Need for review of the recruitment system for India’s Civil Services 

The present process for recruiting India's civil services needs urgent review. More and more recruits are now joining after repeated attempts -- a syndrome that indicates that service is unable to recruit sharp minds and the focus is on rote learning. Only about 8% of the recruits make it at first attempt.

 There is a case for limiting the number of attempts, maybe, to two. This would improve the present situation where thousands of youths spend years slogging in inhospitable environment preparing for the examination and waste a good portion of their youths in unproductive pursuits when they would have been more creative and a lot happier elsewhere . Such reform would also minimise the mess the coaching industry has made of the situation.

Civil service should attract brilliant minds and the recruits should be fairly young, in their early twenties. A person getting into the service, say, after six attempts and in his early thirties, in my view, is a good misfit.

P K Mishra former Secretary Coal

 In many states RERA Chairman are 1989 batch IAS officers!

This is regarding your article regarding "In many states the RERA chairpersons are from 1989 IAS batch": You have mentioned that the Chairperson at Odisha RERA is Mr. P.K.Jena. Please check the facts. Mr. Siddhant Das is the current ORERA Chairperson. Please visit the official website of ORERA at rera.odisha.gov.in.

Bimalendu Pradhan