India Could Foster More Billionaires, Olympic Gold Medalists, and Scientists by Shifting Focus from UPSC: PM's Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal

Sanjeev Sanyal, an economist and advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has stirred a debate by proposing that unless an individual is genuinely interested in administrative roles, preparing for the UPSC exam might not be the most productive use of time. Instead, he contends that India needs more entrepreneurs aspiring to become billionaires like Elon Musk or Mukesh Ambani. He suggests that the energy expended on preparing for the UPSC could be better directed towards fields such as sports, entertainment, medicine, entrepreneurship, or science.

During "The Neon Show" podcast hosted by Siddhartha Ahluwalia, Sanyal, a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), expressed his views and advocated for a shift in mindset among young people.

He argues that too many young individuals are investing their prime years preparing for the UPSC exam, which he believes yields limited benefits given the small number of positions available. He said, “I'm not saying you don't want people to take the exam. Yes, every country needs a bureaucracy, that's perfectly fine. But I think lakhs of people are spending their best years trying to crack an exam where a tiny number of a few 1000 people actually are going to get it makes no sense.”

Sanyal emphasized the need for more first-generation billionaires who can drive job creation and innovation. He advocates that young people should look at other alternatives. He said, “At the end of it if you must dream, surely you should dream to be Elon Musk, or Mukesh Ambani, why did you dream to be Joint Secretary?”

“We need to get used to Indian billionaires. Our problem is not Indian billionaires, but that we don't have enough of them. I want more billionaires, new first generation billionaires, they will generate the jobs, they will generate the energy, and there should be a continuous churn of them,” he said.

Sanyal asserts that redirecting this energy towards other endeavors, such as sports, filmmaking, medicine, entrepreneurship, and scientific research, would yield greater societal benefits. He explained, “If they put the same energy into doing something else, we will be winning more Olympic gold medals, we will be seeing better movies being made, we'd see better doctors, we would see more entrepreneurs, scientists, and so on.”

He also deems the pursuit of a bureaucratic career a potential waste of time for those lacking genuine interest in administrative roles, noting the monotony associated with such positions. He added, “Life in bureaucracy is not meant for everybody and large parts of it, as with any profession, are largely dull and boring, and about passing files up and down. And unless you really wanted to do it, and you know, you're not going to be particularly happy with it.”

Drawing parallels with regional aspirations in India, Sanyal said: “Just like Bengal aspired for pseudo intellectuals and union leaders, Bihar aspired to small-time, local goon politicians, or UPSC. So in an environment where those are the role models, you can either become a local goon or basically become a civil servant. Now even that (UPSC), although it's better than being a goon, even that is a poverty of aspiration.”

“One of the problems of a place like Bihar, is not that it had bad leaders. Bad leaders are a reflection of what that society aspires for. Thankfully, across the country, our aspirations are changing,” he added.