By IANS
New Delhi : Civil services continue to be the preferred career choice for India's youth thanks to the visible and hidden perks, social status and complete job security, says a survey by a leading industry chamber.
It is also wrong to conclude that since new avenues have opened up in IT and telecom, only second grade talent is getting attracted to civil services, says the survey by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).
"Assertions that civil services are losing their sheen and lustre are totally malicious and disparaging as every aspirant can't withstand the rigors of layers of civil service examination," Assocham president Venugopal N. Dhoot said.
"Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) go on drawing best available talent contrary to impressions that the flight of talent has shifted towards private sector," says the survey.
Over 70 of the 300 respondents said that the private sector offers handsome packages to young and bright executives, but certainty for sustenance is always missing and it has a negative impact on personality making.
"But in civil services, confidence building is a regular exercise as a result of continuous learning process with no element of uncertainty befalling any civil servant."
Over 70 percent of the respondents also regretted that impressions were gaining ground that mediocrity had been prevailing in civil services and that it was only second hand talent opting for civil services.
This is totally false, the survey says, adding that the view that the private sector has been attracting brains cannot be substantiated since civil services still remain the first priority for the vast majority of young men and women.
Yet, more than half the respondents blamed the system for discouraging brighter and brilliant youth from opting for civil services due to reports of interventions of politicians in their jobs, which could be de-motivating.
"A special drive is called for to fuel and ignite youngsters' interests in the civil services since they carry high growth prospect and decent conditions for jobs particularly for those that have honesty of purpose."
The survey also says that in the past couple of years, the percentage of civil servants from some forward-looking states in terms of intellectual input has declined substantially.
"De-motivation and general apathy of good, educated lot towards civil services in the absence of right publicity exercise has been the primary cause for this."