‘Deadwood’ alert

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is quietly pursuing his government’s avowed goal of making the recalcitrant bureaucracy more accountable and performance oriented. And babus are feeling the heat. It has now been revealed in Parliament that the Modi sarkar dismissed 13 bureaucrats and penalised another 45 for unsatisfactory performance since coming to power in May 2014. These include 13 All India Service officers. Quite a taskmaster government

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has instructed all ministries and departments to conduct periodic reviews of the officials and also ensure timely disposal of cases of “indiscipline” or inefficient work performance. The DoPT, which comes under the Prime Minister’s Office, conducts monthly reviews of cases pertaining to Indian Administrative Service officers and officers of under secretary rank of Central Secretariat Service and Group A officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The disclosure, no doubt, is meant to reassure the public that the Modi government is serious about cutting the deadwood, but also serves as a warning to other increasingly recalcitrant babus to shape up or prepare to ship out!

Goodbye to all that It’s goodbye to the “clerk” era as the Central government has brought in a new nomenclature for designations such as lower and upper divisional clerk. Under the revised rules of the Central Secretariat Clerical Services these posts have been rechristened as junior secretariat assistant and senior secretariat assistant respectively. The ubiquitous “assistant” has been redesignated as assistant section officer.

It’s a significant shift aimed to change the public perception about these designations, which have remained unchanged for decades. The Modi government is also aiming to not just contemporise the bureaucracy but also “de-class” it.

Posts in the Central government will not be categorised under classes I, II, III, IV, etc., but in alphabetical groupings of A, B, C and D. Class III and IV employees would often complain of being taunted as “third-class” employees due to the categorisation. With this step, the government is hoping to create a “class-less” bureaucracy. It’s not known so far how the employees have reacted to the change, but the government is hopeful of a positive reaction.

Scarcity scare In sharp contrast to the United Progressive Alliance days, Indian Administrative Service officers in the time of the Modi government seem to have lost their desire to serve at the Centre on deputation. This column had reported earlier that babus are increasingly reluctant to leave their states to serve in Delhi. This has caused a shortfall in the ranks at the Centre, forcing the government to now ask for more personnel. It may also explain the rash of other Central services occupying IAS gaddis.

Sources disclose that the establishment officer in the DoPT, Rajiv Kumar, has recently written to all state chief secretaries asking them to depute more officers, including women and those from reserved categories, to the Centre to be posted as deputy secretary or director in the Central ministries and departments. To underline the urgency, the letter from Mr Kumar is accompanied by a statement on the Central Deputation Reserve of each state to help determine how many officers can be sent on deputation from the state.

Love them, hate them ignore them at national peril, is the babu guarantee and Dilip’s belief. Share significant babu escapades dilipcherian@gmail.com. Dilip has his lips sealed-so write freely