This Article is From Oct 08, 2012

Shashi Tharoor for overhaul in Foreign Service recruitment system

Shashi Tharoor for overhaul in Foreign Service recruitment system
Washington: India needs to reorient its current recruitment system to attract the best talent towards its Foreign Service, diplomat-turned politician Shashi Tharoor has said.

"We hire them from one-size-that-fits-all Union Public Service Commission examination, which is the same examination from which we hire our cops, district magistrates, our collectors and our custom officials," Mr Tharoor said, adding that India no longer gets the best of its Foreign Service officials through these exams.

"We need not bureaucrats, but diplomats. We need young people who are curious about the world, who have an aptitude for languages and who are able to frankly talk to foreigners.

"We are not necessarily picking people like that. We really need to reorient our recruitment to be able to do that," Mr Tharoor, 56, said and argued for filling the gap in the Foreign Service today by bringing in people and experts at the mid-level.

Mr Tharoor was speaking at an event held in Washington by the Indian National Overseas Congress to release his recently published book "Pax Indica: India and the world of the 21st century".

The Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram said that the recent decision to expand the annual intake is far from addressing the problem.

"We should fill these gaps right now," he said and argued that if necessary, the Foreign Service should recruit from the private sector, universities, think-tank wherein people can come in mid-career.

This approach of his is not being well received in the Foreign Service.

Calling for a "robust foreign policy", Mr Tharoor said it is laughable" that India has a very small number of Foreign Service officials compared to countries like Singapore and New Zealand.

.