Centre's Fresh Lateral Entry Push Sparks Political Storm; Congress, RJD Slam Modi For 'Usurping Rights'

While Congress alleged BJP was deliberately making such recruitments to keep minorities away from reservation, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav urged people to "wake up" as their rights were being "usurped".

UPSC Lateral Entry Push: After reshuffling the top bureaucracy earlier this week, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government also announced a lateral entry drive again to recruit 45 domain experts as joint secertaries and deputy secretaries to introduce fresh talent. However, this move triggered a political storm amongst the opposition that accused the Centre of "attacking reservation" and "ripping the Constitution" apart to "usurp" the rights of minorities.

As the Modi government issued the lateral entry notification, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge condemned the move, alleging that it was an attempt by the BJP to undermine the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and prevent them from holding crucial government positions.  

'Double Attack On Reservation': Congress

In a post in Hindi on X, Kharge stated: "BJP, which has ripped apart the Constitution, has made a double attack on reservation!"

"Under a well-planned conspiracy, the BJP is deliberately making such recruitments in jobs so that SC, ST, OBC classes can be kept away from reservation," he alleged.

Though a relatively new approach, this is not the first time the government will be recruiting fresh talent via lateral entry. The concept was introduced five years ago to hire experts outside traditional civil services. So far, 63 appointments have been made through lateral entry out of which 35 appointments were from the private sector.

Presently, 57 officers are posted in various ministries and departments, as per the latest data. 

This fresh push of lateral entry is however the biggest batch so far with 45 openings.

'Usurping And Dividing Rights': RJD

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, Congress's key ally in Bihar, slammed the Centre for its move, calling it a "dirty joke" on the country's reservation system and the Constitution.

He claimed that if the 45 posts would have been filled through the civil services examination, almost 50 percent of them would have been reserved for the reserved categories.

Yadav said that the government was denying these communities their rightful share in governance by opting for the lateral entry move.

"In the last election, the prime minister, his stooge parties in Bihar and their leaders used to claim with great pomp that no one can take away their rights by ending reservation, but in front of their eyes, with their support and cooperation, the rights of the deprived, neglected and poor sections are being robbed," Tejashwi Yadav posted in Hindi on X.

He further urged the "Dalit-OBC-Tribal and poor general class" to "wake up".

"Wake up! In the name of Hindu they are usurping your rights and dividing your rights," he added.

What Is The Modi Govt's Lateral Entry Drive?

Seeking to infuse fresh external talent and improve ease of governance, the Modi government this time, announced the recruitment of 45 specialists for the posts of joint secretaries, directors, and deputy secretaries in various central ministries.

These posts are usually filled in by the officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Forest Service (IFoS), and other Group A services.

UPSC on Saturday advertised 45 posts to be filled through the lateral entry mode on contract basis. These include 10 of joint secretaries and 35 of directors or deputy secretaries.

The 10 posts of joint secretaries are in Home and Finance and Steel ministries among others. 35 posts of director/deputy secretary-level will also be filled in the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, External Affairs, Information & Broadcasting, and Civil Aviation among others.

Online applications have been invited from Indian nationals who wish to contribute to nation building and want to become a part of the government.

"The vacancies in different ministries/departments with headquarters at New Delhi, are to be filled on contract basis (on deputation for officers of states/UT cadres, public sector undertakings (PSUs), autonomous bodies, statutory organisation, universities, recognized research institutes) for a period of three years (extendable to five years depending upon performance) through website https://www.upsconline.nic.in by  September 17," UPSC's advertisement said.

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