ABSTRACT
A Foreign Service Institute, where the probationer might spend the entire two years of institutional training, would make instructional phasing much easier and would help trainees to see themselves as professionals with a very special and critical job. A Foreign Service Institute would also help to utilize the valuable experience of the many diplomats emeritus in the instruction of new recruits, a resource which must be utilized if Indian diplomacy is to learn from its errors and improve. Socializationsl, integrative, and elite-formative forces within the Indian Foreign Service community (IFS) are not as strong as in the American and British foreign policy organizations. The induction of IFS(B) officers into IFS ranks, similar to the Department of States's policy of lateral entry, is a way of easing interbranch tension while also easing the manpower problem. Promotion is made strictly on merit for IFS grades I-V, and on the basis of seniority-cum-merit for the lower grades.
