In a set of reforms likely to have far-reaching consequences, the government on Monday unveiled its ambitious three-year plan to overhaul the Civil Service of Pakistan, aimed at replacing the British-era structure with a system more in line with the modern economy. The draft of the civil service reform strategy was made public at Bhurban by the planning ministry. At its core, the plan calls for a drastic overhaul of how the civil service conducts recruitment, and the manner in which bureaucrats are assigned career tracks and granted promotions.Under the existing system, university graduates from all over Pakistan take a single entrance examination and on the basis of their grades, provincial quotas, and personal preferences, they are granted a slot in one of 12 service tracks. Selection does not take into consideration previous education. For instance, it is not necessary to have an accounting education to be inducted into the audit and accounts service. Some of the basic reforms envisaged include: hiring of specialists through separate exams for each service group rather than the current system where all candidates sit for the same test and the successful amongst them are able to choose their beats; increase in the retirement age; lifting of the ban on lateral entry into the civil service; allowing hiring from the private sector; and of course, offering higher salaries and better perks, as is always the intention, to prevent corruption. This is quite a bureaucratic shakeup in the offing. The plan that lies at the very heart of the system seeks to introduce the standards followed by the private sector — this in turn will have repercussions all over the country and will affect the lives of all citizens. There will surely be objections, but let them be corrective and constructive in nature rather than a hurdle in the way of what everyone agrees has been needed for a very long time now.Reform in the bureaucracy is every government’s dream. But while the civil service is thought to have lost its efficacy, this is a simplistic, convenient explanation.Quite often censuring a government functionary could well be a cover for much else that is wrong with the system. The counter argument is that the need is not to recreate officials or the system but to give both the confidence to work by the book and free from any undue influences.There is also a view which says matters concerning the bureaucracy have improved with greater awareness and a vigilant media.There are cases of young government officers in commanding positions, sometimes preferred over civil servants much senior to them, performing feats that were least expected from the old-style ‘babus’. The officers have to be sufficiently empowered and free to be able to perform.
pk.shafaqna.com
