The Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the formation of a new service named Indian Enterprise Development Service (IEDS) in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to “achieve the vision of Startup India, Stand-up India and Make in India”.
“The Service has been created by absorbing 11 trades, recruitment to which had been done differently, following different rules. All these trades were created in the 1950s and 1960s when industries got developed under the regulation regime. The work of the officers of the department has changed over the years and there is need to have a cadre which works for the development of enterprise and thinks holistically,” said Union MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra.
The Indian Enterprise Development Service, to start with, will have a cadre strength of 617 officers, 6 of which will be at the level of joint secretaries. These officers will man 72 field offices of the Development Commissioner and the headquarters in Delhi. Out of the 72 field offices, 30 are MSME development institutes and 28 branch institutes.
Cabinet also approved the Cadre Review of Indian Telecommunications Service. This Group A service will now have an apex level post of Director General, Telecom. “The approval would result in strengthening of the cadre structure both at the DoT headquarters and in the field units on the basis of functional requirement. It will also meet the requirement of skilled manpower in BSNl/MTNl. This will reduce the existing stagnation of ITS officers,” said the official statement.
Indian Telecom Service Group ‘A’ was constituted in 1965 to meet the policy, technical and managerial functions of the Government in areas related to telecommunications. Selected through Engineering Services examination conducted by Union Public Service Commission, the officers of ITS are working in management and administrative positions in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and its PSUs (BSNl, MTNl and TCIl), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Telecom Dispute Settlement Administrative Tribunal (TDSAT), and also in other Central Ministries/ Departments/Autonomous Bodies and State Governments on deputation.