Union cabinet approves Census 2021, NPR and the post of Chief of Defense Staff

New Delhi: In a landmark decision aimed at bringing reforms in higher defence management in the country, the Cabinet on Tuesday approved to create the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in the rank of a four-star General with salary and perquisites equivalent to a Service Chief.

The Chief of Defence Staff will also head the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) to be created within the Ministry of Defence and function as its Secretary, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar said at a press briefing here.

Under the Department of Military Affairs, the areas that will be dealt with include the Armed Forces of the country — the Army, the Navy and the Air Force — Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence comprising Army Headquarters, Naval Headquarters, Air Headquarters and Defence Staff Headquarters, the Territorial Army and procurement exclusive to the armed forces except capital acquisitions.

The Department of Military Affairs will be mandated to promoting jointness in procurement, training and staffing for the Services through joint planning and integration of their requirements, facilitation of restructuring of Military Commands for optimal utilization of resources by bringing about jointness in operations, including through establishment of joint/theatre commands and promoting use of indigenous equipment by the Services.

The Chief of Defence Staff, apart from being the head of the Department of Military Affairs, will also be the Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.

He will act as the Principal Military Adviser to Defence Minister on all tri-Services matters.

The three Chiefs will continue to advise Defence Minister on matters exclusively concerning their respective forces.

The CDS will not exercise any military command, including over the three forces chiefs, so as to be able to provide impartial advice to the political leadership of the country.

According to an official release, as the Permanent Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee, the CDS will perform a number of functions including administering tri-services organizations, commands related to Cyber and Space will be under the CDS.

The CDS will be member of Defence Acquisition Council chaired by Defence Minister and Defence Planning Committee chaired by National Security Adviser.

The CDS will function as the Military Adviser to the Nuclear Command Authority and also bring about jointness in operation, logistics, transport, training, support services, communications, repairs and maintenance of the three forces within three years of the first CDS assuming office.

The CDS will be tasked to ensure optimal utilization of infrastructure and rationalize it through jointness among the services.

Another important role of the CDS would be to implement Five-Year Defence Capital Acquisition Plan (DCAP) and Two-Year roll-on Annual Acquisition Plans (AAP), as a follow up of Integrated Capability Development Plan (ICDP).

The CDS will also be responsible for assigning inter-Services prioritization to capital acquisition proposals based on the anticipated budget.

The CDS will bring about reforms in the functioning of three Services aimed at augmenting combat capabilities of the Armed Forces by reducing wasteful expenditure.

It is expected that this reform in the Higher Defence Management would enable the Armed Forces to implement coordinated defence doctrines and procedures and go a long way in fostering jointmanship among the three Services.

The Cabinet nod follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on this year’s Independence Day address wherein he said, “India should not have a fragmented approach. Our entire military power will have to work in unison and move forward. All the three (Services) should move simultaneously at the same pace. There should be good coordination and it should be relevant to the hope and aspirations of our people. It should be in line with the changing war and security environment with the world. After formation of this post (CDS), all the three forces will get effective leadership at the top level.”

Cabinet approves Rs 3900 cr for NPR updation: Javadekar

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved an amount of Rs. 3,941.35 crore for updation of National Population Register (NPR) and Rs. 8,754.23 crore for the exercise of Census of India 2021.

Addressing reporters here, I&B minister Prakash Javadekar said that NPR has been accepted by all states already. It’s nothing new. This has to happen every three years.

“Anyone who stays in India will be counted in NPR,” Mr Javadekar said.

“It is self declaration, no document, bio-metric etc required for it,” he added.

Cabinet approves transformational Organisational Restructuring of Indian Railways

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a transformational organisational restructuring of the Indian Railways. This historic reform will go a long way in achieving Government’s vision of making Indian Railways the growth engine of India’s vikas yatra.

The reforms include:

Unification of the existing eight Group A services of the Railways into a Central Service called Indian Railway Management Service (/RMS)
Re-organisation of Railway Board on functional lines headed by CRB with four Members and some Independent Members
The existing service of Indian Railway Medical Service (IRMS) to be consequently renamed as Indian Railway Health Service (IRHS)

Railways has an ambitious programme to modernise and provide the highest standards of safety, speed and services to the passengers with a proposed investment of Rs. 50 lakh crore over the next 12 years. This requires speed and scale, and a unified, agile organisation to work single-mindedly on this task and capable of responding to challenges. Today’s reforms are in a series of reforms that have been undertaken under the present Government including merger of Rail Budget with Union Budget, delegation of powers to empower GMs and field officers, allowing competitive operators to run trains etc.

To meet next level challenges and deal with various existing difficulties there was a need to take this step. Unlike Railway systems the world over, which have been corporatized, Indian Railways is managed by the Government directly. It is organised into various departments such as Traffic, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Signal & Telecom, Stores, Personnel, and Accounts etc. These departments are vertically separated from top to bottom and are headed by a Secretary level officer (Member] in the Railway Board. This organization of the department runs deep down to the grassroot level of the Railways. Unification of services will end this ‘departmentalism’, promote smooth working of Railways, expedite decision making, create a coherent vision for organisation and promote rational decision making.

Unification of services has been recommended by various committees for reforming Railways including – the Prakash Tandon Committee (1994), Rakesh Mohan Committee (2001), Sam Pitroda Committee (2012) and Bibek Debroy Committee (2015).

This reform has been undertaken with the overwhelming support and consensus of Railway officers, at a two-day conference “Parivartan Sangoshthi” held in Delhi on 7th and 8th December, 2019. To act on this sentiment, and create confidence in Railway officers that their suggestions are valued, Railway Board held an Extraordinary meeting of the Board during the conference on 8th December, 2019 itself, and recommended a number of reforms including the ones mentioned.

It is now proposed to create a unified Group A’ service called “Indian Railways Management Service” (IRMS) from the next recruitment cycle. Creation of the new service will be done in consultation with DoPT and UPSC to facilitate recruitment in the next recruitment year. It will enable Railways to recruit engineers/non-engineers as per need, and offer equality of opportunity to both categories in career progression. The modalities and unification of the services will be worked out by the Ministry of Railways in consultation with DoPT with the approval of Alternate Mechanism to be appointed by Cabinet in order to ensure fairness and transparency. The process shall be completed within a year.

The newly recruited officers will come from Engineering and non-Engineering disciplines as per need and posted as per their aptitude and specialisation to allow them to specialise in one field, develop an overall perspective, and prepare them to take up general management responsibilities at senior levels. Selection for the general management positions shall be through a merit-based system.

Railway board will no longer be organised on departmental lines, and replaced with a leaner structure organised on functional lines. It will have a Chairman, who will act as ‘Chief Executive Officer (CEO)’ along with 4 Members responsible for Infrastructure, Operations & Business Development, Rolling Stock and Finance respectively. The Chairman shall be the cadre controlling officer responsible for Human resources (HR) with assistance from a DG (HR). 3 Apex level posts shall be surrendered from Railway Board and all the remaining posts of the Railway Board shall be open to all officers regardless of the service to which they belonged. The Board will also have some independent Members (the number to be decided by competent authority from time to time), who will be highly distinguished professionals with deep knowledge and 30 years of experience including at the top levels in industry, finance, economics and management fields. The Independent Members will help Railway Board in setting a strategic direction. The restructured Board will start functioning after approval of the Board taking due care to ensure that officers are posted in the restructured Board or adjusted in the same pay and rank till their retirement.