Mission Karmayogi also "National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB)" was introduced by the Union Cabinet on 2nd September 2020 with an aim to bring reformation to the Indian Bureaucracy through capacity building. "Yogah Karmasu  Kaushalam " stated in the Bhagvad Gita states the spirit of Civil Services.  Yogah Karmasu  Kaushalam represents producing maximum efficiency. These three words are very important when it comes to the duty of civil servants since the nature of their work demands efficiency as they are responsible to society.

The Civil servants are aligned as "Karmayogi" to bring out the character efficiency, i.e., Personal and productive efficiency. As these are an inseparable part of this philosophy. Therefore, through this mission, the government is trying to bring inward efficiency among civil servants. More on PIB.

 

What is Mission Karmayogi (Complete Details) | UPSC IAS IPS IFS

Also Read: What is Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (Self-reliant India Campaign)

The aim of efficiency has been inspired by the famous sentence of Swami Vivekananda i.e. "Atmano moksartham jagadhitaya ca" which means "for one's liberation and for the welfare of the world, public service should aim for such perfection."

 

Need for the reform

In creating policy and carrying it out in the most innovative ways possible, civil servants are essential. However, the following issues hampered the current civil services capacity-building landscape:-

• Interventions in the training policy that was already in place were irregular and mostly limited to individuals and innovations were sporadic.
• Working in silos or divisions as opposed to an overarching, unified vision;
• Awareness of the nation's priorities
• The absence of a culture of continuous learning for all government employees
• Knowledge exchange restrictions that inhibit collaborative cooperation
• The mission aims to shift the approach from a RULES-BASED to a ROLES-BASED HR Management System
• The mission's raison d'être is to assign the appropriate person to the right role at the right moment.

 

The Vision

The Prime Minister's vision calls for all ministries to work to capitalize on the forthcoming milestone of 75 years of independence, which may encourage people to contribute to the improvement of the nation. Mission Karmayogi, which is envisioned as one of the largest capacity-building programmes for governmental organizations anywhere in the world, will initially target about 46 lakh government employees at the Center and will eventually seek to transform about 1.5 crore employees of the Center, the States, and local bodies.

Using self-directed or guided learning paths will allow officials to pursue anytime, anywhere, on any device learning at their convenience, enabling continuous learning for everyone. The use of job-specific learning tools and communication with officials who "have done it before," will give officials access to immediate help when they need it. It will equip officials with the resources they need to manage their own professional development, holding them responsible for their individual career trajectories.

 

Civil services reforms since 2014

Since 2014, numerous citizen-centric projects have been launched in an effort to put this into practice and improve the way the government interacts with its constituents. The following changes were made to advance:-

• "Trust the Citizen" philosophy;  Self-attestation of documents was permitted.
• Group B (Non-Gazetted) and Group C interviews were discontinued to remove discretion and promote merit;
• Multi-source 360-degree feedback was introduced.
• Lateral entry was introduced at senior levels to tap into the largest talent pool and induct sectoral experts. To improve governance through the development of civil service capacity, a ground-breaking exercise was conducted in 2015. Its goal was to create synergies between the design and implementation of policies by connecting central government departments directly to administrative sub-divisions in the field.
• Kevadia on Rashtriya Ekta Divas in 2019, which was followed by a special virtual Aarambh in October 2020.
• National Recruitment Agency (NRA) was established in August 2020 to introduce a common admission test eliminating the need for various entrance tests for citizens, saving them time and money.

 

Six Pillars of Mission Karmayogi

• Policy Framework: New Training policies with a focus on continuous learning and driving competencies
• Institutional Framework: Oversight by PMHR council
• Competency framework: Shift from rule to role with the indigenous competency framework.
• iGOT Karmayogi: Large-scale comprehensive learning platform.
• Electronic Human Resource Management System (e-HRMS): Strategic HR Management.
• Monitoring and Evaluation Framework: Continuous performance analysis, data-driven goal setting and real-time monitoring.

 

Salient Features

• Aligning civil employees' workloads by matching their skills to the demands of the position, ensuring a smooth transition from "rule-based" to "role-based" HR Management.
• To place a focus on "on-site" learning in addition to "off-site" learning
• To establish a shared training infrastructure ecosystem that includes learning resources, institutions, and staff.
• To produce and provide learning materials that are pertinent to the specified Framework of Roles, Activities, and Competencies (FRAC) in every Government body, and to calibrate all Civil Service posts to this methodology.
• To provide all government servants with the chance to continuously improve their Behavioral, Functional, and Domain Competencies through their required and self-directed learning routes.
• To enable each employee to pay an annual financial subscription, allowing all central ministries, departments, and organizations to contribute directly their resources to co-creating and sharing the communal learning ecosystem.
• To support and collaborate with the top learning content producers, such as public training facilities, universities, and independent experts.

 

Mission Karmayogi - Institutional Structure

• PM's HR Council (PMHRC) - Apex Body to give capacity building reforms strategic direction
• The Cabinet Secretariat Coordination Unit - will oversee plans and track progress.
• Capacity Building Commission - oversees Central Training Institutions, harmonizes training requirements, and develops shared faculty and resources.
• Karmayogi Bharat SPV - which will run and own the online learning platform iGOT Karmayogi.

 

Important Timeline

• 2014: Launch of DoPT Competency Framework
• 2017: Launch of Comprehensive Online Modified Modules on Induction Training for Sub-district level frontline functionaries (COMMIT)
• 2018: Launch of iGOT learning platform
• 2019: Launch of the first version of Aarambh
• 2020: Launch of Mission Karmayogi

 

Financing the Scheme

A total of Rs. 510.86 crores will be spent over the course of 5 years, from 2020–2021 to 2024–2025, to cover about 46 lakh, central employees. The cost is partially covered by multilateral aid totaling USD 50 million. Under Section 8 of the 2013 Companies Act, a wholly owned Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for NPCSCB will be established. The SPV will own and operate the iGOT-Karmayogi platform as a "not-for-profit" organisation.

The SPV will develop and implement the platform's content, and market and oversee important business services such as content validation, availability of telemetry data, and independent proctored examinations on the iGOT-Karmayogi platform. All intellectual property rights will be owned by the SPV on behalf of the Indian government. In order to create a dashboard view of Key Performance Indicators, a suitable framework for monitoring and evaluating performance will also be put in place for all users of the iGOT-Karmayogi platform.

 

Impact during the COVID Phase

The DoPT and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare worked together to establish iGOT-COVID, an online learning platform, on May 7, 2020. Volunteers from the NCC, NSS, NYKS, and ex-servicemen made up the platform's second line of defence, and it was designed with learning materials that were specifically aimed at certain COVID warrior subgroups. More than 13 lakh COVID warriors were taught on the platform over the course of six months. Work has started to onboard ministries and departments for Mission Karmayogi.

As the Program picks up steam and ministries are completely integrated, it is anticipated that the influence will start to become apparent. However, the Mission's significance was proven during COVID, when it became clear that a platform for online training was required to educate medical and healthcare professionals on how to combat the pandemic. During the covid phase, there were 29.1 Lakh Course enrolments, 13 Lakh Trained individuals, 19.1 Lakh Course completions and 15.1 Lakh Certificates were issued.

 

Moving Forward

By the 75th anniversary of our independence, "Mission Karmayogi" is expected to change the professional outlook and attitude of government employees. we will be able to see the following tangible and intangible outcomes: for instance, Implementing the ideal candidate for the position at the right time.

• A forecast to become a global leader: This is the world's largest capacity-building programme, which would eventually benefit 1.5 crore government workers from the centre, states, and local authorities in addition to 46 lakh employees at the centre.
• Better service delivery on time: The public will be reassured that a representative with the greatest training is handling their priorities. This will greatly increase public satisfaction and resolve complaints.
• The delight of the citizen & better sentiment:  In situations where a person interacts with a public official, programmes for improving the behavioral competencies of civil employees, particularly for those at the cutting-edge level, will result in a positive and trouble-free experience for the citizen.
• Designed accountability and transparency: The HR will evaluate the results of the capacity-building efforts. The Hon. Prime Minister chairs the council, which is open to the public through thorough annual reports.
• Local issue; Global perspective: Officials will be able to build and develop solutions for local problems utilising the finest available information thanks to the Program on Global learning with Indian values.

 

Conclusion

The position and responsibilities of government officials are getting increasingly complex due to the type and speed of change in governance. Competent officials are now required for an efficient and effective government. The ability and competency of the officials must be improved as a result, and to do this, more and more officers need to undergo training to increase their knowledge and skills in accordance with their respective job duties, activities, and competencies.

Many personnel have access to more flexible and advanced learning opportunities due to the Mission Karmayogi Scheme. It proposes a mix of blended and virtual learning including some face-to-face instruction. In order to build in-depth competencies in a variety of subjects/areas or specific specialized subjects necessary for their present or future job profiles, officers will now have the possibility to gain national and international exposure. This is a positive step in the right direction, but the reform process will undoubtedly not be simple and the results will be visible in upcoming years.