900 civil servants engaged for reforms in bureaucracy

ISLAMABAD: The “First 100 days in government” booklet disseminated by the government says approximately 900 civil servants have so far been taken on board for reforms in bureaucracy and more such sessions are in the pipeline.

However, gigantic tasks like start of building five million houses and creation of ten million jobs are still in the planning stage with wide projections and will take quite some time to see any work on ground.

The brochure doesn’t contain anything worthwhile about reforms in Punjab police and the depoliticization of the force. “Extensive consultations are being held with civil servants across all cadres and throughout Pakistan for an inclusive reforms process,” the document says adding that instead of creating a set of recommendations for the government to consider all at once, Dr Ishrat Hussain led taskforce will stagger these, bringing forward proposals as they are finalised.

As an example, it said within the first 100 days the taskforce has already submitted two final proposals to the cabinet, one on tenure protection and second on the process of appointments purely on merit.

The pamphlet said that in the spirit of creating an efficient and responsive civil service, subgroups of the taskforce on civil service reform have been assigned to develop recommendations across the entire value chain of the services: induction, training, performance management, career progression, compensation structure, and severance policies.

According to the material, coordination with provinces for constitution of provincial taskforces on civil service reform is underway. Taskforce meetings have also been held in provincial headquarters to align the reform process with public service delivery, the main subjects for which fall in the domain of provinces post-eighteenth amendment e.g. health, education and law and order.

About depoliticization and strengthening of police particularly in Punjab, the document only says the provincial governments will carry out an audit of women/female desks at police stations in collaboration with the Provincial and National Commission on the status of women. The chairman of a Commission Nasir Durrani, quit sometime back, making the entire work he had undertaken to a grinding halt.

Regarding the new housing units, the pamphlet says the government is committed to its promise of enabling an environment for the housing industry to thrive and develop five million houses for middle and lower-middle-income households.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has chaired more than 10 meetings to finalise a future roadmap in this regard. A housing taskforce has been established with representation from the public and the private sector. The premier has publically launched the project under the name of Naya Pakistan Housing Authority and has issued directions to complete the legal formation of the authority, revamp the mortgage market through legislation (including laws on foreclosure, transfer procedures, and documentation), improve bank lending for affordable housing through amendments in regulations, set up a land bank, and form a Real Estate Regulatory Authority.

In addition, the government has dedicated Rs5b for a federal employees housing initiative dedicated to grades 1-16. It is targeting the construction of 150,000 homes in this category within 3 years. It is hoped that the activity will boost industry, create jobs and provide shelter.

The document said that the finance ministry estimates that, once fully implemented, the annual impact of the housing scheme is likely to be over 2 million jobs. It is gearing up to launch the Green Youth Programme as a “green offshoot” to this nationwide initiative to generate green jobs and eco-preneurs.

Additionally, the central bank has estimated that full implementation of National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) to enhance manufacturing and exports (SME Strategy, Tariff Policy) will result in one million jobs from digital financial services, and two million jobs resulting from enhanced credit access to SMEs Social Sector Programmes – income enhancement through asset transfers (part of the social protection programme to be launched) will create 3 million micro-entrepreneurs in five years.