Rural Development Department keen to rationalise pay for its consultants

The committee was set up following a report submitted by the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) last year to the Department of Rural Development. An academician involved in the IIPA said, “We have suggested following certain SOPs (Standard Operating Procedure) while hiring consultants and that the hiring should be in compliance with the GFR (General Financial Rule).”

T K Anil Kumar did not respond to queries sent by The Indian Express. Sources said the committee under him comprises eight other members — all are officials of the department or organisations under it.

The 250-plus consultants contracted by the department work under its various schemes such as MNREGA, Mission Antyodaya, National Social Assistance Program, National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency, Rural Housing, National Rural Livelihood Mission, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana, and others. Many of these 250-plus come from external agencies including the Big Four consulting firms.

In January this year, The Indian Express had reported that at least 1,499 consultants from external agencies, including the Big Four (Ernst & Young, PwC, Deloitte and KPMG), have been taken on board by as many as 44 government departments. Cumulatively, an annual expenditure of Rs 302 crore is incurred on these consultants, data obtained by The Indian Express under the Right To Information Act had revealed.

An official from the Union Finance Ministry, which clears the budget for all departments said, “There is huge discrepancy in payments being made to consultants in various departments. At times, the highest paid consultant gets more than 10 times the lowest paid consultant. In certain departments, consultants earn more than a Secretary rank officer.” Besides, there is a section in the government which is of the view that training and up-skilling need to be encouraged within the government’s rank and file, now that a Capacity Building Commission is in place.

Besides the 1,499 consultants, as many as 76 government departments have hired on contract 1,037 Young Professionals, 539 independent consultants, 354 domain experts, 1,481 retired government officers, and 20,376 other low-paid staff. The expenditure on these is, however, not available.

Last year on October 4, in the run-up to Budget 2024-25, The Indian Express had reported that the Department of Expenditure in the Finance Ministry had written to all departments and ministries and sought information on people working on contract stating this was “required for meaningful discussion for allocation of Budget under the Professional/ Office expenses/ Salary head.”

The top six departments which have most consultants from external agencies working with them are: Health and Family Welfare (203), Rural Development (166), Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (149), Ministry of Housing and Urban Administration (147), Women and Child Development (112) and Road Transport and Highway (99). Together, they account for 876 or 58 per cent of the total 1,499.

Independent consultants and domain experts appointed by ministries and departments could be paid in the range of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 4 lakh a month.