Tension brews within civil service caste system as IPS cadres get ambitious

Although it's early days, trends seem to indicate that young IPS officers are now eyeing plum positions in other cadres

For every Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, the badge of 'Director, CBI' is invariably the most coveted post. However, that designation could soon be giving way to more ambitious roles if the options given by recent successful civil service candidates is anything to go by. One of their seniors, Ajit Doval, has already earned the post of National Security Advisor, with the rank of a minister of state. The cabinet secretary, the highest post an IAS officer can currently hold, is a constitutional position, but isn't ministerial. 

Those ambitions could fuel tensions at the top rung of the civil service.