Outsource govt services; bring in pvt sector talent: Niti Aayog

April 30, 2017

New Delhi, Apr 30: Policy think-tank Niti Aayog has suggested outsourcing of public services to private hands in order to reduce dependence on the government administrative machinery. It has also recommended induction of specialists into the governance system through lateral entry, a move which, it says, will bring "competition to the established career bureaucracy".

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In its draft report on a three-year action agenda made public recently, the Niti Aayog has set a target of full- digitisation of governance-related works by the end of 2018- 19. Civil service is the backbone of the government and it needs to be empowered to make quick decisions and implement them. Sustained high levels of performance can only be achieved if it is objectively measured with high performance rewarded and poor reprimanded, it said.

"Today, rising complexity of the economy has meant that policy-making is a specialised activity. Therefore, it is essential that specialists be inducted into the system through lateral entry. "Such entry will also have the beneficial side effect of bringing competition to the established career bureaucracy," as per the draft three-year action agenda for 2017-18 to 2019- 20.

The draft was circulated among the Governing Council (consisting of chief ministers of all states and others) members of the Niti Aayog on April 23. The recommendation may come under criticism from Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, who are part of top- level management in government departments. The Niti Aayog said the dependence on the government administrative machinery for the delivery of services needs to be reduced wherever possible.

"We can make use of the power of Aadhaar-based identity verification to allow private channels to provide services wherever possible. Identification of such services should be taken up and public-private-partnership model to provide those services should be explored," the draft report said. It also favoured longer tenure for Secretary-rank officer in government departments. Currently, by the time officers are promoted from Additional Secretary to Secretary level, usually they have two years or less left before retirement.

This feature creates two important inefficiencies, the report said. One: with a time horizon shorter than two years, the officer is hesitant to take any major initiatives; and two: the officer is reluctant to take decisions on any major project fearing any mis-step may become the cause for charges of favouritism or corruption post retirement.

"This causes inordinate amount of delay in decision- making," it said, adding that one possible solution is early promotion to the Secretary position and introduction of lateral entry. The report said officers may be encouraged to gain expertise in specific areas in the early stages of their careers and the current system of rapid rotation of officers across ministries may be replaced by a system of longer postings according to specialisation.

"Officers should also be encouraged to enhance their knowledge and skills in the chosen area of specialisation through intensive training. This specialisation by the internal staff needs to be complemented by lateral entry of highly specialised staff on fixed-term contracts," it said.

Specialists could be brought on three to five year contracts as such a system will bring top talent and energy into the government system and lend new dynamism to ministries, the report said.

"The NITI Aayog performs many tasks requiring specialised knowledge and skills. Therefore, it has recently proposed changes to its rules of recruitment, which if approved would open the door to lateral entry. This initiative could serve as a pilot for other ministries," it said.

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News Network
March 22,2024

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday produced Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal before the Rouse Avenue court and sought a 10-day custody in the excise policy-linked money laundering case. "Kejriwal was the kingpin of the scam," the ED reportedly told the court after the AAP chief was produced before Special Judge Kaveri Baweja around 2 pm amid tight security. 

ASG S V Raju was appearing for the agency, while Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi is representing Kejriwal. 

Raju in his argument said Kejriwal was "directly involved in formulation of the (liquor) policy... he was involved in handling of proceeds of crime as well in the Goa election campaign."

"The expert committee was constituted but it was a sham committee. The policy was made in such a manner that it would enable the taking of bribes and recoupment of people who gave the bribes," the ED counsel said. 

Kejriwal was produced in the trial court shortly after he withdrew from the Supreme Court his plea against arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the excise policy-linked money laundering case. Kejriwal's counsel said he would contest the remand proceedings before the trial court and then come back to the apex court with another petition.

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News Network
March 17,2024

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New Delhi: The Election Commission on Sunday made public fresh data on electoral bonds, which it had submitted in sealed covers to the Supreme Court and was later asked to put it in public domain.

These details are believed to be pertaining to the period before April 12, 2019. Electoral bond details after this date was made public by the poll panel last week.

The BJP encashed electoral bonds totalling Rs 6,986.5 crore; maximum Rs 2,555 crore received in 2019-20, as per the EC data.

The Trinamool Congress received Rs 1,397 crore through electoral bonds, second largest recipient after BJP, as per the EC data.

On the other hand, the Congress redeemed a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds.

DMK received Rs 656.5 crore through electoral bonds, including Rs 509 crore from lottery king Santiago Martin's Future Gaming.

BJD encashed electoral bonds worth Rs 944.5 crore, YSR Congress Rs 442.8 crore, TDP Rs 181.35 crore.

Political parties had filed data on electoral bonds in sealed cover as directed by the Supreme Court's interim order dated April 12, 2019, the poll panel said in a statement.

"Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Supreme Court without opening sealed covers. In pursuance of the Supreme Court's order dated March 15, 2024, the Registry of the Supreme Court has returned physical copies along with a digitized record of the same in a pen drive in sealed cover. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data received in the digitized form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website," EC said.

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March 14,2024

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The high-level committee on simultaneous elections, chaired by Ram Nath Kovind, on Thursday met President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan and submitted its report on 'One Nation, One Election'. The report comprises 18,626 pages.

Home Minister Amit Shah was also present at Rashtrapati Bhawan when Kovind led panel submitted the report.

"Simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and state assemblies can be held in first step, followed by local body polls within 100 days in second step," reported PTI quoting the panel.

"Synchronised polls for all three tiers of government to improve governance architecture, in line with quest of aspirational India," it added.

The report has been submitted 191 days after the constitution of the panel on September 2, 2023.

It's further reported that the proposal also puts focus on having a singular electoral roll for holding Lok Sabha, state assembly and local body polls.

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