Civil service reforms - cosmetic rather than substantial.

The long-awaited civil service 'reforms' announced by the government last week mostly seek to address operational issues by changing the existing rules of business or drawing up new ones where needed for removal of procedural confusions.

Implementation of these measures is likely to streamline the process involving promotions of civil servants to higher grades by categorically defining the appointing authority, and laying down clear-cut evaluation criteria. New rules have also been drawn up to cut the 'deadwood' in the bureaucracy through forced retirement of delinquent officers besides putting in place a mechanism for conducting disciplinary inquiries against the civil servants transparently within a given timeframe. The MP (management professions) Scale policy has also been revised, detailing the changes related to the employees of the management professions in the civil services.

'In my view, Dr Ishrat Hussain does not have a clue about the civil service reforms at all. He is just trying to save his job'

Furthermore, the new rotation policy bars an officer from Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) and Pakistan Police Service from getting promoted to BPS-21 if he continues to work in one province and does not serve in the Centre or other provinces. No officer will now be allowed to stay in one province for more than 10 years.

The most important 'reform' announced so far pertains to the 'rationalisation of the cadre strength' through the reduction in the strength of the PAS to make more room for officers from other services to get a chance of enhancing their strength. This will allow provincial service officers to be inducted in the PAS, improving the promotion prospects of other groups.

However, few believe these reforms will bring any substantive change in the way bureaucracy works in this country even if the changes brought about were needed to deal with the operational issues facing the civil servants as well as update certain procedures and processes. In the words of a former PAS officer, who now works as a consultant, the so-called civil service reforms are unlikely to address the deep-rooted issues of poor governance or help improve the delivery of public service.

'I do not think these will create any impact on the life of the citizens,' he remarked. Terming them 'Babu Reforms' designed by the establishment division, he said the bureaucracy had taken Dr Ishrat Hussain, the advisor to the prime minister who heads the task force on...