Law and You > Administrative Law > Historical background of Civil Service in India
The Indian civil service system is one of the oldest administrative systems in the world.
Mauryan Period:
Indian civil service had its origin in the Mauryan empire (313 BC) in ancient India. Kautilya’s Arthashastra written by Kautilya (Vishnugupta) lays down the principles of selection and promotion of the civil servants, the conditions of loyalty for appointment to the civil service, the methods of their performance evaluation and the code of conduct to be followed by them. In Kautilya’s view, loyalty and sincerity were to be the two main qualifications in a person to be appointed as a civil servant. Kautilya also suggested some checks and balances on the appointment of civil servants. He prescribed a clearance by the vigilance department of the state for the appointment of civil servants. He recommended a continuous watch on the functioning of the civil service and a briefing to the king on the performance of the civil servants on a regular basis. Kautilya laid down a code of conduct for the civil servants who prescribed swift promotions for efficient and effective officials, and severe punishment for those who were corrupt. The severest punishment suggested by Kautilya was beheading such corrupt civil servants.
Mughal Period:
During the medieval period, Mughal king Akbar founded and nurtured the civil service. He introduced a number of administrative measures, including land revenue tax collection system, local manufacturing of industrial goods and exports of arts and crafts to other nation-states. His civil service had welfare and a regulatory-orientation.
British Period:
After the decline of the Mughal era, there was a rise of the East India Company in the 16th century who ruled the country for over 150 years. The East India Company, which ruled India for about 150 years, did not set up any civil service as its interest was limited to trade and commerce. Subsequently, the British government took over the power of governing of the country from the East India Company. During its 200 years of rule, the British introduced the education system, laid down strong foundations of administrative and bureaucratic structure. They interconnected various parts of its administration through a vast network of infrastructures such as road and rail transport. To manage and govern the country effectively British Introduces Civil Services in India. They enacted a Civil Service Act and included the civil servants on the Council of Administrators, which resulted in the accrual of both political and administrative powers to the civil servants in India. Initially, the membership was confined to British only. However, due to pressures and demands raised by the Indian National Congress in 1921, Indians were allowed to take the examination. In 1922 one Indian passed the Indian Civil Service Examination.
The term civil service generally refers to administrators paid for implementing the policies of national governments. Under the British system of administration which was divided in military and civilian. Some officials perform civil duties and some military duties. Hence civil service is different from military service. Both civil and military officers are parts of the state administration. But the functions of the two groups are different and because of this, a distinction has been drawn between the two categories of officers.
Post Independence Period:
In 1947, free-India inherited the Indian Civil Service (ICS). After prolonged consideration, its Constituent Assembly decided to continue to run the Indian Administration with the help of the Indian Civil Service. At the time of independence, besides the Indian Civil Service, there were nine central civil services in the country. At the time of independence, the country posed new challenges to the civil servants. Because the British groomed the civil service to perform the role of a police state. While the expectation of their role in independent India was that of welfare. At the time of independence large land part was separated from India in the form of Pakistan. There was a refugee settlement crisis. Safeguarding the national borders from external aggression and promoting conditions responsible for internal peace was the major task.
After independence, the Indian Civil Service was reorganized as a two-tier system. The central government controlled the All-India Services (AIS), namely, the Indian Administrative Service (lAS), the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the central services which were classified as Group A, B, C, and D services. The selections to the All India Services and Group A and B services are conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The incumbents to Group C and D services are selected by the Staff Selection Commission. The selection of the candidates for the various services to man the administrative machinery in the union territories is also done through the same arrangement. The State governments have their own State Public Service Commissions. The recruitments to the State civil services are done by these Commissions. The working of these Commissions is controlled by a separate Act.
Overview of Indian Political Administrative System:
The political system of the country is pluralistic, having three tiers of administration, namely, central, provincial (state), and local including panchayats.
The federal parliament has two Houses. The lower house known as the Lok Sabha is constituted by the electorate members of parliament. The members of the upper house, known as the Rajya Sabha, are elected by the various states on the basis of proportional representation. Together, the two houses plus the President forms the parliament and the members of these houses are called Members of Parliament. A similar system is available at State level. The lower house is called the Vidhan Sabha or Assembly and the upper house known as Vidhan Parishad or State Council. Some states have only one house (lower house only).
At the local level, the villages have Panchayats (council of villagers). Several villages constitute a block and the block-level councils are headed by Pradhans (head of village), known as chiefs of the blocks. These Pradhans constitute a district council which is headed by a district chief. The elections are governed by the principle of majority vote, which simply means that the elections are decided on the basis of the highest votes polled by a person. It is a three-tier system. The 73rct and 74th amendments to the Indian Constitution have already initiated the process of administrative decentralization to the local institutions.
Conclusion:
The civil service system is the backbone of the administrative machinery of the Indian nation. India which is a union of states has a democratic system. From the above discussion, we can see that in ancient India, the civil servants acted as personal servants of the rulers, in the medieval age, they became state servants as they were in the state employment and in British-India the civil servants acquired the complexion of public servants. The ethos of the civil service in independent-India changed from welfare-orientation, then to development orientation and then to a facilitator’s role.