Relevance: GS-2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Key Phrases: Indian Railway Management Service, Indian Railway services, UPSC, Coordinated work, logistics operations, $5 trillion economy, dedicated freight corridors, Mission Karmayogi.

Why in News?

• Under the new Indian Railway Management Service, training its future leaders is the most important task ahead.

Context:

• A recent Gazette notification regarding the creation of the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) marks a paradigm shift in the management of one of the world’s largest rail networks.
• Eight out of 10 Group-A Indian Railway services have been merged to create the IRMS. They are:
  • Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS),
  • Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS),
  • Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS),
  • Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE),
  • Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSS),
  • Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME),
  • Indian Railway Service of Civil Engineers (IRSE) and I
  • Indian Railway Stores Service (IRSS).

Why the Merger?

• The point behind the merger of rail services is to bring a “more effective administration”.
• “A decision on this was taken two years ago (December 2019) after meetings with rail officers. Former railway minister Piyush Goyal had held the talks and the officers agreed and voted for this. It is a progressive reform towards making the IR more effective in administration and management.
• “Most importantly, the move is expected to end the turf war among departments. The officers will get rid of numerous issues related to departmental silos which became a menace in managing such a vast organisation,” the official explained, adding that “the ministry and Railway Board have thought it through and the reform would not affect any officer or their promotion prospects adversely”.

Officers’ Concerns

• Recruitment for the eight railway services, technical and non-technical, was so far done through two examinations, the civil services exam and the engineering service exam, in place of which the common IRMS exam will now be held. Rail engineers are crying foul as they think the technical services cadre may suffer in the new arrangement.
• Senior rail officers said that merger of the cadres would “dilute” the managerial specialisation that civil service officers have, and the number of seats for aspirants would reduce under IRMS.
• According to them, the railways till now used to employ at least 300 officers across eight services, but under the IRMS exam, recruitment would be reduced by 50 per cent.
• The rail officers’ associations also raised concerns about what would happen to their seniority, grades and promotions, once the services are merged.
• This is a very complex structure. We do not even know if it is a reform or just a whimsical decision to bring down expenses by half, because rail recruitment would go down by 50 per cent at least.
• The existing officers have earned a certain grade or seniority in their respective departments, but when they would be brought under one department, their seniority would be diluted.
• For example “an officer of Grade A can be eligible for the position of Divisional Railway Manager and, currently, in his department there can be around five such officers with similar seniority level. If the services are merged, the particular officer would find himself among 35 such officers”.
• There are many grey areas and the ministry has not come up with any clarification on them.

Coordinated Work

• For a railway officer, every day of the year is practically a working day, and he/she has to prove their mettle every single day. Maintaining safety of operations and ensuring the punctuality of trains require a wide set of skills, from engineering to coordination. The adoption of the latest technology and improving the efficiency of logistics operations require continuous updating of knowledge. The job of a railway officer is not meant for those looking for a fixed hours work profile.
• Training the future leaders of India’s public transporter in the rapidly evolving logistics sector of the country is the most important task ahead. The fact remains that even after the creation of the IRMS, the 8,000 strong (already serving) officers of the Indian Railways will need to work in coordination and not in silos, as they will be serving in the organisation for decades to come.
• Though the UPSC will recruit a few hundred IRMS officers each year from now, they will remain much less in number when compared to already serving officers for a long time to come. This highlights the importance of training of the existing cadre of officers as they will have to deliver on the ambitious Gati-Shakti projects.
• The task of training such a dynamic talent pool assumes importance in view of India’s aspirations of becoming a $5 trillion economy and an economic powerhouse in the near future. The Indian Railways will play a very crucial role in achieving key objectives with its prestigious projects such as a network of dedicated freight corridors, high speed rail corridors, station re-development projects, the induction of Vande Bharat trains on a large scale, and other projects of strategic importance. All this will require a massive revamp of the capacity building ecosystem of the Indian Railways.

Chance for Revamped Training

• The merger of services provides an opportunity to redesign the training for newly recruited IRMS officers to make them future ready. Initial training along with mid-career training programmes may be reoriented. The focus should be to create capacity to manage the verticals of operations and business development, infrastructure development and maintenance, traction and rolling stock, and finance and human resource management.
• The IRMS training needs to be a design based on competencies required for different leadership roles. Mission Karmayogi of the Government of India provides for competencies based postings of officers. Accordingly, domain, function and behaviour-related competencies will need to be mapped for the IRMS. The Integrated Government Online Training (iGOT) programme of the Government of India will be instrumental in shaping the career progression of IRMS officers.

Way Forward:

• Future IRMS officers should be ready to face the challenges of working in an organisation which is involved in round the clock and round the year operations, has substantial social obligations to meet and, at the same time, which must earn for itself.
• Leading the transformation of more than a million workforce to meet the needs of Gati Shakti goals is not an easy task. Young graduates who will be opting for the IRMS through the civil services examination should be aspirational and agile learners. They have the opportunity not only to serve the country’s lifeline but also to turbocharge the engine of the economy.

Source: The Hindu 

Mains Question:

Q. “Creation of the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) marks a paradigm shift in the management of one of the world’s largest rail networks”. Comment. (250words).