Age relaxation : Limits and limitations
- Sangai Express Editorial :: March 01, 2014 -

Combined competitive civil services examination, as the name suggests, is not any ordinary recruitment exam.

It is one of the most alluring yet challenging recruitment. The whole administrative machinery hinges on these exams.

Socio-political and economic well being of a State depends much on how the civil services exams are conducted.

Those who get selected through the competitive civil services exams ultimately take the helm of a State's administrative machinery and rise to the upper echelon of the bureaucracy.

In another word, these exams are the fountainhead of a State's bureaucracy. Herein lies the momentous responsibility of the Manipur Public Service Commission.

Interestingly it is the bureaucrats who are running the Manipur Public Service Commission entrusted with the crucial task of selecting civil service officers or you may call them future bureaucrats.

Logic says corrupt officers will breed only corrupt officers and there is hardly any convincing argument which can defy or negate this logic.

Argument for the sake of argument is another matter. That would be nothing but waste of time and energy.

The baseline of all competitive exams, civil services or otherwise is to select the best brains from amongst the smartest candidates.

Bribery, nepotism or favouritism should not find even a foothold in such exams otherwise it would be a misnomer to call it a competitive exam.

Let the candidates contest and outwit each other on a balanced ground. This is the ideal situation for a competitive exam and indeed we are talking about the 'ideal' not the reality for we are not sure what happened or is happening behind the scene.

We cannot help but stick to the ideal situation as competitive civil services exams, as stated in the opening sentence, are not ordinary exams.

Bureaucracy bred through competitive civil services exams has enormous power. Bureaucrats have the capacity to shape and determine policy orientation of their political masters.

It is a matter of fact that a state's administrative policies are always under the influence of its bureaucracy.

Again, it is the bureaucracy who determines how well the State's administrative policies, projects and schemes are implemented.

To put it in a nutshell, bureaucracy is one major factor which determines the State's overall welfare or prosperity or failures. When bureaucracy is such a huge determining factor, MPSC's responsibility is crucial and candidates' eligibility comes prominently in the picture.

Talking about eligibility of candidates, it is the age, more precisely the upper age bar of candidates which is making news nowadays with ATSUM pitching strongly for relaxation up to 45 years for ST candidates and 40 years for General candidates, not only for this year's combined competitive civil services exam but as a permanent policy of the State.

It is an interesting proposition with its own merits and demerits.

ATSUM is quite vocal on their demand and it has already generated a round of debate in the State Assembly.

Age is one important criterion in determining a candidate's eligibility and many a great number of candidates missed the exam on earlier occasions because they were older than the prescribed age.

This is one of the arguments put up by ATSUM in support of their demand and they added that MPSC's civil service exams are not held regularly every year unlike UPSC.

But the general understanding of setting an upper age limit for recruitment exams is that the employer/State wishes to recruit, fresh, bright, young and energetic minds who are in the prime of their productive age.

Going by the ATSUM's demand, 40 or 45 years is not very old.

Men and women in their 40's are also quite energetic and productive unless suffering from ill-health, congenital or otherwise. Limited service sector and virtual absence of private sector which can absorb the ever increasing number of educated unemployed are some other arguments put up to vindicate the demand of opening the civil service exam to a wider range of candidates.

On the flip side, a man or woman recruited into service at 45 has only around 15 years or so before superannuation.

One pertinent question is, is it right to give repeated number of chances to some candidates after they failed to crack the same exam twice or thrice earlier by extending the upper age limit every time the exam is held.

Let us consider another proposition, two equally bright candidates, one appearing the exam for the first time and the other giving the exam for the second or third time.

Obviously, the second candidate has greater chance of selection, not because he/she is brighter but because he/she has experience.

This is not fair.

The demand for age relaxation has its own logic and justifications but it should be done within a limit.

And one more thing, whatsoever is the upper age limit for appearing Manipur civil services exams, it should be made permanent as a policy matter of the State.

There is too much of ad-hocism in the State's administrative policies. At least spare the civil services exam.