E-governance: NKC vice-chairman says vital proposals left out

Bhargava, widely regarded as the architect of modern biology and biotechnology in India, said he would apprise Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of these missing links.

He hailed the recommendations presented to the prime minister on May 10 as ‘‘technically superb’’, but ‘‘unfortunately the crucial proposals were left out of the final draft.’’ The e-governance recommendations were included in the agenda of a special group headed by Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani.

Dr Bhargava said he had proposed that ‘‘a civil servant should not normally move out of his area of specialisation, chosen or allotted just after recruitment.’’ He also proposed to ‘‘introduce a system of appointment for heads of institutions or agencies such that the appointment is announced six to 12 months before the post is to become vacant’’.

However, neither proposals were incorporated in the NKC’s recommendations, he said. According to Dr Bhargava, ‘‘Eighty per cent of the new IAS officers at Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy (Mussourie) are technocrats. We should tap their potential and post them to areas or departments of their specialisation. E-governance cannot be successful unless we have such specialised men and women working in tandem with those manning the e-governance project in the government set-up.

‘‘Perhaps all departments that civil servants serve could be grouped in 20-25 areas of specialisation, which could be reviewed every five years,’’ he suggested.

A founder-director of the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Dr Bhargava has headed several organisations specialising in DNA fingerprinting. He is also a recipient of the Padmabhushan and the French government’s Legion d’Honneur.

So, why didn’t he send a dissent note? ‘‘They said they will include these proposals, but unfortunately they were left out… But I will take it up with the PM.’’

–shubhajit.roy@expressindia.com