If you think politics is the last resort of the scoundrels, browse through the list of candidates in the fray for the Assembly elections in Mizoram.

This time, around 20 candidates were either in various prestigious services in the Union government or are former army officers.

This in addition to a host of doctors, retired engineers and scholars who have opted for electoral politics.

The United Democratic Alliance, which is led by a retired brigadier and a former IPS officer, has fielded two former army officers, two retired IAS officers, a retired officer from the Indian Revenue Service and a former IPS officer.

The Congress has given tickets to two former IAS officers, a former IPS officer, a former officer from the Indian Custom Service and a retired officer from the Indian Postal Service.

Another retired IAS officer has been contesting as an Independent. The list is exhaustive.

No wonder till recently it was said of Mizoram that the state has only one flourishing industry — the one that produces civil servants.

State chief secretary Haukhum Hauzel said from 1966 to 1990 at least two to three Mizo names used to appear in the list of IAS every year.

But the trend is declining and it is bound to be reflected even in politics. Hauzel said if Generation X continued to shy away from competitive examinations, the state would be swamped by non-Mizo bureaucrats once the present batches of IAS and IPS retire.

The creation of job opportunities in the state after Mizoram became the 23rd state of the Indian Union in February 1987, has taken away the zeal from the youths to venture out to join the central services, said a former chief secretary and a Congress leader Lalkhama.

“Instead of staying in a small flat taking a job say in Calcutta, these days youths are preferring to stay with the family at home where they can have a sprawling house with a kitchen garden. Life is easier at home,” he added.

Another serving bureaucrat pointed out that the state services created after the statehood too are absorbing a lot of talented youths.

Whatever the reason, the political parties are determined this time to regain the lost glory of the state in the IAS world as well as placing its foot firmly in the corporate world.

The Congress and the UDA have promised to set up coaching centres in the state to train the aspiring civil servants if they are voted to power. The ruling Mizo National Front, going a step further, said it would train the youths for the IITs and the management studies apart from civil services. With the job saturating in the state, it is perhaps time again for the Mizo youths to look beyond the blue mountain.