IRMS: Mother of all Rollbacks Announce, Reverse Repeat!

 

“Thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges…' proclaims the Clown in the bard’s Twelfth Night, meaning what goes around comes around and so too has time spun back on the Indian Railways Management Service (IRMS). Conceived four years ago to merge eight railway services into a single entity and banish the ghost of departmentalism, the IRMS seemed the future of railway management. Yet, with the cracks in this vision too glaring to ignore, after many flip flops, the government recently seemed to have reversed the course again, opting once more for officer recruitment through the Civil Services Examination (CSE) and Engineering Services Examination (ESE)—a return to old habits under a new guise.

 

I recently wrote that IRMS, often humorously dubbed the Indian Railway Mismanagement Service, has a rather unique purpose—one might call it the ultimate Innovative Redundancy Management Scheme. It keeps the increasingly redundant railway executives in a state of confused bliss, humorously inflating their sense of importance even as their roles become progressively marginalized. For a detailed background, readers can refer to my blog and a brief opinion piece in The Hindu BusinessLine 

https://anindecisiveindian.blogspot.com/2024/08/irms-cure-worse-than-disease-infinitely.html

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/imrs-on-the-wrong-track/article68706529.ece

IR keeps on leaping before looking, while the main opposition, which itself could not locate a good railway policy even if it was served to it on a plate with watercress around it,  calls it ‘First Announce, Second Think’. One should not wonder, though, whose sage counsel guides these leaps, considering they have surrounded themselves with a phalanx of sycophantic officers in senior positions—masters of servility, perfectly content to deliver and receive flattery in equal measure. After all, as the bard’s Apemantus quips in Timon of Athens, “...he that loves to be flattered is worthy o' the flatterer...”.

 

Looking at the bigger mess—err, picture—perhaps splitting the recruitment pattern of railways into technical and non-technical wings might be a better idea than the current IRMS structure. Then again, it might just be a case of the cure continuing to be worse than the disease. It is all as clear as a foggy morning, with no one quite sure what shape this muddled vision will eventually take. Readers may see the attached memorandum from DoPT and IR’s letter to DoT, the nodal agency for conducting ESE, and UPSC. The former, in para 2(i), makes the confused even more confounded and I would think only a super bewildered mind can decipher it, meanwhile till the imbroglio becomes clearer to the meanest intelligence like mine, I can only recall Walter Scott in, “what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!”.

 

So, I turned to one of my mentors, Mr. Balakesari, retired Member (Staff) of the board—a rare, sane voice amidst the many commentators whose insights often hinge on their political leanings. He has raised a few pertinent questions, which I have summarized here (the two attachments connect):

The cabinet decision of 24/12/2019 , as explained by the then MR in a media briefing, stipulated:

1. A common separate examination for IRMS for all railway  services (not through CSE) 2. No distinction between tech and non tech services.

A subsequent Cabinet decision, however, specified that the recruitment would be through the CSE.

Mr. Balakesari writes, “MR's briefing to media conveying the Cabinet decision on IRMS is at this link: https://youtu.be/BlJYcdT3CCY (MR's portion starts from/after 32nd minute.). When I played back the video to check what exactly was said, I was surprised to note that a few sentences which were in the original video of 2019 have apparently been edited out: specifically, MR's mentioning that a separate examination will be conducted by UPSC for recruiting to IRMS. Based on that version I had mentioned the same in my  article in The Hindu 'Restructuring or Bureaucratic overkill' published on Januray 19th, 2020.”

This is an extract from the said article: “While some the decisions appear to be unexceptionable, the same cannot be said of the breathtakingly audacious proposal to recruit officers/managers to a single service or cadre to be called Indian Railways Management Service (IRMS) for which the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will conduct a separate competitive examination — also replacing the existing system of recruitment through the CSE and ESE into the eight organised services within the Railways (excluding the Medical and Security Departments).”

As of now, based on the department-wise vacancies advised to DoT and UPSC, It appears that all officers shall belong to respective departments. Mr. Balakesari goes on to say, “wonder what was the need to edit the video. Perhaps because of the subsequent cabinet decision to recruit only through CSE? One may never know. In any case, the DoPT stipulation (para 2.1)  now, would seem to indicate that the government wants IRMS to be like Schroedinger's Cat (a thought experiment in  in Quantum Mechanics to explain  the  concept of being alive and dead at the same time). IRMS will be silo-less and silo-ful at the same time! Interesting days ahead. I pity the poor UPSC aspirants who will be  the victims of all this game playing.”

 

Circa 2017-18, some of us senior officers had long argued for unified management at the top level, pushing against the tide of resistance from many colleagues. But instead of taking the bull by the horns—which involved tackling the entrenched bureaucracy's venal interests, their departmental aspirations, and creating a fair yet effective system of career progression—the ministry decided to go entirely the other way. Dumping the idea of a true merger at the top, they chose the easier path—window-dressing the unification at the top while merging at the bottom, allowing the departmental silos to carry on comfortably, preserving their little fiefdoms.

 

So, has the ‘wheel come full circle’ yet? Or are we in for yet another round of huffing and puffing while the Indian Railways is left to stew in its own juices?

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