Model Code of Governance

A day-long Conference of Chief Secretaries was held on November 2, 2004, under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary, focussing on good governance, administrative reforms and related issues. The Conference agreed that a Model Code of governance would be drawn up which would enshrine the fundamental principles and benchmarks of good governance. 

The Code would look at governance from the point of view of the citizen and outline the framework for good governance, based on identifiable benchmarks for comparison and evaluation, which could be a model for States to follow.  Accordingly, a Model Code of Governance, which is in the form of a road map for the administration, was finalised and sent to all Chief Secretaries of States/UTs on April 14, 2005.  The main components of the Model Code cover action points under the heads (i) Improving Service Delivery, (ii) Development of Programmes for Weaker Sections and Backward Areas, (iii) Technology and System Improvement, (iv) Financial Management and Budget Sanctity, (v) Accountability and Transparency, (vi) Public Service Morale and Anti-Corruption Measures and (vii) Incentivising Reforms.

Governance issues at District level

A two-day National Conference of District Collectors on governance issues and improvement of delivery systems at district level was held on May 19-20, 2005 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.  A total of 237 Collectors from 29 States and 4 UTs participated in the Conference.

 

            Presentations were made by the Collectors before the Prime Minister on May 20, 2005, based on the summary of conclusions of regional workshops held on the following eight identified themes:

 

Ø       Delivery of Services of Education and Health Sectors

Ø       Delivery of Services and Role of Local institutions

Ø       Modernisation of District Administration and Capacity Building

Ø       Integrated Implementation of Rural Development Programmes at District Level

Ø       Development of Infrastructure, Urban Renewal and Habitat Issues.

Ø       Natural Resource Management and Environmental Concerns

Ø       Right to Information and Transparency in Government

Ø       Public Private Partnership in Governance at District Level

 

            The Prime Minister in his address to the Conference on May 20, 2005, recalled the onerous responsibilities being discharged by them in difficult circumstances.  He called upon the Collectors to discharge their duties with competence and to be partisan towards the poor, the weaker sections, minorities, women and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and all such disadvantaged people who need support of the State.

In all, 32 Action Points, which were identified out of the various recommendations, have been forwarded to the concerned nodal Ministries for initiating necessary action.

Governance Knowledge Centre

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances has taken up an initiative to design and develop a web-based repository of good governance initiatives and best practices.  

The Governance Knowledge Centre (GKC) encompasses web based Digital Repository as also a support team comprising domain experts, resource persons, analysts along with technical professionals who continuously ensure dynamic updating of Knowledge Resources and Case Studies relevant to the profile of users visiting the repository.

            Digital Repository is envisaged as a tool to enable capture, organise, store for easy retrieval of digital contents with respect to the various selected case studies of “Good Governance Practices” in India and abroad.

            The knowledge shared by the practitioners would facilitate in better comprehension of the nuances of administrative and management practices and pave the way for taking up appropriate interventions to improve governance standards, which in turn would help, improve delivery of services to the citizens.

GKC consists of:

 

Ø       Case Studies of Good Governance Practices in India and Abroad

Ø       Web based Discussion Forum to discuss various issues and solutions amongst practitioners of Governance

Ø       Assessment and Benchmarking of select Good Governance Practices/Cases

Ø       Publishing of Award winning Knowledge Resources/Case Studies

Ø       Directory of Resource persons under various Governance Themes

Ø       Directory of Organisations involved in the various projects of Good Governance in India

Ø       Publishing of New and Hot Topics

Ø       Current Events

Ø       Links to collaboration partners of GKC

Ø       Classification / Search by categories and key words

Ø       E-Mail updates to Subscribers

Ø       Opinion Poll

Ø       Help Desk

 

GKC – a Digital Repository together with Portal for District Collectors/ District Magistrates was launched by the Prime Minister during the National Conference of Collectors held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on  May 19-20, 2005.  So far 90 case studies have been uploaded.

Setting up of second Administrative Reforms Commission

The National Common Minimum Programme (May, 2004) of the United Progressive Alliance Government envisaged setting up of an Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) to prepare a detailed blue print for revamping the public administration system. Accordingly, the second Administrative Reforms Commission was constituted on August 31, 2005, as a Commission of Inquiry with the following composition:

 

(i)         Shri Veerappa Moily                   -           Chairperson

(ii)         Shri V. Ramachandran   -           Member                                   

(iii)        Dr. A.P.  Mukherjee                   -           Member

            (iv)        Dr. A.H. Kalro                -           Member

(v)         Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan            -           Member

            (vi)        Smt. Vineeta Rai                       -           Member-Secretary

 

            The Commission has been requested, inter alia, to consider the following areas and make its recommendations:

 

Ø                   Organisational structure of the Government of India

Ø                   Ethics in governance

Ø                   Refurbishing  of Personnel Administration

Ø                   Strengthening of Financial Management Systems

Ø                   Steps to ensure effective administration at the State level

Ø                   Steps to ensure effective District Administration

Ø                   Local Self-Government/Panchayati Raj Institutions

Ø                   Social Capital, Trust and Participative public service delivery

Ø                   Citizen-centric administration

Ø                   Promoting e-governance

Ø                   Issues of Federal Polity 

Ø                   Crisis Management

Ø                   Public Order

 

The Commission has been requested to give due consideration to the need for consultation with the State governments.  It has also been requested to take into account the existing material and reports available on the subject and consider building upon the same  rather than attempting to address all the issues ab initio.  The Commission  has been requested to furnish its report(s) to the Government within one year of its constitution, i.e. August 31, 2006.   

Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration

The Prime Minister had announced introduction of Civil Services Awards while addressing the Conference of District Collectors on May 20, 2005.  Accordingly, a Scheme has been finalised with the approval of the Prime Minister, to introduce ‘Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration’ to recognise the extraordinary innovative work done by the officers of the Central and State Governments.  The awards will be announced on January 26 each year.

Civil Services Day

The Government has decided to observe  April 21 every year as Civil Service Day as an occasion for the civil servants to rededicate themselves to the cause of citizens and renew their commitment to public service and excellence in work.  The first such function was held on  April 21, 2006, which was attended by officers of the All-India Services and those belonging to Central Civil Services.  Inaugurating the function, the Prime Minister called upon all the civil servants to take a long-term view of the Nation’s needs and priorities.  The Prime Minister further exhorted the participants to ensure equitable and sustainable growth, develop the capability to work in a more open environment with more demanding standards of transparency and accountability, and to reorient themselves as service providers rather than mere administrators of a public service delivery system. 

Service Delivery Excellence Project (SEVOTTAM)

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances has developed a model for conceptualising and implementing a scheme (SEVOTTAM) for recognising Excellence in Service Delivery in Government Organizations. The scheme has been tailor made for government organisations with specific focus on citizen interface and expectations and is slated for implementation in the Ministries in a phased manner. The model synthesises the ground realities in India with International Best Practices and is based on proper implementation of citizen’s charters, effectiveness of public grievance redress mechanism and status of service delivery enablers from the citizen’s perspective and efforts made by the department in improving their own capability to deliver.

The model has been tested among several organisations and was presented before workshops of NGOs, Citizen Groups and Government Departments. These discussions have eventually culminated in finalisation of the certification requirements. Using the tools provided by this model, government agencies can self assess and improve quality of their service delivery and over a period of time graduate to a level where an objective evaluation can be done and excellence can be publicly recognized.   It is proposed to introduce this Scheme in 15 selected Ministries/Departments after obtaining the approval of the Cabinet.

The Right to Information Act, 2005      

The Right to Information Act, 2005 was enacted by Parliament on June 15, 2005, and the Act was notified in the Gazette of India on June 21, 2005.  The Right to Information Act has become fully operational from October 12, 2005. The Gazette Notification, constituting the Central Information Commission, was issued on October 11, 2005. The Chief Information Commissioner and 4 Information Commissioners have taken oath of office and are in position.

SC, ST and OBC Bill - 2004

To codify the reservations for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, the Government introduced the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Reservation in Posts and Services) Bill, 2004 in the Rajya Sabha on December 22, 2004. The Bill was referred to the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice.  The Committee has submitted its report.  A Group of Ministers has been constituted to consider the recommendations of the above referred Committee and to finalise the Government amendments to the Bill, if considered necessary.

Special Recruitment Drive for SCs and STs

The Government launched a Special Recruitment Drive in August, 2004, to fill up the backlog reserved vacancies of the Schedules Castes and Scheduled Tribes, both in direct recruitment quota and promotion quota. Till the end of April, 2006, a total of 27,943 backlog reserved vacancies in direct recruitment quota and 48,189 backlog reserved vacancies in promotion quota were identified in the Ministries/Departments and their attached offices, subordinate offices and autonomous bodies.  Out of these, 15,501 backlog reserved vacancies in direct recruitment quota and 25,736 backlog reserved vacancies in promotion quota have been filled.

CAPAM High Level Seminar

            At the instance of Commonwealth Association of Public Administration and Management (CAPAM), the Ministry hosted a meeting of Public Service Training Institutes in the Commonwealth in the form of a High Level Seminar on October 4-5, 2005, in New Delhi. The theme of the Seminar was “In Pursuit of Excellence: Developing and Maintaining a High Quality Public Service.”  Twenty seven  countries in the Commonwealth participated in the High Level Seminar.

            India signed the United Nations Convention against Corruption on December 9, 2005, which prescribes a series of measures for preventing corruption including formulation and implementation of anti-corruption policies and practices.

Post Graduation Programme in Public Policy

The first high quality programme for officers to pursue higher studies in public policy was started in IIM, Bangalore in June 2002. The 4^th batch of 31 participants joined the programme in June 2005. A second such programme leading to post graduate degree in public policy and sustainable development is being conducted at the TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi for which a MoU was signed on January 29, 2005. The first batch of participants joined the programme in January 2006.

Information and Facilitation Counters (IFCs)

With a view to ensuring easy access to information for citizens, Information and Facilitation Counters have been set up by Ministries/Departments. The number of IFCs functioning in a Central Government Ministries/Departments/Organisations has increased and is 106 as on November 30, 2005.

 

Pensioners Portal

The Department of Pensions and Pensioners Welfare has taken up a proposal for managing the “Pensioners’ Portal” to cater to the redressal of pensioners’ grievance by following a uniform system by harnessing IT resources. The Portal will also provide updated information on pension matters for the guidance of pensioners.

Setting up of Standing Committees

The Standing Committee has been set up comprising of Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to PM and Secretary (Personnel) with a view to suggesting systematic changes in dealing with service related grievances of officers of the level of Joint Secretary and above working in Central Government and State governments as well as PSUs and autonomous organisation under their control.

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