Major Administrative Reforms

• 06 Aug 2021

Why in News

Recently, the Union Government gave the information on Major Administrative Reforms which were introduced in recent years and emphasised the importance of these reforms in making governance more accessible.

• These reforms aim to encourage greater efficiency, transparent and corruption free governance, accountability and reduce scope for discretion. The Government follows the maxim “Minimum Government - Maximum Governance”.

Key Points

• Mission Karmayogi:
  
  • This is a National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB). It is a comprehensive reform of the capacity building apparatus at individual, institutional and process levels for efficient public service delivery.
  • It is aimed at building a future-ready civil service with the right attitude, skills and knowledge, aligned to the vision of New India.
  • The capacity building will be delivered through iGOT-Karmayogi digital platform, with content drawn from global best practices.
• Lateral Entry:
  
  • Lateral entry means when personnel from the private sector are selected to an administrative post of the government despite them not being selected in or being part of a bureaucratic setup.
  • This is significant because contemporary times require highly skilled and motivated individuals at the helm of administrative affairs, without which public service delivery mechanisms do not work smoothly.
  • Lateral Entry helps in bringing the values of economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the Government sector. It will help in building a culture of performance within the Government sector.
• e-Samiksha:
  
  • A real time online system for monitoring and follow up action on the decisions taken by the Government at the Apex level in respect of implementation of important Government programmes/projects.
  • It is a digital monitor for bureaucracy to rein in slackers.
    
    • Also, the government has been taking an intensive review for weeding out inefficient and Officers of doubtful integrity by premature retirement.
• e-Office:
  
  • e-Office Mission Mode Project (MMP) has been strengthened for enabling Ministries/Departments to switch over to paperless office and efficient decision making.
• Citizen Charters:
  
  • Government has mandated Citizen Charters for all Ministries/Departments which are updated and reviewed on a regular basis.
  • It is a written document that spells out the service provider’s efforts taken to focus on their commitment towards fulfilling the needs of the citizens/customers.
• Good Governance Index 2019:
  
  • It assesses the Status of Governance and impact of various interventions taken up by the State Government and Union Territories (UTs).
  • The objectives of GGI are to provide quantifiable data to compare the state of governance in all States and UTs, enable States and UTs to formulate and implement suitable strategies for improving governance and shift to result oriented approaches and administration.
  • It has been launched by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions.
• National Conference on e-Governance:
  
  • It provides a platform for the government to engage with experts, intellectuals from industry and academic institutions to exchange experiences relating to e-Governance initiatives.
  • In 2020, the 23^rd National Conference on e-Governance was organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) along with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in Mumbai.
• Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS):
  
  • It is an online web-enabled system developed by National Informatics Centre (Ministry of Electronics & IT [MeitY]), in association with Directorate of Public Grievances (DPG) and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG).
  • The CPGRAMS provides the facility to lodge a grievance online from any geographical location. It enables the citizen to track online the grievance being followed up with Departments concerned and also enables DARPG to monitor the grievance.
• National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment: It aims at assessing the States, UTs and Central Ministries on the efficiency of e-Governance service delivery.
• Comprehensive restructuring of the Scheme for ‘Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration’ in 2014 and thereafter in 2020.

Administrative Reforms Commission

• The ARC is set up by the Government of India to review the public administration system and give recommendations to improve it.
• The first ARC (1966) was headed by Morarji Desai initially and later by K. Hanumanthaiah. The second ARC constituted in 2005 was chaired by Veerappa Moily.

Way Forward

• Reforms are an obvious response to the new challenges confronting the state institution managing public affairs; what lies at the root of such an exercise is the effort to enhance administrative capability in the changed scenario.
• Since the civil servants are accountable to political executives and that results in politicisation of civil services, the focus must be on external accountability mechanisms like citizen charters, social audits and encouraging outcome orientation among civil servants.
• Civil servants should provide unbiased, rational and meritorious suggestions to the political executive in policy formulation. It requires an impartial Civil Services Board that can look after all the aspects related to promotions, transfers, posting and suspensions.

Source: PIB