more-in Raising concerns about the Union government’s recent proposal for allowing lateral entry into civil services, social activist Aruna Roy said such a move could weaken the administrative system. Ms. Roy was delivering a talk on ‘Democratic Ethic in Public Service’, as part of the P.K. Dey Annual Memorial Lecture on Transparency in Defence and Security, in Bengaluru on Saturday. While an officer selected through the UPSC exam spends years in going up the ladder, getting an understanding of ground realities and dynamics, someone who has come from a different field is unlikely to have such an understanding of government machinery, Ms. Roy said. A person who has experience in business management, for instance, is unlikely to have the same kind of understanding of grassroots realities, she said. In a recent notification, the Department of Personnel and Training announced that it was looking for 10 ‘outstanding individuals’ who are willing to contribute towards nation building, including those working in private companies, consultancy organisations, multinational organisations with a minimum of 15 years’ experience. On the occasion, Ms. Roy also spoke about the importance of engaging with the physical world in the age of social media. “There is an increasing need to talk to each other,” she said, underlying the significance of face-to-face interactions to keep democracy vibrant.

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