India's global dreams hit by quality and quantity of its diplomats

Aspiring for a major role in global affairs and to rub shoulders with super powers, India lacks both numbers and quality of its diplomatic staff. Against 20,000 American diplomats and 4500 Chinese and 5,700 Japanese envoys, India has just 912 foreign service officers. The size of total diplomatic corps stands at 2,700, which also includes those from the feeder services and supporting staff from various ministries.

In a presentation to the 31-member parliamentary standing committee on external affairs headed by Congress MP and former UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor, ministry of external affairs (MEA) said they have embarked on an expansion plan to overcome shortage of manpower covering a period of 10 years from 2008 to 2018, providing creation for 514 posts. But the panel described the plan inadequate to bridge the critical gap between the diplomatic requirements and available manpower. Further, as there are just two years for the expansion plan to conclude.

The panel has also highlighted the deterioration in the quality of recruits to the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), even when the lure and appeal of the civil services has increased. It was observed that unlike in the past, when candidates with highest ranks were opting the IFS, it has been a matter of surprise that low ranked candidates were opting the foreign service. "This development is both a symptom and a reason for the erosion of prestige in the IFS," the parliamentary panel said.

Pointing out that the relative charm of the IFS has waned with people in the top 10 not opting for the IFS, it was found that IFS toppers in 2014 and 2015 were ranked 24th and 14th respectively in the overall merit list. Similarly the last person to have made it to the IFS from the unreserved category was ranked 114th in the 2015 list.

While admitting that the existing civil service examination was the best way to choose officers, the panel found that the aptitude of the candidates for foreign services was not being property assessed in the exam. "With a view to ensure that selected candidates match the profile for a career diplomat, the committee is of the considered opinion that the ministry and DoPT should examine all possible options such as conducting a separate examination for the foreign service or introducing an additional paper or according more weightage to the interview/personality test," recommended the panel.

Further, over the years the space for non-career ambassadors has considerably shrunk. In the past, a number of illustrious ambassadors who served with distinction were drawn from outside, who had excelled in the field of community affairs, diaspora issues, foreign policy, area study, literature, journalism etc.

Number of diplomats

United States: 20,000

China: 4,500

Japan: 5,700

Brazil: 2,000

Italy: 910

South Korea: 1,250

France: 6,000

Singapore: 790