2016 is Modi’s Year of Governance Reform _ Sunday Guardian

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The year end meeting with Secretaries was aimed at kick-starting the process of change in ofcial attitudes for bettergovernance.

015 has been an Annus Horribilis for the Bharatiya Janata Party, with the party losing ground in key

states, including to the often-derided Congress. However, ofcials concerned with major aspects ofthe governance mechanism say that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is condent that within 2016, the

quality of administration will increase to a level such that negativity (about the performance of his team) willmute. The year-end meeting with Secretaries to Government was aimed at kick-starting the process ofchange in the ofcial attitudes needed for success towards better governance, and several more interactionsare planned in the New Year. They say that 2016 will be the Year of Governance Reform so far as the Modigovernment is concerned, beginning a period of 21st century administration in place of the present colonial

model, which dates back to the 19th century, and has not been replaced so far. Since taking ofce on 26 May2014, ofcials say that PM Modi has spent several hours each day studying the ways in which the all-Indiaadministrative machinery has been functioning and how it can be transformed, and according to a key ofcial,

is now ready with a comprehensive road map for change. According to these sources, major elements in PMModis plan include:

(a) The requirement that competence, and not seniority, be made important for career advancement. Inparticular, younger ofcials in their late 40s or early 50s be placed in positions which formerly were thepreserve of those just about to retire from service. Such ofcials, being close to superannuation, seldom haveany interest other than serving out the remainder of their term without incident, and are in many instanceshostile to innovation and even to suggestions from their juniors in a bureaucratic culture in which seniority isa fetish. Examples of the promotion of relatively younger ofcers to key slots are that of the Director of the

SPG and the Scientic Advisor to the Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister), these ofcials point out. PrimeMinister Modi has himself been very quiet in public about such moves, preferring to let results speak forthemselves in such matters.

(b) Rather than continue with a virtual caste system within the government machinery, in which the IAS almosttotally monopolises the top positions, an effort has been made to discover talent from other services as well,so that the pool from which high-level recruitments get made is expanded to cover all the Central services. At

present, the IAS has regarded top posts across the government as its right, with the IPS an Also Ran in the racefor prize posts. Other (i.e. non-IAS, IFS, IPS) Central services are, in effect, considered below the IAS, which

itself is given precedence over the IPS, with state-level administrative services forming a still lower tier. Thus

2016 is Modis year of governance reformBy MADHAV NALAPAT | NEW DELHI | 2 January, 2016

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, .However, since Modi took charge, this has changed. As part of the change, a Railways ofcer has been madeCMD of Air India, while an IPS ofcer is now head of the Enforcement Directorate, with another being

appointed envoy to Saudi Arabia. The focus will be on talent that can deliver results and are not just good atdrafting statements. The effort will be to set veriable benchmarks for performance and reward or punishbased on outcomes, the ofcers claimed.

(c) Ofcials predict that a concerted drive will take place to rectify a major anomaly in the pay structure, whichis that at the lowest level, the khalasi, driver and peon earn, on an average, four times the cost to company(CTC) of their counterparts in the private sector, while at the top, the Cabinet Secretary earns less than 10%

of what the CEO of even a medium-sized private company does. A similar disproportionality is present in theemoluments of CEOs of public and private enterprises. Such an inverted pyramid results in the best minds

opting for the private sector, sometimes in mid-career. A stage has been reached where honest ofcersalmost cannot afford to work in government, and only the corrupt nd the going easy to bring up theirfamilies, a senior ofcial pointed out, adding that 96% of the salary bill of the government goes towards thebottom posts, whereas what counts is quality and motivation at the decision-making levels at the top.

(d) Measures are under consideration which would decentralise the recruitment of personnel and managetheir careers, something which has been the monopoly of the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT).Such over-concentration of powers within the DOPT has made appointments, promotions and otherdecisions slow and unimaginative, thereby leading to frequent recourse to the courts by disgruntled ofcials.Some ofcials are of the view that the time has come to give the ministries as well as the state governmentsthe power to recruit and dismiss ofcials, keeping in view local conditions, with the DOPT playing theombudsman role.

(e) When the President of India has a term of only ve years and even Prime Minister Modi will need to gobefore the people after ve years for renewal of his mandate, ofcials in favour of reform say that the colonial-era system of lifetime employment of civilian ofcials makes no sense. They say that the same system aspresent in the armed forces should get extended to the civilian side, with automatic promotions being

abolished and laggards asked to quit. There is even a view that all ofcials should automatically go on contractmode after reaching a particular level of seniority, and have their performance reviewed in a manner far more

comprehensive and objective than is the norm under the colonial model, with non-performers shown the door.

(f) A system of induction of outside talent into different levels of the administration may be introduced duringthe year, so that those with domain expertise are involved along with generalists in the formulation andimplementation of policy. 25% of posts should be blocked for those from the private sector, think-tanks anduniversities, as is the case in advanced countries. Also, career bureaucrats ought to be given the option ofthree- or ve-year stints in private entities as well as universities. They say that the UGC needs to revise its

norms so as to ensure that work experience in specialist elds be given the same weightage in teaching postsas pedagogy, so that ofcials can get inducted as professors in order to ensure that students have a better

knowledge of real life situations so as to equip them for actual rather than textbook situations.

Critics of Prime Minister Modi claim that he has yet to promote transparency in the functioning ofgovernment, by giving access to the processes through which decisions get taken. However, these ofcials say

that the Prime Ministers drive to digitalise more and more aspects of government functioning promotes

transparency. They say that Modi is pushing hard to ensure that internet access be increased to cover theentire population and that speeds be raised from the present very slow levels. They say that the PrimeMinister wishes to see that a day comes when citizens can get work done involving government departments,entirely online, so that the hassles of going to government ofces and facing unresponsive (or corrupt)ofcials be reduced, and that a big push has been planned during 2016-17 in internet connectivity and usagein governmental processes.

However, even those ofcials in favour of reforms seem to be less than enthusiastic about the need for bettertransparency, so that the public becomes aware of the processes of government and how decisions affectingthem have been arrived at. Clearly, it will be an uphill task for Prime Minister Modi to convince thebureaucracy that efciency and integrity can only be secured through a much higher level of transparencythan has been the case with the colonial model of governance continued and expanded by Jawaharlal Nehruand his successors since 1947. The RTI has been moribund since 2012, the year when key ofcials say Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh quietly sought to change course on the legislation and return to opaquegovernance. The performance of the NDA-appointed CIC (Chief Information Commissioner) and hiscolleagues has thus far been underwhelming, while as yet, pre-poll promises of release of government records

have been replaced in many instances by a defence of secrecy, including in matters that are more a half-century and more distant from the present.

According to the ofcials spoken to, Prime Minister Modi places a high premium on competence and on

delivery of results and that it is this quality that is sought after, within both the specialist as well as generalistofcers. The solution is the replacement of status quoists with change agents, an ofcial said, adding thatwhat counts in the eld is competence and adaptability, rather than a brainless adherence to precede nt andseniority, colonial-era practices that are in danger of corroding even the armed forces, these sourcespointed out. Over the next year, a conscious embedding of competent ofcers within key ministries will takeplace. Also, the meandering journey of les will be shortened so that decisions take place not in years or evenin months, but in weeks, as in other countries. Ofcials in favour of reform add that overall there is optimism

that during 2016 itself, Prime Minister Modi will deliver on his promise of transformative administration.

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Opinion (/comment/13053#comment-13053)

Submitted by P Satish (not veried) on Sun, 2016-01-03 07:43

To become alternative candidates for the PM post in 2019 , two men are working with one motto. The ' motto ' is also ' PM ' , which means 'Prevent Modi '. The two men are , as most of know , Kejriwal and Rahul gandhi.

reply (/comment/reply/2457/13053)

Maximum governance (/comment/13066#comment-13066)

Submitted by Jitendra Desai (not veried) on Sun, 2016-01-03 11:58

What about states? Quality of life is made good or bad by the states and local governments.NDA/BJP/Modi government will have to work tochange the perception that has wrongly set in that it is unable to deliver.Punishment to corrupt politicos and babus, action on blackmoney,improved infrastructure, improved security environment, creation of jobs through "Make in India " initiative..... all will have to bedone.BJP should not be under any illusion that TINA factor will operate in 2019 with antics of people like AK and RG.


Our Govt needs a strong bureaucracy and competent cabinet (/comment/13068#comment-13068)

Submitted by Anonymous (not veried) on Sun, 2016-01-03 12:29

Our Govt needs a strong bureaucracy and competent cabinet ministers to speed up development process as Our govt has only 41 monthsremained in hand to win 2nd term. Although our PM has shown his statesmanship by visiting most of countries in last 19 months for makingIndia business habitat for countries but he needs more time to spend in internal governance. Modijee doing all out of box visionary schemesinnovative ideas to develop country in world forum but more is to be done in the country to wipe out corruption from roots and implementhis ideas of a st rong transparent bureaucracy. India is largest democracy of world. It is 2nd largest populated country .


Year of Governance (/comment/13151#comment-13151)

Submitted by Vinod jhunjhunwala (not veried) on Tue, 2016-01-05 09:10

Wonderful, great My fullest cooperation and I am here to negate t he ill conceived ideas against Modijireply (/comment/reply/2457/13151)

governance (/comment/13157#comment-13157)

Submitted by anil k khandelwal (not veried) on Tue, 2016-01-05 12:35

Alongside, it may be good idea to open reports of Administrative Reform commission which have many excellent suggstions and reports byexperts. Many expert reports are available on many sectors and doable suggetions should be implemented . Public sector appointments,promotions also need total revamp. These are much delayed reforms which our PM should address.


What about legislation which is key to growth? (/comment/13167#comment-13167)

Submitted by Rajesh S (not veried) on Tue, 2016-01-05 22:43

The most effective answer to all naysayers is strong legislation. But Rajya Sabha is undermining the popular mandate and it is a situationsimilar to what Obama is facing in the US. Unless BJP gets a controlling stake in RS (no need of 2/3rd - GST is not that important), theopposition will keep the government from pushing bills. BJP must try to get at least a single vote majority in RS by way of upcomingelections in RS (but its getting difcult with states voting on community/caste lines and not development). A clear cut majority in RS(considering the possibility that all nominated persons will oppose the govt), it will help get a government appointed deputy chairman in RSand thus better control, in addition to the fact of bills getting passed smoothly.


The bureaucracy needs to (/comment/13174#comment-13174)

Submitted by Pradeep Goyal (not veried) on Wed, 2016-01-06 01:51

The bureaucracy needs to understand that they are not a permanent xture in Government. Just as governments come and go they have tobe prepared too. Fully in tune with Modiji's thoughts.


[email protected] (/comment/13250#comment-13250)

Submitted by xyz (not veried) on Fri, 2016-01-08 10:25

The primary duty of the elected govt. is continuity to prevent chaos. Tamper with the system and the govt will collapse in two months. Primeexample is Delhi govt of Kejriwal.


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2016 is Modi’s Year of Governance Reform _ Sunday Guardian