Mid-career training for IAS officers likely

NEW DELHI: To improve bureaucratic efficiency, the Modi government is planning to make mid-career training a mandatory requirement for IAS officers to be empanelled to work at the Centre.

Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth has informed top officials that a proposal to this effect is under the government’s consideration to be incorporated into a new charter of service rules being drawn up for public officials. New administrative rules would also make training compulsory for officials in the central secretariat services and a few other cadres to be considered for a promotion.

"In the charter we are drawing, training would be counted for your promotion. So in central secretariat services and a few other services, if you do not do the training, you will not be promoted,” said a senior government official aware of the development. "Even in empanelment cases, the Cabinet secretary has submitted a paper to make training compulsory which is under consideration," said the official, adding that the endeavor is to align training modules with a citizen-centric focus.

The central government is also making provisions in its rules to ensure 2.5 per cent of all budget spends are allocated for training and capacity building of officials. The official said that states have already been asked to use 2.5 per cent of their program budgets on training.