The Union Government has decided to send Section Officers to the States so that they will be trained at the field level, and this process will be continued every year.
So for the first time Central Government officers will undertake training in the States as they are needed to get acquainted with the system of the State administrations.
The Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has written to the Odisha Government in this regard, and the State Government has agreed in principle to accommodate these officers for providing proper training at the field level.
There would be 11 weeks of training for the Section Officers, who are set to be promoted to the Under Secretary level in the Union Government. The training would be mandatory for them, and after successful completion of training they would be considered for promotion, said sources.
Each batch of officers will receive one-week training at the Gopabandhu Academy of Administration and another week at the district-level offices, where they will study the system. After that, these officers will be attached with Block Development Officers (BDOs) or Executive Officers in Urban local Bodies for eight weeks.
This field-level training is for cutting edge and exposure regarding implementation of different schemes of the Government of India as well as the State Government.
After the end of field-level training they will receive briefings from senior officers and prepare a report each on a Central and State sector scheme. The Collectors of the districts to which these trainees are attached will give their performance report, which will be submitted to the Union Government after completion of their training.
The Director General of the Gopabandhu Academy of Administration has been asked to provide a detailed estimate for such training. All funds spent by the State Government for the officers will be reimbursed by the Government of India.
The Institute of Secretariat Training and Management (ISTM) under the DoPT will coordinate the entire program.
The Odisha Government has agreed to accommodate at least 10 Section Officers in each batch, and the timing to start the training programme will be intimated by the Department of General Administration (DoGA) to the DoPT.
The State Government would soon designate a Nodal Officer for the purpose, and the senior officer would coordinate the entire programme, said sources in the DoGA.
With such a programme at the Union Government level being initiated, such programmes are needed to be replicated at the State level, feel bureaucracy watchers.
The ASOs of the State Secretariat and the Heads of the Departments should be sent to gram panchayats so that they have the ground touch, and are able to know the field-level realities while dealing with files, said an officer.