The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh launched the iGOT (Integrated Government Online Training Programme) developed by Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, here today. It will augment the existing training mechanism with online module-based training coupled with certification. This will make training inputs available to government servant on site and on flexitime basis. The initiative aims at “Competent Civil Services for Good Governance”. He also launched Hybrid Course on Administrative Laws developed by DoPT in collaboration with the premier law school, National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru.On the occasion, RTI Portal on Judgments/Orders of Supreme Court, High Courts and CIC, was also launched that will provide a learning environment for all stakeholders under which a repository on the landmark cases on the RTI will be available at one place.Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh said that Ministry of Personnel has undertaken various initiatives in the last four and a half years. He said that the launch of these initiatives on the eve of Good Governance Day shows Government’s commitment to ‘maximum governance, minimum government’. He also spoke about the initiatives taken by DARPG. He added that the number of grievances has increased due to prompt response of the Department.
But awareness needs to be generated in society about grievance disposal mechanism, he added. He said that during the last four years, the participation of districts has increased in the Civil Services Day awards, which has transformed the whole process. Commenting on the RTI Portal on Judgments/Orders of Supreme Court, High Courts and CIC, he said that this is an extension of online RTI mechanism that is available to the users. Speaking on the improvements made by DoPT in the training programmes, the Minister said that the training programmes of India are now being acknowledged worldwide. He further said that ‘Anubhav’ initiative of the Ministry is a good base for research activities and now the department is in the process of preparing a manual based on these write-ups. The Minister also urged the state Governments to adopt these initiatives towards good governance and improved training techniques.The DoPT Secretary Dr C. Chandramouli said that the launch of the initiatives today is yet another milestone which aims at capacity building of Government officers. He said that appropriate training is of vital importance for public service delivery. This online programme is a part of overall ‘Digital India’ flagship programme of the Government. The DoPT will encourage and keep adding more programmes to this platform, he added.Secretary, DARPG & Pensions, Shri K.V. Eapen said that Department of Pensions has taken several initiatives for the benefit of pensioners such as organising First Pension Adalat, root cause analysis of the grievances and issuing Digital Life Certificates etc. He said that recently many changes have been incorporated in National Pension System (NPS) based on the recommendations of a committee of Government.
iGOT (Integrated Government Online Training Programme)
The National Training Policy-2012 mandates that all civil servants will be provided with training to equip them with the competencies for their current or future jobs. The current structure of training for Government servants including domestic and foreign training is mostly available to very small section of the government servants. However, consequent upon some recent initiatives undertaken by Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India aimed at providing training to cutting edge level functionaries in the Central/State Governments, significant changes have taken place. The outreach of the existing training setup is very limited in view of the large workforce employed in various States/UT Governments. The Integrated Government Online Training Programme (iGOT) launched by Minister will augment the existing training mechanism with online module-based training coupled with certification. This will make training inputs available to government servant on site and on flexitime basis. Furthermore, the training will be focussed and targeted to the requirement of the officials.
The e-Learning mode provides unparalleled opportunities for training to a large number of civil servants scattered all over the country. The latest technologies make available vast resources of learning material and online courses, providing the individuals enormous choices and flexibility in learning. The online training programme through Massive Online Open Courses mechanism would be a platform to bring together the numerous Government and other training institutions for providing a single point of access to the repository of training resources. This will provide a broad training eco-system creating synergies across various premier training institutes of the country and will cater to the training needs which can encompass all the officials in the entire hierarchy of Central and State Governments. This platform will ultimately build a large training eco-system. The training courses under this programme will be accessible through DoPT’s web portal. Among the bouquet of Training Courses on offer through this initiative are those offered by MIT, USA too. DoPT has collaborated with JPAL, South Asia and MIT, USA to launch MITx Micro Master Programmes for the government servants.
Hybrid Course on Administrative Laws
The DoPT, realising the need for training inputs in Administrative Laws, has collaborated with the premier law school, National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru to develop and offer Long Term Diploma programme and Short Term Courses in these areas. The courses to be delivered by NLSIU have been launched by Minister today.
RTI Portal on Judgments/Orders of Supreme Court, High Courts and CIC
The Right to Information (RTI) Portal on Judgments/Orders of Supreme Court, High Courts and CIC has been developed by Institute of Secretariat Training and Management (ISTM), New Delhi. This Portal will provide a learning environment for all stakeholders under which a repository on the landmark cases on the RTI will be available at one place. The Portal also makes available the gist of the replies given by Central Public Information Officers (CPIOs), First Appellate Authorities as well as the Supreme Court. It will be helpful in learning the latest trends of implementation of RTI Act as the judgments/orders given by Central Information Commission, High Courts and Supreme Court are always a crucial source to track the developments on this subject. The senior officers of the Ministry were also present on the occasion.