Why are Assam candidates lagging in IAS examination?

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Assam lags in cracking IAS (Indian Administrative Services) examination, and the outcome is that mostly non-Assamese officers steer the State administrative machinery.

In the recent past, we had PC Sarma, PK Bora, NK Das and Kumar Sanjay Krishna as the chief secretaries from the state. Present Chief Secretary Jishnu Barua is also from Assam. However, the state will have to wait for a long time to get another chief secretary from Assam.

An all-India-level survey has brought it to light that in the past 70 years, only 53 candidates from Assam cracked IAS. This survey covers from 1951 to 2020, when 5,255 IAS officers came out in the country. And only 1.1 per cent is from Assam among the 5,255 IAS officers. Assam-Meghalaya is a joint cadre. The percentage of Meghalaya is 0.6, and that of Arunachal Pradesh is 0.18, Nagaland 0.38 and Manipur is 0.72.

Topping the list are UP and Uttarakhand 15 per cent, Bihar 10 per cent, Rajasthan 7.5 per cent, Tamil Nadu 6.8 per cent etc.

Why is Assam's performance in cracking IAS so poor? Talking to The Sentinel, former Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna said, "A candidate needs to focus on the IAS examination right from his graduation days. Hard work has no alternative. Seven-to-eight-hour devotion daily for a year or so is a must. Our students are mark-oriented. However, to crack the IAS examination, a candidate should know how to outperform other candidates. The existing trend in the state is to go to coaching centres in Delhi to compete in IAS. A coaching centre can only fine-tune a candidate. However, a student has to gather knowledge on his own from his college days."

Another senior IAS officer said, "The spirit of competition is lacking among the youths of Assam. The reputed colleges and universities in Assam also lack the atmosphere that moulds a mindset among the students to crack competitive examinations. The mindset of the parents in society is also limited to their wards getting established with government jobs. We don't see our students' organizations playing a motivating role to encourage students for IAS examinations."

It is high time the State government created an atmosphere conducive for cracking IAS. If need be, the government should also take corrective measures in the education system.

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