There’s a village in Uttar Pradesh, close to the Nepal border, called Madhopatti. In this village you’ll find 75 households and 47 IAS officers. This village has poor amenities but has still managed to churn out such a high number of civil servants including one household that has four siblings as IAS officers. Goa on the other hand has a very low number of IAS officers, despite many having the qualities to become good administrators. Why does this happen? For years now, people have been complaining about what they perceive as poor administrative services in Goa. Yet, there are hardly any Goans who dare to answer the Civil Services Examinations. In fact, a majority of those who hail from Goa and answer the exams are not Goans by birth, according to Aashay Abhyankar, director of IAS Academy, Pune. If Goa wants to see better administrative services in the future, perhaps these avenues needs to be explored, instead of everyone taking the tried and tested roads towards medical and engineering careers, for instance. Or is it perhaps that getting a government job is by far one of the easiest options? Either way, with administration getting more tech oriented and open, perhaps it’s time for Goans to start taking more interest.
