Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 30: A unique initiative floated by the Performance Management Division of the Union Cabinet Secretariat in Jammu and Kashmir two years back with the aim to judge the performance and functioning of Government departments has failed to yield desired results due to the slack approach of the heads of the departments in strictly meeting the laid down guidelines.
The initiative called—Results Framework Document (RFD) was launched in Jammu and Kashmir in the month of December 2012 with the Performance Management Division of the Union Cabinet Secretariat extending all help to the Planning and Development Department in sensitizing the officers of the State Government.
Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, while addressing a two-day workshop on the Results Framework Document in December 2012 had described the RFD an instrument of improving Government functioning by judging the performance and functioning of Government departments on the basis of timeline completion of targets, outcomes of the schemes, priorities fixed, quality of work done, status of benefits of projects actually accruing to people and other similar ingredients.
No doubt departments faced numerous difficulties while preparing their respective RFDs for the last quarter of 2012-13 financial year but every possible assistance was rendered by the Performance Management Division through Planning and Development Department, which is the nodal department for RFD. At that time it was stated by the Government that real objective of the initiative would be achieved from 2013-14 financial year.
Unfortunately, the guidelines laid down by the Performance Management Division (PMD) vis-à-vis preparation of the RFD and submission of achievements against the targets during the year have not been strictly adhered to by majority of the departments, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
As per the PMD guidelines, the departments are required to finalize the RFD by middle of April and submit year end evaluation report on progress against the commitments made in the RFDs before May 1 every year but these timelines have not been strictly adhered to in Jammu and Kashmir.
“What to talk of submitting year end evaluation report of the targets achieved under RFD 2013-14, the heads of majority of the departments have yet not started exercise to evaluate performance of their departments at their own level”, sources informed, adding “even no exercise has yet been set into motion for the preparation of RFDs for the current financial year”.
Not only the guidelines of the Performance Management Division of Union Cabinet Secretariat, these departments have also shown scant regard to the directive of State Chief Secretary, who while reviewing the progress of RFD on December 12, 2013 had in explicit terms asked the heads of the departments to strictly meet the deadline of May 1, 2014 for submission of year end evaluation/ progress report, sources said.
An officer of the Planning and Development Department, on the condition of anonymity, said that none of the departments has uploaded the progress reports on the Results Framework Management System, which was required to be done before May 1.
He linked the preparation of RFD for 2014-15 financial year with the finalization of State’s annual plan, adding “as soon as the Plan is finalized majority of the departments would be able to prepare RFDs as their activities are directly or indirectly associated with Plan and Non-Plan funds”. However, sources said that Plan finalization has nothing to do with large number of departments and their activities.
In response to a question, the officer said that the Performance Management Division has been requested by the Government for providing necessary training to some officers of the Planning and Development Department in uploading of information on the Results Framework Management System in order to avoid delays in this regard.
Due to non-adherence to the timelines fixed by the Performance Management Division, the tall claims of the Government about improving quality of governance have proved hollow.
It is pertinent to mention here that Results Framework Document (RFD) is essentially a record of understanding between a Minister representing the people’s mandate and the Secretary of a Department responsible for implementing this mandate. This document contains not only the agreed objectives, policies, programs and projects but also success indicators and targets to measure progress in implementing them.
The RFD highlights the main objectives of the departments for the year, actions proposed to be taken to achieve these objections and apprise the people about the degree of progress made in implementing these actions.
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