Ahsan-led panel finalising reforms to overhaul bureaucracy

ISLAMABAD: The Civil Services Reform Committee led by Ahsan Iqbal is finalising a set of reforms to overhaul the country’s civil bureaucracy on modern lines with emphasis on professional services, introducing new cadres and effective training to meet the modern day challenges.

Talking to The News, Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal said that the committee, which was constituted by the prime minister, has done most of its work and is expected to complete its task in a few weeks.

The minister said that the reforms are aimed at focusing on introducing specialised professional-based civil services instead of continuing with decades’ old outdated system of generalists.

Instead of one exam - Central Superior Services (CSS) -, he said the reforms committee is discussing introducing cluster based exams to recruit professionally qualified individuals in technical services and cadres of the civil services.

He disclosed that the committee is also considering introducing some new specialised groups in the civil services like Information Technology (IT) cadre, engineering cadre, legal cadre etc.

The minister, while referring to the defence training institutions like National Defence University and their effectiveness, said that the reform committee understands the importance of civil bureaucracy’s training and therefore, is suggesting a number of initiatives to overhaul the civil bureaucracy training scheme.

Ahsan Iqbal said that the entire career of a civil servant should not be dependent on his performance in the entry exam - the CSS competition. In the middle of the career, the civil servants from different groups should have the opportunity to go through a mid-career competition among all to improve their career prospects.

There were concerns about the declining overall effectiveness of the civil service, despite the inclusion of highly capable individuals. In a cabinet meeting, Ahsan Iqbal had talked about the need for civil service reform to improve governance and better service delivery. On this, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif constituted a high-level Civil Service Reform Committee under Ahsan Iqbal and tasked it to prepare a reform package for the country’s civilian bureaucracy.

According to a recent media report, the committee had set-up five sub-committees to refine the recruitment process, enhance appropriate training, undertake institutional restructuring, improve compensation and manage performance. It was observed that the current CSS curriculum and examination process do not encourage critical thinking. The predictable style of examination has led to a surge in commercial academies, which only candidates from affluent backgrounds can afford.

To discourage this practice, the report said, the minister had advised the FPSC to revise the curriculum and reconsider the subjects offered. Emphasising the need for effective marketing for recruitment, the minister advised the FPSC to conduct rigorous campaigns to attract as many candidates as possible to participate in the CSS exam, similar to global companies that target universities across the country to hire their HR.