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Mission Karmayogi

Posted on June 25, 2022 by admin1  2551

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Recently, the Government of India’s Mission Karmayogi programme to build civil service capacity received a $47 million boost from the World Bank.

Objectives and Need 

  • Civil services are at the centre of all government activities – they are agents of policymaking and the executive hand that delivers on the ground. 
  • The skill sets and capacity of the civil servants play a vital role in service delivery, program implementation and performing core governance functions.
    • Recognizing this crucial responsibility, the Mission Karmayogi programme was launched. 
  • It is meant to reform Indian bureaucracy and prepare civil servants for the future. 

About Mission Karmayogi

  • It was launched in 2020  with the objective of enhancing governance through Civil Service Capacity Building.
  • It aims “comprehensive reform of the capacity building apparatus at individual, institutional and process levels for efficient public service delivery”.
  • It aims to prepare civil service officers for the future by making them more “creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling, transparent and technology-enabled.’
  • Focus
    • on promoting ease of living and ease of doing business, by considerably enhancing the citizen-government interface. 
      • This involves creation of both functional and behavioural competencies among the civil servants.
  • Pillars 
    • Mission Karmayogi will have the following six pillars: 
      • Policy Framework,
      • Institutional Framework,
      • Competency Framework,
      • Digital Learning Framework (Integrated Government Online Training Karmayogi Platform (iGOT-Karmayogi),
      • electronic Human Resource Management System (e-HRMS), and
      • Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.
  • Coverage 
    • It will cover all civil servants (including contractual employees) across different ministries, departments, organisations and agencies of the Union Government.
    •  The willing state governments will also be enabled to align their capacity building plans on similar lines.
  • Initiatives 
    • The mission has also created an online platform called iGOT-Karmayogi.
      • iGOT stands for Integrated Government Online Training. 
    • It will provide content to learn from global best practices rooted in “Indian ethos”.
      • Civil servants will also have to undertake courses on this platform on which the officers’ performance will be evaluated. 
        • A Special Purpose Vehicle will monitor the platform. 
          • The SPV will be a not-for-profit organisation under Section 8 of the Companies Act.
  • Significance 
    • It will improve human resource management practices among the officers.
    •  It will focus more on role based management. It will aim to allocate roles and jobs based on competencies of the officers.

Previous Efforts of Government 

  • Before 1985, capacity building of the higher civil services primarily involved two-year induction training. 
    • For the lower civil services there was no training. 
  • In 1985, the then government recognised that a two-year induction training was insufficient for senior officers. 
    • IAS officers were mandated to attend a week-long training annually, and periodic four-week training to allow reflection and learnings.
  • In the early 2000s, the government launched a year-long professional programme in public policy at IIM-Bangalore followed by programmes in IIM Ahmedabad, MDI Gurgaon and TERI University. 
  • The government further strengthened the mid-career training for IAS officers by introducing Phases III, IV and V programmes at three different points of their career, in addition to Phases I and II (induction training). 
    • The rationale was that while the induction programmes equipped IAS officers to be good field officers, they needed different competencies at more senior levels.

Challenges /Issues 

  • The palpable lack of interest in existing civil services training programmes has troubled administrative reform committees over the decades
  • Outdated rules and procedures that restrict the civil servant from performing effectively
  • Lack of adequate transparency and accountability procedures

Conclusion and Way Forward 

  • Today, given India’s growth ambition, a massive scale-up in capacity-building is needed both at the political and bureaucratic levels. 
  • As democracies mature, elected representatives will play a more proactive role in policy making. 
    • It is, therefore, imperative that representatives are able to understand the nuances of policy making.
  • The programme must build capability to envision the future and work towards realising it. 
    • It must equip the entire chain of command to coordinate and steer the ship towards a national goal. 
    • A forward-looking mindset that can quickly seize opportunities and foresee threats is critical.
  • Capacity building must aim at building professionals in all domains, from technical experts to generalists. 
  • As policymaking gets more complex, respect for data and evidence-based decision making will gain importance. 
  • The existing institutions and educational centres, as well as the available expertise and knowledge base, can appropriately support training for various grades of civil servants. 

Source:IE

 
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