Central idea

• Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar has said that in recent years the profile of civil administration has changed and it has become socially more inclusive.
• Acknowledging that young talent from remote villages and marginalized communities, including young girls, are joining the civil services.
• The VP appreciated this change in the profile of civil administration.

Changing profile of civil services

• Social inclusion: In recent decades, the civil administration in India has become more socially inclusive to reflect the country’s commitment to diversity and equal opportunity.
• Representative reservations: The government has made efforts to recruit people from different regions, religions, and backgrounds to ensure that civil services represent the diversity of India’s population.
• Lateral entries: With the growing emphasis on technology and digitalization, civil services have started to prioritize skills related to technology, leading to the recruitment of people with backgrounds in engineering, IT, and related fields.
• Specialization demands: The decentralization of power has resulted in the creation of new institutions and departments at the state and local levels. This has led to the recruitment of civil servants who have specialized skills in areas such as urban planning, environmental management, and social welfare.

Key developments: Mission Karmayogi

• In 2020 Govt had approved the National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building also known as Mission Karmayogi.
• The programme aims at building a future-ready civil service with the right attitude, skills and knowledge, aligned to the vision of New India.
• Recently three departments have been identified under this programme which have the maximum interaction with people, to improve the experience of interacting with a government arm – railways, postal service and police.

What is Mission Karmayogi?

• Mission Karmayogi is a government initiative aimed at bringing transformational reforms in the capacity building of civil servants.
• It was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 2, 2020, and is considered a major step towards making Indian bureaucracy more future-ready.

Key objectives

• The primary objective of Mission Karmayogi is to empower civil servants with the right skills and knowledge to perform their duties effectively and efficiently.
• It aims to create a future-ready civil service that is accountable, responsive, and efficient in serving the needs of citizens.

Major features

1. National Program for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB): Mission Karmayogi includes the creation of NPCSCB as a comprehensive, world-class platform for civil service capacity building. NPCSCB will be an integrated platform that will provide training, mentoring, and skill development opportunities to civil servants at all levels of the hierarchy.
2. Individual Learning Plans (ILPs): Mission Karmayogi aims to create ILPs for all civil servants. ILPs will be customized training plans that will be developed based on the specific needs and skills of each civil servant. ILPs will help civil servants to identify their strengths and weaknesses and provide them with the necessary training and support to enhance their skills.
3. Competency Framework for Civil Services: Mission Karmayogi will develop a competency framework that will define the core competencies required for each role in civil services. The framework will help in identifying skill gaps and developing training programs to bridge those gaps.

Implementation

• Mission Karmayogi will be implemented in a phased manner.
• The first phase will focus on creating the NPCSCB and developing the competency framework for civil services.
• The second phase will focus on the development of ILPs for civil servants and providing them with training and support to enhance their skills.

Benefits offered by the mission

• Specialization Training: The Mission Karmayogi program aims to match the competencies of civil servants to the requirements of their posts by transitioning from rules-based to roles-based HR management.
• Domain Training: Civil servants will have the opportunity to continuously enhance their behavioural, functional, and domain competencies through self-driven and mandated learning paths.
• Uniform Training Standards: The program aims to harmonize training standards across India to ensure a common understanding of the country’s aspirations and development goals.
• Vision for New India: Mission Karmayogi aims to develop a future-ready civil service with the right attitude, skills, and knowledge aligned with the vision of New India.
• On-Site Learning: The program emphasizes “on-site learning” to complement traditional “off-site” learning.
• Best Practices: Mission Karmayogi encourages and partners with top learning content creators, including public training institutions, universities, start-ups, and individual experts.

Various challenges

• Rigid hierarchical system: Economist John Maynard Keynes once said, “The difficulty lies not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones.”
• Status-quoism: Bureaucracy tends to resist change that challenges their status quo, and it must understand the need for domain knowledge and the importance of moving away from a generalist to a specialist approach.
• Technological overhaul: Governance is becoming increasingly technical, so it’s important for those in authority to have the required skills and experience in that particular area.
• Behaviour change: A behavioural change in the bureaucracy is necessary, and they must embrace change as a need of the hour, not an attack on their status quo.
• Training bottlenecks: Online courses should not become another opportunity for officers to go on sabbatical leaves. It must be ensured that they actually attend and participate in the courses, so that the purpose isn’t defeated.

Way forward

• Develop a comprehensive communication strategy: The government should develop a communication strategy to create awareness about the program’s benefits and objectives. It should engage with civil servants, academicians, and other stakeholders to create a dialogue and seek feedback.
• Emphasize the importance of continuous learning: The program should emphasize the importance of continuous learning and development in civil service. The government should encourage civil servants to take part in training programs and provide them with incentives and recognition for their achievements.
• Strengthen the competency framework: The competency framework should be developed in consultation with various stakeholders, including civil servants, experts, and academicians. The framework should be flexible and regularly updated to reflect changing needs and priorities.
• Address training bottlenecks: The government should ensure that online courses are not misused by civil servants as a means to take sabbatical leaves. It should introduce measures to track attendance and ensure that civil servants participate actively in the training programs.
• Promote a culture of innovation: The government should promote a culture of innovation and encourage civil servants to come up with innovative ideas and solutions to address governance challenges.
• Develop partnerships with the private sector: The government should develop partnerships with the private sector to provide civil servants with exposure to cutting-edge technologies and best practices.

Conclusion

• The government can address the challenges in the implementation of Mission Karmayogi by adopting these measures.
• These measures can ensure that Mission Karmayogi achieves its objectives of building a future-ready civil service that is accountable, responsive, and efficient in serving the needs of citizens.

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