Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said, “National Rozgar Mela” a unique concept visualised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has institutionalised the government’s recruitment process.
Briefing the media about the 9 years achievements of Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh said, hallmark of most of the administrative and governance reforms are youth-centric and Rozgar Mela stands apart as a major and bold initiative to provide government jobs to youth, besides creating millions of job opportunities through various schemes.
The Minister informed that through Rozgar Mela, the Central Government and co-operating State Governments to distribute 10 Lakh appointment letters in mission mode.
Dr Jitendra Singh quoted the Prime Minister Modi in the last Rozgar Mela in May, 2023 as saying, “In last 9 years the government has prioritized the recruitment process by making it faster, transparent and unbiased”. He also recalled the difficulties faced in the recruitment process, the Prime Minister pointed out that the Staff Selection Board took roughly 15-18 months to onboard the new recruits whereas today it takes only 6-8 months.
Referring to other youth-centric recruitment reforms, Dr Jitendra Singh said, interviews abolished for Group B Non Gazetted and lower posts, leading to more transparency, Computer based examinations introduced in place of paper-based exams, Regional languages introduced in SSC exams for various Posts leading to increased participation of youth for govt jobs.
Dwelling on the Administrative Reforms of Nine Years, Dr Jitendra Singh said, “Mission Karmayogi” will prove to be a Game -Changing reform visualized and launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for capacity building with a paradigm shift - “rules-based” approach to “roles-based” learning. He also informed that Karmayogi Prarambh, an online module of courses launched to impart initial training to new recruits, apart from iGOT Karmayogi APP launched to provide any-where, any-time learning.
The Minister informed that Capacity Building Commission (CBC) established for building a credible and uniform approach to capacity building. National standards for Civil Service Training Institutions have been launched by CBC. He said, Centers of Excellence are being set up in every Central Training Institutions. CBC is helping all Ministries/ Departments/Organisations(MDOs) in developing an annual capacity building Plan. A National Training Conclave is being inaugurated on 11th June 2023.
Briefing about several measures undertaken by the Ministry of Personnel, which is the nodal Ministry for personnel management, Dr Jitendra Singh said, DoPT has taken concerted efforts to increase the representation of women in Central Government jobs and to provide them a balance between professional as well as family life.
The Minister cited the example of Child Care Leave (CCL) and said, in continuation of grant of 730 days CCL, some new measures have also been taken and those are like an employee on Child Care Leave may be permitted to leave headquarters with the prior approval of appropriate competent authority, the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) may be availed, while an employee is on CCL and can also proceed on foreign travel provided clearances from appropriate competent authorities are taken in advance. Moreover, minimum period for Child Care Leave reduced from mandatory 15 days to 5 days and the limit of 22 years in case of disabled child for the purpose of a government servant availing Child Care Leave under the provisions of Rule 43-C of the CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972 has been removed.
Dr Jitendra Singh also underlined that Special Allowance @ Rs.3000/- p.m. to Women employees with Disability has been granted for child care with effect from 01st July, 2022, which will increase by 25% on increase of DA by 50%.
Similarly, the families of missing employees covered under NPS can now get family pension within 6 months of lodging FIR and not wait for 7 years after which employee considered deemed dead. Even in cases where the Government servant dies before completing a service of 7 years, family pension shall be payable to the family at enhanced rate of 50% of last pay for first 10 years and thereafter @ 30% of last pay.
Speaking about the transparency and accountability in the governance, Shri Singh said that the benchmark for clean and effective government is the robust grievance redressal mechanism. A 10 step CPGRAMS reforms process has been adopted for improving of disposal and reducing the time lines which has resulted weekly disposal rate upto 95 to 100%. Average disposal time of Central Ministries/Departments has improved from 32 days in 2021 to 27 days in 2022 to 17 days in April, 2023.
Dr. Singh pointed out several complimented the DARPG team for the successful organizing of Swachhata 1.0 and 2.0 campaigns. For the first time, the realization dawned in the society that Swachhata could also fetch you money. The Swachhata Campaign 2.0 was conducted in over one lakh office sites, 89.85 lac square feet of space was freed and Rs. 370.83 crores revenue earned from disposal of office scrap including the electronic scrap. Moreover, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, when covid struck, the work in this Ministry did not get affected even for a single day, rather the output sometimes was even more.
Talking about digital transformation, the Minister said that e-Office version 7.0 has been adopted in all 75 Ministries/ Departments of Central Secretariat. This is a commendable achievement that 89.6 percent of all files are being processed today as e-files in the Central Secretariat. In 2022, the DARPG has prepared Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (CSMOP) to bring simplicity, efficiency and transparency in government processes and procedures leading to responsive and accountable governance.
Dr Jitendra Singh concluded by saying that innovative changes in National Rozgar Mela, a more robust Capacity Building & Training Framework for Civil Servants from bottom to top rung, more use of technology like Artificial Intelligence and regular holding of “Chintan Shivirs” for free exchange of ideas are way forward for the Ministry.
<><><><><>
SNC/PK
