BackUPA’s social programmes may soon be managed by specialists
Involving HR firms for recruiting manpower for flagship programmes will benefit government, say experts
Premium(Sanjeev Verma/Hindustan Times)
New Delhi: The United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA’s) ambitious social programmes could soon be managed by specialists, marking a departure from the way such programmes have been managed in India—as a way for local politicians to find jobs for people they wish to favour.
The National Advisory Council (NAC), which sets the social agenda of the government and is headed by Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, has suggested this.
“Merit-based selection process may get compromised if it is left to the selection committees comprising of elected representatives. This needs to be replaced with a fair and transparent selection process, guided by experts in the sector. In addition to recruitment by independent selection boards, State Public Service and other bodies, the States may empanel credible institutions/experts/HR agencies," said the draft recommendations by the council dated 23 August. Mint has reviewed a copy of the recommendations.
As Gandhi put it in Parliament earlier this week during the debate on the proposed food security law, the UPA’s reign has been one marked by entitlements. The government runs programmes including National Rural Health Mission, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and the mid-day meal scheme. To be sure, the last predates the UPA.
The programmes employ a little more than five million people and the number is set to increase to eight million by 2017 and at least 10 million during the period of the 13th five-year Plan (2017-2022). A sizeable portion of the budget allocation to ministries concerned is spent on these schemes.
NAC has also recommended that ministries implementing the welfare programmes create dedicated human resources wings to “guide the planning and implementation process".
The advisory body has suggested that the recruitment and selection process for hiring include “sociometric tests, psychometric tests and aptitude tests to judge the aptitude, attitude and motivation levels of the candidates".
Involving human resources companies for recruiting manpower for flagship programmes will benefit the government in three ways, said Kamal Karanth, managing director of staffing services company Kelly Services India Pvt. Ltd.
“First, it will facilitate quicker deployment of human resources as the HR companies have well placed engines to provide people faster," said Karanth, adding that most of the HR agencies don’t take bribe or money from candidates. “Two, if you are hiring in a free and fair manner, the recruits will not reasonably involve in corrupt practices." The third factor is getting right candidates for the right job, he said.
Karanth said that with elections approaching the government could be doing this to “deliver on its promises".
Still, it could also be seen as a way of providing jobs to millions before the elections in an effort to garner votes.
“These recommendations focus more on skilling which would essentially require a big number of frontline workers, the stress is on increasing the quality of output," said Jai Mrug, a Mumbai-based political analyst.
“It does certainly connect with elections. The NAC can always be a good buzz creation tool for the government in terms of its thrust on the aam aadmi. In times of anti-incumbency, the government would certainly like to ensure that the quality of its deliverables is appreciable and so the emphasis on things like professional hiring and HR companies in this recommendation," he said.
To be sure, both premises could be way off the mark. It seems unlikely that the government will make up its mind on a new recruitment process for hiring millions in the next few months.
NAC has also suggested that ministries both at the central and state level should join hands with universities and other educational institutes for designing and introducing courses on development, such as rural livelihoods, rural health, livestock management, natural resource management, and agriculture. “There are just a handful of institutions in the country providing courses for development professionals. Government, therefore, needs to take pro-active measures to ensure a steady supply of development professionals for implementation of the social sector programmes effectively," NAC’s draft recommendations said.
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