THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Civil servants in the state should be categorised into six levels and imparted training for capacity development, the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) has recommended. The V S Achuthanandan-led panel submitted its second report before the Chief Minister with major recommendations for enhancing the capabilities of government employees. The ARC has recommended the Institute of Management in Government (IMG) be made an apex training establishment. Also ARC recommended a training division should be set up in the state, similar to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) of the Union Government to implement, coordinate, monitor and handhold STP and streamlining of capacity development initiatives.
The Training Division in the PAR Department will act as the secretariat of the State Training Council.
Officers recruited to the Kerala Administrative Service should be given sufficient opportunities for capacity development through intensive training. ARC proposed the pattern of training of IAS officers shall be adopted for training KAS officers. It is the prime responsibility of the state to impart appropriate and adequate training toentrants into the civil service to equip them for effective delivery of services and transform them as efficient civil servants.
“It is of utmost importance that every civil servant should realise that they are to serve the people and not be their masters,” the report said.Induction and phase training should be made mandatory for all civil servants. The government in consultation with the PSC should evolve a system to give mandatory induction training to employees. Also training should be linked to performance appraisal.
Civil servants should be categorised into six levels:
* Supporting Staff: Drivers, office attendants and similar staff
* Cutting Edge: LDC, UDC, typists and so on
* Supervisory: Junior superintendents, deputy tahsildars
* Lower Management: SO, Senior superintendents, block development officers
* Middle Management: Assistant directors, under secretaries, deputy collectors
* Senior Management: Senior IAS officers, joint directors, additional directors, deputy/joint/additional secretaries
Building a performance-based system
* Performance appraisal based on competencies will reveal training need of each individual civil servant and shall be used as a supporting document for Training Need Assessment. ARC recommended comprehensive rules be framed for effective operationalisation of the performance appraisal system
* All employees should be covered under the training framework and 2 per cent of plan outlay shall be set apart for training
* The Commission recommends drawing up of a competency framework for each department in the state. This could be used as a guideline for the promotion of employees and for succession planning
* The Centre for Good Governance Kerala (CGG-K) should work as a think-tank for governance reforms in the state. Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (DISC-K) may be merged with or transformed to CGG -K or vice versa and function as a permanent system for administrative reforms
* Considering the critical shortage of qualified faculty, virtual classrooms shall be set up at IMG and all district centres
* Government shall promote civil service values and ethics in employees enabling them to be competent and loyal and render their service with care, diligence, responsibility, integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality, without discrimination
* A network of training institutions (TIs) should be put in place as a prerequisite for successful implementation of a capacity development framework. The network should be managed by IMG in liaison with the heads of TIs