UT of J&K has the unique distinction of highest population-to-employee ratio in the country. A factually larger state like Bihar has equal or fewer employees than Jammu and Kashmir, an alarming situation. This is also a well-known fact that with limited revenue generation avenues, not sufficient for even salaries leave alone development work. Local Administration is dependent on GoI grants for everything. Right now, excess staff are in almost every department, with no work assigned and zero productivity. This situation gets further complicated by non-existent ghost employees, a practice that goes on unabated without being noticed. The administration plugged it by linking the employees with their Aadhar cards and biometric attendance. Some departments have gone one step further and even started IRIS attendance. The ghost employees have been checked, but there are still many loopholes. Attachment to the Directorate is another way out, more so for influential employees or their relatives. LG Administration has ordered all such employees to be detached and posted wherever they are required. More than two thousand excess teachers in Jammu only, in the absence of non-inter-district transfers is a scam with no solution right now. These employees are as good as pension holders or on paid holidays. But dynamics are changing now; perform or perish is the new mantra. Many departments like JAKFED, SRTC, JKPCC, and J&K Forest Corporation to name a few had already been either winded up or running on the grant in aid pattern, earning to get salaries. With the implementation of e-Governance and e-Human Resource- Management implemented, the picture has become even clearer now. Departments with excess staff can no longer give excuses and demand additional staff. To utilise the excess staff of one department in another or we can say the better opportunity for skilled staff to perform, LG Administration has now notified a policy for effective utilization of manpower in Jammu and Kashmir through inter-departmental deputation of employees based on their technical/professional qualifications. This is the right step at the right time. Development-oriented departments like RDD, agriculture, R&B, and many others can utilise the pool of technical employees with set expertise as per project requirements. Minimum and maximum tenures have also been notified. Moreover, this type of arrangement will bring transparency and reduce the burden of additional manpower salaries on the exchequer. Another important aspect is the breaking of the nexus between departments and contractors; this interdepartmental pool will help to weed out this situation.
Rules have been laid out, the procedure to follow is well-defined, and several checks and balances have been put in place to reduce the chances of misuse. The new policy will be extremely beneficial to both department and employees, in case of employees with specific skill-sets/qualifications who can be put to better use and get job satisfaction. GoI and LG Administration are well versed with the problems of Jammu and Kashmir, knowing very well what all factors are dragging UT growth and step by step both working in sync to remove hurdles one by one. Every aspect has been minutely considered, and the set goals are being planned and implemented for the desired results. All these efforts go a long way to prune down employee size and make departments result-oriented and manageable. There are many departments whose salaries exceed manifold than their annual profits, time to merge or wind up all these white elephants. This policy of inter-departmental deputation is one of its kind with many solutions under its ambit. The initiative is there, the intent is good, targets have been set, and success will be there ultimately.
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