Introduction:

Civil services or Bureaucracy is an administrative body of officials whose roles are determined by written rules. It’s an impersonal system operating on the basis of calculable rules and staffed by full time appointed officials. Civil Services are the bedrock of public administration. Civil services have assumed more important role in democracy to ensure good governance, both in developing and developed countries.

Body:

Challenges faced by the civil servants:

• Political interference: The first and foremost challenge is the dispute between the IAS officers and MP or MLA. The major reason is the difference in opinion, corruption, using public office for personal use and protection given to criminals and law breakers by the MP and MLA.
• Lack of professionalism and poor capacity building leads to poor outcomes and redtapism.
• Inefficient incentive systems that do not appreciate upright and outstanding civil servants but reward the corrupt and the incompetent
• Outmoded rules and procedures that restrict the civil servant from performing effectively
• Lack of adequate transparency and accountability procedures – there is also no safety for whistle blowers
• Work overload: Over demand and casework overload are facts of life for many public servants.
• Transfers: The transfer malaise is all-pervasive. Everything relies on the impulses of the minister and sometimes an honest to goodness necessity. Arbitrary and whimsical transfers leads to insecurity in tenures and thus impedes institutionalization
• Lack of control: A lack of discretion over their work can leave the public servant frustrated when they can see what needs to be done but are prevented from doing it. Unnecessarily detailed procedures or interference from superiors?—?what is known as micro management?—?are both aspect of this challenge.
• Silo working: Silo working is what happens when departments or organisations focus on protecting their own position and role rather than the needs of the people that they are working for. From the public servant’s point of view this makes it harder to get things done.
• Lack of recognition: The problem of lack of recognition is not just about the public servant getting personal appreciation for good work well done but also systemic inconsistencies in promotion and empanelment. This leads to demotivation and discouragement.
• Gradual erosion in values and ethics leading to corruption and systemic ills.

Measures to fight the challenges:

Skilled Bureaucracy: There is a need for development of new skill:

• Develop Project/Programme  Management  skills to  implement  large  projects  in  a  timely  and cost effective manner.  This should also include commercial, legal and financial negotiation and contract management skills.
• Digital Skills to be used for improved service delivery. There should be increased reliance on e-governance and mobile governance.
• Capacity/Skill building  is  vital  for  lower  bureaucracy since  they  are  in  the front  line  of  the public service delivery.  There is a need to enhance both their professional and soft skills.

Converged  Bureaucracy  :  There  is  a  need  to  break  down  the  silos  within  Government  to unlock productivity and outcomes :

• Need for   Horizontal   convergence   in   vertical   administration –Greater   thrust   should   be accorded   on   cross   departmental   working,   interdepartmental   engagements,   and   lateral communication among and within departments.
• Shared services  model  may  be  adopted for  services  such  as  IT,  Finance,  procurement    So that there is no duplication in effort and cost.

Open  Bureaucracy  : A  culture of openness  needs  to be  cultivated  towards  new  ideas,  new challenges  and  innovation  to  bring  about  continues  transformation  for  better  service delivery.

• Open Policy Formulation–may be undertaken through openness to new thinking or in the gathering of evidence &insight from external experts. Collaborative approaches to policy  making  by  taking  views  from  members  of  civil  society,  think  tanks,  Universities, other countries and states.
• Social Media  for  Participatory  Governance–Social  media,  crowd  sourcing  and  open sourcing  can  be  powerful  tools  to  connect  with  people  and  promote  participatory governance.
• Constantly engaging with the private sector –Culture of openness needs to be adopted for new forms of partnership with private sector.

Connected  Bureaucracy –There  is  a  need  for  the  Bureaucracy  to  be  connected  within  and globally to imbibe the best practice.

• Understanding global best practices will help our bureaucracy to develop world class acumen.
• Horizontal Connectivity between the State Departments. There is  a  need  for  the  State Government  departments  to  share  the  learning  and  best  practices  with  their  counterparts  in other states.
• Improvement in Interdepartmental connectivity through Government process re-engineering, simplification of rules.

Better pay and good work conditions to keep the civil servants motivated and work better for the development of country.

Conclusion:

There is an urgent need for balanced development across the country. The  mechanics  of  good  governance  have  to  be replicated  and  adapted  throughout.  There is a need for a common and integrated action plan of Nation Building through an Effective Delivery  of  Public  Services  in  a  Transparent,  Accountable,  Citizen  Friendly,  Innovative,  High Quality, Cost effective and Timely manner.