The Civil Services or the Indian Bureaucracy refer to the career bureaucrats who are the permanent executive branch of the Republic of India. The civil service system is the backbone of the administrative machinery of the country. In India’s parliamentary democracy, The ultimate responsibility for running the administration rests with the people’s elected representatives—cabinet ministers. But a handful of ministers cannot be expected to deal personally with the manifold problems of modern administration hence the ministers lay down the policy and it is for the civil servants, who serve at the pleasure of the President of India, to carry it out. However, Article 311 of the constitution protects them from politically motivated or vindictive action.
Civil servants are employees of the Government of India or of the states, but not all employees of the Government are civil servants. As of 2010, there were 6.4 million government employees in India but fewer than 50,000 civil servants to administer them (we reach out to approx 14ooo daily as per google analytics). Civil servants in a personal capacity are paid from the Civil List. Senior civil servants may be called to account by Parliament. The civil service system in India is rank-based and does not follow the tenets of the position-based civil services. The GoI has also approved the formation of two new cadres of civil servants: the Indian Skill Development Service in 2015 and the Indian Enterprise Development Service in 2016.
This Civil Services Day , we convey our greetings to all Civil Servants and their families, appreciate their efforts in ensuring that India successfully defeats COVID-19.