Yes, Minister, Our Civil Services Need a Reboot

Context: The steel frame of our bureaucracy has turned rusty, and, ever since economic liberalization. Mission Karmayogi has raised the hope of a national bureaucracy that is adequately responsive to the country’s needs.

Significance  Mission Karmayogi: recently rolled out by Cabinet as an upskilling initiative for government officials that aims to fix and galvanize India’s administration. It has following significance: 

• Remove the sloth and venality that the government officials have acquired a reputation for.
• Role- rather than the rule-specific focus of the system.
• Coordination should prevail over battles for turf control
• Make IAS officers enablers instead of red-tape wrappers.

• IAS cadres need to be held accountable for their work.

Features

• Gargantuan Exercise: It  will cover an estimated 4.6 million officials

• Multi-tier Command Structure: A Human Resource Council headed by the Prime Minister, and will have some state chief ministers, cabinet ministers and experts from various disciplines.

• Established Commission at the cabinet secretariat level.

• Special Purpose Vehicle in the form of an organization designed to manage the digital resources of the entire setup

Concerns

• Disruptive Nature: Mission Karmayogi is likely to prove disruptive for the existing setup

• The idea of being subject to continuous evaluation by a central authority could unsettle some officers.
• Disquiet within IAS ranks over the Centre’s lateral induction program

• Difficulties with centralized supervision large numbers: Globally, centralization has been observed to militate against diversity of thought.