A Brief Note on AR
Administrative Reforms In Orissa
C o n t e n t s
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Subject
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History of Administrative Reforms in Orissa
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2
Activities of Administrative Reforms Cell
during 2002-05
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Activities of Administrative Reforms Cell
during 2005-06
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3
4
Activity Plan for 2006-07
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5
Strengthening of Administrative Reforms Cell
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6
OMGI
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Human Resources Management System
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A Brief Note on AR
A brief note on Administrative Reforms in Orissa
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1.
History of Administrative Reforms in Orissa
1.1
The subject of Administrative Reforms was first dealt in the G.A.
Department. In 1999 by an Amendment to the Rules of Business, the
subject of Administrative Reforms was transferred to P.G & P.A
Department. In 2000 Finance Department initiated the Fiscal and
Governance Reform Programme. Under this programme a Task Force on
Governance and Civil Services Reforms was set up on 01.11.2000 by the
Finance Department.
1.2
The Task Force submitted its report on achieving Good Governance in
Orissa by undertaking civil services reforms, anti-corruption measures,
organizational review to distinguish core and non-core functions and
identify surplus employees for re-deployment in other areas, stability of
tenure by having a transfer policy, citizen charters, computerization,
training, reward and punishment of employees, change in procedures,
right to information, etc.
1.3
Basing on the report of the Task Force, on 17.10.2001 Finance
Department set up a Fiscal and Civil Services Reforms Cell for the
implementation of the Fiscal and Governance Reforms Programme. The
Cell was headed by Chief Secretary.
1.4
On 16.3.2002, Finance Department requested G.A. Department for the
constitution of the Administrative Reforms Department. It also submitted a
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list of businesses basing on the report of the Task Force to be transacted
by the new Department of Administrative Reforms. It suggested the
structure of the new Department as comprising one Special Secretary,
one Joint Secretary, two Deputy Secretaries and ten Section Officers /
Assistants.
1.5
On 17.4.2002 G.A. Department set up an Administrative Reforms Cell that
was headed by a Special Secretary (Administrative Reforms). The Cell
was also proposed to have one Joint Secretary/Deputy Secretary/ Under
Secretary and some staff.
1.6
On 29.8.2002 the Rules of Business was amended for the creation and
allocation of business of Administrative Reforms Cell in G.A. Department.
1.7
The different positions and incumbents in Administrative Reforms Cell
from 2002 onwards may be seen in the tables given below:
2002
Sri P.K. Mishra, I.A. & A.S
Sri R.N. Rout, OAS
Special Secretary
Joint Secretary
2003
Sri P.K. Mishra, I.A. & A.S
Sri D.N. Mishra, IAS
Sri R.N. Rout, OAS
Miss Banani Mohanty, OAS
Special Secretary
Additional Secretary
Joint Secretary
Under Secretary
2004
Sri P.K. Mishra, I.A. & A.S
Sri D.K. Mohanty, OAS
Sri R.N. Rout, OAS
Miss Banani Mohanty, OAS
Special Secretary
Additional Secretary
Joint Secretary
Under Secretary
October, 2004
Smt. Madhur Sarangi, IAS
Sri P.K. Mishra, I.A. & A.S
Principal Secretary
Special Secretary
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Sri K.C. Mishra, OAS
Sri Girish S.N., IAS
Joint Secretary
Under Secretary
2005
Sri T.K. Pandey, IAS
Sri N. Chandra, IAS
Sri S. Sukla, OAS
Special Secretary
Additional Secretary
Under Secretary
1.8
At present there are three Assistants and one Sr. Grade Typist in the Cell.
2.
Activities of Administrative Reforms Cell during 2002-05:
2.1
Over three thousand surplus employees were re-deployed in different
Departments. A proposal was made for the merger of the office of Special
Relief Commissioner with the Revenue Department and renaming of the
Revenue Department as Revenue and Disaster Management Department.
Organizational Review was taken up in eight Departments; Agriculture,
Transport, Panchayati Raj,
School & Mass Education, Forest
&
Environment, Health & F.W., Government Printing Press of Commerce
Department and Commercial Taxes.
3.
Activities of Administrative Reforms Cell during 2005-06:
3.1
The programme for Orissa Modernizing Government Initiative was
finalized. HRMS in six districts on a pilot basis was started. Transparency
and Accountability Programme on a pilot basis was taken up in nine
Departments and nine Districts. e-Governance Programme Document was
prepared in collaboration with the I.T. Department. Proposal for
amendment to Rules of Business and Rules for Rationalization of
Government Personnel was prepared. Proposal for Composite Directorate
in Textile and Handloom, Sports and Youth Services, Tourism and Culture
Departments
was
submitted.
Performance
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Appraisal
System
of
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Government employees was revamped. Anti-corruption Action Plan was
prepared. Training of Government employees for computer literacy was
provided.
4.
Activity Plan for 2006-07:
1.
HRMS (Human Resources Management System) in six districts to
be grounded on a pilot basis.
2.
Preparation and implementation of Reform Action Plans in select
Departments
under
OMGI
(Orissa
Modernizing
Government
Initiatives)
3.
Expansion of e-Governance.
a. State Information Services Board
b. District Information Services Council
c. Mission Mode Projects
4.
Transparency and Accountability Programme.
5.
Citizen’s Charter to be initiated in Municipality, Tahsils, RTO, Urban
Development Authority, etc.
6.
Review of Codes
7.
Delegation of powers
8.
Meeting Monitoring System
9.
Project Management
10.
E-procurement
11.
Simplification of Land Acquisition
12.
Use of Oriya Language
13.
Strengthening of Planning Organization
14.
Organizational Review.
15.
Zero-based Review of Personnel
16.
Reorganization of Departments
17.
Training of employees
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18.
Amendment of Secretariat Instructions.
19.
Strengthening of District Administration
20.
Best Practices Dissemination.
21.
PM Award for excellence in Public Administration.
22.
Civil Services Census.
23.
Litigation Management System.
24.
Institutional Development of A.R. Cell and OCAC.
25.
Setting up of State Centre for Good Governance.
26.
Implementation of Action Plan of Inter-State Council
5.
Strengthening of Administrative Reforms Cell:
There is going to be significant increase in the work load of the Cell during
2006-07. It is therefore proposed that the Cell be strengthened by
induction of more officers and staff in the Cell. It needs to have a Project
Management Unit and a Team of Consultants to take up the new
responsibilities. For the implementation of HRMS Project a Project
Management Unit consisting of at least four Gr. ’A’ or Gr. ‘B’ officers is
required. Consultants having domain expertise in the areas of Information
Technology, Management, Law, Procurement and Finance will be
required. In addition a few more Deputy/Under Secretaries, Section
Officers, Assistants and Data Entry Operators will be required. A detailed
organizational plan for Strategy and Performance Innovation Unit has
been prepared. Currently, the Procurement and Contracting Unit has been
set up. Staffing of other personnel is in progress.
6. OMGI
6.1
OMGI stands for Orissa Modernizing Government Initiative. OMGI
Programme has been conceived with the assistance of DFID under its
larger Orissa Public Sector Reform Programme. It is a multi-sectoral
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cross-cutting initiative that aims at development of Reform Action
Plans in selected Departments and their implementation on a pilot
basis for the purpose of improving the service delivery system. Priority
has been assigned to such Plans that have the maximum impact on
the poor. The programme duration is for three years from 1.4.06. Total
investment will be of the order of Rs 948.08 lakhs to be funded entirely
by DFID.
6.2
Under the programme critical gaps in the selected Departments will be
identified that hinder the achievements of the goals of the Department.
These gaps may be related to process, technology or the human
resources employed in the Department. Measures will be formulated to
overcome the constraints. The implementation of the measures will be
undertaken on a pilot basis.
6.3
The programme will run under the strategic direction of the Steering
Committee headed by Chief Secretary. A Management Committee has
been constituted for taking operational decisions.
6.4
A Strategic and Performance Innovation Unit (SPIU) will be set up
consisting of domain experts who will critically study the nature of
process, technology and human resources employed in the selected
Departments and prepare the Reform Action Plan in consultation with
the Departments and other stakeholders. Each SPIU will consist of a
Workstream Facilitator, MIS Development Specialist and Technical
Specialists (Programmer).
6.5
In order to streamline the Government procurement of goods and
services OCAC will be strengthened under OMGI to act as the nodal
agency to provide the contracting services. For this purpose, a team of
Procurement Specialists will be housed in OCAC.
6.6
The programme coordination will be done by the State Project
Coordination and Monitoring Unit (SPMU) set up in General
Administration Department. It will act as the Secretariat of the Steering
Committee of the Programme.
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6.7
Special emphasis has been laid on the training of Government
employees in order to improve the human resources within the
Government. They will be exposed to the best practices, acquainted
with modern office management procedures and ICT, statutes, rules
and
regulations
of
the
Government,
techniques
of
project
management, specialized subject matters, etc.
6.8
OMGI provides for the scoping study of Human Resources
Management System, District Modernization Plan, Food Grain
Tracking, MDM MIS, Property Tax MIS, Allotment System in BDA.
These components are subject to revision during the continuance of
the programme.
7. Human Resources Management Information System
7.1
Government of Orissa have identified human resource management
function as a common thread that binds all the Departments. At present,
the Government have about 4.70 lakh employees on their rolls. The
Government recognizes the need for an information technology solution to
address the needs and streamline its complex and dispersed Human
Resource Management System. The problems in the personnel system
have negative repercussions upon the activities of the rest of the
organization. Mismanagement of the personnel system imposes a serious
burden and distracts the energy of the leadership from core departmental
activities to solving grievances of the employees. It also causes distortion
in the personnel structure as delays occur in recruitment and promotion
and vacancies remain unfilled for a considerable period of time. Delays
also occur in sanction of pensions that cause grave hardship. The
Administration often gets involved in solving employee grievances and
substantial manpower efforts are diverted to these issues. In addition,
there are over 50,000 pending litigation cases which take away crucial
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senior officials’ time and attention.
All these problems require an
immediate remedy. Given the size of the personnel in the State
Government and the complexities of the problems related to personnel,
the modernization of the Human Resources Management System will be a
major enabler for an efficient, effective and citizen-centric administration.
7.2
Government have identified Human Resource Management System
(HRMS) as one of the core initiatives as a part of its ongoing modernizing
initiatives and e-governance plans, eventually culminating into a
Government to Employee (G2E) portal. An Employee Life Cycle Approach
will be adopted while capturing the employee data in a dynamic real-time
basis through the proposed system right from the stage of the recruitment
of the employee to the stage of her retirement (in fact, even for postretirement pension related issues) all the relevant facts in connection with
the employee will be recorded in the proposed database. This is a project
aimed at modernization of the human resource management system that
may
facilitate
creation
of
an
optimal
personnel
regime
which
simultaneously, satisfies the employees, and furnishes the necessary
means for the fulfillment of broader organizational goals.
The optimal
personal strength would in turn lead to reduction in the salary cost of the
Government. This would make the system leaner and efficient and in turn
would help in better management of finances of the state. The resources
which would be freed can be deployed into programs which would have a
wider social impact for the state as a whole.
The outcome of the same
shall be more time for the senior officials as well as employees to devote
to relevant development work and operation issues thereby serving the
citizens better, particularly the weaker sections. It will cover all the offices
including the Departments, Heads of Departments, other subordinate Field
offices.
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