Key Points
Former civil servants, who have held the highest positions in the government service, are not amused with Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member and economist, Sanjeev Sanyal.O)..
In a series of posts on social media platform X, Sanyal said that five to eight years of preparation for the civil services exam by lakhs of students is a waste of youthful energy..
According to Devasahayam, editor of a book Electoral Democracy: An Inquiry into the Fairness and Integrity of Elections in India, Sanyal needs to read the constitutional assembly debates and the views of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, who outlined that role of the civil service in a new independent country. ..
In a subsequent interview to a news outlet, Sanyal also said that he found the whole idea of people who have qualified for `other civil services like the IPS and IRS repeatedly taking the IAS as ``a waste of time"..
Wajahat Habibullah, former chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities and a civil servant who was divisional commissioner of eight districts in Jammu and Kashmir, said that even though the civil services are out of tune, being basically a colonial service, the fact is that the civil services exam and the UPSC act as the role model for many youngsters..
