Hoping to touch a patriotic chord, private coaching academies are increasingly looking at Indians settled abroad and their children to sell them the idea of taking the Civil Services examinations and serve as a career bureaucrat.
It may be a novel idea for the NRI community (those with Indian citizenship of course) but some institutes are confident that it will hit home.
New Delhi-based Chanakya IAS Academy held an interaction session in Dubai last month for NRI civil services aspirants.
A K Mishra, chief of the Academy said that the concept of preparing their children to serve as Indian bureaucrats excited many NRI parents in the Gulf.
“Many NRIs and their children agreed that joining Indian Civil Services was an ideal way to serve their motherland,” he said.
According to Mr Mishra, Civil Services exam coaching is a big industry, fuelled by over 500 institutions spread across the country.
Metro cities, especially New Delhi and Chennai, have a high density of such specialised service providers.
Citizens only
The nationality criteria for the Union Public Service Commission-organised examination for the Indian Foreign Service, Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service lays down ‘Citizen of India’ as the basic requirement.
Union Public Service Commission Member KK Paul said, “We do not have an examination centre abroad and the basic eligibility is citizen of India.”
A subject of Nepal, Bhutan or a Tibetan refugee, who came over to India before January 1, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India can also appear in the Civil Services examinations.
A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire and Ethiopia and Vietnam, with the intention of permanently settling in India, can also appear in the examinations with the approval of the Indian Government.
Unfilled vacancies
Mr Mishra said that NRIs should be made aware of opportunities in Civil Services as, at present, their interest is mainly in professional courses.
Vinay Kumar, who heads a Civil Services coaching institute in Ranchi said, “We get queries from relatives of NRIs in India but we have not really made a conscious pitch to attract students from this category. Now, we plan to do so.”
Industry insiders said that there is no ready data available on the number of NRIs appearing for the test that qualifies a candidate to join the bureaucracy.
Of the 243,003 applicants in 2011, only 910 were recommended for appointment against 1001 vacancies.
Sneh Dubey, who qualified for the Indian Foreign Service this year, said, “Apart from an individual’s own ability, the training imparted by a coaching institute makes a huge difference.”
-India Abroad News Service
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