The question is why an IAS officer was in an purely operational role in which local experience counts and not a policy one which requires great analytical skills. The present incumbent is not IAS and seems to be doing a better job (certainly no worse).
Since this discussion has gone beyond simply IAS, to involve all government positions, to have an informed discussion, I visted the websites of the Goa Govt and the Kerala Govt. to see if I could figure out the proportion of "locals" in high-ranking administrative positions. Note that I chose Kerala randomly, and my definition of "local" is based on last names common to the state - definitely not a scientific basis
% locals
Kerala Goa
Chief secretaries, Secretaries 40% 0
Collectors 40% 0
Jt Secretaries >60% 36%
Under secretaries >60% 92%
Directors/Commissioners ? ?The >60% indicates that I stopped counting, since the conclusion was clear. What this tells us is that while the results in first 2 categories might be expected since Goa has no IAS cadre and few appear for IAS, the other postions (jt and under secretaries) which are not reserved exclusively for IAS are also disproportionately filled by non-Goans. We already know that even director positions are occasionally filled by non-Goans.
BTW I think this is unnecessarily being made into a Goan vs. Indian vs. Portuguese issue. Whether or not you consider Goans as Indians or not, a simple look at the stats above should tell us that far more Keralites govern themselves than do Goans. I believe that Kerala is ahead of Goa on every human development indicator except income. More importantly, I know that Kerala has made more progress on every indicator since 1947 than Goa has since 1961 (at least in education for sure). Ergo, notwithstanding political will (which is probably equally bad in both places), I think that there's something to be said about local expertise to solve local problems. Maybe having family and friends locally that one care's about, or the fact that one would have to stick around to face the consequences of one's action (or inaction) makes one do one take one's job more seriously..I don't know...
May I also point out that the statement below is not relevant to the discussion, and is also patently false? Easterly's (Former senior advisor World Bank) book "The elusive quest for growth.." suggests that Goa was subsidized (as opposed to looted) by the Portuguese. I happen to know because I was forced to read it for a class. Since he is neither Indian nor Portuguese and deals in facts for a living, I trust his account. In any event, one can always consider Portuguese citizenship as a kind of reparations for the looting, eh? =)
cheers,
Daryl
Someone should tell this Collaco that the "thousands of Goans" who were part of the Portuguese administration were basically helping that regime to plunder the wealth of India.
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