Key initiatives of the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT)



Key initiatives of the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) 
YEAR ENDER 2015



The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has taken various initiatives during the year 2015. These initiatives aim at working in the direction of larger public interest and to establish accountability and transparency.


In a landmark decision, the Government scrapped Interviews for recruitment to lower posts wherever it could be dispensed with. This was followed by the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Dr. Jitendra Singh writing D.O. letters to Chief Ministers of all States in September to take the lead in carrying forward this initiative with respect to State Government jobs.

The discontinuation of interviews will not only be in larger public interest but would also offer a level playing field and benefit youth hailing from the lower socio-economic strata. Interviews will be dispensed with for all Group C and Group D posts which are now reclassified as Group C posts. Interview would also be discontinued for non-gazetted posts of Group B category. The process of doing away with interview for these posts will be completed by 31.12.2015. In those cases pertaining to non-gazetted Group B posts and Group C & D posts, where Recruitment Rules specify the process of selection which includes conduct of interview, the Ministries/authorities concerned will take necessary steps to carry out the requisite amendment to the Recruitment Rules immediately. Necessary directions have also been issued to the Staff Selection Commission in this regard.

In a big relief to the common people, the DoPT discontinued the practice of submission of affidavit by the family members of deceased Government employees for the appointment on Compassionate grounds. Now they are required to submit self-declaration at the time of applying for compassionate appointment. It will ensure fast process of compassionate appointment and help family members of deceased Government employee immensely.

For the first time in the history of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the Officers of 2013 batch of IAS were posted as Assistant Secretary in the Central Secretariat for a period of three months. Exposure to Central Government functioning will provide insight into policy formulation at the Centre to these officers. These officers left for their field posting with a macro picture of such policies which will help them in effective implementation of the schemes keeping citizen at the centre.

In another novel initiative, the DoPT has started Yoga camps for the Central Government employees and their dependents. The Yoga training sessions are conducted in 29 locations (26 Samaj Sadans of Grih Kalyan Kendra and 3 other places) in Delhi and 12 Samaj Sadans of Grih Kalyan Kendra outside Delhi. Approximately 1900 individuals are benefiting from this scheme per day. With this initiative, the employees would be able to de-stress themselves and also take control over various lifestyle diseases like obesity, hypertension, Hyperglycemias etc. The healthy & happy employees would be able to perform more effectively in their office work.

The Department has also started an innovative scheme for the training of the cutting edge level employees of the State Governments. In the first phase, masters trainers are being trained by the ATIs in collaboration with DoPT. These trainers will impart training to the field level employees. Emphasis of the training will be on citizen centricity. Pilot projects had been started in Maharashtra, J&K and Tamil Nadu. It has now been extended in other States. Training will bring an attitudinal change in these employees which in turn will result in increased citizen friendly environment in the field offices.

DOPT also exempted the parents of differently abled children from the mandatory transfers so that they can take proper care of their differently abled child. This move will ease the pain of these parents and ensure care and upbringing of these children.

A weekly one hour in-house training programme for its employees was started. Three modules of the training programme have been completed and the fourth module is currently running. The employees are imparted up-to-date information on various aspects of day to day work in the office. This gives an opportunity to the employees to clear their doubts and the input given in the session is found very useful for them in discharging their duty more accurately, efficiently and effectively. This has speeded up the rate of disposal of work and the ultimate beneficiary of the same are the citizens.

The scheme of interaction of Officers with School Students has been launched in which the Officers of Government of India visit Schools and share their experiences with the School Students. As a pilot, the Senior Officers of DoPT have visited Kendriya Vidyalayas in Delhi and interacted with the students. The interaction of Senior Officers with School Students will have a long lasting impact on their impressionable minds. They will also get a glimpse of the functioning of the Government.

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Conference on “Leveraging Private Sector expertise & capabilities towards efficient and sustainable delivery of Government Services in India” held

Speakers emphasize on ‘Consolidated End to End solutions’ with ‘value-additions’ to the e- government services as the next wave of governance reforms with the help of technology, people and processes 
The Conference on “Leveraging Private Sector expertise & capabilities towards efficient and sustainable delivery of Government Services in India” was held here today. The conference was organized by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) in association with FICCI. The conference provided a platform to exchange ideas about ushering of e-Governance in the country to fulfill the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s dream of achieving ‘Digital India’.

Addressing the conference, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that India has already entered into a public private mode of functioning. He said that India was hugely dependent on the public sector when she got independence in 1947. Now we are into a phase of evolution, he added. Dr Jitendra Singh said that the question is how best we utilise the available avenues.

The Minister said that private sector should play the role of ‘job creators’ and not ‘job seekers’. They should work in direction of ‘Start up India, Stand up India’ initiative of the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. He said that efforts of the private sector should be ‘citizen centric’ and their efforts will be viable only when they are socially relevant.

Throwing light on the other initiatives of the government, Dr Jitendra Singh said that from January 1, 2016, the interviews for all Group C and Group D posts which are now reclassified as Group C posts will be done away with.

Earlier the day, while delivering the Key note address at the event Shri R. S. Sharma, Chairman, TRAI said that the innovative idea of transforming governance through competitive business models for the services provided by the government is indeed unique and path breaking. He explained that he has been a firm believer of the ‘centrality of technology’ in governance. He also recalled his experiences how use of technology began as a facilitator in administration about 3 decades ago. He said that transformation has happened and a lot needs to be done in this direction. India is at the cusp of revolution, he added. Emphasizing upon the consolidation of solutions, he said that there are similar type of programmes in India being run at various levels, but there are multiple solutions being implemented for them. The time has come to consolidate the solutions of one type of programmes, he emphasized. He also said that back-end processes need to be strengthened along with the front-end services. He said that ‘Digital India’ programme has mainly three components namely digital infrastructure, software services and digital empowerment of people. He said that digital empowerment will lead to the enhanced reach of services to the citizens. He also discussed various initiatives being taken by the government like electronic KYC, digital locker and other end–to-end online systems in place.

Later, Shri Devendra Chaudhry, Secretary, DARPG said that future governance reforms would have to be driven by technology, people and processes. He said that focus of reforms has now shifted from ‘administration’ to ‘governance’. The future is GATI – GOVERNANCE WITH ACCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY AND INNOVATION. The expectations of the citizens have increased, so various initiatives need to be taken in this direction. He said that ‘consolidated solutions’ and ‘value-additions’ to the existing services are the key solutions to meet this challenge. Shri Chaudhry said that 18% of the world’s internet usage is going to be from India in the coming years, which will provide a market space for e-commerce to the private players. So the challenge today is to put in place the available technology, to which private players can be key drivers, he added.

Shri BVR Mohan Reddy, Chairman, NASSSCOM said that e-Governance is increasingly viewed as an enabler and facilitator of ‘Good Governance’. The aim of e–governance is to improve the quality, cost, accessibility and speed of delivering Government information and services. There are several issues which need to be ironed out for making a win-win partnership for both Government and IT industry in e-governance. He suggested that a high level task force comprising of senior government officials and members of the industry can be formed with clear defined terms of reference and timeline.

Shri Vikas Aggarwal, Executive Director, Ernst & Young LLP said that ‘Digital India’ aims at digitalempowerment of the citizens. His suggestions included grouping of services around user requirements and behavior patterns and the convergence of services. He also saidthat various issues like privacy and security related aspects need to be addressed.

After the inaugural session, Panel Discussions were also held on (i) Success stories of e-Governance in India, (ii) Building successful e-Commerce models for Government services – the next level of Governance Reforms (iii) Strengthening collaboration between e-Commerce players with Government sector. 
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Redressal of public grievances 
             
The number of grievances  received by  Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances  in  the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, and forwarded to various Ministries/Departments/State Governments/Union Territories during the last three years, and the current year till 14.12.2015,   is as under :-

Year-wise Details of grievances received by DARPG and forwarded to various Ministry/Department/States & UTs as on 14/12/2015. Year wise receipts and disposal for grievances received in DARPG
Year
Receipts
Disposals
2012
8673
7071
2013
13183
12625
2014
17943
16490
2015
23407
21045
Total
63206
57231

Out of the total receipts as on 14/12/2015, there are 37127 cases pending with various Ministries / Departments / Organizations.
The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances is the nodal agency on all the grievance related issues. The grievances received from the public as well as employees are forwarded to the Ministry / Department / organization concerned to which the area of work for that grievance has been allocated as per ‘Allocation of Business Rules, 1961’.  Redressal of grievances is done by respective Ministries / Departments and State Governments to whom they pertain, in a decentralized manner. Directions have been issued to all Ministries/Departments/Organizations to redress grievances of the citizens within a maximum period of two months from the receipt, and in case finalization of a decision on a particular grievance is anticipated to take longer than two months, an interim reply with reasons for delay is to be provided. Under the federal principle of governance, grievances relating to State Governments are forwarded to them for appropriate action.
(d):   It is constant endeavor of Government to improve the online Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS). The initiatives taken in this direction are as under:
(i)                 The online CPGRAMS has also been introduced in the Public Wing of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) through implementation of PMO pg portal.
(ii)               The process of lodging grievances have been simplified through clear menu options and drop down choices.
(iii)             The pg portal has been integrated with the pensioner’s portal
(iv)             Grievances are now also being monitored by the Hon’ble Prime Minister himself through the online Pro Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI), wherein grievances identified for systemic changes are discussed through Video Conferencing with the concerned Secretaries.
(v)                A Mobile App has been launched on 21.10.2015, which can be downloaded through scanning of QR Code from the pg portal on to a smart phone from which the grievance can be lodged.
(vi)    For grass root access, the CSC(Common Service Centre) portal has been      integrated successfully in CPGRAMS.

This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Gajanan Kirtikar & others in the Lok Sabha today.


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Delay in giving pension benefits 
There is no such proposal to do away with the existing procedure of Submitting annual life certificate by the pensioner to renew their pension payment.

Yes Madam. Department of Pension & Pensioners Welfare has implemented an online system called 'BHAVISHYA’ for retiring Central Government Civil employees. The system provides for on-line tracking of pension sanction and payment process. Tracking can be done by the individual as well as the administrative authorities for all actions preparatory to grant of pension and other retirement benefits. Facility also exists for tracking payment of subsequent monthly pension. This is in line with the priorities of Government to ensure transparency and accountability in systems and processes.

At present, Bhavishya is implemented in main Secretariat of 83 Ministries/Departments & 23 attached offices involving 794 DDOs. This Department has also given on-site training to all the Drawing Disbursing Officers/Head of Offices/Pay & Accounts Offices and the dealing hands of main Secretariat of all the Ministries/Department.

This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Satav Rajeev & others in the Lok Sabha today. 
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MACP on promotional grade 
The employees including Group ‘C’ (which includes erstwhile Group ‘D’) are granted three financial upgradations under Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) Scheme in the next immediate Grade Pay hierarchy as per CCS(Revised Pay) Rules, 2008 on completion of 10, 20 and 30 years of regular service.

There have been instances where Tribunals and High Courts have directed to grant benefits under Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) Scheme in the promotional hierarchy. However, in such cases, the order of Court is specific to the applicant only.

This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Kamlesh Paswan in the Lok Sabha today. 
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National Career Service Project 
The Government is implementing the National Career Service Project for linking employment exchanges and other institutions using technology to provide a variety of employment related services like job postings, career counselling, vocational guidance, skill courses, apprenticeship, etc. These service are available online on the National Career Service Portal (www.ncs.gov.in) supported by Call Centre/Helpdesk (No. 1800-425-1514). The portal is accessible to both employers as well as job seekers. Employers can register and post their vacancies and shortlist the candidates whilst job seekers can register online for seeking employment related assistance. NCS portal has a rich career content repository with information on career options available in more than 52 industry sectors and 3700 occupations. Manual Scavenging is not a career option on the portal. The NCS service can be availed directly through the Employment Exchanges/ Career Centres and Common Service Centres.

This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri A.Arunmozhithevan in the Lok Sabha today.


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Minority employees 
The data on recruitment of minorities is collected from various Ministries/Departments and consolidated each year. As per data received for the year 2013-14, 7.89% of minorities were recruited. As per data received so far from 69 Ministries/Departments for the year 2014-15, 8.71% of minorities have been recruited in Government services. However, no segregated data on recruitment is maintained religion wise.

Guidelines have already been issued from time to time to give special consideration to minorities in recruitment.

The instructions have been issued by the Government in this regard, which inter-alia, stipulates:-

wherever a Selection Committee/Board exist or has to be constituted for making recruitment to 10 or more vacancies in any level of posts or services, it shall be mandatory to have one Member belonging to SC/ST, one Member belonging to OBC category and one Member belonging to Minority Community in such Committees/Boards. Further, one of the members of the Selection Committee/Board, whether from the general category or from the minority community or from the SC/ST/OBC community should be a lady failing which a lady member should be co-opted on the Committee/Board. It may also be ensured that where the number of vacancies against which selection is to be made is less than ten, no effort should be spared in finding the SC/ST, OBC officer and the Minority Committee Officer and a lady officer, for inclusion in such Committee Boards.

This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Asaduddin Owaisi in the Lok Sabha today. 
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ACC Appointments 
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the following:

(i) Shri Bhupendra Singh,IAS (UP:1985), presently in his Cadre as Chairman, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority under Department of Pharmaceuticals vice Shri Injeti Srinivas, IAS(OR:1983) who is holding additional charge.

(ii) Shri Sumeet Jerath, IAS (AM:1985), Additional DGFT under Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry as Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser, Ministry of External Affairs vice Shri Binoy Kumar, IAS (TG:1983) consequent on his lateral shift as Director General, Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals under Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

(iii) Shri Udai Pratap Singh, IAS (JH:1984), presently in his Cadre as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tourism vice Shri Girish Shankar, IAS (BH:1982) consequent on his appointment as Secretary, Department of Official Language, Ministry of Home Affairs.

(iv) Ms. Smita Nagaraj, IAS (TN:1984), presently in her Cadre as Director General (Acquisition), Ministry of Defence vice Shri Asha Ram Sihag, IAS (HP:1983) consequent on his lateral shift as Secretary, Union Public Service Commission.

(v) Shri Pawan Kumar Agarwal, IAS (WB:1985), Joint Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship as Chief Executive Officer, Food Safety and Standards Authority under Department of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare vice Shri Yudhvir Singh Malik, IAS (HY:1983) consequent on his appointment as Additional Secretary, NITI Aayog.

(vi) Ms.Kalpana Mittal Baruah, IAS (PB:1985), presently in her cadre as Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat (SR) vice Shri Navin Verma, IAS (BH:1982) consequent on his appointment as Secretary, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.

(vii) Shri R.Rajagopal, IAS (TN:1984), Additional Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare as Adviser, Inter State Council Secretariat under Ministry of Home Affairs vice Shri Ashok Kumar Pavadia, IRTS (1980) consequent on his premature repatriation to his cadre.

(viii) Shri Binoy Kumar, IAS (TG:1983), Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser, Ministry of External Affairs as Director General, Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals under Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry vice Shri Siddharth, IAS (WB:1983) consequent on his premature repatriation to his cadre.

(ix) Shri Chhabilendra Roul, IAS (PB:1985), presently in his Cadre as Additional Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare vice Shri R.Rajagopal, IAS (TN:1984) consequent on his lateral shift as Adviser, Inter State Council Secretariat under Ministry of Home Affairs.

(x) Shri Asha Ram Sihag, IAS (HP:1983), Director General (Acquisition), Ministry of Defence as Secretary, Union Public Service Commission vice Shri Ashim Khurana, IAS (GJ:1983) consequent on his appointment as Chairman, Staff Selection Commission.

(xi) Shri M. Gopal Reddy, IAS (MP:1985), Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs by upgrading the post of Joint Secretary as Additional Secretary for a period of two years or till a vacancy of Additional Secretary arises in the Ministry or till further orders, whichever is the earliest.

(xii) Shri Saraswati Prasad, IAS (AM:1985), Joint Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation by upgrading the post of Joint Secretary as Additional Secretary for a period of two years or till further orders, whichever is earlier. 


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