Presence of Women in Administrative Service

In all the states and union territories of the country, only two women were chief secretaries.  Till date, not a single woman has reached the post of Cabinet Secretary, the most senior administrative officer of the country.  Statistics show that most women retire after completing their tenure, yet they are expected to retire more voluntarily than men.
Last year, a report on gender equality in public administration was prepared under the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).  It clarified that gender equality is at the core of an inclusive and accountable public administration.  The report also indicated that maintaining equal representation of women in bureaucracy and public administration leads to major improvements in government functioning.
After such a long journey of independence, this natural question cannot be avoided that if India has to become a superpower and at the same time bring the concept of New India and self-reliant, then the new bureaucracy and equality of women should not be kept on the margins.  Can.  During a statement in Parliament in March 2020, the government clarified that it seeks to create a workforce that reflects and reflects gender balance.  But the truth is that the ground reality regarding this is different.
This is the era of globalization.  In this, the scenario of public service will also have to be given a new look.  For this, reducing gender inequality in the administrative service should be a priority.  With the increase in the presence of women in administrative services, such services will not only strengthen the workforce, but will also reflect sensitivity.  All the work like creating capacity for development, taking the stream of development to the masses and curbing corruption can be made easy to a great extent by increasing the participation of women.  The principle of nurturing also says that within a democracy everything should be directed towards the people, this is also the highest of good governance.  This will also give an opportunity to the administrative services for gender equality.
The investigation reveals that for the first time in the year 1951, it was decided to include women in the Indian Administrative Service.  In the same year, only one woman Anna Rajam was selected for this service for the IAS.  After coming a long way of seven decades, in the year 2020, the total number of women in the IAS is 13 percent.  If we go deeper, according to a recent study, the number of women among the eleven thousand five hundred and seventy nine IAS officers who entered the civil services between 1951 and 2020 was barely one thousand five hundred and twenty seven.
Although this figure gives wideness to gender inequality, but it is also a relief that the number of women administrative officers starting from the unit is more than one and a half thousand today.  Gender inequality is not only in the numbers in the administrative service, but there were also different views on the entry of women into this service.  The study also revealed that Anna Rajam, who cleared the IAS exam, was asked to consider foreign or central services instead of administrative service when she went for an interview.
After his selection in the administrative service, there was a condition in the appointment letter that his service would be terminated in the event of marriage.  This restriction suggests that for women to set foot in the administrative service was like passing through the middle of male power.  However, it was later amended and the first woman IAS Anna Rajam married in 1985.  Significantly, her husband was RN Malhotra, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.  Obviously, the path of women in the Indian Administrative Service was not so easy.
The road to becoming an IAS is getting tougher day by day.  However, resources have increased rapidly and access to it has become easier due to internet etc.  At present, there are more than one million applicants in the Civil Services Examination and only a few hundred are selected, in which the number of IAS is only between one and a half to two hundred.  Even more number of men remain in this.  If we look at the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) data, in the year 2017 civil services examination, thirty percent of the total applicants were women.
As of January 3, 2022, out of the ninety-nine secretaries of the Government of India, only fourteen percent, ie, only thirteen, can be seen by women.  Not only this, till December 2021, only two women were chief secretaries in the total thirty-six states and union territories of the country.  Till date, not a single woman has reached the post of Cabinet Secretary, the most senior administrative officer of the country.  Statistics show that most women retire after completing their tenure, yet they are expected to retire more voluntarily than men.
It is worth mentioning that in any service women are in, the responsibility is dual.  Apart from office work, it is their responsibility to take care of the house and play the role properly as well as maintain balance, which is no less challenging.  The Civil Services Committee was set up in the year 2004 under the chairmanship of former Union Public Service Commission (UPSAC) chairman PC Hota.  The committee’s report highlighted domestic responsibilities as an additional burden on women officers.  It is another matter that there was not a single woman member in this committee.  In 2008, on the recommendation of the Sixth Pay Commission, the Central Government extended the maternity leave for women employees by one hundred and eighty days and child care leave by two years.
Whether to make the country a superpower or to make India great, for this the development of citizens has to be kept in the priority.  For this the administration of development is needed and to get the administration of development, good administrative officers are needed.  In this it is not possible to fulfill it only with male officers.  Increasing women’s participation while reducing gender inequality is morally justified and will also be justified from the point of view of the new work culture.  India is also at the top of the ranks of the world in the matter of corruption.
Access to women as administrative officers is also a sign of social equality along with gender balance and if said, it can be possible to curb corruption to some extent.  Data from the National Informatics Center shows that Karnataka and Telangana are the two state cadres where thirty per cent of officers are women, while in Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Bihar, Tripura and Jharkhand this figure is less than 15 per cent.  It would be appropriate to mention here that statement of the World Bank that if the woman of India makes herself fertile, then the country’s GDP will increase by 4.22 percent.
Although here only the women working in the IAS are being talked about, but from the point of view of women empowerment, it would be right to cover all the work areas.  The presence of women in the administrative service is definitely low, but its graph is increasing every year.  Obviously, to give an edge to good governance, gender inequality in administration will have to be eliminated, as well as it will be easy to solve problems by making their utility productive.