Cadre merger conundrum

The rationale behind recent merger of the economic cadre with the administration cadre of the civil service is not a well thought-out move. An article on this issue by Mr. Osman Ali published by this newspaper recently exposed some causes and possible consequences of the move. It has been a blow to professionalism of the economic cadre, meant for development planning and economic policy formulation. The merger is done following a promotion spree in the administration cadre far beyond sanctioned posts.

The personnel of the two cadres have completely different career paths. While administration cadre officials are trained mainly to deal with administrative management and law and order issues, the economic cadre officials focus on development planning, including long-term policy formulation, spearheaded by the Planning Commission. Mr. Osman Ali cautioned that the commission would turn into a completely consultant-based organisation. The policymakers should have considered that a dumping ground for a large number of administration cadre officials would be the Planning Commission which cannot be manned by 'jack of all trades, master of none' kind of officials. Instead, alongside posting of economic cadre officials, direct recruitment of talented professionals with proven competence for the commission may bring dynamism in the nation's development process.

Md. Azizul Karim

Shaymoli, Dhaka