New Delhi: The Seventh Pay
commission is planning to recommend computer literacy test mandatory for all
central government employees to become eligible for annual increments and
promotions.
Pitching for Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s ambitious Digital India Programme, the pay commission is likely to move
towards digital governance, which would not only ensure transparency but also
bring accountability.“We are giving importance to Digital
India and want to move towards mobile governance, by which good governance will
come naturally and there will be transparency and accountability,” once PM Modi
said.
A pay panel official said that
technology is needed to empower government employees. “India will not make
progress till all government employees have computers knowledge. Computers
knowledge will help the all employees in file circulation electronically
leading to swift process and speedy decisions.”He added that the pay panel likely
to make passing computer test mandatory for all central government employees
below the age of 50 for annual increment.
The official advocated, like the
software in a computer needs to be updated, a government employee needs to
constantly upskill himself to stay relevant. The skills that proved useful a
few years ago may have become outdated now. The employees who are not able to
adapt in a changing world are vulnerable. They may have sufficient skills to
handle the present, but may not be able to handle the future needs of their
office.Accordingly, the pay panel is
planning to advise the government to instruct all its employees to attend the
compulsorily update computer training programme for getting promotions.
The Seventh Pay Commission, headed
by Justice A K Mathur, was appointed by the previous UPA government in February
2014 and its recommendations are scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2016.Meena Agarwal is the secretary of
the Commission. Other members are Vivek Rae, a retired IAS officer of 1978
batch and Rathin Roy, an economist.The Seventh Pay Commission was
appointed for 18 months, its terms was extended in August 2015 by four months till
December 31, 2015.The government constitutes the Pay
Commission almost every 10 years to revise the pay scale of its employees and
often these are adopted by states after some modifications.As part of the exercise, the
Commission holds discussions with various stakeholders, including
organisations, federations, groups representing civil employees as well as
Defence services.The Sixth Pay Commission was
implemented with effect from January 1, 2006, the fifth from January 1, 1996
and the fourth from January 1, 1986.
