadequacy of training capacity and facilities for IAS cadre. However, our study in the matter has shown that Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration has the capacity of admitting 180 students and this capacity has never been filled. In other words it means that this Academy can annually take 180 candidates for training in various branches of civil administration. Therefore, lack of training capacity cannot be accepted as the real reason for shortage of IAS officers in our administrative structure. Interestingly, the report reveals that shortage of IAS cadre officers has not been felt only now but actually even in 1951 the problem emerged and no meaningful steps were taken to reduce the big gap between the available numbers of IAS officers and the numbers required. This gap has widened with the passage of time and if the authorities are not going to devise methods of how this can be overcome, the course may never get corrected.
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