The Center has done well to appoint the World Bank's water and sanitation specialist, Parameshwaran Iyer, as the new secretary of its drinking water and sanitation department. In the World Bank, everyone calls this program manager and lead water and sanitation specialist as Param, a 1981 batch IAS. It is also expected that this appointment may encourage many other former IAS officers currently specializing in key sectors such as health, infrastructure, finance, banking etc. either in India or abroad,, to explore a second innings in the corridors. Ditto for the Delhi government that has given PWD engineer-in-chief Sarvagya Srivastava the charge of secretary, Public Works Department. However, both the centre and states must move beyond sporadic and isolated appointments of domain experts into institutionalising lateral entry in senior positions. Countries such as the US, UK, Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands appoint people to identified senior positions in government from a wide pool that includes qualified personnel from all walks. That's the ideal way to pick the right person for the job. As India rapidly globalises, many fields will also become increasingly complex, requiring competence developed outside the government. A person who has all through her career looked after culture and human resources development may not be best equipped to become the finance secretary just because she is an IAS officer. India should move away from a closed system to an open system The point really is to free the administrative machinery from the control of 'services'. Sensibly, the second administrative reforms commission had suggested a shift from a career-based approach to a post-based approach in the top tier of government jobs. but, unfortunately, it was not followed up. Civil servants must compete with domain experts from outside government, apart from other cadres within, for senior positions. The best way to go about this is to assign personnel to a common pool after some years of service in their specific areas. Further promotions should be contingent on their making the cut for specific posts. India is unable to spent its defence modernisation budget, says a report in this newspaper. Out of a current year allocation of Rs 63,675 crore, 40 percent remained remained unspent by end-December. This is bad not just for upgrading defence capability but also for Indian research and development and for Indian manufacturing. It is time defence re-imagined its entire strategy for procurement, using a portion of its typically large outlays to stimulate R&D in universities and specialised labs and private companies, and to give Indian companies, big and small, a chance to become suppliers of parts and equipment on a scale much large then what obtains today. The key is to create an Indian equivalent of the Americans Darpa.