In a clear signal that administrative reforms will be a key focus area in his second term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to expand the policy of lateral entry into Indian Civil Services by increasing the intake of officers at the Joint Secretary from outside the system to at least 40 per cent, The Federal reported.

In the current scheme of things, the joint secretaries posted in various administrative ministries in Delhi are largely drawn from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

Despite facing stiff resistance from the entrenched bureaucrats, the Modi government hired nine lateral hires on contract at the level of joint secretary in various departments and ministries.

The recruitment process was conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and names of the nine selected candidate was announced this April.

The selected joint secretaries recommended for lateral hiring are: Kakoli Ghosh (Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers Welfare), Amber Dubey (Civil Aviation), Arun Goel (Commerce), Rajeev Saksena (Economic Affairs), Sujit Kumar Bajpayee (Environment, Forest and Climate Change), Saurabh Mishra (Financial Services), Dinesh Dayanand Jagdale (New and Renewable Energy), Suman Prasad Singh (Road Transport and Highways) and Bhushan Kumar (Shipping).

The Modi government has been aggressively pushing the idea of infusing outside talent in a bid to increase subject matter expertise in administrative apparatus and usher in specialised niche skills in various government departments to improve governance delivery process.

As per the thinking prevailing in the top echelons of the government, a judicious mix of regular all-India service officers with fresh talent from outside will help deliver better results.

According to The Federal report, the Modi government is planning to recruit 55 officers equivalent to the rank of joint secretaries through the NITI Aayog instead of UPSC.

Digital news portal The Print quoted highly-placed officials as saying that the government plans to advertise at least 50 positions in NITI Aayog at different levels, including directors, joint secretaries, additional secretaries, etc.

In a departure from the current practice of hiring consultants on contracts NITI Aayog, the new posts would be at par with regular government servants. The recruited domain experts will draw a fixed salary of over Rs 3 lakh and appointment will be for a minimum tenure of five years.

The new posts will enjoy parity with regular government servant positions to enable the lateral hires to carry sufficient weight within the system to influence policy prescriptions and participate in implementation . The proposed recruitment monitored by the Department of Personnel under the PMO. NITI Aayog is seeking talents from private sector to fill these posts.

In the last decade, around 20 per cent of the sanctioned positions for Indian Administrative Service officers have been vacant.