The Narendra Modi-led NDA government has done well in prioritizing service reforms and amending civil service rules whereby merit and integrity will get preponderance over seniority. The Union government has issued 18 new ‘commandments’ for its employees and asked them to maintain responsiveness to the public, particularly to the weaker section of the society. In fact, all central government employees have been asked to ensure high ethics, political neutrality and take steps to resolve any conflicts in a way that protects the public interest, as per the recently amended civil service rules.
The Central Civil Service (Conduct) (Third Amendment) Rules, 20I4, notified by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), make it mandatory for employees to make choices, take decisions and make recommendations on merit alone. The government employees shall maintain discipline in the discharge of their duties and be liable to implement the lawful orders duly communicated to them and perform and discharge their duties with highest degree of professionalism and dedication.
Every public servant shall at all time maintain honesty and political neutrality; promote the principles of merit, fairness and impartiality in the discharge of duties; maintain accountability, transparency and responsiveness to the public; take decisions solely in public interest and use or cause to use public resources efficiently and economically, the amended rules said.
They should also maintain courtesy and good behaviour with the public, commit themselves to and uphold the supremacy of the Constitution and democratic values, defend and uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, decency and morality, and declare any private interests relating to their conflicts in a way that protects the public interest, it said.
The employees shall not place themselves under any financial or other obligations to any individual or organization which may influence them in the performance of their official duties, misuse their position as civil servants and not take decisions in order to derive financial or material benefits for themselves, their families or friends. There is also a provision whereby any civil servant can be removed without assigning any reason. Thus, the permanent tag associated with a government job has disappeared. This move is bound to ruffle the bureaucracy. The Indian bureaucracy is well known for its lethargy, incompetence, corrupt practices and is allergic to radical reforms.
Service reforms were long overdue. India runs on the so-called democratic system and politicians have been promising to get “government off the backs of people” since the country’s Independence from colonial rulers over 67 years ago. Interestingly, the Modi-government is pushing through massive civil service reforms with an aim of cutting red tape and creating “a government that works more and costs less”. The present Union government is reported to have identified an “unreformed bureaucracy” as the single most important cause of high levels of corruption in the governance of the country.
General opinion is that corruption in India, has become institutionalized, and needs to be dealt with seriousness. It is not enough for Modi to be personally honest. He must be seen combating corruption with a firm resolve. A politically easy starting point would be an anti-corruption crusade against leeches in the bureaucracy who suck the life blood of citizens. This is the job of the state police, not the Centre, but Modi can ask BJP-run states to launch crusades against corrupt bureaucrats, who are so brazen that they can easily be caught. If the BJP can’t even stand up against corrupt and disfunctioning bureaucrats, it will definitely be booted out at the next election.
Experts have been pointing out that the need of the hour is drastic service reforms in the country’s public administration. The wide intra-district diversity of India, projected by social indices like access to safe drinking water, school retention rates, unemployment data, nutrition levels among women and children are enormous.
There is need to establish a Management Information System (MIS) which can constantly exhibit the status and periodic performance levels related to factors which most affect the lives of people. Schools without teachers, health centres without doctors, non-functional drinking water schemes and the status of employment generating schemes. Also, when critical gaps are found, they have to be tackled by people who have the freedom and authority to innovate, to rearrange schemes to suit local needs, to network between and across sectors, to harness the local government machinery to full advantage. Managerial inputs and supervision are required from those who have the experience and exposure, and can atleast be expected to think out of the box. It requires leadership and devolution of authority.
The District Collector is usually a resourceful officer, but he is preoccupied with juggling the implementation of more than a hundred schemes and responding to rapid-fire instructions which fly in by the hours. The tools and skills to resolve sub-district level micro problems are just not available to him. There is every need therefore to either recruit or relocate civil servant managers so as to coordinate and tackle problems at the sub-district level.
According to experts, to get MIS to function on key indices; to get variance analysis done on the computer by collecting the data through SMS, e-mail, mobile telephones, fax machines, hand delivery, whatever, this needs to be done for every village and every tensil in identified blocks where things are abysmal. It is only then that the micro level lacunae will come into focus – making it possible to find solutions, make interventions and hold the “line” functionaries to account. That is when MLAs and Panchayats, the local media and the affected public will start taking note. Questions will begin to get asked. This is where we need reform.
First, we need to get hold of micro level danger signals continuously. Second, the all India Services and the provincial civil Services need to be restructured, relocated and managed differently. Instead of doing largely repetitive work in state secretariats, the IAS and provincial service officers need to be relocated to work in phases at the district and sub-district levels to manage and coordinate the things that really matter. All this will need consultation with the State governments and immense cajoling and persuasion. It may even need constitutional amendments. But that is where civil service reform would make a difference which can change the face of rural India, and indeed, usher the country into the front ranks of nations in the coming decades of the 21st century.
Will the Modi-led NDA government be able to usher in the much needed reforms in the country’s public administration sector? The Prime Minister himself must answer this question.
(The writer is a freelance journalist)
