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  #231  
Old Friday, June 14, 2013
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Default Nawaz to rein in bureaucracy via powerful Sethi

Nawaz to rein in bureaucracy via powerful Sethi
SHAHZAD RAZA


ISLAMABAD: Soon after assuming power, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is contemplating on making strategic changes in the federal bureaucracy and abolishing the post of secretary establishment is expected to be one such step, sources told Dawn.com.

The expected move is part of the measures the prime minister is aiming to implement at reining in the powerful bureaucracy and for it he is chiefly is relying on Nargis Sethi, a trusted aide of his predecessors, they said.

Sethi as cabinet secretary would handle bureaucratic affairs in case a proposal to abolish the position of secretary establishment is brought about and sanctioned.

Sethi, who has already served as principal secretary to the prime minister in former Pakistan Peoples Party-led government, has also held the additional assignments of secretary water and power and secretary defence.

Her critics say it was during her time as secretary to the prime minister when several controversial appointments were made, including that of Tauqeer Sadiq as Chairman Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), Adnan Khawaja as Managing Director Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) and Ayaz Niazi as Chairman National Insurance Company Limited (NICL).

These appointments were annulled by the Supreme Court which had also summoned Sethi to explain her position. It was argued that she did not write a single note of dissent on files when the prime minister at the time was making these controversial appointments.

Sethi, who was one of the members of the board that appointed Sadiq to the slot of Ogra chief, was also questioned by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in that regard. Later, the authorities cleared her name from all alleged wrongdoing.

A career District Management Group (DMG) officer, she is considered among the most influential bureaucrats in the country. Her husband, Saleem Sethi, is also a career bureaucrat.

Several objections were raised over her promotion from Grade 21 to Grade 22. The apex court annulled the promotion, but the then prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani relaxed the rules in order to make her elevation possible.

Sethi was not available to comment on her would-be role in the new government.

DAWN.
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  #232  
Old Tuesday, June 18, 2013
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Default Justice for civil servants

Justice for civil servants

Akbar Nasir Khan

Supreme Court of Pakistan deserves full credit, once again, for putting its foot down to end the arbitrary and politically motivated appointments, absorptions of under-serving claimants in the most crucial spheres of life of citizens; i.e. dispensation of justice. The land mark decision by the SCP on Petition no. 89 of 2011 has once for all, declared that ‘The Civil Servants under the mandate of the Constitution have been guaranteed the fundamental rights of being citizens. Article 4(1) provides that all citizens are entitled to enjoy equal protection of law and have inalienable right to be treated in accordance with the law.
These rights have been trampled upon by government of Sindh in last few years and also such violations took place in KP to permanently absorb government employees in the police and other departments. The modus operandi was simple. As step one, those with political connections but no relevance to law enforcement, were appointed on deputation to police departments. Step two was absorbing them in the police department. And step three, some were granted ante dated seniority or completely undeserved promotions in their new departments.
This politically-driven injustice led to change the status of the non-cadre officers to be appointed against the cadre posts, seniors were forced to accept junior position while non-professionals kept rising and roaming in the power corridors with no respect for rule of law and fair play. This marred the morale of the police force, particularly in Sindh and to some extent in KP. Since 2008 and even before this had become a norm for the interested aspirants to find someone who can render this service and get the ranks of SP or even a superior position in police department.
As almost all of the beneficiaries of these unlawful promotions were connected to political bosses in Sindh. Therefore, when the SCP took notice of such violations of rules and regulations, it was not difficult for them to move the lawmakers in the assemblies to enact laws suitable to them. First the Ordinance and then the Act of 2011, contrary to orders of the SCP, gave blanket cover to these promotions and inductions by awarding unrestraint powers to the Chief Minister to authorize such absorptions. These 179 beneficiaries at the cost of 153,745 and the rule of law were trying to hide behind the nascent democratic institution for their personal, mundane gains besides testing the nerves of the affected officers. Only hope for such police officials remained none other than judiciary. Thanks to work of media and growing trust of the people on the judiciary, many affected officers resorted to service tribunals, high court and the SCP.
Fundamentally, two issues came under discussion. First, is it the power of the court to challenge or review the authority of the provincial assembly? Secondly, are civil servants’ service related matter fall under the domain of fundamental rights in the absence of the constitutional cover provided to such services? It is important to mention that in 1973 civil servants were deprived of their constitutional guarantees to work without fear and favor of the incumbent governments. The aforesaid judgment of the SCP has resolved both the issues once for all. The three member bench of SCP comprising of Mr. Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani Mr. Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa and Mr. Justice Amir Hani Muslim declared that ‘The impugned Ordinance and Act of 2011 validating absorption by the Sindh Government are ultra vires of Articles 240 and 242 of the Constitution…The validating instruments allowed absorption of a non Civil Servant conferring on him status of a Civil Servant and likewise absorption of a Civil Servant from non cadre post to cadre post without undertaking the competitive process under the recruitment rules. We may further observe that the Provincial Assembly can promulgate law relating to service matters pursuant to the parameters defined under Articles 240 and 242 of the Constitution read with Act of 1973 but, in no way, the Provincial Assembly can introduce any validation Act in the nature of multiple or parallel legislation on the subject of service law’.
A very brief additional note by the Honorable Justice Asif Saeed Khosa used his classical brevity to establish the writ of law and answered the argument of the unlawful beneficiaries in these words: “It is true that the judicial precedent available thus far declares that mala fide cannot be attributed to the legislature but if a legislature deliberately and repeatedly embarks upon a venture to nullify considered judicial verdicts in an unlawful manner, trample the constitutional mandate and violate the law in the manner it was done in the present case then it is difficult to attribute bona fide to it either”.
On the issue of rights of the civil servants, Para 118 and 119 of the judgment are very clear. ‘Article 9 of the Constitution provides protection to every citizen of life and liberty. The term “life and liberty”, used in this Article is very significant as it covers all facets of human existence…The inhibition against its deprivation extends to all those limbs and faculties by which life is enjoyed. The term “life” includes ‘reputation’ ‘status’ and all other ancillary privileges which the law confers on the citizen. A civil servant is fully protected under Article 9 and cannot be deprived of his right of reputation and status. Under the impugned instruments a person, who without competing through the recruitment process is conferred status of a civil servant. The impugned legislation has amended service laws in a manner to deprive the civil servants from their rights to status and reputation under Article 9 of the Constitution.
The discretion of the Chief Minister to absorb any employee from any part of Pakistan to any cadre with backdated seniority directly affects the fundamental rights of all the civil servants in Sindh being violative of the Article 4 which provides equal protection of law to every citizen to be treated in accordance with law, which is an inalienable right of a citizen’.
The court declared that absorption of the officers was based upon political favoritism and against the constitutional scheme of law. The violation of article 25 of equal treatment before law was also noticed by the superior judiciary as it directed the Establishment division and the provincial government to take all necessary steps to make amends for.
This judgment has set the tone for a new era of rule of law for the civil servants. The constitutional cover is partly restored. If implemented in letter and spirit, it will help in resorting the reputation and status of the civil servants in a way which will contribute to the improvement in the policy development as well as service delivery. It is unto the police officers and the civil servants to respond positively to a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. They should rise to the occasion to help the judiciary by upholding the rule of law, in their day to day affairs, as the apex court has done for them. This will be best contribution by them for making Pakistan a stable democratic state.
The writer is a freelancer

The Spokesman Pakistan.
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  #233  
Old Wednesday, June 19, 2013
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Default Screening for CSS exams

Screening for CSS exams


THIS is with reference to the announcement made by the Federal Public Service Commission, introducing screening test as a prerequisite before appearing in CSS examinations 2014.

The test, according to the FPSC website, will be based on multiple choice questions carrying 200 marks and will comprise English vocabulary and grammar, general abilities, general knowledge and Islamiat. The time allowed for this test is three hours.

In my opinion, it is a positive step taken by the FPSC, keeping in view the growing number of aspirants applying for the CSS examinations. One can say so because this test would help filter out only potential candidates eligible for appearing in the examinations.

This will also reduce the pains of the examiner as he would get comparatively a small number of answer copies for checking and spend as much time as is required to examine a single answer book. Thus ensuring full merit in letter and in spirit.

ABDUL WAHEED MIRBAHAR
Sukkur

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  #234  
Old Saturday, June 22, 2013
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Invigorating the civil service

Jamil Nasir


The buzz word these days is governance. Some political analysts have argued that governance (or for that matter bad governance) was the main determinant of the 2013 election results. Where does good governance come from? Transparency, accountability, rule of law and informed state policies embodying the basic principles of efficiency and equity are important ingredients of good governance. But governance is also about the execution of policies ie bureaucratic machinery and efficiency of processes through which such policies are translated by the bureaucracy into action.

This means that good governance depends on the capacity of the bureaucracy to deliver. “There is no question that greater transparency and accountability, as well as strict application of law, are critical to improving the performance of governments. However, without basic capacity, no amount of transparency and accountability will produce good services”, wrote Francis Fukuyama in his article ‘What is governance’?

How can we measure the quality of the bureaucracy of a country? An objective measurement is difficult. However, empirical literature on this issue takes the capacity to collect taxes as an indicator of the quality of the bureaucracy mainly due to two reasons: first, it needs capacity and competence to collect taxes and second, successful tax collection provides resources to the state to deliver public goods. Judged against this yardstick (an empirical measure), the capacity of our civil service leaves much to be desired.

There are many reasons for the low performance of the bureaucracy. The first is the perverse incentive system for public sector employees. Civil servants serving in the same grade, with similar qualifications, entering the civil service through the same examination but belonging to different service groups avail vastly different perks and privileges. Those belonging to some service groups are promoted to higher grades much faster than those belonging to others.

Civil servants of a few groups get spacious official residences as of right. Those belonging to other groups hardly get enough house rent to hire a reasonable accommodation what to speak of an official house. These differences in terms of promotion and privileges create frustration in those belonging to the deprived service groups. This lowers their morale, impairs their performance and adversely affects their public behaviour.

These are all subconscious manifestations of inter-group discriminatory treatment of civil servants. However, this inter-group discrimination does not complete the story. There is a lot of intra-group discrimination too. Political and social connections instead of merit and competence are generally the determinants of appointments and placements. And this is why civil servants seek to equip themselves with influence instead of concentrating on competence and quality of public service delivery. This orientation in the civil service strikes at the root of bureaucratic performance.

Lack of an efficacious and transparent performance evaluation system further aggravates the above causes underlying the low performance of civil servants. There is a system of one-time assessment to enter the civil service. Subsequent performance evaluations are subjective, relation-based and nothing more than a notional assessment. It is not rare for a civil servant who enjoys a bad reputation but manages to rise fast in the career ladder and get the best performance evaluations. At the same time a civil servant who is competent, enjoys a good reputation but fails to toe his masters’ lines happens to get bad performance evaluations, which spoil his career.

The current evaluation system does not monitor the fact that a civil servant’s knowledge and skills have appropriately developed to match his changing work demands. Civil servants who develop their knowledge and skills and those who don’t are treated in the same manner in the current system. This makes acquisition of new knowledge, skills, and abilities for effective public service delivery totally irrelevant. It also makes the civil servant indifferent and insensitive to these capacity building attributes.

Since power and influence have worked for the civil servant and knowledge and skills for effective service delivery have failed to deliver, the training institutions that are there to impart knowledge and skills to the civil servants have themselves become totally irrelevant. This irrelevance is manifested in the mechanism used to select civil servants for foreign trainings. These selections are usually based on connections and favouritism. That is why foreign trainings are mostly taken by the civil servants as pleasure trips rather than opportunities to develop themselves professionally.

Given these imperfections in the incentives and performance evaluation systems, a mismatch between discretion and compensation of civil servants further complicates the picture. In times of rising inflation, the real wages of civil servants have lagged behind their cost of living. This constraint, coupled with the opportunity to get away scot-free in the absence of an effective accountability mechanism, levels the ground for misuse of discretion. When discretion is misused, similar treatment is not given in similar situations. This is a big source of discontent among the public and adversely affects public service delivery.

The distortions in the incentive system for the civil servants in terms of spacious residences for some and not so for others must be addressed to place civil servants of similar grades and similar qualifications on an equal footing irrespective of the service groups they belong to. One solution is to auction all the present government officers’ residences (GORs) and invest the funds in welfare schemes including enhancement of house rent allowances of all civil servants alike as proposed by the Planning Commission in the last few years.

Another solution is to use the funds generated through the public auction of existing GORs to build new low-cost government housing to provide similar accommodations to all groups of civil servants in the same grade. Another distortion in the incentive system for civil servants in terms of differential provision of official conveyance has already been addressed but is being massively misused. There is a need to immediately plug the loopholes of the scheme and deter civil servants who get one monetised car from using several others from the operational pool of their respective organisations.

Distortions in terms of promotion differentials among different groups of civil servants are too wide to go unnoticed by those service groups in which rapid promotions are not the norm. A civil service characterised by low real wages, non-merit promotions, and huge differentials between similar cadres in terms of perks, privileges, and promotion prospects should not be expected to be efficient at public service delivery. Not only is there a need to narrow such gaps between different service groups, their performance is also needed to be monitored on regular basis.

Productivity and performance are not static in nature. The current one-step assessment process to qualify for entry into the civil service needs to be replaced with a multiple-step assessment system. Officials of every service group need to be subjected to an examination to qualify for each higher grade. Moreover, a new service group can be introduced at the mid-career level for which all civil servants, irrespective of their service groups and with a certain amount of experience and qualifications, can compete. This group can be tasked with assignments related to economic governance and public policy formulation.


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  #235  
Old Thursday, June 27, 2013
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Reforming the civil service
By Fahad Rafique Dogar

The new federal government recently presented its first budget. In response, it got its first serious flak from the opposition, media, as well as the general public. If the budget reaction is any indicator, this government is in for a tough time. It doesn’t have much time to start delivering on its promises, none of which can be fulfilled without fixing the backbone of our government — the civil service (also known as the bureaucracy).
We all know how powerful Pakistan’s bureaucracy is. This has its roots in our history, specifically our pre-independence days, when the British ruled the country through a powerful bureaucracy. Today, the biggest problem is the politicisation of our bureaucracy. This gloomy picture desperately calls for wide ranging reforms in our civil service. While almost every aspect of it needs improvement, three areas that need the most attention are: a) induction, b) postings and transfers, and c) powers and responsibilities.
Attracting the best talent is critical for the success of civil service. In the context of bureaucracy, the definition of talent should not just be limited to intelligence or knowledge, but must also include leadership qualities, analytical skills, as well as the desire to serve the public. To attract such talent, we need to first make government jobs more financially attractive. Salaries of government officers should be made comparable with that of the private sector. To make this practically feasible, we need to monetise perks, which will not only help in raising salaries but will also result in equitable treatment of all officers.
To attract the best talent, we also need to revamp the induction test — the CSS exam, which should focus more on testing one’s problem-solving skills and leadership qualities as opposed to rote learning or testing detailed knowledge of many subjects as it does now. Moreover, in its current format, the CSS exam is highly biased towards those from the English medium background. Most subjects require writing essays in English — for many, this becomes a test of their language skills rather than a test of knowledge or analytical skills. We should try to devise a mechanism to facilitate those candidates whose English may be weak, but are highly talented otherwise.
The second major issue relates to postings, transfers and promotions of civil servants. The first step in this regard should be to remove the discretionary powers of individuals, including the prime minister, in these service matters. Instead, committees comprising men and women of integrity, should handle all appointments, transfers and promotions. Finally, all these service-related decisions should be challengeable at an appropriate judicial forum (e.g., service tribunals).
Perhaps, the most controversial reform relates to revisiting the powers and responsibilities of the bureaucracy. While an all-powerful bureaucracy makes a lot of sense for a colony ruled by an invader, it makes little sense for a democratic country. In a democracy, elected representatives make the policy decisions in line with the wishes of the people. They have the responsibility and hence should have the powers, too. As a nation that wants to strengthen democracy, Pakistan needs to adopt the same model. Bureaucracy should help them in making decisions and executing these decisions with diligence and honesty.
The above suggestions only focus on critical issues. Many other useful recommendations are found in various reports on civil service reforms, most recently by a committee led by Dr Ishrat Hussain. The missing link so far has been the will to implement these recommendations. The bureaucracy will prefer the status quo and will never implement these changes. It is high time the political leadership takes the bull by the horns and takes charge of reforming the bureaucracy. After all, the buck stops with them.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27th, 2013.
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  #236  
Old Wednesday, July 10, 2013
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Sexual harassment of women in the Civil Services
By Dr Qaisar Rashid

The message is this: if a male officer has political connections, he cannot be harmed notwithstanding the authenticity and seriousness of the allegations of sexual harassment.

In the media, much has been debated about the harassment of women cricketers by male officials of the Multan Cricket Club. However, little has been said about the incidents of sexual harassment of women civil servants by male civil servants in the Civil Services of Pakistan. A concise definition of sexual harassment is to harm a woman verbally, physically or psychologically by adopting any means, whether or not to meet certain objectives.

When the topic is sexual harassment of women at the workplace, the character of Mohammad Akhtar Buland Rana, Auditor General of Pakistan, cannot be overlooked. Reportedly, as Chief Controller Military Accounts (CCMA), he was accused of sexually harassing a female subordinate who was serving as the Controller Military Accounts (CMA), Karachi. An enquiry into the allegations was held in 2008. The enquiry found him guilty of the crime and recommended a penalty for him in the light of the Efficiency and Discipline rules concerned. However, the previous PPP-led government wanted him to be the Auditor General of Pakistan (which was a constitutional post, i.e. once appointed would serve for four years) and serve certain audit-related purposes of that government. Certainly, a person who practises debauchery becomes easy prey for those who want him to serve their purpose in return for masking his crime. However, his promotion was not possible in the presence of the recommendations of the enquiry report. Consequently, a second enquiry was held and it acquitted Rana of the accusations, neither because the accusations were sham nor because there was dearth of proof but on some technical grounds. Rana was promoted to Grade-22 and became Auditor General of Pakistan in 2011.

The act of harassment was one thing and a technicality of the complaint was a different thing. If a senior male officer harasses a subordinate female officer, how is this not a crime and how can a clean chit be given to the culprit to go scot-free? Why should the complainant be technically correct when the proofs are in abundance? The point is simple: when depraved officers become the head of departments (such as the supreme audit institution of Pakistan), what kind of a trend will be established in the department is anybody’s guess.

The second prominent name is of Pakistan’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Sanaullah. The allegation of sexual harassment was levelled at him by a female officer of Pakistan Customs who was working as a Commercial Attaché in the embassy. The complaint was filed in August 2010. This complaint was a test case for the Protection Against [the] Harassment of Women at Workplace Act introduced in March 2010. Unfortunately, the foreign office did not take notice of the complaint duly filed until June 2012. The reason for taking notice was not to provide justice to the lady officer but to vindicate the ambassador concerned because his promotion to the next grade was due. The matter was hushed up. The ambassador is so powerful and well connected that he is out on a foreign mission for the past eight years against the six-year rule.

The third prominent name is ex-chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA), Farhand Iqbal. He was a technocrat. When he served as the Director General (Project) with the National Police Bureau (from June 2009 to May 2011), he was accused of sexually harassing a female officer of the rank of Assistant Director. That matter was also suppressed.

After these incidents, the general demeanour of these departments is of pro-sexual harassment of female subordinates. Senior male officers think that they can sexually harass a female subordinate officer and go unscathed. The exoneration of these officers in these cases has set a bad precedent not only in the departments concerned but also permeated negative messages into other departments where women are working, both below and above Grade-17. The office of the Federal Ombudsman for protection against harassment of women at the workplace (established in January 2011 and of which Ms Musarrat Hilali is the first Federal Ombudsman) is now encumbered with complaints of sexual harassment. The way this institution is coming under pressure means that in government departments, sexual harassment in various forms exists but is covered up.

One of the major faults in handling such complaints at the government level is that when allegations are levelled by a junior lady officer at her senior officer of whatever seniority, the senior male officer is not constrained from working. He keeps on doing his work and uses his clout to mitigate the situation by various means. The message is this: if a male officer has political connections, he cannot be harmed notwithstanding the authenticity and seriousness of the allegations of sexual harassment. No doubt, our society is male chauvinistic but in the civil services the trend of sexual harassment must be discouraged. On the one hand, the government has adopted the policy of induction of 10 percent lady officers in the civil services every year over and above routine allocations, while on the other, the government is failing to chastise the culprits involved in sexual harassment of lady officers, especially young officers. The incidents of sexual harassment are seen mostly in the cases when the lady officers are unmarried, widowed or divorced.

Apparently, the government is radiating the message that the civil services are not culturally ready to take female officers in, even if they have proved their worth by qualifying the civil services examination. The question is simple: if these officers cannot protect themselves, how can they guard other women from the public approaching them to redress their grievances?

The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at qaisarrashid@yahoo.com
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...0-7-2013_pg3_3
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  #237  
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Default CSS: some issues

CSS: some issues


CSS is the competitive examination administered for induction into different posts of civil service of Pakistan.

It was always considered a forum based on merit and fair play. But not anymore.

The Faisalabad incident, which recently came to light, seriously questions its credibility and integrity. Candidates from Faisalabad were caught changing their answer-sheets in connivance with postal officials.

It is frustrating for young candidates who believed in their competence and had worked hard. No one knows for how long this malpractice had been going on. Nor is anyone aware of the magnitude of damage done to the system. The main accused is still at large.

Had there been no delay in receiving the bundles of answer-sheets in FPSC HQ, this incident would not have come to light.

It was revealing to know that the answer-sheets are transported through post offices.

On top of it, the FPSC has scattered the CSS centres all over the country bringing it to the level of district, which otherwise may not be easy to manage in a proper way.

People also report that there is now frequent mobile usage going on in examination halls.

The credibility of CSS as a competitive examination has already been eroded by the introduction of different quotas.

Initially, there was a provincial quota which was probably justified in order to give representation to backward areas.

Instead of doing away with this quota in due course, additional quotas over a period have been introduced.

Now there is a quota for armed forces, women and minority. This negates the spirit of competitiveness. It is now an examination of quotas.

Would someone look into the issues mentioned above to save a system (which otherwise was seen as fool-proof and without any serious flaws)?

IMTIAZ AWAN Islamabad

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  #238  
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Default Civil services 2013 results valid except for Faisalabad region

Civil services 2013 results valid except for Faisalabad region

IKRAM JUNAIDI


ISLAMABAD, July 16: Although rumours held that the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) would cancel the results of the Central Superior Services (CSS) exams held in February, 2013, the commission has decided otherwise.

The rumours were based on the scandal which surfaced in May 2013, when the commission learnt that some CSS candidates in Faisalabad had managed to steal their answer sheets with the help of the post office officials and had then returned the papers after solving them.

This jolted the FPSC and created doubts about the fairness of the exams, and it was decided to handover the case to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Furthermore, the commission decided to cancel the results of the Faisalabad region and was considering a fresh written test for all candidates after devising a fool-proof system, stating that involvement of educated youth in fraud and forgery was unacceptable.

An official of FPSC, requesting not to be identified, said roughly 16,000 students had applied for CSS 2013 but around 11,500 appeared for the exam.

“After the Faisalabad incident, there were suggestions in favour of the cancellation of the result. However, it has been decided that the exams would be held again only in the Faisalabad region, due to which less than 1,000 students would be affected as there were only four centres in the region,” he said.Director FPSC (CSS Section) Ramiz Ahmed, while talking to Dawn, said it would become difficult to hold exams all over the country again. Thereofre, it had been decided that the exams would be held only in Faisalabad and results of the other areas would be announced by September.

“We are devising a fool-proof security system for the next exam so that incidents such as the Faisalabad one are not repeated,” he said.

The rumours regarding the cancellation of exams had caused panic in some students, while students who were not satisfied with their performance in the exams, were hoping the rumours were true.

The cancellation would have covered these students’ performance without affecting their chance, as a candidate can only participate in CSS exams three times, Dawn has learnt.

A female student, Humera, who participated in the CSS examination, told Dawn that she had studied for 12 hours a day but after attempting the exam, she had come to know that the result might be cancelled.

“FPSC should devise a proper security system otherwise the efforts of the students would be ruined. Had the results been cancelled, it would have become difficult to start preparations again,” she said.

Another student, Asad, said cancellation of results would have disappointed him as he had been hoping to get selected for an important group such as DMG (district management group).

“Nevertheless, if the exams had been cancelled, I would have started preparations for the next exams which will be held in 2014,” he said.

A student Arsalan said he would not mind if FPSC cancelled the result as he was not very hopeful of his results.

“At least I will not face the embarrassment in front of my family and friends. Besides, I will not lose an attempt,” he said.

DAWN
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Default CSS quota for south Punjab

CSS quota for south Punjab


THE south Punjab is considered to be backward, ill-educated and middle class-populated area where about 70 per cent people are rural inhabitants.

All the people of the area, expect the elected government members, want special attention to the region for its economic development.

They want to spend better lives as most of the people of the southern Punjab are living below the poverty line.

The poor people of this region have been ignored. They have a right to compete in Central Superior Services examinations.

However, they have to compete with the Punjab aspirants. As a matter of fact, the education being offered to the people in central Punjab is far better than that of southern Punjab.

A major difference between southern and central Punjab is that one can see the difference in marks obtained by candidates in CSS and other examinations.

I request the political leaders from southern Punjab to sit in National and Provincial Assemblies to raise this question for the children of their voters.

They should demand a CSS quota for them, like the Sindh province, which is divided into Sindh rural and Sindh urban and both the regions have separate quota in the CSS.

Otherwise, the poorly educated people who become graduates after a long struggle would fell prey to inferiority complex.

SARFRAZ NASEER
Burewala

DAWN
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Default Civil service a constraint to growth

Civil service a constraint to growth
KHALEEQ KIANI


When the planning commission’s former Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeem-ul-Haque presented an ambitious housing monetisation plan for civil servants last year, with a potential of Rs14 trillion income in 10 years with an initial investment of Rs140 billion, even his team leader and then-Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh did not take the political risk.

The plan was designed for better utilising Islamabad’s 548 acre land currently in use of civil servants.

Former central bank governor Dr Ishrat Hussain and Dr Haque have been critical of the declining state of affairs at the federal bureaucracy. They have been articulating better remuneration for civil servants, along with tighter accountability, as part of larger civil service reforms to attain better governance for an improved delivery system.

In its latest report, the World Bank has identified poor civil service, resultant bad governance, and excessive business regulations as ‘binding constraints’ for growth in Pakistan.

“Weak civil service performance is a major binding constraint to economic growth. By international standards, the public sector in Pakistan is small: 3.3 per million people, less than two per cent of the population, against 2.3 per cent average for low income countries,” the World Bank noted.

According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2011-12, Pakistan ranked near the bottom of the quality of public institutions — at 107 of 147 countries.

The Bank added that labour productivity in Pakistan’s public sector, at about $9,509 in 2005, was roughly estimated at less than half of the worldwide average of $20,251, and there was no reason to believe that this ratio has improved; instead, it could have declined.

But public sector remuneration is not correspondingly low. While the wage bill is about four per cent of GDP — average by international standards, and similar to that in Bangladesh, China and India — numerous perks and extra cash payments greatly increase the base pay, which reduces productivity and increases the bureaucracy to manage them, thus encouraging rent-seeking and corruption. The average ratio of total salary to cash payments has more than doubled since 2001, from 1.8 to 3.7.

The WB report said that most government and market failures were related to corruption, poor government management, and other civil service related issues. It said that at the provincial level, the civil service’s excessive size and rapid growth was the most pressing issue, as provinces hired more than 56 per cent of public employees, and their numbers are growing.

Most additional resources shifted to provinces have been diverted to public salaries rather than for investment in basic infrastructure or social needs. More than 95 per cent of public employment is in the low skilled, lower grades of less than BPS-16.

Meanwhile, official estimates put the total sanctioned strength of grade 17-22 officers at about 28,000. Of this, the working strength currently stands at about 21,300 officers — about 16,000 of whom are currently posted in the federal capital. Interestingly, only 14 per cent of Islamabad-based officers occupy government accommodation in or around the three-kilometre radius of the federal secretariat.

This has created a wide disparity, and creates room for political patronage and manipulation. To end this, Dr Haque’s plan proposed that an estimated 550 acres of land be vacated, and estimated and allocated for a ‘High Density Zone,’ with high-rise (mostly 20-stories), mixed-use buildings for economic activities and general housing, on the pattern of the Madinatul-Jumairah or the Burj Dubai.

The overarching objective of the housing monetisation, according to Dr Haque, was to remove discrimination not only in the housing provision, but also in effective government decision-making, and earning income in the process by vacating high value state land for multi-purpose high-rise buildings.

Dr Nadeem-ul-Haque also argues that the planning commission’s Framework for Economic Growth (FEG) has established that the footprint of the government in the economy is very large. He says that while people generally note that government expenditure as a percentage of GDP is only 22 per cent, and therefore the size of the government in the economy is not large, this line of argument is used by the bureaucracy for increased taxation.

He says that the percentage of government expenditure in GDP is not the correct measure of the influence of the government in the economy, where it still controls a large number of public sector enterprises — in fact, the largest companies listed on the stock exchange are largely owned and managed by the government.

The government is still engaged in many market transactions, often as a dominant player, in the case of energy, construction and commodities etc. An aggressive tax subsidy policy as well as tax expenditures (SROs) direct market activities, at the cost of excessive barriers to entry. And the regulatory framework often inhibits investment and market opportunities, with the most egregious example being the serious hurdles in the development of the construction industry and city development.

With this in mind, Dr Haque says that the planning commission calculated the footprint of the government on the basis of its contribution in all sectors of the economy, which is measured by government spending, earning of government institutions, price support and subsidies, and based on market share in these sectors.

In this calculation, the share of the government was estimated at 44.17 per cent in the total GDP. This is what the government directly controls in the economy.

In addition to directly influencing the economy, governments also use regulations to control the direction of the economy. These can be in the form of wage control, tariff and non tariff barriers, as well as regulations for starting new businesses, and legal framework as an obstacle to competitiveness etc.

According to Dr Haque, calculating the regulatory burden is a complex exercise, but it could be assumed on the basis of Worldwide Governance Indicators (Regulatory Quality Index) that Pakistan’s regulatory burden is at least three times as much as the US.

Considering Pakistan’s regulatory burden to be only twice that of the US, the cost of this regulation to the economy would be about eight per cent of GDP, compared with the current 16 per cent.

In other words, trade barriers, obstacles to investment etc. are costing the Pakistani economy 16 per cent of GDP, and hence the Framework for Economic Growth concluded that city development, the services sector, and the construction industry are held up by binding regulations, and hence it could be stated that the size of the government footprint on the economy is over 60 per cent of GDP.

Dawn.
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