Relevance: GS-2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Key Phrases: Civil service capacity, Induction training, National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building, Public service, Policy Framework, Institutional Framework, Competency, iGOT-Karmayogi, e-HRMS.

Why in News?

• Given our developmental targets and growth ambition, a massive scale-up in capacity-building is needed at the bureaucratic level.

Context:

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

Background of capacity building of civil services:

• Before 1985, capacity building of the higher civil services primarily involved two-year induction training. For the lower civil services there were no trainings.
• 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 trainings 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.

Salient Features of Mission Karmayogi:

• The transition from Rules Based to Roles Based Human Resource (HR) Management. The focus is to allocate jobs to the civil servants based on their competencies.
• On-Site Learning to complement Off-Site Learning: It is a training given to the civil servants on-site.
• An ecosystem of shared training infrastructure: Civil servants to adapt to an ecosystem of shared learning materials, institutions and personnel.
• Framework of Roles, Activities and Competencies (FRACs) approach: All civil services positions to be calibrated under this approach. Also based on this approach, all learning content will be created and delivered to every single government entity.
• Behavioural, Functional and Domain Competencies: Civil Servants to build their competencies in their self-driven and mandated learning paths.
• Co-creation of the common ecosystem by all the Central Ministries, Departments and their organizations – This is a way to create an ecosystem of learning through an annual financial subscription for every employee.
• Partnership with learning content creators: Public training institutions, universities, start-tips and individual experts will be enabled to be a part of this capacity-building measure.

Why there is a need for Mission Karmayogi?

• Today, given our growth ambition, a massive scale-up in capacity-building is needed both at the political and bureaucratic levels.
• As democracies mature, elected representatives and bureaucracy will play a more proactive role in policy making and implementation. It is, therefore, imperative that representatives and bureaucrats are able to understand the nuances of policy making and implementation.
• Such a 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.
• It is often said that Indian bureaucrats are a major reason why India is not progressing at the speed it could have. It is also said that the recruitment and post-recruitment ecosystem of civil servants is outdated and it needs a major upgrade. To address these concerns, the government brought this program.

Pillars of Mission Karmayogi:

• 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.

How will Mission Karmayogi help to build capacity building?

• The programme will try to improve human resource management practices among the officers.
• It will focus more on role based management.
• It will aim to allocate roles and jobs bases on competencies of the officers.
• The mission has also created an online platform called as iGOT-Karmayogi. i.e. Integrated Government Online Training.
  • This platform will provide content to learn from global best practices rooted in “Indian ethos”.
  • iGOT Karmayogi platform enables officials to explore, acquire and certify their competencies that are critical to discharging their duties.
  • The platform also helps them connect and collaborate across silos and become more efficient in the execution of their responsibilities. These are made possible, with a series of features organised into specific hubs.
• Civil servants will also have to undertake courses on this platform on which the officers’ performance will be evaluated.
• A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will monitor the platform. The SPV will be a not-for-profit organisation under Section 8 of the Companies Act.

Way forward:

• The good news is that India already has everything it needs to scale up capacity building. The existing institutions and educational centres, as well as the available expertise and knowledge base, can appropriately support trainings for various grades of civil servants. However, at the heart of such a massive capacity-building exercise is logistics — if existing institutions are used to their full capacity, there won’t be a need to invest in more brick-and-mortar establishments. Investments in high-quality learning material and using a pedagogy that is appropriate to the group, rather than standard classroom lectures, will be a better use of funds.

Source: Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. “Training Karmayogis at all levels is a must for inclusive development in India”. Examine the statement.