GS Advanced Program 2024
Civil Services & Mission Karmyogi Batch 1 - #Gov004
Civil services:
The permanent professional branches of a state's administration, excluding military and judicial
branches and elected politicians.
Importance of the Civil Services
(1) All India character; binding; Administrative + managerial capacity (2) Recruitment → independent
/autonomous [UPSC]; rigorous training & selection process. (3) Effective policymaking + regulation +
effective coordination + leadership role → governance (4) Service delivery → Technological adoption &
adaptability + high integrity + code of conduct. (5) Permanent executives - ‘continuity & change’ →
administration [stability/certainty in policies + repository of new ideas]
Functions of Civil Services
Basis of Government: No government without administrative machinery.
Responsible for Implementing Laws & Policies.
Chiefly responsible for policy formulation as well. The civil servants advise ministers in this regard.
Amidst political instability, the civil service offers stability, continuity and permanence.
Instruments of Social Change & Economic Development through successful policy implementation.
Offer welfare schemes providing social security, the welfare of weaker and vulnerable sections of
society, old-age pensions, poverty alleviation, etc.
Perform developmental functions like promoting modern techniques in agriculture, promoting the
industry, trade, banking functions, bridging the digital divide, etc.
Perform Administrative Adjudication quasi-judicial services by settling disputes between the State
and the citizens, in the form of tribunals, etc.
Constitutional Provisions Related to Civil Services in India
Articles 53 and 154: The executive power of the Union and the States vests in the President or
Governor directly or through officers’ subordinate to him. These officers constitute the permanent
civil service and are governed by Part XIV of the Constitution (Services under the Union and States
(Article 308-323)).
Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules: The manner in which the officers are required
to help the President or Governor to exercise his/her executive functions is governed by these Rules.
Article 312 – All India Services.
Various issues plaguing the civil services?
Structural impediments – (a) poor capacity building + professionalism; (b) mismatch → skills/tasks
[generalists v specialists]; (c) outdated rules/procedures; (d) promotions → years of
service/reservation [dis-incentivize merit]; (e) simultaneous instances of vacancy + overstaffing;
Operational impediments – (a) Lack of incentives/motivation [job-security; Article 311 –
Dismissal/removal] (b) arbitrary transfers; (c) upright and outstanding civil servants → not
rewarded/recognized; (d) Political interference/ pressure/patronage [committed bureaucracy]; (e)
ethical code of conduct/ misappropriation of funds.
Need for a Neutral Bureaucracy
Neutrality public officials are not slaves to either the politicians or any other authority other than
the moral authority of the Constitution.
Forum Learning Centre: Delhi - 2nd Floor, IAPL House, 19 Pusa Road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi - 110005 | Patna - 2nd floor, AG Palace, E Boring Canal
Road, Patna, Bihar 800001 | Hyderabad - 1st & 2nd Floor, SM Plaza, RTC X Rd, Indira Park Road, Jawahar Nagar, Hyderabad, Telangana 500020
9311740400, 9311740900 | https://academy.forumias.com | [email protected] | [email protected]
GS Advanced Program 2024
Civil Services & Mission Karmyogi Batch 1 - #Gov004
Free from affinity to a particular class or ideology.
Without neutrality, bureaucracy cannot lend its whole-hearted support to the existing political and
economic system, if any radical changes are introduced.
Without neutrality, there can be a close nexus between bureaucracy and large-scale enterprises
crony capitalism.
Officials should remain neutral to the conflicts between classes.
Conclusion:
Public officials have two interrelated moral functions:
First To protect the very state from being disrupted
Second To prevent the disruptive efforts of a society that is ridden with caste and patriarchal
consciousness
Thus, the neutrality principle has a moral function to prevent public officials from becoming slaves to the
government of the day.
Mission Karmayogi: To prepare the Indian Civil Servant for the future by making him more creative,
constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling, transparent
and technology-enabled.
Steps to be taken to build the capacity of civil services:
1. Linking the transformation of work culture
2. Strengthening public institutions
3. Adoption of modern technology
Need
to develop domain knowledge besides administrative capacity
to formalize the recruitment process and match the public service to a bureaucrat’s competence to
find the right person for the right job.
Six Pillars of Mission Karmayogi: (1) Policy Framework; (2) Institutional Framework; (3) Competency
Framework; (4) Digital Learning Framework; (5) Electronic Human Resource Management System (e-
HRMS); (6) Monitoring and Evaluation Framework
Important Facts about Mission Karmayogi
Launched by Union Cabinet
Aims to establish the new national architecture for civil services capacity building at individual,
institutional and process levels
Cover around 46 lakh central employees between 2020-2025.
A special purpose vehicle (SPV) (non-profit company) is set up under the Companies Act 2013 to run
this mission.
This SPV will manage i-GOT Karmayogi online training digital platform
Salient Features of Mission Karmayogi
1. Transition from Rules Based to Roles Based Human Resource (HR) Management to allocate jobs
to the civil servants based on their competencies.
2. On-Site Learning to complement Off-Site Learning
Forum Learning Centre: Delhi - 2nd Floor, IAPL House, 19 Pusa Road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi - 110005 | Patna - 2nd floor, AG Palace, E Boring Canal
Road, Patna, Bihar 800001 | Hyderabad - 1st & 2nd Floor, SM Plaza, RTC X Rd, Indira Park Road, Jawahar Nagar, Hyderabad, Telangana 500020
9311740400, 9311740900 | https://academy.forumias.com | [email protected] | [email protected]
GS Advanced Program 2024
Civil Services & Mission Karmyogi Batch 1 - #Gov004
3. Civil servants to adapt to an ecosystem of shared learning materials, institutions and personnel.
4. Framework of Roles, Activities and Competencies (FRACs) approach – content will be created and
delivered to every single government entity.
5. Behavioural, Functional and Domain Competencies – Civil Servants to build their competencies in
their self-driven and mandated learning paths.
6. Co-creation of the common ecosystem of learning through an annual financial subscription for every
employee by all the Central Ministries, Departments and their organizations.
7. Public training institutions, universities, start-tips and individual experts will be a part of this.
Apex Body of the Mission Karmayogi:
Public Human Resource Council under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of India. The other members
include:
1. Union Ministers
2. Chief Ministers
3. Eminent public HR practitioners
4. Thinkers
5. Global thought leaders and
6. Public Service functionaries
Institutional Framework of Mission Karmayogi:
1. Prime Minister’s Public Human Resources (HR) Council
2. Capacity Building Commission
3. Special Purpose Vehicle for owning and operating the digital assets and the technological platform
for online training
4. Coordination Unit headed by the Cabinet Secretary
‘Mission Karmayogi’ as a transformative step
1. 'Rules based' → 'Roles based’ human resource management; aligns work → competencies; framework
of roles, activities and competencies approach (FRAC)
2. Undertake courses + learn international best practices [iGoT]; ‘off-site’ + ‘on-site’ learning; emphasis
→ lifelong learning; fight complacency; update → changing needs.
3. Performance-based evaluation → identity areas of expertise; HRC/PM → monitor capacity + building
plans; centralized online database → individual skill sets → better personnel management.
Forum Learning Centre: Delhi - 2nd Floor, IAPL House, 19 Pusa Road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi - 110005 | Patna - 2nd floor, AG Palace, E Boring Canal
Road, Patna, Bihar 800001 | Hyderabad - 1st & 2nd Floor, SM Plaza, RTC X Rd, Indira Park Road, Jawahar Nagar, Hyderabad, Telangana 500020
9311740400, 9311740900 | https://academy.forumias.com | [email protected] | [email protected]
