To woo employees, govt to review incentives on qualifications

The Centre is planning to review the incentives given to its employees on acquiring higher qualifications while they are in service.
All central government employees are entitled for a lump-sum incentive on acquiring fresh qualifications.
The quantum of incentive varies from Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000 on the basis of qualification. However, it is uniform for all posts irrespective of employees classification, grade or the department.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) has been considering to include additional qualifications or delete some of them from a 16-year-old list.
It has been seeking suggestions from ministries whether to include or exclude some of the qualifications repeatedly since 1999. However, only few ministries or departments have sent in their suggestions on the subject.

The meeting of the centralised committee for considering the inclusion of new qualifications for grant of lump sum incentives is going to be held shortly. All the ministries or departments are once again requested to furnish their suggestions, a DoPT order said.

As per existing guidelines issued in 1999, the incentive will not be available for the qualifications which are laid down as essential or desirable qualifications in the recruitment rules for the post.
"The incentive will not be admissible where the government servant is sponsored by the government or he avails of study leave for acquiring the qualification. The incentive would be given only for higher qualification acquired after induction into service and will not apply for the incentives now being given in the existing schemes for possession of higher qualification at an entry stage.

"No incentive would be admissible if an appointment is made in relaxation of the educational qualification. No incentive would be admissible if employee acquires the requisite qualification for such appointment at a later date," as per the guidelines.
The acquisition of the qualification should be directly related to the functions of the post held by him or her or to the functions to be performed in the next higher post. There should be direct nexus between the functions of the post and the qualification acquired and that it should contribute to the efficiency of the government servant, it reads.
There are 12 qualifications listed for giving lump-sum incentives. An incentive of Rs 8,000 is for the degree in engineering and Rs 10,000 for PhD. An incentive of Rs 2,000 is given on passing intermediate examination of Institute of Company secretaries of India.