New Delhi: From abolishing interviews for Group B (Non-Gazetted) and Group C posts to technology-driven recruitment and anti-cheating safeguards, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has carried out several reforms in the last 12 years.
In a press conference Tuesday, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh highlighted a series of recruitment and civil services reforms undertaken over the last 12 years. He said that the government’s focus has been on making recruitment more transparent, merit-based, and technology-driven.
“The common grievance was that a candidate scores high marks in the written examination but receives fewer marks in the interview, while another candidate with lower written scores gets higher interview marks. So, we did away with that,” Singh said.
He added that technology-driven platforms such as Mission Karmayogi, CPGRAMS, and Digital Life Certificate have demonstrated that reforms can improve the lives of citizens while enhancing transparency, accountability, and efficiency. He urged that state governments adopt these platforms to accelerate the nation’s journey toward Viksit Bharat 2047.
Shift from rule to role
Computer-based examinations, Aadhaar-enabled verification, and the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, have helped make government recruitment faster, fairer, and more credible, Singh said.
“The common grievance was that a candidate scores 100 marks in the written examination but receives fewer marks in the interview, whereas one who has scored very few in the written gets higher marks in the interview. So, we did away with that,” the minister added.
According to Singh, Mission Karmayogi is among the most ambitious civil service reforms worldwide. The iGOT Karmayogi platform, he said, has over 1.65 crore registered users and nearly 13 crore course completions. The platform is now integrating artificial intelligence-based tools such as AI Sarthi and AI Tutor to support continuous learning among government employees.
“There is a huge shift from rule to role, particularly for the civil servants who overnight get transferred and then have to adapt to different roles,” said Singh.
On social justice in public employment, Singh said the government has implemented reservations for economically weaker sections, expanded opportunities for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities, and undertaken special drives to fill backlog vacancies.
DoPT Secretary Rachna Shah said the department has undertaken several recruitment reforms through agencies such as the Union Public Service Commission and Staff Selection Commission. She also highlighted recruitment rule reforms, cadre reviews, AI-enabled human resource management systems, and initiatives aimed at building a more agile and performance-oriented civil service.
Singh called the transformation of the Department of Personnel and Training a major shift.
“DoPT was sometimes described as the Department of Prosecution and Torture. That’s no longer so. It’s actually become a Department of Performance. The Prime Minister said reform, perform and transform. That reform express engine is led by this department,” said Singh.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)
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