NEW DELHI: The 14th Finance Commission has
suggested linking pay with productivity with a focus on technology, skills and
incentives, a move aimed at raising the productivity of government employees.
The panel has recommended that in future
additional remuneration be linked to increase in productivity.
The Seventh Pay Commission is expected to
submit its recommendations by August and it has been asked to look at the issue
of raising productivity and improving the overall quality of public services in
the country.
The Sixth Pay Commission had also said that
steps should lead to improvement in the existing delivery mechanism by more
delegation and de-layering and an emphasis on achieving quantifiable and
concrete end results. Emphasis is to be on outcome rather than processes, it
had said. The earlier Pay Commissions had also made several recommendations to
enhance productivity and improve administration.
The 14th Finance Commission's recommendations
assume significance at a time when the Narendra Modi government has focused its
attention to improve the delivery of public services and is taking steps to use
technology to improve efficiency.
The Union government has taken several steps
to shore up the bureaucracy and has changed the way attendance is measured in
government offices.
"Further we recommend that Pay
Commissions be designated as Pay and Productivity Commissions with a clear
mandate to recommend measures to improve productivity of an employee,"
said the 14th Finance Commission headed by former Reserve Bank of India
Governor Y.V. Reddy.
The Reddy panel said productivity per employee
can be raised through the application of technology in public service delivery
and in public assets created.
"Raising the skills of employees through
training and capacity building also has a positive impact on productivity. The
use of appropriate technology and associated skill development require
incentives for employees to raise their individual productivities," the
Reddy led panel said.
"A Pay Commission's first task,
therefore, would be identify the right mix of technology and skills for
different categories of employees. The next step would be to design suitable
financial incentives linked to measureable performance," the panel said.
An internal study by the Commission showed
that the expenditure on pay and allowances (excluding expenditure for Union
territories) more than doubled for the period 2007-08 to 2012-13 from Rs 46,230
crore to Rs 1.08 lakh crore.
