Akansha Bhaskar is one of the five lucky new Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers of 2015 batch who were selected for serving the Union home ministry as assistant secretaries for a three-month period before they go back to respective home cadres.
But unlike the other four, Bhaskar will not get a full-fledged district posting as sub- divisional officer (SDO) immediately her return to her parent cadre West Bengal. Instead, she will have to undergo a round of ‘counter- induction’ programme as undersecretary either with chief minister’s office, or with any other state government department, for another three to six months before she gets a full-fledged district assignment.
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The reason behind this compulsory ‘cooling period’ before district allotment is the increasing bitter relations between Union and West Bengal government, with chief minister Mamata Banerjee viewing this compulsory three-month central deputation for new IAS officers as a brainwashing mechanism by the Union government.
Confirmed an official from the state personnel & administrative reforms (P&AR) department, after returning to state cadre these officers have to go through another induction programme with any state government department the period of which might range from three to six months. The decision is taken by the chief minister, who is also in charge of the P&AR department.
Therefore, Bhaskar is not the only IAS officer of 2015 batch to undergo such ‘counter induction’ programme. Nine others of the same batch, who were from West Bengal cadre will have to undergo similar programmes.
“The chief minister desires such ‘counter induction’ programme to be conducted by the CMO only. But since it cannot often absorb so many new IAS officers as undersecretaries, the rest will be placed with departments held by the chief minister such as home, health and P&AR,” confirmed a P&AR official on condition of anonymity.
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The system of compulsory three-month deputation for new IAS officers with different Union ministries after they pass out from Mussoorie-based Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) was introduced by the Narendra Modi government since it came to power in 2014.
“The Union government says that this is an initiative to make new IAS officer acquainted with the functioning of the Union government and its different ministries. The chief minister has a counter argument. In that case the state government, too, has the right to conduct ‘counter induction’ programme to make new bureaucrats familiar with the functioning of the state government, its policies and schemes,” the state P&AR official said.
