The Foreign Service Journal, June 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2014 27 services, where appointment to high rank is decoupled from length of service, and is contingent on performance. Japan’s service shares India’s attachment to seniority. Indian ambassadorial appointments are almost exclusively from the Indian Foreign Service cadre. Even the few “politi- cal” nominees are drawn mainly from among retired officials, whether IFS or the armed services. Still, the distribution of senior (equivalent to secretary or additional secretary) ambassadors does not quite match the relative importance of foreign capitals, as seen fromNew Delhi. We find senior ambassadors at locations of obvious impor- tance, be it London, Moscow, Paris or Washington, D.C., but once in a while, Beijing, Berlin, Colombo, Dhaka or Islamabad receives a specially chosen Grade II ambassador. We also find some Grade I diplomats heading consulates in the United States or second- tier embassies; conversely, MEA sends those who are competent to other key locations, even if they happen to be in Grade II or III. Further, a few young officers with barely 15 years of service are now appointed as ambassadors. In a situation where even the best cannot get “fast track” promotions, this indirectly restores equity. IFS morale is relatively high overall, helped by new practices such as annual conferences of ambassadors. But no system of grievance redress, much less a dissent mechanism, exists. As for professional recognition, in 2012 the family of the outstanding diplomat, S.K. Singh, put forward an annual “diplomat of the year” award, wisely conferred on young or mid-level officials. Increasing Professionalization MEA has implemented incremental reform, but now needs action across a broad front to derive full potential from latent strengths. To that end, it recently invited young officers to come up with ideas, and is now studying their reports. This is the same method that the United Kingdom and Germany successfully used some 10 to 15 years ago, on the premise that it is the “youngsters” in the Service who have both the biggest stake in reform and the freshest thinking to offer. Small also equates with nimble; it helps Indian diplomacy to punch far above its weight.