Electrical engineer, Aditya Srivastava has secured
the top rank in India’s 2023 Union Public Service examination, results of which
have just been announced.
The 26-year-old quit his job
in the private sector three years ago to prepare for the examination. At his
first go in 2022 he finished 136th and was selected for the Indian
Police Service (IPS), but he wanted more, and qualifying in top place means he
has an open invitation to join the prestigious Indian Administrative Service.
"In the initial years, I would like to
implement, to the best of my abilities, schemes that the Government is making
for the people,” Mr Srivastava (pictured) said.
“Later
on, when I reach the stage where I can make policies, I would like to work on
health and education, especially for children."
The first rank holder, known throughout India as
the “topper” is a graduate of IIT Kanpur, and holds a degree in electrical
engineering.
When the results were declared, congratulatory
messages started pouring in, and his colleagues at the IPS Academy posted a
video of the celebration on Instagram.
"It took a bit of a time to sink
in, but when that happened I was ecstatic,” he said.
Animesh
Pradhan and Donuru Ananya Reddy secured the second and third
ranks respectively.
Mr Pradhan overcame adversity to achieve his high
ranking, having lost both his parents in the past six years.
He lost his mother, Aruna to cancer in January
while his father, Prabhakar, the Principal of a college in the colliery town of
Talcher, died in 2017.
“My mother was battling cancer till her last moment
for me. She so wanted me to crack UPSC, and it is so sad she is not here to see
me finally make it,” Mr Pradhan, an Information Systems Officer with Indian
Oil, said.
The third-placed getter and the highest-ranked woman, geology graduate Donuru
Ananya Reddy, listed Indian cricketer, Virat Kohli as her inspiration.
“He is my favourite player, and I admire the
never-give-up kind of attitude he has,” she said.
“Irrespective of results we must work and strive
for our goals.”
A total of 1,016 candidates
cleared the examination and have been recommended for different Central Government
Services, with the top 25 candidates made up of 10 women and 15 men.
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Thousands of
Canadian Federal jobs to go
OTTAWA (April 18): Canada’s Federal Public Service is expected to
decrease by about 5,000 over the next four years as the Government looks to
find savings through attrition.
The recent Federal Budget states that, based on historical rates of
attrition, the number of full-time equivalent positions was anticipated to drop
to around 363,000 from an estimated population of 368,000 as of the end of
March.
“As our country grows and demographics shift, such as Millennials
recently overtaking Baby Boomers as the largest age group, the Government must
adapt to the changing needs of Canadians,” the Budget stated.
When asked by reporters whether attrition would affect any Departments
in particular, President of the Treasury Board, Anita Anand said adjustments
would be made and the impact would be Government-wide.
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IT
trouble blunts Prosecutors’ work
THE HAGUE (April 22): The Netherlands Public
Prosecution Service (OM) is struggling with long-running IT issues which a
senior official described as “disastrous and only getting worse”.
Prosecutors often can’t access their files, open emails,
or communicate with defence lawyers. They are increasingly unable to receive,
send, or open emails and often can’t access their digitised files. Some are
forced to work on weekends when the system seems to operate more smoothly.
In a statement, OM announced it had set up a task
force to resolve the IT difficulties, which are now increasing the already
large backlog in the overloaded judicial system.
It acknowledged the organisation currently could
not offer its employees all the IT resources they needed, and that the
disruptions had a negative effect on job satisfaction.
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China considers higher age
for new bureaucrats
BEIJING
(April 19) The impacts of China’s rapidly ageing society are being felt, with
new proposals to raise the upper age limit for Civil Service applicants from 35
to 40 years.
However,
observers pointed out that the challenge of removing the upper age limit was
complex and based on practical factors. The Civil Service promotion system
usually works with individuals beginning at the lowest level and rising through
the ranks.
If new
recruits were comparatively older when they entered at the bottom level, they
might encounter difficulties and potential discomfort if they had to work with
younger colleagues who have already moved up to higher positions, the observers
said.
Researcher,
Xiomg Bingqi also pointed out that for decades the age of 35 had served as a
critical threshold for employment or reemployment in many sectors and changing
this would require a considerable shift in attitudes throughout society.
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Argentina
seeks closer links with NATO
BUENOS AIRES (April 20): Argentina’s Ministry of Defence has made a
formal application to become a partner of NATO, underlining President Javier
Milei’s determination to align his country with the West.
A letter of intent was delivered to NATO authorities by Defence Minister,
Luis Petri who said the relationship would allow the country to “modernise and
train our forces to NATO standards”.
Observers see this as President Milei making a further statement after
he refused to join the BRICS bloc of nations, made up of Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa.
Others fear this is another step in the gradual realignment of nations
into two opposing and possibly hostile camps.
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‘Mundane’
workload frustrates young officers
TOKYO (April 18): Increasing numbers of young Japanese
are becoming frustrated with the country’s ponderous bureaucratic system as the
number of applicants for Public Service positions reaches record lows.
"I once believed I could join in policy
discussions more freely, but reality proved otherwise. I still had a long way
to go before being able to contribute meaningfully to policy planning. Instead
I was overwhelmed with miscellaneous tasks of little importance,” one former
career-track official said.
His complaint is echoed by many Government personnel
who frequently express frustration over the mundane nature of their work, often
attributing it to the increasing dominance of political leadership.
A common refrain is that young workers are so
consumed by immediate issues that they struggle to allocate time and resources
to draw up long-term visions.
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Finnish officers face
redundancy in ‘restructure’
Finland's Public Service will undergo significant restructuring next year,
according to a source within the Government that leaked the news to
journalists.
The
source said this could lead to thousands of workers being laid off, with the
changes affecting officers at Ministries as well as Public Administration
Agencies.
The
planned cuts are part of the Government's wide-ranging austerity package, as it
looks to find an additional €9
billion ($A14.75 billion) in tax rises and spending cuts.
According
to the Government source, the number of public sector employees has increased
by about 8,000 over the past decade, and the Government wants to trim overall
staff numbers as the country faces a chronic labour shortage in other sectors.
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May
Day date for Malaysian pay review
KUALA LUMPUR (April 20): Results of the
long-awaited review of Malaysian Civil Service pay will be announced on May 1,
Malaysian Labour Day, Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim says.
Announcing the date, the Prime Minister said that amidst
the challenging economic conditions and global geopolitical uncertainties, the
Government was aware of cost-of-living pressures, especially for low-income bureaucrats.
This latest announcement follows weeks of debate
which began in mid-January when President of the Congress of Unions of
Employees in the Public Service (Cuepacs), Adnan Mat said current salaries of
Civil Servants could not cover the burden of expenses following the increase in
the cost of living.
Then earlier this month, Mr Anwar admitted that the
salary structure for the Civil Service had not been looked at for a long time
and promised “good news before the end of this year”.
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Minister
outlines hiring plan
LUXEMBOURG CITY (April 20): Luxembourg’s Civil
Service Minister has announced that the small European State plans to hire almost
1,500 new bureaucrats over the coming year.
Presenting the Civil Service budget to Parliament,
Serge Wilmes said it was proposed to spend roughly €1 billion ($A1.6 billion) over the next 12 months, a €47 million ($A77 million) increase on 2023.
“The new positions include 750 posts for education,
90 for the police, 52 for the army and 570 for other Ministries,” Mr Wilmes
said.
He said more would also be spent on pensions with
about 14,000 former Civil Servants receiving a pension from the State — roughly
4,000 more than in 2015.
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