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Civil services lack fundamental reform, warns former Chief Minister Moily

Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily has expressed concern that India's civil services have not undergone the wholesale restructuring needed to meet contemporary demands. He cautioned that growing centralization of power poses risks to the nation's social and economic progress.

LSN India · 13 September 2026

Civil services lack fundamental reform, warns former Chief Minister Moily

M Veerappa Moily, the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, has raised alarm about the absence of substantial reforms in India's civil services architecture. Speaking on governance challenges, Moily highlighted that the administrative framework continues to operate largely unchanged despite evolving national requirements.

The seasoned Congress politician pointed to an emerging pattern of power concentration at the highest levels of government. "There is a pronounced tendency to centralise now," Moily stated, underscoring his concern about the implications of such administrative structures for the nation's development trajectory.

Moily emphasized that centralized governance models are fundamentally incompatible with sustained progress on either social or economic fronts. He argued that India's federal structure and vast geographical diversity demand a more distributed and accountable administrative system that can respond to regional needs and democratic aspirations.

The remarks come amid ongoing national debate on civil service effectiveness and the need for administrative modernization. Moily's intervention adds weight to calls from various quarters for comprehensive restructuring of government institutions to ensure responsive and inclusive governance across India's diverse regions.