As part of the government’s bid to implement bureaucratic reforms, in a first of its kind initiative, the UPSC has selected nine private sector specialists for appointment as joint secretaries in the central government departments under the 'lateral entry' mode, reports The Economic Times.

The applications for the same had been invited in June last year (2018) by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. By the end of the deadline, the Government had amassed as many as 6,077 individual applications.

In December 2018, the ministry entrusted the task of selecting suitable candidates to these posts to the UPSC which also conducts the civil services examinations to select the country's diplomats, police officers and bureaucrats. And, finally, it was the UPSC which announced the results on Friday (12 April 2019).

Those selected are Amber Dubey (civil aviation), Arun Goel (commerce), Rajeev Saksena (Economic Affairs), Sujit Kumar Bajpayee (environment, forest and climate change), Saurabh Mishra (financial services), Dinesh Dayanand Jagdale (new and renewable energy), Suman Prasad Singh (road transport and highways), Bhushan Kumar (shipping) and Kokoli Ghosh (agriculture, cooperation and farmers welfare).

Government think tank NITI Aayog had in a report highlighted that it was essential that specialists be inducted into the system through lateral entry on fixed-term contract. Also, the call for inducting qualified and experienced personnel from the private sector had been echoed from different corridors from time to time, so as to boost the dynamism in country's bureaucracy and also bring in expertise from the private sector to the public's benefit.

Also Read: A Step For Better Governance – Lateral Entry In Civil Services