Part V. Enabling Environment (EE 2008)

The Civil Service should create an enabling environment towards implementing the SGNH. Enabling Environment, specifically, can be created in the following ways:

1. 
   Providing the necessary legal, policy, administrative and financial framework for agencies to deliver outcomes.
   
2. 
   Instituting structural changes by moving away from centralized structure of management, separating policy formulation and regulation from implementation, reducing levels of hierarchy, etc.
   
3. 
   Inculcating a culture of excellence by formulating rewards and incentives to attract and retain the best, implementing effective performance management system, providing career enhancement opportunities, etc.
   
4. 
   Promoting better coordination among sectors by forming a central coordinating body and merging or relocating agencies (where roles duplicate).
   
5. 
   Improving delivery of services through: proper customer-service orientation, reducing unnecessary red-tape, establishing accountability, creating awareness, establishing one-stop services, making effective use of ICT, etc.
   

To meet the objectives of the Civil Service reforms, the following strategies should be adopted:

1. 
   Foster Performance in the Civil Service through:
   
   1. 
      Financial Autonomy
      
   2. 
      HR Autonomy
      
2. 
   Reorganize Agencies
   
3. 
   HRD Interventions
   
4. 
   Improve Service Delivery
   

The above-mentioned strategies should use the following guidelines:

1. 
   Structure of Ministries
   
2. 
   Positions in the Civil Service
   
3. 
   Size of the Civil Service
   

• 
  The Ministry of Finance will decentralize the budget, which is approved by the Parliament, to the agencies for implementation. The Heads of Ministries and Agencies shall be entrusted with adequate authority over resources allocated to meet their predetermined targets. Fiscal decentralization will initially be limited to current expenditures as the bulk of the capital expenditures in any case is bound by planning guidelines as well as project-tied funding from donors.
  
• 
  Resource allocation should be based on an objectively verifiable basis that is linked to the identified targets. The use of the resources allotted to the sector should be the sole prerogative of the sector and the sector head should be allowed to use it in any way he deems fit to meet the targets.
  
• 
  However, the Head of the sector is also fully accountable for the usage of funds, and failure to meet any of the targets or any other lapses must be placed squarely on the shoulders of the Head of the sector.
  

• 
  Macro level plans will be broken down into annual and agency-wise budgets and closely monitored and measured against output at the end of the budget period.
  
• 
  The GNH Commission will be responsible for setting the broad framework for the FYPs of the Government, while the allocation of the budget into specific projects and activities will be done by the MoF. For current expenditure, the Department of National Budget (DNB) will formulate a scientific basis to be used as a basis for its allocation.
  
• 
  Under this new performance-based budgeting mechanism, agencies will be held accountable for deliverables of the outputs. The DNB will be responsible for monitoring outputs while the GNH Commission will be responsible for monitoring outcomes.
  

• 
  The current system of Civil Service management is centralized and not conducive to enhancing performance. This is because on the one hand, the Agencies are given their mandates and targets, and on the other they have very little say in the way human resource allocations are made in order to fulfill these given mandates. Presently, it is the RCSC Secretariat which is responsible for the central co-ordination of most HR decisions and actions.
  
• 
  Therefore, a decentralized model is presented below that will allow agencies greater autonomy in terms of HR management. By this delegation of HR authority, Agencies will play a prominent role in recruitment, transfer, promotion, separation and training of their staff. Agencies will also be allowed, within the confinement of their budget allocation, the perks and incentives for their staff.
  
• 
  However, any influences used by the Senior Management to take undue advantage of this delegated power, will be checked by the RCSC, ACC and other bodies such as the RAA and the MoF.
  
• 
  The model for the Civil Service in terms of decentralized HR is presented below:
  

Current

Definitions:

1. 
   Core: Executive Services Group (i.e. EX1-EX3)
   
2. 
   Inner Periphery: P levels of the following major occupational groups:
   

1. 
   Finance Services Group
   
2. 
   Foreign Services Group
   
3. 
   Human Resource Development and Management Services Group
   
4. 
   Planning and Research Services Group
   
5. 
   Trade, Industry and Tourism Services Group
   
6. 
   General Administration and Support Services Group
   

3. 
   Outer Periphery II: S1 – O4 of all groups and ES – P5 of the following groups:
   

1. 
   Architectural and Engineering Services Group
   
2. 
   Agriculture and Livestock Services Group
   
3. 
   Arts, Culture and Literary Services Group
   
4. 
   Forestry and Environment Protection Services Group
   
5. 
   Information Communication and Technology Services Group
   
6. 
   Laboratory and Technical Services Group
   
7. 
   Legal and Legislative Services Group
   
8. 
   Library, Archives and Museum Services Group
   
9. 
   Sports and Youth Services Group
   
10. 
    Transportation and Aviation Services Group
    

4. 
   Outer Periphery I: ES – O4 of the following groups:
   

1. 
   Education and Training Services Group
   
2. 
   Medical Services Group
   

• 
  Services from the Outer Periphery I will be granted autonomy first and will move inwards towards the Inner Periphery. Services such as Education and Training Services and Medical Services will be granted autonomy or will be out of the civil service first (by 2018), followed by those in the Outer Periphery II such as Architectural and Engineering Services, Forestry and Environment Protection Services, Agriculture and Livestock Services, Information Communication and Technology Services, etc. By 2028 the civil service shall be based on an open system, and the entry into the core from all areas—inner periphery and private and corporate sectors—will be allowed.
  
• 
  The RCSC will recruit civil servants—selecting only a small group of top talent—into services that have been identified as the Inner Periphery and the Core. Upon successful selection the select group will be placed in various agencies and will be placed at P5 level. This group of civil servants will be groomed for Executive Positions in the Civil Service.
  
• 
  Recruitment and selection into those services belonging to the Outer Periphery (I and II) will be delegated to Agencies, Management Boards or Councils as per the timelines indicated. These Boards and Councils will be responsible for recruitment and selection, promotion and transfer of personnel under their jurisdiction.
  

1. 
   Framing policies to promote merit, productivity and equity in the civil service.
   
2. 
   Recruitment, appointment, promotion and transfer of civil servants in the Inner Periphery and Core Services.
   
3. 
   Advising on the suitability of officers for transfer-on-deputation.
   
4. 
   Appellate for all personnel grievances of civil servants.
   
5. 
   Monitoring/Checking the HR functions delegated to Ministries and Agencies.
   
6. 
   RCSC and the relevant sectors shall develop guidelines for the service conditions and rules for the independent Boards and Councils. The Boards/Councils will have to be formed based either along professional or agency lines.
   

• 
  In addition, the Commissioners of the RCSC should take on the following personnel responsibilities:
  
  • 
    Chairperson: Chairman of the Board for Core services
    
  • 
    Commissioner 1 & 2: Chairman of the Boards for Inner Periphery
    
  • 
    Commissioner 3 & 4: Chairman of the Boards for Outer Periphery
    

• 
  The responsibility for approving staff strength and positions within organizations remain with the RCSC, at least until the MoF finalizes the financial decentralization policies and lessons learnt from granting autonomy to teaching and medical services.
  

• 
  System to reward agencies that meet their targets and have resources to spare from the allocated budget should be put into place. The budget lines where such reward system can be instituted will have to be identified.
  

• 
  Managers should also be more innovative in their approach towards work. Use of ICT and e-governance should be encouraged as these will lead to financial incentives. Overall misuse of government property such as vehicles and stationery, etc. will also be minimized.
  

• 
  At present there are 10 ministries and numerous autonomous agencies. It is suggested that this figure should not be restrictive and depending on the time and need, agencies should either be deleted or changed.
  

• 
  For instance some of the Ministries that could be merged or separated are as follows (note that the examples are only suggestive and need further analysis before it is implemented, in any case the number of Ministries must be maintained at not more than 10):
  
  • 
    Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource could be merged: This is in light of the fact that with the teachers being separated from the civil service, the role of the Ministry of Education will diminish. As also the fact that since skills produced by the institutes will have to be aligned with the demands of the economy there will need to be closer coordination between schools (MoE) and the tertiary (MoE and RUB) and vocational training institutes (MoLHR).
    
  • 
    Ministry of Information and Communications could be done away with: With the formation of BICMA, the role of the Ministry has reduced substantially. If RSTA and DCA are separated, only DIT remains. The functions of DIT could be merged with MEA (since IT infrastructure is closely linked to electricity infrastructure).
    
  • 
    A separate Ministry (Environment and Natural Resources) could be created by merging the DoF, DGM and the NEC, with the mandate to also look after water resources management.
    

• 
  Investment in HRD should be focused and tied to the achievement of the overall goals of the Government. Training and development programs should lead to increased efficiency and effectiveness of a civil servant (increased output per capita) in order to maintain a small, compact and effective civil service.
  

• 
  While the GNH Commission and the RCSC will be responsible for the approval of training programs in line with national priorities and goals, the nomination of the candidate and the implementation of the program will be left to the sectors themselves. However, the nominations must be based on best practices such as open competition, vigorous selection criteria, etc.
  

• 
  The scholarships that the Government receives from bilateral donors should be allocated to the relevant sectors by the GNH Commission, RCSC and MoLHR based on national priority.
  

• 
  In order to improve service delivery, it is imperative that the procedures should be clear and kept to the minimum. Optimal use of ICT to promote e-governance and a paperless office should be the order of the day.
  

• 
  Institute a workable one-window service system, where a client can submit an application to one work place and pick up the services required from the same station after the prescribed time has elapsed.
  

• 
  All agencies that offer services to the public shall be required to provide the following:
  

• 
  A checklist of all documents that are required to be submitted by clients which should be made widely available including the Ministry’s/Agency’s website. As far as possible, all forms shall be made available online and agencies must then work towards enabling online applications.
  
• 
  A clear outline for all procedures required for the processing of the application including the time required for the completion of formalities.
  
• 
  A designated time within the week an official will meet clients. As far as possible, the institution of the one-window system attempts to eliminate all official-client dealings but there will be instances when clarifications or discussions are unavoidable.
  
• 
  A designated substitute with appropriate delegation of responsibilities as well as authority for an official who is out of the office for more than a day.
  
• 
  A comment/suggestion box will be kept in the agency, and comments (positive and negative) dropped in the box will be taken seriously and used during the performance evaluation of the concerned official.
  

• 
  In general, all organizations should strive to separate policy formulation role from implementation. Ministries/Agencies should primarily be responsible for formulating policies and plans, and to a certain extent in the area of regulating those policies and plans, i.e. only if an independent Authority cannot be created. The private/corporate sector should be responsible for implementing those policies and plans. And, in cases where the private/corporate sector is not in a position to implement activities then the Government agency will have to play a part in the implementation. Nevertheless, in such instances, the roles must be made clear and accountability mechanisms should be established.
  

• 
  The structure of the Ministry is proposed below:
  

• 
  The PPD, HRD Division and AFD will function as independent divisions and will provide advisory, support and other services to the Departments and the Ministry.
  

• 
  Internal Audit Units should be strengthened in order to enable them to fulfill their mandates, otherwise should be discontinued in their present form.
  
• 
  For those agencies that deal with the delivery of services and the public, a Customer Relations Office should be instituted. These Customer Relations Offices should function as the one- window-stop shops for delivery of services.
  

The current structure of the civil service is observed to be consisting of too many levels (17) thereby contributing to the extreme hierarchy of agencies which itself leads to the creation of numerous bureaucratic layers as also the hierarchical attitude of civil servants. For example, in the illustration below, there are three layers at the professional P3-P5 levels – while the number of layers is 3, the nature of job is largely the same. Therefore, there is a great opportunity to compress civil service position levels which will hopefully lead to reduction in the bureaucratic layers and help in change of civil servants’ mindset from “authoritarian” to “service oriented” and build up teamwork.

• 
  Position levels are broad-banded so that at the officers’ category (P5 – EX1) there are only 4 levels. This is to reduce the hierarchy in the civil service.
  
• 
  Within the broad-banded positions (e.g. P3 – P5), individual position levels are retained (e.g. P3, P4 and P5) since it will not upset the present system’s salary scale.
  
• 
  Below the Division level, there should not be any levels of hierarchy in terms of work but be based on teamwork.
  

• 
  In order to contain the size of the civil service, the appointment rate must be reduced and the separation rate must be increased. Overall, the net increase rate should be close to 0%.
  
• 
  An attractive Early Retirement Scheme is to be formulated and offered to remove civil servants whose performance is below average. However, the scheme should not remove good civil servants.
  
• 
  The following minimum ratios should be determined and set as targets:
  
  • 
    Civil servants to population.
    
  • 
    Support staff to officers.
    
  • 
    Civil servants in the Dzongkhag to the centre.
    
  • 
    Civil servants based on national priorities and activities.
    

We must follow political developments in the neighboring Indian districts and establish links with the dominant political parties. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), which has been in power in West Bengal for the last four decades, is also the dominant party in Jalpaiguri district⁶⁹. In Darjeeling district⁷⁰, the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) led by Subhash Ghising has held power in the Darjeeling Gorkha Autonomous Hill Council (DGAHC)⁷¹ since the end of the GNLF agitation in 1988. In the four neighboring Assamese districts⁷², the Bodo People’s Front in coalition with the Congress has been in power since the first elections to the Bodo Territorial Council (BTC) in 2005. While good informal contacts have been established with these local parties, we need to formalize these relations as these parties are likely to continue to remain dominant for a long time. A formalized system of contacts must be undertaken at a more senior level such as Secretary or Joint Secretary Level preferably by the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs (MoHCA).

(i) Institute a mechanism for contacts with the Pradhan of the Gram Panchayat of Chamurchi village, which is immediately adjacent to Samtse gate. The Panchayat Samiti of Nagarkata Block bordering most of Samtse has jurisdiction over Chamurchi Gram Panchayat. Through the Pradhan, who is a member of the Nagarkata Panchayat Samiti, establish contacts with the Savapati. The Savapati could be used for establishing relations with the Sabhadhipati and other members of the Zilla Parishad of Jalpaiguri.

(i) Institute a mechanism for contacts with the Councillor of Gorubathan, which is one of the three blocks under Kalimpong Sub-Division⁷³ of Darjeeling District governed by DGAHC. Gorubathan block borders Sipsu Dungkhag.