Becoming A Cilvil Servant by Abhay K

 

 

 

Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is unlike any other Civil Service such as the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) or the Indian Police Service (IPS). An Indian Foreign Service officer spends most of his/her time abroad ( two-third of his/her career) and only one third of career in India at the headquarters of the Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) in New Delhi.

 

 

After joining the Indian Foreign Service, for which one has to be generally at the top of the ranking order in Civil Services Examination (CSE) conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) of India, one is sent to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussorie for training for a period of three months where he/she is known as Foreign Service Probationer/ Officer Trainee.

 

 

After completing three months of training, comprising training in multiple disciplines including a foreign language, horse riding and trekking in theHimalayas, a Foreign Service Probationer/Officer trainee moves to the Foreign Service Institute located in New Delhi for further training.

 

 

At the Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi, which is located on Baba Gangnath Marg near Jawaharlal University (JNU) campus, a Foreign Service Probationer undergoes training for a year in modules of International Relations, Indian Foreign Service Pay, Leave and Compensatory Allowances (IFS-PLCA) Rules andForeign Trade. One also travels to the neighbouring South Asian countries or the United Nations to understand the functioning of an Indian mission. An officer-trainee undergoes attachments with the Army, Navy and the Air Force, with the district and the state administration as well as the corporate sector.

 

 

After the end of the training at the Foreign Service Institute, a Foreign Service Probationer is attached with a Division of the Ministry of External Affairs for a period of six months for on-the-job training. After its completion, an IFS probationer is allocated a Compulsory Foreign Language (CFL) such as Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Russian, Spanish or any other language as per the requirements of the Ministry. Afterwards one is posted at an Indian mission as a Third Secretary (Language Trainee) where the probationer learns the allocated foreign language.

 

 

After successful completion of allocated compulsory foreign language, a proficiency test is administered to the Language Trainee by the School of Foreign Languages(SFL), Ministry of Defence, India . Only after successfully passing the proficiency test in a given foreign language, a Foreign Service Probationer is confirmed in the Indian Foreign Service. Usually it takes almost 3 years to be confirmed in the Service from the date of joining the Indian Foreign Service as a Probationer.

 

 

After being confirmed in the Indian Foreign Service, an Indian Foreign Service Officer is posted for 3 years as a Second Secretary in one of the wings (Political, Economic or Commerce, Consular, Administrative or Cultural) of the Embassy or as a Consul at an Indian Consulate. During this period the officer learns political, economic, commercial, cultural, consular or administrative works from his senior colleagues at the Embassy or the Consulate.

 

 

Let me clarify the difference between an Embassy and Consulate at this stage. An Embassy is located in the capital city of a country whereas a Consulate is located in some other important city of that country. A consulate functions under the supervision of an Embassy.

 

 

An IFS officer can take his/her parents abroad but the Government provides for medical facilities of only dependent parents (who have no body else to look after them and have abysmally low income).

 

 

A Second Secretary at an Indian mission gets a decent accommodation of 110 sq meters but has to purchase his/her own car. He/She gets foreign allowance (which increases with promotion) and medical facilities besides government provided accommodation. Government provides for education fees for the children(up to 2 children only, above five years of age) up to 12th standard. Government also provides Representational Grant (RG) to diplomats to entertain the important people of the country where one is posted.

 

 

An average day of a Second Secretary starts at 8 a.m reading local newspapers, driving to office, reading e-mails/fax-messages, making phone calls, writing notes, replying letters, briefing senior officers, following up with the Ministry of External Affairs Headquarters in New Delhi, attending meetings and occasionally attending a reception hosted on the occasion of national day or welcome/farewell of a diplomat by another Embassy, driving back home, spending 2-3 hours with the family and watching/reading news of the day before going to the bed.

 

 

After completing 3 years at an Indian Embassy or Consulate, an IFS officer is transferred to another Embassy or Consulate or to the MEA headquarters in New Delhi. In New Delhi the officer joins as Under Secretary and looks after a particular desk at a Division of the Ministry for the next 3 years. The average day of an Under Secretary is same as an average day of a Second Secretary mentioned above except he/she has to look after several Indian Embassies and Consulates, has to respond to their queries, follow up with them and speak to several people during an average working day. Generally he/she has to work extra hours beyond the office hours (i.e. 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. five days a week) and over the weekends to clear the extra workload. At the Headquarters one gets a decent accommodation provided by the Government in premium locations in New Delhi (Chanakyapuri, K.G. Marg, Gole Market etc.) but has to arrange for one's own transport (transport allowance is given by the Govt.)

 

 

After completion of 9 years in the service from the date of joining the Indian Foreign Service(including probation period), an IFS officer gets automatically promoted to the rank of Deputy Secretary. After spending approximately three years in New Delhi, an IFS officer is posted abroad for the next three years at one of the 163 Indian Missions/Posts abroad which are categorized into A*, A, B, C and C* categories depending on the hardship and standard of living. For example London, New York, Canberra are the places rated as A*, Paris, Rome etc. are categorized as A, Moscow, Cairo etc. are categorized as B, while places like Islamabad, Kathmandu, Khartoum are categorized as C*.

 

 

An IFS officer has to choose three places of his choice out of the number of vacant posts which are circulated by the Ministry from time to time (usually at an interval of six months). If one is lucky then one gets one of the three places of one's choice. Foreign postings are decided by the Foreign Service Board which is headed by the Foreign Secretary.

 

 

After completing one's tenure in a given Mission/Post, the officer is again posted for three years to another Indian Mission/Post located in another country. Govt. pays for the transport of his/her baggage, car and other belongings from one country to another by air, land or sea.

 

 

The promotion chain in the Indian Foreign Service is as follows -

 

 

While abroad at an Indian Mission/Post-

 

 

Third Secretary(Language Trainee); -> Second Secretary: -> First Secretary; ->Counsellor (After 13 yrs of service); ->Minister (After 17 yrs of service) -> Ambassador

 

 

While in India at MEA Headquarters-

 

 

Attache; Under Secretary-> Deputy Secretary (9 yrs of Service)-> Director (13 yrs of Service)-> Joint Secretary (17 yrs of Service)-> Additional Secretary-> Secretary

 

 

On average it takes 9 years of service to get to the rank of Deputy Secretary, 13 years of service to become a Director and 17 years of service to get to the rank of Joint Secretary. Promotions up to the Director/Counsellor rank are automatic and time bound while promotion to the next level i.e. Joint Secretary is based on the Confidential Annual Performance Appraisal Reports (CAPAR) of the last ten years. Generally a Joint Secretary becomes an Ambassador abroad (in recent times Director rank officers have also been given Ambassadorial assignments) and the Head of a Division at the MEA Headquarters in New Delhi.

 

 

CAPARs are written by the reporting officer and reviewed by a higher ranking officer than the reporting officer. An officer has a right to appeal to the Ministry if he/she does not agree with the report given by the reporting or reviewing officer.

 

 

A Foreign Service officer can serve as a Regional Passport Officer(RPO) or can go on deputations to the Ministry of Defence, Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Commerce, Department of Space or the United Nations, World Bank etc.

 

 

The author is a poet-diplomat who has been awarded SAARC Literature Award and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He has penned the Earth Anthem and first ever South Asian Anthem. Views expressed are personal. You may share your thoughts @theabhayk

Done