Civil Services of India

The Civil Services refers to the services performed by government civil servants who constitute the permanent executive branch of the Republic of India. Elected cabinet ministers determine policy, and civil servants carry it out. Central Civil Servants are employees of the Government of India or of the states, but not all employees of the Government are civil servants. As of 2010, there were 6.4 million government employees in India but fewer than 50,000 civil servants to administer them. The agencies with the most personnel are with the Central Secretariat Service and Indian Revenue Service (IT and C&CE). The Government of India approved the formation of Indian Skill Development Service in 2015, and the Indian Enterprise Development Service in 2016. Further, the Cabinet of India approved merging all the central civil services under Indian Railways which are Indian Railway Accounts Service, Indian Railway Traffic Service, Indian Railway Personnel Service and Railway Protection Force Service into a single Indian Railways Management Service as part of a structural reform in the sector in 2019. Civil servants in a personal capacity are paid from the Civil List. Article 311 of the constitution protects civil servants from politically motivated or vindictive action. Senior civil servants may be called to account by the Parliament. The civil service system in India is rank-based and does not follow the tenets of the position-based civil services. Civil Service in early IndiaAitchison Commission and Royal Commission on the Public Services in India Indian Civil ServiceImperial Secretariat Service and Indian Imperial Police right The present civil services of India are mainly based on the pattern of the former Indian Civil Service of British India. During the British raj, Warren Hastings laid the foundation of civil service and Charles Cornwallis reformed, modernised, and rationalised it. Hence, Charles Cornwallis is known as 'the Father of civil service in India'. Cornwallis introduced two divisions of the Indian Civil service—covenanted and uncovenanted.