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Quota system for civil service

Kamal Uddin Ahmed
IN all modern states, civil service has emerged as an important independent variable that greatly influences anv kind of transformation in the society -- be it social, political or economic (Joseph La Palombara. Bureaucracy and Political Development). Civil servants are indispensable actors in initialing and making of government policies and programs, and also in implementing those. According to MaxWeber, "It is obvious that the great modern state is absolutely dependent upon a .bureaucratic basis.'
In fact, in all countries, civil servants are recruited through competitive examinations, which are free from political interference. Thus, recruitment and promotion are always based on merit and superiority. Former prime minister of England, Margaret Thatcher, had established the
"Efficiency unit" to realise policy goals.
The reform of the quota system for civil service recruitment in Bangladesh is a sensitive and significant issue in the context of politico-economic realities. The quota system was introduced by an executive order on September 5, 1972, prior to the adoption of the constitution. However. Article 28(4) of the 1972 constitution promises to take effective measures for the welfare and "advancement of backward section of citizens."
The quota system needs to be revised for several reasons:
• To improve the recruitment process to ensure good gover-
• To make Bangladesh competitive in the world;
• To make recruitment more diverse, representative, and responsive;
• Last but not the least, to ensure compensatory justice by "affir-
mative action" to ethnic minorities.
Sponsored by the Public Service Commission of Bangladesh and funded by the World Bank, a working paper has been prepared after extensive discussions and debates held between March and June, 2008. Educationists, freedom fighters, journalists, students, women activists and representatives from the bureaucracy and ethnic minorities participated in four seminars held in four divisions.
The Chairperson of the Regulatory Reforms Commission, Dr. Akbar Ali Khan and former secretary Kazi Raquib Uddin Ahmed prepared the working paper on quota system for civil service recruitment. The working scheme, along with their recommendations, was submitted to the PSC Chairman Dr. Saadat Hossain, who happens to be a distinguished former civil servant himself. Dr. Hossain joined the PSC on
May 9,2007.
The study examines the background of the quota system, its present status, limitations, and the need for reforms. The study has suggested that merit quota should be a minimum of 50% and a maximum of 70% percent. The distribution of district quota is complex, allowing the possibility of irregularity and corruption. Dr. Hossain said that the PSC was a "non starter" constitutional body, which had failed to transform itself into an efficient and stan-dard constitutional body (Shaptahik. May 22).
It is noteworthy that, since its inception, the quota system was never monitored or appraised and evaluated by the PSC or by any other government organisation. However, on April 5, 2005, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Establishment Ministry discussed the issue and proposed reduction in the quota system.
This paper argues that the quota system must be revised and rationalised keeping in view national and international realities, and the aspirations and increasing demands of the people. It will deal mainly with two very sensitive issues, i.e, quota for freedom fighters (and their chil-
dren) and for women. Intense politicisation of the PSC during the past three decades has corrupted, tarnished and distorted the recruitment process. The chairman and most of the members were individually honest, but they had to surrender to the pres-sure/telephone calls from the governing leaders of the country. Thus, the quota system was misused, and equality, justice, fairness and transparency could not be maintained. Merit was largely ignored, and the image of the PSC was shattered, which was reflected in the adverse media coverage.
Quota for freedom fighters
The heroic freedom fighters fought valiantly for the independence of our country. But the governments ignored the freedom fighters and their children, particularly in the rural areas. Adequate support and facilities were not provided for their employment or education. However, they were given the opportunity to join the civil service as they were provided with 30% reserved places under the quota system. The children of the freedom fighter are entitled to the special quota privilege. However, according to PSC
sources, the quota for the freedom fighters largely remained unfilled during the past decades because of non-availability of qualified candidates.
However, some questions may now be asked; Did the freedom fighters fight to liberate the country to obtain special privi-ieges/rewards from the state? There are instances when they were not given advantage in joining the civil service. Some freedom fighters say that the government must not decrease the fixed quota in enrollment, and it should remain intact for their children. This seems to be emotional and unreasonable at this point of time, although it was quite rational in the aftermath of independence. Therefore, the quota for the freedom fighters' children needs to be re-fixed to a maximum of 10%.
Quota for women
At present, there is a 10% quota for women, who constitute half of die population. The draft proposal has recommended that it should be raised to 15%, assuming that women are still disadvantaged. I fully disagree with this proposition. There has been an extraordinary expansion and advancement of female education in our country. For example, an ever-
increasing number of female students have been entering Dhaka University in recent years.
At present, female students comprise about 50% of students in Dhaka University. I am also proud to say that the performance of the female students in the tests and examinations is comparatively better than their male counterparts.
As of June 2007, women teachers constituted 26.2% of the teachers in Dhaka University. Five years back, female teachers comprised about 16%. Obviously, there is no quota system for appointment of women teachers in the university, who are recruited on merit. Therefore, what is the reason that prompts the policy makers (or the donors) to increase female quota to 15%?
A majority of the students are strongly in favour of recruitment on merit, which is apparent from their movement against the quota system a few months back. We have highly qualified and competent female contenders who are capable of entering the civil service on merit. Hence, the current 10% quota for women is good enough. Do the policy makers and donors want to make our civil service less efficient, less
qualified, and less competitive than the rest of the would, where merit is always emphasised?
Concluding remarks
My proposition is -- the present district or divisional quota should be reduced to 5% since quota for freedom fighters' children, women, and ethnic minorities of all the districts and divisions of Bangladesh have also be«.n integrated under the quota system Therefore, the quota under districts or divisions is unnecessary. The question is: Should the quota system for the recruitment of civil servants stay for an indefinite period? The emphatic answer is "no."
The most noteworthy flaw in the quota system is that the merit quota (45% only) has been knowingly ignored to provide 55% quota for others, making the system irrational, unsound, flawed, and non-transparent. Bangladesh has got an opportunity to reform the quota system, which must not be missed. Let us be more pragmatic and sensible, less emotional and less irrational, to promote the national interests of our country.
Of Kamal Uddin Ahmed is a Professor of Political Science. University of Dhaka He can be reached at kama! 112au@ yahoo com