PERFORM OR PERISH

Governments are often accused of being bloated and overstaffed. At the beginning of his term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made reforming bureaucracy an area of prime focus. He now seems to be taking steps to remove the “dead wood” in the administrative workforce. Over the past few months, the Centre has been quietly weeding out government officials for “non-performance”. As many as 129 babus have been forced to retire “in public interest”.

Sources say that the action results from reviewing the service records of over 24,000 Group A officers and 42,251 Group B officers. Apparently, 30 Group A officers and 99 Group B officers have been sent into compulsory retirement. The first of such actions was in January, when the Centre terminated a senior IAS officer on grounds of nonperformance. A service review on a government employee is conducted twice — first after 15 years and again after 25 years of completion of qualifying service.

Though instances of babus being dismissed are common, usually it is due to corruption or other criminal offences committed during office. It is rare that the Centre weeds out babus for failing at work. Things are changing in the system, and not all these changes will please the babus!