#ByeByeUPSC Protests: Fears Of Government Interference In Civil Services Justified?

Just over a month after they exhaled, having cleared one of the country's toughest exams, this year's recruits for India's civil services are experiencing a new case of nerves. The Prime Minister's Office has proposed in a note last week that the allocation of the new recruits to different services - the police or the foreign service, for example - should be based not just on their marks in the UPSC or Union Public Service Commission exam, but also on the basis of how they perform in a "foundation course" that lasts three months and serves as an orientation exercise. What the Government note doesn't clarify is who would mark the candidates. It seems, according to the UPSC candidates, that its instructors at the training academy in Mussoorie where the course is held will serve as judges. Those who've cleared the exam this year and past UPSC toppers say this will be an arbitrary assessment that's at odds with the transparent procedure followed so far, which allots recruits purely on the marks they scored in the entrance exam. Are the fears of Government interference in civil services justified?