New Delhi, March 29
Indian bureaucracy is readying for a “major makeover” that will include younger officers, a more performance-oriented regime and e-governance, says Cabinet Secretary B.K. Chaturvedi.
“We are hopeful we will be able to introduce key reforms like performance-based retention and recruiting of officers at a younger age this year,” Chaturvedi said in an interview.
He was speaking after delivering a talk on ‘Bureaucracy at the crossroads’ at the Gymkhana Club here on yesterday.
“The Indian bureaucracy is on the cusp of a major makeover and long-awaited reforms like e-governance will make a huge difference to the delivery system,” he emphasised.
One of the better methods of bringing transparency and accountability in the system is e-governance. “The lesser the direct interface between officials and the people, the lesser the chance of harassment,” said Chaturvedi, who also chairs an apex committee that monitors computerisation in various departments.
Soon after taking charge in May last year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced bureaucratic reforms as one of the key priorities of his Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to significantly improve the delivery system of the administration.
A strong advocate of recruiting civil service aspirants at a younger age, Chaturvedi, an Uttar Pradesh cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of 1966 batch, said: “At the age of 17-18, their value system can be moulded. Moulding value system when a person is 30 and married with a family is a tall order.”
The P.C. Hota Committee on civil services reforms has also suggested lowering the age limit for recruitment to civil services from the present 21-30 years to 21-24 years (for general category).
He also made a strong case for weeding out deadwood in officialdom: “Non-performers must go out. And upright officers must get more protection.”
The Cabinet Secretary outlined a comprehensive package of reforms in officialdom, which includes a credible system for empanelment or promotion of officers; a code of ethics that makes erring officers liable to prosecution; a civil service law; and a fixed tenure for officers to protect them against arbitrary transfers.
These reforms must be accompanied by all-encompassing reforms in other spheres, including the judiciary and the police to improve the delivery system, he said, while stressing on a strong need to review the electoral law. “A model code for political parties and electoral reforms will bring some degree of sanity in the political system.”
“If all these steps are implemented, babudom (bureaucracy) will rise again and be one of the principal pillars in nation-building,” he declared.
Chaturvedi’s proposals elicited passionate response from an audience comprising mostly retired senior officers. If some of them openly expressed their cynicism about the government’s sincerity in fixing the system, many others were ready to believe that the government means business this time round.
— IANS
