process of planning in india

7/31/2019 Process of Planning in India

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Process of Planning in India, Planning Commission in India

Process of planning in India takes place in three major steps- formulation, implementation andevaluation of the plan. It is essential to follow these steps in order to make the plan as effective

as possible.

Process of planning in India takes place in three steps- formulating the plan, its implementationand the evaluation. Over the years and due to the political pressures two new aspects have been

added to the process, namely decentralization and popular participation. These are briefly

discussed below.

Plan FormulationThe process of plan formulation takes place in a series of steps. The first step in the process of

formulating the plan is for the Commission to prepare, on a rough basis, certain schemes and

projects in consultation with the union ministries and state governments in the background of thePerspective Plan; to determine some kind of priority; to take stock of the available resources; and

to distribute these resources among the different agencies on an approximate basis. Theseestimates and projections are then placed before the National Development Council (NDC) andthe schemes are modified in the light of discussions. These are then sent to the various union

ministries and state governments in the form of preliminary instructions.

Then begins the second stage where each union ministry and state government preparing its ownplan. The machinery for planning is fairly well developed at the state level. After the states and

the union ministries have submitted their plans to the commission, there begins the process of

dovetailing the various schemes and programmes into an integrated plan. In this task the

Commission consults representatives of different groups in theIndian Parliament. At the end ofthese exercises the draft plan is published and thrown open for discussion. The universities, the

press, political parties, chambers of commerce and industry, trade organisation and other groupsand individuals are free to give their comments on the draft.

The next stage is the period of prolonged detailed discussion between the commission and the

representatives of different state governments and the central government as a result of which theagreements as to the size and nature of state plans are reached. These tentative agreements are

then placed before the cabinet and after its approval sent to the NDC and after the councils

recommendations are given the final shape. The plan is then presented to the Parliament and afterits approval it is published.

Plan Implementation

It should be noted here that the Commission is an advisory body and has no executive functions.It is only a national organ for plan formulation and a staff body to advise the cabinet. The task of

implementation is left to the union ministries and state governments. It is in this field that efforts

have been made to introduce the two concepts of democratic decentralisation and the popular

participation, particularly after the introduction of the Panchayati Raj in the country.

Plan EvaluationEvaluation is the last of the three stages in the process. One of the functions of the Commission
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is to appraise from time to time the progress achieved in the execution of each stage of the plan

and make recommendations for necessary adjustment.

The Commission makes such appraisal through:

1) Monthly reports of selected projects, quarterly reviews of the working of the plan and theannual progress reports obtained form the union ministries and the state governments.

2) The advisors who visit the states within their charge and study at first hand the working of thedevelopment programmes; and

3) Through the machinery of the Committee on Plan Projects.

In addition, there is the Programme Evaluation Organisation set up 1952. The Programme

Evaluation Organisation (PEO) undertakes evaluation of selected programmes/schemes under

implementation, as per the requirement of the various Divisions of Planning Commission and

Ministries/Departments ofGovernment of India. The evaluation studies are designed to assessthe performance, process of implementation, effectiveness of the delivery systems and impact of

programmes. The Programmed Evaluation Organisation which functions as an independent unitof the Commission.

Thus discussed above is a step-by-step analysis of the planning process in India.

Law and Order

The Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for matters relating to the internal security of the

country and enacts laws for the functioning of the criminal justice system.

PoliceThe Police force in the country is entrusted with the responsibility of maintenance of public

order and prevention and detection of crimes. Each state and union territory of India has its ownseparate police force.Article 246 of the Constitution of India (External website that opens in a

new window)designates the police as a state subject, which means that the state governments

frame the rules and regulations that govern each police force. These rules and regulations are

contained in the police manuals of each state force.
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The Police force in the state is headed by the Director General of Police/Inspector General of

Police. Each State is divided into convenient territorial divisions called ranges and each policerange is under the administrative control of a Deputy Inspector General of Police. A number of

districts constitute the range. District police is further sub-divided into police divisions, circles

and police-stations.

Besides the civil police, states also maintain their own armed police and have separate

intelligence branches, crime branches, etc. Police set-up in big cities like Delhi, Kolkata,Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Pune, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack

etc. is directly under a Commissioner of Police who enjoys magisterial powers. All senior police

posts in various states are manned by the Indian Police Services (IPS) cadres, recruitment towhich is made on all-India basis.

The Central Government maintains Central Police forces, Intelligence Bureau (IB),Central

Bureau of Investigation (CBI) (External website that opens in a new window), institutions fortraining of police officers and forensic science institutions to assist the state in gathering

intelligence, in maintaining law and order, in investigating special crime cases and in providingtraining to the senior police officers of the state governments.

Judiciary

India has one of the oldest legal systems in the world. The Preamble defines India as a'Sovereign Democratic Republic', containing a federal system with Parliamentary form of

Government in the Union and the States, an independent judiciary, guaranteed Fundamental

Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy containing objectives which though not

enforceable in law, are fundamental to the governance of the nation.

The fountain source of law in India is the Constitution which, in turn, gives due recognition to

statutes, case law and customary law consistent with its dispensations. One of the unique featuresof the Indian Constitution is that, notwithstanding the adoption of a federal system and existence

of Central Acts and State Acts in their respective spheres, it has generally provided for a single

integrated system of Courts to administer both Union and State laws. At the apex of the entirejudicial system, exists theSupreme Court of India (External website that opens in a new

window)below which are the High Courts in each State or group of States. Below the High

Courts lies a hierarchy of Subordinate Courts. Panchayat Courts also function in some Statesunder various names like Nyaya Panchayat, Panchayat Adalat, Gram Kachheri, etc. to decide

civil and criminal disputes of petty and local nature.

Justice & Law

The Constitution of the Republic of India guarantees, besides other rights, protection of life andpersonal liberty and provides adequate safeguards against the arbitrary deprivation thereof by the

State.
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Adoption of a Constitution by India in 1950 did not disturb continuity of existing laws and

unified structure of courts. Unity and uniformity of the judicial structure were preserved byplacing such areas of law as criminal law and procedure, civil procedure, will, succession,

contract including special form of contract, but not including contract relating to agricultural

land, registration of deeds and documents, evidence, etc., in the Concurrent List.

Source of Law

The main sources of law in India are the Constitution, statutes (legislation), customary law and

case law. Statutes are enacted by Parliament, State legislatures and Union Territory legislatures.Besides, there is a vast body of laws known as subordinate legislation in the form of rules,

regulations as well as bye-laws made by Central/State governments and local authorities like

municipal corporations, municipalities, gram panchayats and other local bodies. This subordinate

legislation is made under the authority conferred or delegated either by Parliament or State orUnion Territory legislatures concerned. Judicial decisions of superior courts like Supreme Court

and High Courts are important sources of law. Decisions of Supreme Court are binding on allcourts within the territory of India. Local customs and conventions which are not against statute,morality, etc., are also recognised and taken into account by courts while administering justice in

certain spheres.

Enactment of Laws

The Parliament is competent to make laws on matters enumerated in the Union List. State

legislatures are competent to make laws on matters enumerated in the State List. Parliament

alone has power to make laws on matters not included in the State or Concurrent List. On matters

enumerated in the Concurrent List, laws can be made by both Parliament and legislatures. But inthe event of repugnancy, law made by Parliament shall prevail and law made by State legislature,

to the extent of repugnancy, be void unless the latter law having been reserved for consideration

of President, has received his assent and in that event it shall prevail in that state.

Judiciary

At the apex of the entire judicial system exists Supreme Court of India with a High Court foreach State or group of State and under High Courts; there is a hierarchy of subordinate courts.

Panchayat courts also functional in some States under various names like Nyaya Panchayat,

Panchayat Adalat, Gram Kachehri etc., to decide civil and criminal disputes of petty and local

nature. Different State laws provide for jurisdiction of these courts. Each state is divided intojudicial districts presided over by a district and sessions judge, who is the principal civil court of

original jurisdiction and can try all offences including those punishable with death. He is the

highest judicial authority in a district. Below him, there are courts of civil jurisdiction, known indifferent states as munsifs, sub-judges, civil judges and the like. Similarly, criminal judiciary

comprises chief judicial magistrate and judicial magistrates of first and second class.


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Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of India consists of 26 Judges (including the Chief Justice of India). Thejudges hold office until they attain the age of 65 years. The Supreme Court of India has original

jurisdiction in any dispute arising:

Between the Government of India and one or more States. Between the Government of India and any State or States on the one side and one or more

states on the other.

Between two or more States.An appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court from any judgment, decree or final order of a High

Court in the territory of India, whether in a civil, criminal or other proceeding.

High Courts

High Court stands at the head of the State's Judicial Administration. There are 21 High Courts inthe country, three having jurisdiction over more than one State. Among the Union Territories,

Delhi alone has a High Court of its own. Other six Union Territories come under jurisdiction of

different State High Courts. Each High Court comprises a Chief Justice and such other Judges asthe President may, from time to time appoint. The Chief Justice of a High Court is appointed by

the President in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the Governor of the state. The

procedure for appointing of the High Courts judges is the same except that the recommendationfor the appointment of Judges in the High Court is initiated by the Chief Justice of the High

Court concerned. They hold office up to 62 years of age. To be eligible for appointment as a

judge, one must be a citizen of India and should have held a judicial office in India for 10 years

or must have practiced as an advocate of a High Court or two or more such courts in succession

for a similar period.

Each High Court has power to issue any person or authority and Government within itsjurisdiction, direction, orders or writs, including writs which are in the nature of habeas corpus,

mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari, for enforcement of Fundamental Rights and

for any other purpose. This power may also be exercised by any High Court exercisingjurisdiction in relation to territories within which the cause of action, wholly or in part arises forexercise of such power, even if the seat of such Government or authority or residence of such

person is not within those territories. The total sanctioned strength of Judges and additional

judges in different High Courts is 678 against which 587 Judges were in position as on 26 June2006. Table 19.1 gives the seat and territorial jurisdiction of the High Courts.

Health

A healthy citizen contributes to the making of a healthy nation. The Government of India hasintroduced various health programmes and policies to improve the Indian citizen's standard of


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living. These efforts have paid rich dividends by way of increase in thelife expectancy of males

and females (External website that opens in a new window)at birth to 62 and 64 yearsrespectively. Also, the infant mortality rate (less than five death rate) has fallen to 53 per

thousand births.

The issue of health comes under the purview of theMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare(External website that opens in a new window)and its 3 departments; theDepartment of

Health(External website that opens in a new window),Department of Family Welfare(Externalwebsite that opens in a new window)and theDepartment of Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy,

Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy(External website that opens in a new window). As part of its

drive to educate and encourage a healthy lifestyle, the ministry promotes a website calledHealthy India(External website that opens in a new window).

The 'Citizen Health' section of our website offers information about the various health schemes

launched by the government, resources on different aspects of health care as well as a list ofhospitals and medical institutions in the country. Other than this, we also provide information

about alternative systems of medicine, medical insurance, family welfare and rehabilitation.

Government Aided

Schemes/Programs/Projects

Government aided schemes and programmes are run by the Central Government for the healthand welfare of the citizens. The people of the country are one of its most valuable resources.

These programmes are aimed at increasing the standard of health of the people and decreasingthe incidence of disease and death due to illness. The government aided schemes include

immunization drives, special steps to deal with epidemics, programmes for elimination ofdangerous diseases, and numerous education and training programmes.

According to theIndian Constitution (External website that opens in a new window), the subject

of 'Health' comes under the purview ofState governments (External website that opens in a new

window). This means that the State Governments are responsible for maintaining and bettering

the health of the people who live under its jurisdiction. The main policy, framework and supportis enumerated by the Centre while the States devise their own models of accomplishing the

Central Government's health related goals.

Programmes and Schemes

TheMinistry of Women and Child Development (External website that opens in a new window)

has come up with several schemes deciding the norms of child nutrition. These are:
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National Guidelines on Infants and Young Child Feeding (File referring to external site opens ina new window): these guidelines emphasize the importance of breast feeding. Breast feeding

must commence immediately after birth and continue exclusively for six months before other

forms of milk are introduced. Appropriate and adequate complementary feeding must

commence there after and breast-feeding can continue for up to two years.

National Nutrition Policy (File referring to external site opens in a new window) : wasadopted by the Government of India in 1993 under the aegis of the Department of Women and

Child Development. It advocated a multi-sectoral strategy for eradicating malnutrition and

achieving optimum nutrition for all. The policy advocates the monitoring the nutrition levels

across the country and sensitising government machinery on the need for good nutrition and

prevention of malnutrition. The National Nutrition Policy also includes the Food and Nutrition

Board, which develops posters, audio jingles and video spots for disseminating correct facts

about breastfeeding and complementary feeding.

The Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (External website that opens in a newwindow): is one of the most comprehensive schemes on child development in the country and

perhaps in the world. TheMinistry of Women and Child Development (External website that

opens in a new window)has been running the scheme since 1975 in pursuance of theNational

Policy for Children (External website that opens in a new window). It aims at providing servicesto pre-school children in an integrated manner so as to ensure proper growth and development

of children in rural, tribal and slum areas. This centrally sponsored scheme also monitors

nutrition of children.

Udisha (External website that opens in a new window): in Sanskrit means the first rays of thenew dawn. It is a nationwide training component of theWorld Bank (External website that

opens in a new window)assistedWomen and Child Development Project (External website that

opens in a new window). Udisha has been cleared with an outlay of about Rs.600 crores for five

years. UNICEF is also a technical collaborator in the Project. The programmes aims to train child

care workers across the country. Its scope reaches as far are remote villages.

o Training Programmes under Udisha (External website that opens in a new window)o The Udisha Team (External website that opens in a new window)o Udisha at the State level (External website that opens in a new window)

National Policy for Children (External website that opens in a new window)lays down that theState shall provide adequate services towards children, both before and after birth and during

the growing stages for their full physical, mental and social development.

National Charter for Children emphasizes Government of India's commitment to children'srights to survival, health and nutrition, standard of living, play and leisure, early childhood care,

education, protection of the girl child, empowering adolescents, equality, life and liberty, name

and nationality, freedom of expression, freedom of association and peaceful assembly, the right

to a family and the right to be protected from economic exploitation and all forms of abuse.

National Plan of Action for Children (External website that opens in a new window)includesgoals, objectives, strategies and activities for improving the nutritional status of children,

reducing Infant Mortality Rate, increasing enrolment ratio, reducing drop out rates,

universalisation of primary education and increasing coverage for immunization.

Other Schemes Include:o Balika Samriddhi Yojana (BSY) (External website that opens in a new window)o Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY) (External website that opens in a new window)o Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls (NPAG) (External website that opens in a new

window)
http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/nationalguidelines.pdfhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/nationalguidelines.pdfhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/nationalguidelines.pdfhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/nationalguidelines.pdfhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/nationalguidelines.pdfhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/nnp.pdfhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/nnp.pdfhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.icds.gov.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.icds.gov.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.icds.gov.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.icds.gov.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.icds.gov.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://hetv.org/icds/policy.htmlhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://hetv.org/icds/policy.htmlhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://hetv.org/icds/policy.htmlhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://hetv.org/icds/policy.htmlhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/udishadawn.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/udishadawn.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.worldbank.org/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.worldbank.org/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.worldbank.org/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.worldbank.org/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/catalogue/16.dochttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/catalogue/16.dochttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/catalogue/16.dochttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/catalogue/16.dochttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/training.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/training.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/contact.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/contact.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/statelevel/statelevel.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/statelevel/statelevel.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://hetv.org/icds/policy.htmlhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://hetv.org/icds/policy.htmlhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://hetv.org/icds/policy.htmlhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/npac.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/npac.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/npac.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/BSY.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/BSY.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/KSY/ksyintro.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/KSY/ksyintro.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/npag/npag.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/npag/npag.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/npag/npag.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/npag/npag.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/npag/npag.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/npag/npag.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/npag/npag.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/KSY/ksyintro.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/BSY.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/npac.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://hetv.org/icds/policy.htmlhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/statelevel/statelevel.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/contact.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/training.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/catalogue/16.dochttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/catalogue/16.dochttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.worldbank.org/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.worldbank.org/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/udisha/htm/udishadawn.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://hetv.org/icds/policy.htmlhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://hetv.org/icds/policy.htmlhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.icds.gov.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.icds.gov.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/nnp.pdfhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/nationalguidelines.pdfhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/nationalguidelines.pdf


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o Early Childhood Education for 3-6 Age Group Children Under the Programme ofUniversalization of Elementary Education (External website that opens in a new

window)

o Scheme for welfare of Working Children in need of Care and Protection (Externalwebsite that opens in a new window)

o An Integrated Programme for Street Children (External website that opens in a newwindow)

o Child line Services (External website that opens in a new window)o Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) (External website that opens in a new

window)

o Rajiv Gandhi National Crche Scheme For the Children of Working Mothers (Filereferring to external site opens in a new window)

o Programme for Juvenile Justice (External website that opens in a new window)o General Grant-in-Aid Scheme (External website that opens in a new window)o Pilot Project to Combat the Trafficking of Women and Children for Commercial Sexual

Exploitation in Destination Areas (External website that opens in a new window)

o Mid-day Meal Scheme (External website that opens in a new window)o National Crche Fund

Family Welfare Schemes

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has a number of schemes to cover the under-privileged sections of society and help them with maternity, post and neo-natal healthcare and

family planning. These include theJanani Suraksha Yojana (File referring to external site opens

in a new window), Rehabilitation of Polio Victims and several financial assistance schemes for

surgery and other health problems. Counseling centres are also available across the country aspart of the government sponsored family welfare schemes.

Several important schemes are listed below:

National Family Welfare Programme (External website that opens in a new window)- Indialaunched the National Family Welfare Programme in 1951 with the objective of "reducing the

birth rate to the extent necessary to stabilise the population at a level consistent with the

requirement of the National economy. The Family Welfare Programme in India is recognised as

a priority area, and is being implemented as a 100% centrally sponsored programme.

National Population Policy (External website that opens in a new window)- The NationalPopulation Policy, 2000 affirms the commitment of government towards voluntary and

informed choice and consent of citizens while availing of reproductive health care services and

continuation of the target free approach in administering family planning services. National Rural Health Mission (File referring to external site opens in a new window)- The

National Rural Health Mission (2005-12) seeks to provide effective healthcare to rural

population throughout the country with special focus on 18 states, which have weak public

health indicators and/or weak infrastructure. The mission aims at effective integration of health

concerns with determinants of health like sanitation and hygiene, nutrition and safe drinking

water through a District Plan for Health.
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/www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/RajivGandhiCrecheScheme.pdfhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://cara.nic.inhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://cara.nic.inhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/childlineservice.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/streetchildscheme.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/streetchildscheme.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/childprot/workchild.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/childprot/workchild.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/us17.htmlhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/us17.htmlhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://wcd.nic.in/us17.html


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Urban Family Welfare Schemes (External website that opens in a new window)- This Schemewas introduced following the recommendation of the Krishnan Committee in 1983. The main

focus was to provide services through setting up of Health Posts mainly in slum areas. The

services provided are mainly outreach of RCH services, preventive services, First Aid and referral

services including distribution of contraceptives.

Sterilization Beds Scheme (External website that opens in a new window)- A Scheme forreservation of Sterilization beds in Hospital sun by Government, Local Bodies and Voluntary

Organisations was introduced as early as in the year 1964 in order to provide immediate

facilities for tubectomy operations in hospitals where such cases could not be admitted due to

lack of beds etc. But later with the introduction of the Post Partum Programme some of the

beds were transferred to Post Partum Programme and thereafter the beds were only sanctioned

to hospitals sun by Local Bodies and Voluntary Organisations.

Reproductive and Child Health Programme (External website that opens in a new window)- TheReproductive and Child Health Programme was launched in October 1997 incorporating new

approach to population and development issues, as exposed in the International Conference in

Population and Development held at Cairo in 1994.The programme integrated and strengthened

in services/interventions under the Child Survival and Safe Motherhood Programme and Family

Planning Services and added to the basket of services, new areas on Reproductive Tract/SexuallyTransmitted infections (RTI/STI).

Elementary Education

Education has been a thrust sector ever since India attained Independence. The year 2010 was alandmark year for education in the country.The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory

Education (RTE) Act, 2009, (External website that opens in a new window)representing the

consequential legislation to the Constitutional (86th Amendment) Act, 2002, was enforced with

effect from 1st April, 2010.The RTE Act secures the right of children to free and compulsory

education till completion of elementary education in a neighbourhood school.

The government introduced the District Primary Education Programme in November 1994 to

regulate the elementary education system in India. The programme aims at operationalising the

strategies for achieving UEE through district specific planning and disaggregate target setting.

There are other programmes for compulsory elementary education, especially for girls. The

Kasturba Gandhi Shiksha Yojana aims at establishing residential schools for girls in all districts,which have a particularly low female literacy rate. Institutes likeNational Bal Bhavan (External

website that opens in a new window)encourage children to pursue activities as per their liking,

and thus enhance their creative potential. Other programmes such as theSarva Shiksha Abhiyan

(External website that opens in a new window)and theMid-Day Meal Scheme (External websitethat opens in a new window)have been introduced with the intention of attracting more children

(and parents) towards literacy.

TheRTE Act, 2009 (External website that opens in a new window)lays down norms and

standards relating to pupil teacher ratios, buildings and infrastructure, school working days and

teacher working hours.
http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://mohfw.nic.in/dofw%20website/SPECIAL%20SCHEMES.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://mohfw.nic.in/dofw%20website/SPECIAL%20SCHEMES.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://mohfw.nic.in/dofw%20website/SPECIAL%20SCHEMES.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://mohfw.nic.in/dofw%20website/SPECIAL%20SCHEMES.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://mohfw.nic.in/dofw%20website/aided%20projects/rchp%20frame.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://mohfw.nic.in/dofw%20website/aided%20projects/rchp%20frame.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementaryRTE.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementaryRTE.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementaryRTE.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementaryRTE.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.nationalbalbhavan.nic.in/index.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.nationalbalbhavan.nic.in/index.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.nationalbalbhavan.nic.in/index.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.nationalbalbhavan.nic.in/index.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://ssa.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://ssa.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://ssa.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://ssa.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/mdm/mdm.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/mdm/mdm.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/mdm/mdm.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/mdm/mdm.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementaryRTE.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementaryRTE.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementaryRTE.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementaryRTE.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/mdm/mdm.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/mdm/mdm.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://ssa.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://ssa.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.nationalbalbhavan.nic.in/index.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.nationalbalbhavan.nic.in/index.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementaryRTE.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementaryRTE.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://mohfw.nic.in/dofw%20website/aided%20projects/rchp%20frame.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://mohfw.nic.in/dofw%20website/SPECIAL%20SCHEMES.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://mohfw.nic.in/dofw%20website/SPECIAL%20SCHEMES.htm


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Higher Education

Since ancient times, India has been a centre of excellence in the field of higher education.

Nalanda, Vikramashila and Takshashila were few of the oldest universities in the world and were

the most renowned seats of higher education during their time. Students' from far off countriescame to study in these universities. Today India has one of the largest higher education systems

in the world and also some world-class institutions for higher education.

The present system of higher education dates back to Mountstuart Elphinstone's minutes of 1823,

which stressed on the need for establishing schools for teaching English and the Europeansciences. Subsequently, the universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were set up in 1857,

followed by the university of Allahabad in 1887.

The first attempt to formulate a national system of education in India came in 1944, with the

Report of the Central Advisory Board of Education on Post War Educational Development in

India, which recommended the formation of a University Grants Committee, which was formedin 1945 to oversee the work of the three Central Universities of Aligarh, Banaras and Delhi.

After independence, a full-fledged Ministry of Education was established on 29th August 1947.

In 1952, the Union Government decided that all cases pertaining to the allocation of grants-in-aid

from public funds to the Central Universities and other Universities and Institutions of higherlearning might be referred to the University Grants Commission (UGC). The UGC was formallyestablished in November 1956 as a statutory body of the Government of India through an Act of

Parliament for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of university

education in India. In order to ensure effective region-wise coverage throughout the country, the

UGC has decentralised its operations by setting up six regional centres at Pune, Hyderabad,

Kolkata, Bhopal, Guwahati and Bangalore. The head office of the UGC is located in New Delhi.

Organisations involved in the higher education system of the country

University Grants Commission (UGC) (External website that opens in a new window)has the

unique distinction of being the only grant-giving agency in the country which has been vested

with two responsibilities: that of providing funds and that of coordination, determination andmaintenance of standards in institutions of higher education.

Some of the statutory professional councils include:

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) (External website that opens in a new window) Distance Courses Institutes (External website that opens in a new window) Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR) (External website that opens in a new window) Bar Council of India (BCI) (External website that opens in a new window) National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) (External website that opens in a new window) Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) (External website that opens in a new window) Medical Council of India (MCI) (External website that opens in a new window) Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) (External website that opens in a new window)
http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.ugc.ac.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.ugc.ac.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.aicte.ernet.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.aicte.ernet.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.education.nic.in/dist_inst.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.education.nic.in/dist_inst.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.icar.org.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.icar.org.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.barcouncilofindia.org/index.phphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.barcouncilofindia.org/index.phphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://ncte-india.org/index.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://ncte-india.org/index.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://rehabcouncil.nic.in/home.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://rehabcouncil.nic.in/home.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.mciindia.org/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.mciindia.org/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.pci.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.pci.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.pci.nic.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.mciindia.org/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://rehabcouncil.nic.in/home.htmhttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://ncte-india.org/index.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.barcouncilofindia.org/index.phphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.icar.org.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.education.nic.in/dist_inst.asphttp://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.aicte.ernet.in/http://www.india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://www.ugc.ac.in/


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Dental Council of India (DCI) (External website that opens in a new window) Central Council of Homeopathy (CCH) (External website that opens in a new window) Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) (External website that opens in a new window)

Department of Education (External website that opens in a new window)under the Union

Ministry of Human Resource Development is responsible for improving the overall educationscenario of the country as well as planning and implementing various programmes and policies

of the government related to education.

Provisions of the Constitution of India having a bearing on Education (External website thatopens in a new window)

Autonomous Organisations of Department of Higher Education Communication and IT

Electronics and Information Technology is the fastest growing segment of the Indian

Industry both in terms of production and export. Today, the electronics industry is

completely de-licensed with the exception of aerospace and defence electronics. Along

with the liberalization in foreign investment and export-import policies of the entireeconomy, this sector is attracting considerable interest not only as a vast market but also

as a potential production base by/for international companies.

In recent times, 'Software Development and IT Enabled Services' have emerged as aniche opportunity for India in the global context. The Government is taking all necessarysteps to make India, a global information technology superpower and a front-runner in

the age of information revolution. The Government has announced promotion of

Information Technology as one of the top five priorities of the country and hasconstituted a National Task Force on Information Technology and Software

Development.

E-Governance

National e-Governance Plan

The Government of India has approved the NeGP in May 2006 with the vision: "Make all

Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, throughout common service

delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency & reliability of such services at affordablecosts to realize the basic needs of the common man".

The NeGP currently consists of 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 8 Support Components

to be implemented at the Central, State and Local Government levels. These include Projects

such as Income Tax, Customs & Excise & Passports at the Central Level, Land Records,Agriculture and e-District at the State Level and Panchayats and Municipalities at the Local

Level. There are also a number of Integrated MMPs like e-Procurement, Service Delivery
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Gateway and EDI which are integrated MMPs where delivery of services envisaged in the

project entail coordinated implementation across multiple Departments of Government.

The Service Delivery Infrastructure

While the mission Mode Projects would enable the backend computerization of variousdepartments, thereby e-enabling them for any time anywhere service delivery, to achieve the

vision of providing government services at the doorstep of the citizen, a common service

delivery platform is being created. The three important elements that form the basis of thiseffective service delivery framework are, State Wide Area networks (SWANs), the front-end

outlets for the service delivery i.e. Common Service Centres (CSCs) and the State Data Centres

(SDCs), as detailed below:

State Wide Area Network (SWANs)Government has approved the scheme for establishing State Wide Area Networks

(SWANs) in 29 States and 6 UTs across the country at a total cost of Rs.3334 crore. Thisscheme envisages establishment of an intra-government network with a minimum of 2

Mbps connectivity from the State Headquarters to Block Headquarters through DistrictHeadquarters. The SWAN project provides the connectivity to facilitate the rolling out of

citizen centric services under various Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) under NeGP. The

scheme has two implementation options -

o PPP Model: The first option is to call for a bid from private entities, which would set upand operate this SWAN in the State for a period of five years. The payments to the

successful bidder would begin only after the infrastructure has been set up. The

contract signed with the private party provides for strict Service Level Agreements

(SLAs) and there is a provision of penalties to be imposed on the party should it fail tomeet those service levels.

o NIC Model: In the second model the State has the option for going directly to the NICand the NIC would set up and maintain the SWAN for the State for a period of 5 years.

Common Services Centres (CSCs)Government of India has approved the scheme of establishing Common Service Centres

(CSCs) across the country. The CSC scheme envisages the establishment of 100,000

broadband Internet - enabled kiosks in rural areas, which would deliver government andprivate services at the doorstep of the citizens. An additional 10,000 CSCs would be set

up in the semi-urban/urban areas. Visualizing a honeycomb pattern with one village

surrounded by 6 villages, this implies that each village would have a CSC either within

its own area or in an adjoining village. The CSC scheme would be a bottom-up model fordelivery of content and services like e-governance, education, entrepreneur driven, Public

Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Under the scheme, the Government is again not required

to incur any capital expenditure up front. The State Government would call for bids fromprivate parties called Service Centre Agencies (SCAs). The bidding parameter is the

quantum of support that the SCAs would need for setting up and operating and running

these centres over 4 years. The CSCs are also expected to be operational in most States


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by end 2008.

Currently, the bid process for selection of the Service Centres has been completed for atotal of 92560 CSCs in 19 States. Out of this, the work has been actually awarded in 11

States covering 61491 CSCs.

o

Connectivity for the Last Mile: The CSC scheme requires broadband connectivityinfrastructure in rural areas reaching up to the village level. Towards this end the DIT

and the Department of Telecom (DOT) are in the process of implementing a connectivity

plan dovetailed with the roll-out of the CSC scheme, which would not only provide

connectivity for these CSCs, but would make broadband connections available in those

areas for any other agency, whether government or private, should it so require.

Thus while being the end user of broadband; the CSCs have also to act as a catalyst in

ushering in broadband into rural areas. The connectivity infrastructure is being created

through three distinct initiatives. the first two seek to use the infrastructure already

created by the BSNL for last mile connectivity, and the third seeks to use the resources

available under the USOF.

o Leveraging BSNL rural exchanges: Existing BSNL rural OFC- exchanges (approximately20,000) are being upgraded to allow them to provide broadband (512 Kbps) connectivity

to about 25,000 CSCs, with partial funding support from DIT. These exchanges once

upgraded would also be able to provide connections within a radius of 4-5 kms to other

users as well.

o Wireless Connectivity from BSNL: In those areas where there is no other existingtelecom service providers (TSPs), BSNL towers are being used to provide wireless

broadband connectivity with partial funding support from DIT. It is expected that a

further 25,000 CSCs would be able to be connected in this manner.

o Last mile connectivity through USOF: The USOF will be inviting existing TSPs to providelast mile connectivity with funding provided by the USOF. This initiative would provide

connectivity to the remaining 50,000 CSCs.

State Data Centres (SDCs)State Data Centres are proposed to be established across 29 States & 6 UTs in the country

along with Disaster Recovery (DR) in order to provide shared, secured and managed

infrastructure for consolidating and securely hosting State level data and applications.

SDC would provide better operations and management control and minimize overall costof Data Management, IT management, deployment etc. SDCs would ordinarily be located

at the State Headquarters and help the State Government, State Line Ministries and

Departments in providing central repository (database consolidation), applicationconsolidation, State Intranet/Internet portal. State messaging infrastructure, remote

management, business continuity site etc. needed for their G2G, G2C and G2B services.

The various Mission Mode Projects (MMPs), both at the Central level, State level andalso the integrated services of the NeGP are expected to use SDCs to deliver theirservices. The SDC scheme was approved by the Government in January 2008 at a total

cost of Rs.1633 crore. DIT has sanctioned SDC proposals of 23 States at a total cost of

1077 crore.

Capacity Buliding


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In order to implement NeGP pervasively and vigorously there is a felt need to build

capacities to conceptualise and develop e-Governance initiatives and thereafter monitorand supervise its time bound implementation. Specialized skills are required at the

State/UTs as well as at the Central level to provide technical support to the policy &

decision-making process as well as to manage implementation and oversee the

transformation. The skill sets that are typically needed are in the areas of ProgrammeManagement, Developing Business and Financial Models, Technology, Enterprise

Architecture, Business Process Re-engineering and Change Management.

Except certain technical competencies, these skills typically are largely missing withinthe government. In this context, Capacity Building has been included in the

'implementation approach and methodology' of NeGP and addresses the 'Human

Resource Development' and 'Training' Components of NeGP. Government of India has inJanuary 2008 approved a Capacity Building Scheme for setting up State e-Mission Teams

(SeMT) at a total cost of Rs.313 crore. The objectives of the Scheme are:

o Establishing of institutional Framework for State Level Strategic decision makingincluding setting-up of State e-Governance Mission Team (SeMT), initial handholding for

State MMPs etc.

o Imparting specialized training for SeMTs & decision makers & knowledge sharing.o Strengthening of Training Institutions in States.

e-Districte-District has been selected as a National MMP under the NeGP and is to be

implemented by the DIT. The objective of the MMP is to undertake the backendcomputerization of a number of high volume citizen services, which are being provided at

the District level, by the District Administration to enable the delivery of these services

through the CSCs. A core set of 6 category of services have been identified at thenational level which have to be implemented across all Districts and the States can make

their own choice of another set of 4 services which are the States' own priority for

implementation. The guidelines for e-District have been circulated and currently DIT has

sanctioned pilots in 12 States. Once the pilots are implemented, the lessons learnt fromthese pilots would be taken into account and a Scheme would be formatted for

implementation of the MMP across the country.

India PortalIndia Portal is a Mission Mode Project in the integrated service category under the NeGP

being implemented by NIC. The MMP is to create a Unified portal providing 'single

window access' to information and G2C services to be electronically delivered from allstate sector institutions and organizations. The First version of Portal is operational now

and was released by Hon'ble MCIT on 10th Nov'05 and the portal address ishttp://india.gov.in. The main sections of Portal include Government corner, Citizen

Business, Overseas, Know India, Government services. Content repositories (Forms,

Documents, Maps), sectors, Tenders etc. National Portal Coordinators (NPCs) have beenidentified from 35 States/UT who are responsible for the content development,

compilation and maintenance. A web based Content Management System (CMS)


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interface has been developed to facilitate the contribution of government information &

services on to the national Portal by (NPCs). The Hindi version of the India Portal isready for the launch and other languages would follow subsequently. There has been an

attempt by the National Portal to bring together all online services offered by the Central

and State Government under a single umbrella for different categories of services like

G2G, G2E, G2C and G2B. Around 303 new services offered by different StateGovernments have been added. About 372 new rules and 767 Acts of different States

have been contributed to the National Portal and 1654 forms are published on the portal.

StandardsAn apex Body under Chairmanship of Secretary, DIT has been constituted with seniorrepresentatives from Government, NASSCOM, BIS with a mandate to approve, notify &

enforce Standards formulated by Working Groups. Working Groups with members from

DIT, Associations, Industry, Academia, Central & State Government have been

constituted with the approval of DIT. Working Groups have been constituted in the area

of open standards, technical standards, metadata and data standards, conformityassessment framework network and information security and localization and language

technology standards.

National Service Delivery Gateway

The National e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG), a MMP under the NeGP is astandards-based messaging switch providing seamless interoperability and exchange of data. It

aims to achieve a high order of interoperability among autonomous and heterogeneous entities of

the Government (in the Centre, State or Local bodies), based on a framework of e-GovernanceStandards.

NSDG as a messaging middleware acts as an intelligent hub and routes services requests from aService Seeker (Service Access Provider) to a Service Provider (typically a backend Government

department that puts up its service for electronic delivery) and in return sends the response back

to the Service Seeker through the Gateway.

The gateway achieves integration amongst diverse set of applications built on varying platforms

through compliance with a set of e-Governance Specifications interoperability Interface Protocoland interoperability Interface Specifications (IIP/IIS) that are based on open standards such as

the W3C, XML and SOAP specifications.

UID for Residents

The Planning Commission requested the DIT to provide Unique ID to BPL population to

monitor Poverty Alleviation Programmes & EGS. A pilot Scheme for Rs.46.7 crores wasapproved by DIT in January 2006. The objective of the scheme was to create a Central Database

& generate UID for residents primarily for effective reach of social sector benefits. Currently, a

central database of 68.77 crore records has been created and work is going on for a Proof of

Concept to look at integrating the National Population Register and the UID. An Empowered


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Group of Ministers (EGOM) was also constituted to go into the modalities of collating the two

Schemes, which had a number of commonalities, namely the UID Scheme of DIT and the MNICProject of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The EGOM in its last meeting approved the proposed

strategy for collation of the UID and NPR and also approved the creation of a UID Authority

under the aegis of the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission is currently working on

obtaining financial approvals for the creation of the UID Authority.

Assessment

As part of its mandate under the NeGP, the DIT is also undertaking independent assessment of e-Governance Projects in the country. During the first phase of assessment of 3 Projects under the

State MMp category and 3 Projects under the Central MMp category were taken up for the

assessment. The Projects undertaken for assessment in the State category were Land Records,Registration and Transport. The assessment of these projects was done in 13 States. The Central

Projects assessed were MCA21, Income Tax and Passport. The assessment was done by 11

empanelled agencies on defined parameters through in person survey methodology.

The highlights of the findings of the State MMP assessment are given below:

Number of trips to office reduced significantly Waiting Time reduced significantly in Property Registration and marginally in Transport and Land

Records.

Reduction in corruption seen in Computerization of Land Records. Property Registration shows marginal impact on corruption across all States. In Transport, corruption reduction is negligible except in one state where it has been virtually

eliminated. Citizens show overwhelming preference for computerized systems in Himachal

Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttrakhand and Tamil Nadu.

Postal Mechanisation, Modernisation and

Computerisation

Computerisation and Networking of Post Offices:

By the end of March 2009, theDepartment of Posts (External website that opens in a new

window)supplied computer and its peripherals like printers, scanner weighing scales, modems,

etc. along with requisite power equipment like Gensets, UPS, etc. to all Head Post Offices and a

large number of sub post offices. A Total of 9939 post offices have been computerised by March2009. The National Information Centre (NIC) is also implementing a WAN (Wide Area

Network) connecting all the Head Post Offices, Administrative Offices, Major Speed PostCentres and Accounts Offices. Till March 2009, 1274 offices have been linked through this

network. National Data Centre has also been set up at New Delhi and Mysore and this Data

Centre has been connected in the WAN.
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Computerisation of Registration Sorting:

As a part of the modernization programme, computerisation of the registration sorting work inmajor mail offices has been undertaken. A beginning in this regard was made during the

financial year 1995-96 by computerising registration-sorting work at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad

and Chennai. Up to 31 March 2006, registration-sorting work in 103 mail offices has beencomputerised.

Computerisation of Transit Mail Offices: Another area identified for computerisation is theTransit Mail Offices (TMOs). The TMOs have a vital role in the smooth handling and transmission

of closed mail bags. Two TMOs, namely, Delhi Airport TMO and Bombay Airport TMO, were

computerized during the financial year 1996-97. Twenty-eight TMOs were computerised till 31

March 2006.

Computerisation of Head Record Offices (HROs): As a part of modernization programme,computerisation of the Head Record Office (HRO) for proper maintenance of valuable records

their prompt retrieval and efficient office management has been undertaken. A beginning in this

regard was made during the financial year 1997-98 by computerising HRO, Hyderabad SortingDivision. 70 HROs were computerised up to 31 March 2006.

Transmission of Money Orders through the VSAT Satellite Network: To cut down thetransmission time for sending money order across the country, Money Order are now

transmitted through a VSAT Satellite network of 150 VSAT stations and 1485 Extended Satellite

Money Order (ESMOs) stations. This has resulted in faster delivery of money orders to the

customers.

Automatic Mail Processing Centre (AMPC): Automatic Mail Processing Centre help to sort mailsfaster leading to quicker delivery. Two AMPC were set up in Mumbai and Chennai in 1993 and

1996 respectively. Two more AMPC at Delhi & Kolkata have now been approved for installation

during the 10 Five- Year Plan. The AMPC will have high speed sorting machines, which can sort

30,000 letters per hour.

Modernisation of Operative Offices (Improving Ergonomics): To enable modernisation of postoffices through improving ergonomics in the Tenth Plan there is a target to modernise 811 Post

Offices. Upto 2005-06, 552 Post Offices have been modernised and the remaining post offices

will be modernized during 2006-07.

Modernisation of Mail Offices: To improve the ergonomics and ambience of the Mail officesthese are being modernised with better operational equipments and improved furniture. The

project was started during the financial year 1995-96, when 22 Mail Offices were modernised.

By 31 March 2006, 269 Mail Offices were modernised.

General Overview Foreign trade has played a crucial role in India's economy growth. The composition and

direction of India's foreign trade has undergone substantial changes, particularly, after theliberalization process which began in the early 1990s. Our major exports now includesmanufacturing goods such as Engineering Goods, Petroleum Products, Chemicals &

Related Products, Gems & Jewellery, Textiles, Electronic Goods, etc. which constitute

over 80 per cent of our export basket. On the other hand, major import items constitutecapital goods and intermediates which not only support the manufacturing sector but also

supply raw-materials for the export oriented units. Over the years, India's trade with

countries of Asia & ASEAN and Africa has gone up substantially. Apart from that, India


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is now a major player in global trading system and all the major sectors of Indian

economy are linked to world outside either directly or indirectly through internationaltrade.

PRODUCTIVITY IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

CONCEPTS OF PUBLIC SECTOR PRODUCTIVITY

There is no precise definition of public sector productivity, and so thereport set out from the emerging consensus that public sector productivity

involves effectiveness (in terms of outcomes) as well as efficiency (in

terms of the ratio of outputs to inputs). The literature shows wide

agreement with that general proposition, but there is less agreement beyond

that, even on the meaning of terms such as output, outcome, objectives,

performance indicators and so on.

Two questions really show why public sector productivity is such acontentious issue: Are citizens being provided with what they need? How

could the services citizens need be provided more cost-effectively?

In the private sector, where goods and services are provided for themarket, productivity is defined simply as the ratio of outputs to inputs;

that is, how does a measurable volume of what is produced compare to the

volume of resources that goes into producing it? But, even in the private

sector, there are many different benchmarks, and the choice between them

depends not only on the purpose of the productivity measurement but also on

the availability of data. The issue is further complicated by the fact

that, in reality, the productivity with which a company or an individual

worker operates is determined by many factors, some of which are

independent of the company or worker.

It gets more complex still in the public sector, where the mission is notto respond to what the market wants but to provide what society and

citizens want, as expressed through their choice of government and the

decisions made by that government. But the results of what the public

sector does are influenced by not only what governments do but also how

those actions and their results interact with other factors. Think of

education, where the outcomes for any particular child are determined

partly by what their school does, but also by other factors, such as their

home life, their genetic inheritance and their familys income and wealth.

So the outcomes of the public sector are the product of more than itsoutputs, and its effectiveness cannot be reduced to its efficiency,

although both are important. Efficiency has both qualitative and

quantitative characteristics, which include the volume and cost of

services, response times, error rates, accessibility, citizen satisfaction

and so on. Effectiveness is a matter of whether or not services are

provided in accordance with the priorities and objectives of government,and produce the expected or desired impacts. This is similar to the

distinction made in economic theory between allocative efficiency (i.e.

whether the right things are being produced) and technical efficiency (i.e.

whether they are produced in the right way). However, the public sector

doesnt just aim to maximise the satisfaction of customers but must deliver

for society as a whole, while also fulfilling the particular rights, needs

and wishes of minority groups and individuals.


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One way to look at the particular role of the public sector is to think ofit as creating public value, which has three interconnected components:

services, outcomes and trust. The public value of services is expressed not

only in user satisfaction but also in the ethos and culture expressed in

their delivery. Outcomes are produced in part by services directly, but

also by the effects of those services interacting with other social and

cultural activities and forces. Trust is more difficult to pin down but is

arguably the most important. It is at the heart of the relationship betweencitizens and government, and even if formal service and outcome targets are

met, a failure of trust will effectively undermine public value.

HistoricalPerspective

The question of public sector productivity can also be explored by lookingat the historical debates about what the public sector is for, how it

should operate and how it should be evaluated. The report describes the

history of public sector productivity in terms of the various phases of

public management models over the last century. In short, it began in the

early 1900s when the approach to efficiency in public administration drew

heavily on the scientific management theories of the time, which held that

there was one best way to produce a defined product. There was later, from

around the 1940s to the 1970s, a shift of focus to control of expenditure,and this was followed, from the 1980s, by a new approach, often referred to

as new public management (NPM). This was ideologically motivated and

advocated that public services should be delivered by the private sector

or, at least, in ways characteristic of the private sector.

A further phase may now be emerging, one that corresponds to the publicvalue approach to public governance and management. This emerging phase

does not do away with the need to measure outputs and outcomes, but

complements it by evaluating also the relationships involved in governance

and management, seeing these as indicative of capacity to improve services

and outcomes.

2.3 Measurement Like the definition of public sector productivity, its measurement is

dependent on what the public sector is expected to do and how it is

expected to do it. Finding the causal links between outcomes and inputs is

fraught with difficulty, and, as it is easier to measure outputs, they are

often measured instead. But judging the public sector and its employees by

output targets may not only fail to measure the effectiveness with which

they contribute to desired outcomes. It may also affect their behaviour so

that they aim to meet their targets, even if doing so is not the best way,

in particular circumstances, to achieve a desired outcome. Yet governments

must be accountable, and this continually recreates this drive to produce

what can be most easily measured.

Just as productivity in the public sector began with the orthodoxdefinition of measuring outputs against inputs, as in private sector

production, so public sector productivity measurement systems began bymeasuring quantity of output and quantity of input. But because this left

quality out of the equation, measurement systems were refined to include

indicators such as timeliness and accessibility, and further complicated by

attaching various quantified weights and measures to different qualities.

While understandable from a public accountability point of view, becausecitizens are able to judge governments against measurable targets, the

result can be disastrous from a public value point of view, because it can


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lead to perverse incentives, producing wrong decisions, financial loss and

demotivated staff.

TheImpactofMeasurementonProductivityItself

As the measurement of productivity impacts on service delivery and publicmanagement practice, it follows that it impacts on productivity itself. The

more productivity is defined in terms of standardised outputs, the more it

tends to lead to homogenisation of services, particularly where staff are

judged and rewarded against their performance in meeting output targets.

This collides with the public value approach in which a critical element of

service quality is meeting the socially and culturally diverse needs of

citizens. In order to serve diverse needs equally well and for services to

be available to everybody, public services in diverse societies must offer

far greater flexibility to meet personal needs, while keeping the ability

to connect resources and activities across entire systems of governance.


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In addition, the specification of performance standards often narrows thescope for organisational innovation. This is partly because it encourages

risk aversion and establishes rigid parameters of organisation and formal

responsibility, limiting the gains that can be made from collaboration

across service boundaries.

What, then, is the way out of this conundrum? The answer is not to abandonmeasurement, targets and standards, but to see them as tools to be usedcarefully and owned by the participants, rather than as an instrument of

top-down control. In that way, accountability can be achieved at the same

time as continually adjusting organisational and individual employee

behaviour in accordance with what is required to produce quality services

and desired outcomes. That, in turn, builds trust between governments,

their employees and citizens and therefore creates public value.

Such observations are well supported in the literature, which offersconsiderable evidence that government performance measurement systems do

not generally provide a reliable means of assessing how well public

services (and the people who deliver them) contribute to the broader

objectives of government. One suggestion noted in the literature, to ensure

that a measurement system will be accepted and used appropriately, is to

include as many viewpoints as possible in its development. The importance

of involving frontline employees, in particular, is noted. Workers know the

operations most intimately and are the ones in most immediate contact with

users. They are the natural source of feedback, ideas and insights into the

specifics of operations.

Although such ideas are well supported in the literature, however,governments evidently find it difficult to accommodate them in the way

services are organised and productivity evaluated. This may be due to the

limited timescale of accountability within the political cycle, which does

not fit well with the longer-term and complex nature of organisational

development and transformation.

The importance of adaptability in successful productivity measurement is also suggested in the literature, alongwith the important role staff can play in ensuring that their organisations do adapt to changing and diverse

demands on them. This requires systematic feedback mechanisms that allow professionals and otheremployees to learn from the system and find ways to make improvements. This means keeping it simple at first

and letting the measurement system and productivity improvements grow together. Provided that is done

transparently, it need not undermine accountability arrangements, but can enrich them