Have 'people first' approach for good governance:DoPT to babus

Apparently taking a cue from AAP's policies, the government has asked the civil servants to be empathetic and adopt "people first" approach with special care for the marginalised and disadvantaged section.
"Passion for serving people with special care for the marginalised and disadvantaged. Being approachable, welcoming, caring and rising above bias while interacting with people. Understand the need of the people and constantly strive to improve the services," said a competency dictionary for civil services, prepared by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
The dictionary, which acts as a ready reckoner for IAS, IPS and IFS officers among others, describes ethos, ethics, equity and efficiency as pillars of good governance and citizen centric administration.

It suggests public officials to consistently behave in an open, fair and transparent manner and honour one's commitment and work to uphold the public service values.
"Take ownership for outcomes (successes or failures) while addressing performance issues fairly and promptly," said the competency dictionary, developed in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
It also asks them to take timely decisions that take into account relevant facts, tasks, goals, constraints, risk and conflicting point of views.

"Empathy is about being able to accurately hear out and understand the thoughts, feelings and concerns of others, even when these are not made explicit," it said asking the officials to have empathy while discharging their duties.

The document suggested a slew of do's and don'ts for investigators also.
"Investigate each situation beyond routine questioning. Check assumptions against facts by asking questions," it said without naming officers of Indian Police Service (IPS) and others involved in investigation related work.
The 37-page dictionary is a part of "Strengthening Human Resource Management of Civil Service" project in collaboration with UNDP.
The project focuses on developing the capacities of civil servants and on strengthening their enabling environment in view of a more effective, efficient, transparent and accountable public administration at national and state level that takes to heart the Government of India (GoI) objective of inclusion through an enhanced delivery of services to the marginalised and vulnerable.

The project is supporting the GoI in the shift towards competency-based Human Resource Management (HRM) for the Indian Civil Services.