Train public servants systematically : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Train public servants systematically

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

(Former Additional Director Dr MCR HRD Institute)

Telangana Today (26-08-2019)

The Telangana Government may move towards declaring training as an identified priority area for focus in the Government by launching a unique State Training Initiative (STI). This would systematically build training capabilities and demonstrate training to be a tool in performance enhancement at individual, group and organizational level. Training should also be made as an important responsibility area of District Collectors by designating them as the Training-Commissioners of their respective districts as well as that of Heads of Departments, to oversee the entire training activity at the state level. Each district and department should also have one Training Coordinator to implement the training.

The broad structure and framework for capacity building as well as implementation of training should envisage among others that each employee should have an opportunity to attend at least one training program in a year exposing them to government welfare and development programs and schemes. Systematic Identification of training needs at task, job, group and organizational level has to be carried out.

Management of Training

To begin with, a three-day Workshop on Orientation to Management of Training (O-MOT) may be organized to All India Service Officers who head departments at secretariat, department and district level. This would be basically to provide opportunities for discussion on the proposed State Training Initiative and understanding their role as well as to seek their commitment to training function. Every training coordinator must be exposed to Management of Training (MOT).

The training methodology envisaged, should focus not only on the building up of the knowledge-skill base of the employees, but, more importantly, develop the right attitude in them to make them capable of serving the public, who constitute government’s client, more efficiently and effectively. The entire training activity in the State Government may be watched over, guided and reviewed by some sort of a State Training Council to be chaired if necessary, by the Chief Minister himself and to include leading experts drawn from the fields of training and training management.

Types of Categorization

Assessment of training requirements should be initiated based on the individual employee's perception of his/her own training requirements to which the perception of the HOD/ Government (in other words organization requirement) could be added. Heads of Departments are to be made responsible for preparation and implementation of Annual Training Action Plans for their respective departments, including projecting their budget requirements. 

The Dr MCR HRD Institute may be the coordinating body. Other state training institutes and ASCI may be involved. Four types of categorization of public functionaries depending on their job responsibilities needs to be made, namely, Policy level, Administrative level, Implementation level and Support level functionaries.

The Policy level may consist of Ministers, Legislators, Senior All India Service Officers of the rank of secretaries and above and are to be trained in Organizational Behavior packages. Administrative level may comprise of HoDs and other All India Service Officers below the rank of secretaries. Executive level may consist of field level staff holding crucial and key positions up to the Mandal level. Support level may consist of remaining employees like clerks, office superintendents, other subordinate staff etc. It may also be made mandatory to identify about 5000 to 10000 key and strategically placed state government and public functionaries throughout the state for specific coverage of their training needs by developing special packages for improving their commitment and performance.

  In this context it may be appropriate to utilize the services of Dr MCR HRD Institute of Telangana the apex training institute of state government. The Institute originally called as Institute of Administration (IOA) was set-up to serve the general training needs of the civil servants of the State in March 1976 consequent to the recommendation from Government of India. It is supposed to be one of the topmost training institutions in the world. The MCR HRD Institute is an Institute of Excellence for public management.    

The premier administrative training Institute of Telangana has well-qualified, experienced, hardworking and dedicated team which include senior All India Service Officers and State officials and also eminent faculty drawn from various Institutes of higher learning. Institute has recently completed forty years of its existence. About 15,000 officers, including from All India Services and Central Civil Services from across the country, attend the training programs in the Institute every year. 

The mandate given to HRD Institute when established, was to conduct Foundational Training Programs for direct recruits to various categories of civil services, including the Indian Administrative Service; to conduct Refresher Courses on State policies, programmes and initiatives for all categories of in-service personnel; to conduct Specialized Training Programmes and to conduct Department Specific Training Programmes etc. It continues to discharge these functions even now.  

Training Coordinators

Following discussions with all Secretaries to State Government and Heads of Departments as well as Heads of other State Training Institutions, Training Coordinators were nominated in all departments and districts and were made responsible for exclusively handling the work relating to the Training Initiative in the concerned department, organization and office. They still continue to be there and their services may be utilized.   

Assessment of the training needs of the department, determination of the volume of the training requirement, preparation of department or district training plan, projection of budget to meet the training needs of the staff and coordinating all training related activities with the Apex Body formed part of Training Coordinator’s responsibilities.

Against this background in 1996, Government of India released the National Training Policy (NTP) document (which was later updated in 2012) with an indication to all states that action be initiated for formulation of a State Training Policies on the lines of the National Policy. Towards this as a first step the HRD Institute during 1997 organized series of three-day workshops for assessing training needs of various categories of government employees. In the Mission Statement of HRD Institute it was envisaged that the Institute committed to providing up-to-date relevant training for all categories of state government employees, providing training to improve efficiency and effectiveness of government functionaries, and developing itself as a quality training institution.

The erstwhile AP government issued orders nominating the District Collectors as the Training Commissioners (Hope they still continue so) of their respective districts to oversee the entire training activity and to keep a watch on the progress made in each department. It was also made obligatory that they send their progress reports to the Commissioner of Dr MCR HRD Institute. The Institute as a nodal agency also set-up revised goals and objectives making it mandatory for cent percent coverage of training for all government employees.

Against this rich background of Dr MCR HRD Institute, it may be meaningful to make use of its services once again to impart systematic training for all public functionaries.