Initiatives on Administrative Reforms

On the basis of the recommendations of the Alagh Committee, the Surinder Nath Committee, the Yugandhar Committee and the Hota Committee, specific proposals were considered by the Core Group on Administrative Reforms (CGAR). A number of initiatives have since been undertaken. Some of these are :

(i) Mandatory Mid-Career Training for IAS officers

It has been decided to introduce a new system of mandatory Mid-Career training for IAS officers. This training is proposed to be provided in three phases as indicated below :-

Participation in these programmes would be a necessary requirement for promotions and career advancements.

Proposals have been received from reputed international and Indian institutions for undertaking the work of detailed design and delivery of each of the Phases of the Mid-Career programme. The programme is likely to be launched later this year.

(ii) Introduction of PARs for IAS officers

The present Annual Confidential Report system is being replaced by Performance Appraisal Report (PAR) through which more objective evaluation of the performance of senior officers is proposed to be introduced. It will also be utilized as a mechanism for career development and form a basis for promotions, empanelment and postings. At the beginning of each year, the appraise and Reporting Officer may prepare a work plan for the coming year setting forth the key tasks to be accomplished in order of priority, the specific deliverables for each task in quantitative, financial and quality terms, and the key assumptions made in arriving the plan This work plan will work as the basis of Performance Appraisal. An Eminent Persons Group would ascertain as an institutionalised means for ascertaining the reputation of a civil servant. These reports would be useful for placement to sensitive appointments, empanelment, counseling of the officer, etc.

(iii) Promotion of IAS officers based on two Models –
Model (A) for selection of officers up to the Super Time Scale and
Model (B) for promotion of officers beyond that level.

Under Model (A) election and promotion to higher positions would be on the basis of satisfactory completion of required training programmes and evaluation of Performance Appraisal reports. The reports of the Eminent Persons Group should also be taken into account for the purpose of promotions.

Under Model (B) the evaluation of PARs for last ten years along with weight age to EPG reports should be the criteria for promotion to higher levels with edit provisions that attributes like attitude to work, decision making ability, initiative, integrity etc. should be given 80% weight age.

(2) Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration

Prime Minister had announced introduction of Civil Services Awards while addressing the Conference of District Collectors on 20.5.2005. Accordingly, a Scheme has been finalized with the approval of the Prime Minister, to introduce ‘Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration’ to recognize the extraordinary innovative work done by the officers of the Central and State Governments.

The awards will be announced on January, 26 each year. But it has been decided to announce the awards for the year 2006, by May end.

(3) Public Service Law

On the directions of the Cabinet Secretariat, the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances has been working on a draft Public Service Law. Prime Minister’s Office had also made certain suggestions in July, 2005 with regard to the contents of the proposed Public Service Law. A preliminary draft Pubic Service Bill drawn up by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances was considered by the Core Group on Administrative Reforms (CGAR) in its meeting held under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary on 10.1.2006. After detailed discussions, Cabinet Secretary directed that the draft be revised keeping in view the suggestions made with the emphasis on good governance, delivery of services and structural changes needed to achieve these. The revised draft was discussed in a meeting of the CGAR held on 21.3.2006 wherein some minor suggestions were made. It was further decided to refer the draft Bill to the second Administrative Reforms Commission for its comments.

The draft Bill provides for the following :-

1. Values of Public Service and their periodical review
2. Drawing up of a Public Service Code of Ethics and punishment for violation thereof
3. Drawing up of a Public Service Management Code for promoting government policies & good governance and consequences for its non-compliance
4. Appointment to public services in a transparent manner.
5. Establishment of a Performance Management System with detailed mechanism for setting benchmarks and review of the performance indicators
6. Bringing out an Annual Performance Report by each department and publishing the same for information of general public.
7. Establishment of a independent Central Public Service Authority for good governance which will advise the government on the above items. The authority would draw up the Code of Ethics and give guidelines for management of various public services. In addition, the authority will recommend to the Central Government policies on classification of service, tenure of public servants etc.
   

(4) Second Administrative Reforms Commission

Government of India constituted the second Administrative Reforms Commission on 31.8.2005 to prepare a detailed blueprint for revamping the public administration system. The Commission has, inter alia, been requested to look into the following areas and make its recommendations :-

1. Organisational Structure of the Government of India
2. Ethics in Governance
3. Refurbishing of Personnel Administration
4. Strengthening of financial management systems
5. Steps to ensure effective administration at the state level
6. Steps to ensure effective District Administration
7. Local Self Government / Panchayati Raj Institutions
8. Social Capital, Trust and Participative public service delivery
9. Citizen-centric Administration
10. Promoting e-governance
11. Issues of Federal Polity
12. Crisis Management
13. Public Order

Before taking up the detailed analysis on a subject, the Commission identifies an Institute of national eminence to provide technical backstopping. For example, the National Judicial Academy provided technical backstopping to the Commission on the issues of freedom of information. In order to elicit views on the subject of all stakeholders, workshops are held in which a cross section of stakeholders participate. Besides, questionnaires are circulated to a cross section of society to get their views. So far, the Commission held public hearings, press conferences and meetings with State Government officials in Hyderabad, Jammu, Chennai & Mumbai. In addition, eight workshops on various subjects were held.

The Commission is in the process of finalizing its recommendations on two subjects namely “Freedom of Information” and “Strengthening of Financial Management Systems in NREGS”, and would be submitting its reports shortly. This will be followed by two more reports covering issues of “public order” and “crisis management”.

(5) Model Code of Governance

A day-long Conference of Chief Secretaries was held on 2.11.2004 under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary focusing on good governance, administrative reforms and related issues. The Conference agreed that a Model Code of Governance would be drawn up which would enshrine the fundamental principles and benchmarks of good governance. The Code would look at governance from the point of view of the citizen and outline the framework for good governance, based on identifiable benchmarks for comparison and evaluation, which could be a model for States to follow. Accordingly, a Model Code of Governance, which is in the form of a road-map for the administration was finalized and sent to all Chief Secretaries of States/UTs on 14.4.2005. The main components of the Model Code cover action points under the heads (i) Improving Service Delivery, (ii) Development of Programmes for Weaker Sections and Backward Areas, (iii) Technology and System Improvement, (iv) Financial Management and Budget Sanctity, (v) Accountability and Transparency, (vi) Public Service Morale and Anti-Corruption Measures and (vii) Incentivising Reforms.

(6) Governance Issues at District level

A two-day National Conference of District Collectors on governance issues and improvement of delivery systems at district level was held on 19 & 20 May, 2005 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. A total of 237 Collectors from 29 States and 4 UTs participated in the Conference.

Presentations were made by the Collectors before the Prime Minister on 20.5.2005 based on the summary of conclusions of regional workshops held on the following eight identified themes :-

1. Delivery of Services of Education and Health Sectors
2. Delivery of Services and Role of Local institutions
3. Modernization of District Administration and Capacity Building
4. Integrated Implementation of Rural Development Programmes at District Level
5. Development of Infrastructure, Urban Renewal and Habitat Issues.
6. Natural Resource Management and Environmental Concerns
7. Right to Information and Transparency in Government
8. Public Private Partnership in Governance at District Level

Prime Minister in his address to the Conference on 20.5 2005 recalled the onerous responsibilities being discharged by them in difficult circumstances. He called upon the Collectors to discharge their duties with competence and to be partisan towards the poor, the weaker sections, minorities, women and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and all such disadvantaged people who need support of the State.

32 Action Points which were identified out of the various recommendations have been forwarded to the concerned nodal Ministries for initiating necessary action.

(7) Service Delivery Excellence Project

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances has developed a model for conceptualising and implementing a scheme for recognizing Excellence in Service Delivery in Government Organizations. The scheme has been tailor made for government organizations with specific focus on citizen interface and expectations and is slated for implementation in the Ministries in a phased manner. The model synthesizes the ground realities in India with International Best Practices and is based on proper implementation of citizen’s charters, effectiveness of public grievance redress mechanism and status of service delivery enablers from the citizen’s perspective and efforts made by the department in improving their own capability to deliver.

The model has been tested among several organizations and was presented before workshops of NGOs, Citizen Groups and Government Departments. These discussions have eventually culminated in finalization of the certification requirements. Using the tools provided by this model, government agencies can self assess and improve quality of their service delivery and over a period of time graduate to a level where an objective evaluation can be done and excellence can be publicly recognized.

(8) Governance Knowledge Centre

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances has taken up an initiative to design and develop a web-based repository of good governance initiatives and best practices.

The Governance Knowledge Centre(GKC) encompasses web based Digital Repository as also a support team comprising domain experts, resource persons, analysts along with technical professionals who continuously ensure dynamic updation of Knowledge Resources and Case Studies relevant to the profile of users visiting the repository.

Digital Repository is envisaged as a tool to enable capture, organize, store for easy retrieval of digital contents with respect to the various selected case studies of “Good Governance Practices” in India and abroad.

The knowledge shared by the practitioners would facilitate in better comprehension of the nuances of administrative and management practices and pave the way for taking up appropriate interventions to improve governance standards which in turn would help improve delivery of services to the citizens.

GKC consists of :

• Case Studies of Good Governance Practices in India and Abroad
• Web based Discussion Forum to discuss various issues and solutions amongst practitioners of Governance
• Assessment and Benchmarking of select Good Governance Practices/Cases
• Publishing of Award winning Knowledge Resources/Case Studies
• Directory of Resource persons under various Governance Themes
• Directory of Organisations involved in the various projects of Good Governance in India
• Publishing of New and Hot Topics
• Current Events
• Links to collaboration partners of GKC
• Classification / Search by categories and key words
• E-Mail updates to Subscribers
• Opinion Poll
• Help Desk

GKC – a Digital Repository together with Portal for District Collectors/ District Magistrates was launched by the Prime Minister during the National Conference of Collectors held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 19-20 May, 2005. So far 90 case studies have been uploaded.

(9) e-Governance Initiatives

National e-Governance Plan

The Government’s National Common Minimum Programme accords priority to improving the quality of basic governance and in that context proposed to promote e-governance on a massive scale in areas of concern to the common man. The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) has been formulated by the Department of Information Technology (DIT) and Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DAR&PG), keeping in view the above objective. The NeGP presently consists of 8 components and 26 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) to be implemented at the Central, State and Local Government levels. The Mission Mode Projects are given hereunder:-

National Informatics Centre

NIC has established a Nationwide ICT Network (NICNET) - with Gateway Nodes in all Central Government Departments (excluding Defence Ministry), State/UT Secretariats (28+7), and about 600 Districts Administrations for ICT services including Internet, Electronic Mail and World Wide Web facilities. NIC has developed many e-Governance applications in the area of Judiciary, Agriculture, Rural Development, Land Records, Transport, Passport Services, Sales Tax, Customs and Excise, Property Registration, Civil Pension/Social Welfare Pension, Public Grievances, Accounts etc. and these applications are already operational.

National Institute of Smart Government

National Institute of Smart Government (NISG) has been incorporated as a Section 25 (not for profit) Company under the Indian Company Act 1956. It is a joint venture of Government, NASSCOM (National Association of Software Service Companies) and the Private Sector. NISG is expected to play a pivotal role in channelising private sector resources and competencies into the national e-Governance efforts. NISG has its headquarters in Hyderabad and is already operational.

State Wide Area Network

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the Scheme for establishing State Wide Area Networks (SWANs) across the country in 29 States/ 6 UTs at a total outlay of Rs.3, 334 crores with Central Assistance component of Rs.2,005 crores over a period of five years. Under this scheme it is proposed to provide Central Assistance to States for establishing SWANs from State Headquarters up to the Block level with a minimum bandwidth capacity of 2 Mbps. SWAN proposals from 20 States/ UTs have been sanctioned so far with a total outlay of Rs.1384 crores

State Data Centres

State Data centre has been identified as one of the important element of the core infrastructure for supporting e-Governance initiatives under NeGP. It is proposed to create data repositories/data centres in various states so that a common secured data storage could be maintained to serve host of e-Governance applications. The broad policy guidelines for Technical and Financial assistance to the States for setting up of Data Centres are under formulation and the scheme will be taken up during 2006-07.

Integrated service Delivery Centres – CSCs

A Draft Frame Work for establishment of 100,000 CSCs across the country has been finalized and posted in the DIT Website to make it available to all stakeholders. National Level Service Agency (NLSA) has been selected to assist DIT in formulating the scheme for the establishment of Common Service Centres (CSCs). The programme is proposed to be implemented through an entrepreneur-driven, Public Private Partnership model. A detailed scheme has been drafted and put up to the competent authority for approval of the same.

India Portal

The India Portal is envisaged to be a unified portal for accessing information in the Government Sector (Executive, Judiciary, Legislature and Constitutional Authorities), for electronic delivery of citizen services and a major facilitator for implementing e-governance initiatives. This project is being implemented by the NIC. Project Review cum Steering Committee has been constituted. The First version of Portal is operational now and could be visited at http://india.gov.in.

Service Delivery Gateway

This Gateway would enable standards based communication linkages between the back end applications in the departments with the Service Access providers and will facilitate joined up services. DIT through the National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) has initiated a pilot project for the service delivery gateway. A Proof of Concept of the Gateway Pilot has been built and demonstrated. Gateway Specifications and Request for Proposal is currently being carried out.

(10) Citizens’ Charter

A Conference of Chief Ministers presided over by the Prime Minister of India was organized and held by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances on 24 May, 1997. An “Action Plan for Effective and Responsive Administration” was adopted in this Conference where it was decided that the Central and State Governments would formulate Citizens’ Charters for Departments and Offices starting with those which have a large public interface.

Citizens’ Charter of an organization indicates the rights and services available to the citizens, procedures how these will be delivered, remedy that will be available in case of non-deliverance and obligations of citizens in return. The Citizens’ Charter does not by itself create new legal rights but helps in enforcing existing rights. This is a document based on mutual trust between the organization and the citizen.

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances is the nodal point in Government of India in respect of policy formulation and monitoring of effective implementation of Citizens’ Charter initiative in Central Government as well as in State Governments/ UT Administrations.

As a result of constant persuasion, till now, 111 Citizen’s Charters have been formulated by various Ministries / Departments / Organisations in the Central Government. Similarly, in the States / UT Administrations, 668 Citizen’s Charters have been formulated so far. A Handbook on Citizen’s Charter has also been brought out by the Department to serve as a guide for formulation of Citizen’s Charter.

(11) Redress of Grievances

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances is the nodal agency for initiating, implementing and monitoring policy guidelines on handling of public grievances in Government of India. Detailed policy guidelines have been formulated by the Department of AR & PG for redress of grievances by the Ministries and Departments of GOI.

For any matter of discontent arising out of functioning of government organization, a citizen can approach the concerned department of government for prompt redress of his grievance. If the grievances are not redressed by the concerned department, a citizen may approach the Directorate of Grievances, Cabinet Secretariat or the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances for redressal of his grievances. The grievances are redressed in the government in a decentralized manner and the concerned Ministries/Departments are responsible for taking action on the grievance petitions pertaining to the Ministries/Departments.

While giving prompt acknowledgement, the petitioners are informed that the remedial action would be taken by the concerned Ministry/Department that would correspond with him and that the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances is following it up. For speedy and effective redressal of public grievances, a mechanism of ‘Fast Track’ is also in place. Complaints of serious nature as forwarded by the Prime Minster’s Office, MP/MLA references and complaints received by MOS (PP) and Secretary (P) and about 30% of the serious complaints received in the Department are put on ‘Fast Track’. The cases are pursued intensively with regular interventions at the highest level for speedy redressal.

The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances in consultation with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) has developed a uniform software called Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (PGRAMS) for installation in various Central Government Ministries/Departments. It has been installed in a number of Ministries/Departments/ Organisations. The citizens lodge their grievances on this website and can also monitor the action taken thereon by accessing the website (http://darpg-grievance.nic.in).

A Standing Committee of Secretaries for Grievance Redressal headed by the Cabinet Secretary conducts review of grievance redressal mechanism of different Ministries/Departments of Government of India.