Context: India faces a debilitating workforce crunch in key government departments. In a report tabled in Parliament said that India has about 22% fewer IAS officers than the sanctioned strength.
Key highlight

• The gap between the sanctioned strength and the in-position strength of IAS officers is as large as 104 in UP cadre, 94 in Bihar cadre, and 87 in AGMUT cadre.
• The shortage has been a constant feature ever since 1951.
• In 1951, 22.32 % of seats were vacant.
• It was the least in 2001 (0.79 percent), and the most in 2012 (28.87 percent).

How is the sanctioned strength decided?

• There is a provision for quinquennial cadre reviews for every cadre of the All-India Services under the relevant Cadre Rules.
• The Cadre Review Committee (CRC) is headed by the Cabinet Secretary with the Secretary of the Department of Personnel and Training, Secretary Expenditure, Secretary Administrative Ministry (for services other than the IAS), and the senior-most member of the service/cadre in question as to its members.

B S Baswan Committee

• It was set up to take a comprehensive look at the requirement of IAS officers over a longer time frame.

According to its report, any number above 180 would

• Compromise quality.
• Exceed the LBNSAA’s (Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration’s) capacity.
• Lead to a distortion in the career pyramid of IAS officers, particularly for senior posts in the Government of India.
• It said vacant posts in the Centre and states can be filled by deputation.

Recruitment process

• Direct recruits are selected through the Civil Service Examination (CSE) every year.
• Since 2012, 180 IAS officers have been recruited every year through the CSE.
• Some officers are promoted from the State Civil Services (SCS), and a limited number are promoted from among non-SCS officers.

Role of IAS officers

• Their work relates to the collection of revenue, maintenance of law and order, and supervision of policies of the central and state governments.
• They function as executive magistrates in revenue matters, and as development commissioners.
• They supervise the spending of public funds and, at a senior level, contribute to policy formulation and decision-making in consultation with Ministers.
• They serve the central government under deputation.

Key Impact

• The shortfall of government personnel severely impacts delivery of services to the population in critical fields such as healthcare, education, law-enforcement and judiciary. 
• The shortage of IAS officers explains the bitter tug of war between the Centre and the states over deputation of civil servants. 
• The high crime rates in high-population states, where the impact of the police staff crunch is felt most, suggest that criminals have a field day there because, due to the scarcity of cops, they have no fear of the law. 

Road Ahead

• In fact, merely filling sanctioned posts would not be enough to govern a country of India’s size and complexities — it’s clear that new posts must be created to effectively deliver services to the people. 
• It’s not that talent is unavailable in the country, for roughly 50% of the country’s population is below 25 years of age. India needs a long-term, deeply thought-out strategy for filling existing posts and creating new ones in order to improve the quality of services given to the people.