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While pushing for innovative ideas from senior bureaucrats in the ministries, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that a certain budget of each department should be allocated for innovation. PM Modi has made a set of observations in a recent meeting with the senior officials of the ministries.

The PM has also observed that officers have lost field focus and asked that officers may be mandated to spend at least 5-6 days in a month in the field.

The PM has also asked to develop in-house capabilities in the ministries and government departments to do away with consultants. Recruiting consultants for different works or projects under government schemes is quite a general practice in various ministries and departments.

Analysis of set of observations made by the PM suggested that his focus is on quick delivery of projects in the country and all the hurdles coming in the way of this be removed. The set of observations have been made by the PM in a recent meeting with senior officers of various ministries.

Keeping in view the delay in implementation of some flagship projects in the country, the PM has observed, “Speed of decision making is critical-officers should constantly endeavour to reduce delays in processes.” The observation has been made in respect of all the central ministries.

Speaking about the need of innovations in government working, the PM has observed that innovations need not be big always and small changes can bring in big impact. “An award to innovation among officers…Innovation needs system flexibility. 1 % of each department may be considered to be allocated for innovation,” the PM observed.

Focusing on performance, the PMO has also noted that there is need to move from process based administration to performance based administration and each officer should be given clear task with freedom and responsibility.

The PM has also talked about team work as he observed, “Need to reach out to everyone in the team. Break the habit of working in silos. Knowledge sharing is necessary and helps better decision making.”

Speaking further on works, the PMO has observed, “Need to have a positive attitude towards work-behind every file are people. Whatever you do or not do, impacts the entire country. Need to aware of this always.”

It has also been said that successful experiments in governance should be documented and developed into a framework for replication across the country and institutions of repute may be engaged in this regard.

Apart from this, the PM has also asked for simplification of rules in government working. “Simplification of rules needs immediate attention—annual validation of all government circulars and orders is a must.”

The PMO has also asked the ministries to focus more on ‘soft copies’ as it has said that “hard copies of government orders or guidelines should be an exception.”

Speaking about coordination among seniors and juniors in the government departments, the PMO has observed, “there is need for communication between seniors and juniors. Need for a department vision and not just project plans. Need to align all employees of the organization to the vision of the organization.”

Even as the central government has confirmed that the matter regarding amendment in the Right to Information (RTI) Act is under consideration, the Department of Personnel and Training refused to provide details of the proposed amendment bill.

An RTI reply received by Anjali Bhardwaj this month from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said: “The matter regarding amendment in the RTI Act, 2005 is under consideration and has not reached finality. As per section 8(1)(i) of the RTI Act, 2005, information requested by you cannot be supplied at this stage.”

Among the questions which were asked in the RTI application include: the date on which the proposal to amend the RTI Act, 2005 was prepared by the DoPT; the date on which the DOPT forwarded the proposal to amend the RTI Act, 2005 to the cabinet and the date on which the cabinet has taken a decision regarding the proposal to amend the RTI Act, 2005.

It also asked for a copy of the proposal to amend the RTI Act, 2005, prepared by the DOPT and a copy of the decision of the cabinet regarding the proposal to amend it.

Bhardwaj said under the Pre-legislative Consultation Policy (PLCP) of 2014, the government is supposed to put out all the legislations, policies etc that it is planning in the public domain for one month for consultation.

“The government is not wanting to make the amendment public at all. Unfortunately, we are finding that any amendment or laws that they are bringing in, there is no pre-legislative consultation on these.

“Even in the case of the Whistleblower’s Protection Amendment Bill, they didn’t put anything in the public. We filed an RTI application, but they didn’t give us any information,” Bhardwaj said.

“From media reports, we got to know that an RTI amendment was being planned and there was an RTI Amendment bill. So, we filed this RTI to know the content of the bill. They have denied it to us,” she added.

Bhardwaj said there was a clause in the RTI Act Section 8(1)(i), which says that cabinet papers cannot be given under the RTI.

“But we didn’t ask for cabinet papers, we have asked for what the DOPT has prepared and the date on which the proposal to amend the RTI Act was prepared. What is so secret about the date. They have denied all the information related to the amendment,” she said.

“The government has confirmed that it is planning to amend the RTI Act but has illegally refused to share details of the amendment bill in response to an RTI application.”

Bharjwaj also said: “It has refused to even disclose the dates on which the proposal to amend the RTI Act was prepared by the DoPT and date on which it was forwarded to the cabinet by the DoPT, which cannot be covered under Section 8(1)(i).”

Expressing concern over the media reports that the amendment the government was planning to bring was regressive, Bhardwaj said: “What is worrisome is they are planning to reduce the stature of the Information Commissioners and weaken the Information Commissions in the country.

“At the moment, the salaries and allowances of the Commissioners are same as that of a SC judge. But, now the government will have the discretion to decide their salaries. That is very dangerous. It erodes the independence of the Commission.

“There is a powerful law in place. There is no need to make changes. What the government should instead do is appoint Information Commissioners. At the CIC, there are four vacancies and four more to come this year including the Chief Information Commissioner who is retiring. Why is the government trying to tinker with the law and amend the law and dilute it.

“We need to know as citizens what is the government planning. They are not telling us. Even this is hearsay. There might be more amendments also,” she added.

Despite the Ramzan truce initiative by the Centre, attacks on security forces have continued in the Valley. Sporadic protests were also seen in several areas, inviting retaliation by security forces. Here’s how violence rocked the Valley in the days leading up to Eid

• Aurangzeb, a soldier with Rashtriya Rifles was abducted from Pulwama on Wednesday. His bullet ridden body was recovered a few hours later

  * Aurangzeb’s father, an ex-Serviceman, demanded that his son’s murder be avenged in 32 hours, otherwise he would venture out himself to do the job

  * On Eid morning, a protester was killed in clashes with security forces in Anantnag. Terrorists also fired at security forces outside Srinagar, injuring four.

  * There was disquiet on the Pakistan border and LoC as well. Breaking from the usual tradition, Indian forces stationed at border did not exchange sweets with their Pakistani counterparts this year.

  * On Thursday, Shujaat Bukhari, editor of Rising Kashmir daily, was shot dead by bike borne terrorists outside his office in Lal Chowk, Srinagar.

  * Bukhari was instrumental in organising conferences for peace in Kashmir. He was also part of the ‘Track II process’ with Pakistan. Thousands attended his funeral in Baramulla. Chief ministerMehbooba Mufti and former CM Omar Abdullah were among the ones present.

* India on has rejected a UN report alleging human rights violations in Kashmir as “fallacious, tendentious and motivated.” Ministry of External Affairs said the report is “overtly prejudiced” and seeks to build a “false narrative.”

* On Friday night, PM Modi and home minister Rajnath Singh discussed the security situation in Kashmir.

* Security for the annual Amarnath Yatra, that starts later this month is also being reviewed. A bus carrying pilgrims came under attack from terrorists last year.

* The Centre is expected to monitor the situation for some more days before taking a decision on extending the ceasefire. Some sections within the security establishment are believed to be against an extension, contending that it allows militants to regroup.