NEW DELHI: Union minister Jitendra Singh on Friday said lateral entry into government jobs has been taking place since 1960s and its twin objectives are bringing in fresh talent as well as augmenting the availability of manpower.
The 'lateral entry' mode is referred to the appointment of private sector specialists in the government.
Singh, the minister of state for personnel, said that the lateral entry recruitments by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) are being done through a proper selection process by the Union Public Service Commission.
Commenting on the recent recommendation for lateral recruitment of 31 candidates to the posts of joint secretaries and directors in Government of India, he said lateral recruitments have been taking place since 1960s and the most notable lateral entry appointments was that of Dr Manmohan Singh as chief economic advisor in 1972 and as secretary in the Ministry of Finance in 1976 when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister.
Some of the other important lateral entry appointments made during the earlier regimes include that of Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia as economic advisor in 1979 and later as special secretary to prime minister and commerce secretary in 1990, Singh said.
The credit goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that in order to institutionalise the selection process and also to make it more objective, it was decided that the entire lateral entry recruitment process will be conducted by the UPSC, he said.
The minister said that pre-appointment formalities have also been incorporated which include police verification and IB clearance among others while recommending the candidates recently.
Singh said such appointments meet the twin objectives of bringing in fresh talent as well as augmenting the availability of manpower.
He said this also helps to select individuals with expertise and specialist domain knowledge for a particular assignment, especially when the government has introduced a number of path-breaking schemes in every sector which require specialised skills for implementation and governance.