Reforms and capacity building: from the ARCs to Mission Karmayogi

Detail

1. Why reform commissions matter

• Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC): a body the government sets up to study how the administration works and to suggest changes. Its reports are advisory only. The government decides which ideas to accept.
• Constitutional base for the services:
• Art. 309: Parliament makes laws on recruitment and service conditions for Union posts. State legislatures do the same for state posts. Until such laws exist, the President or Governor can make rules.
• Art. 310: civil servants hold office "during the pleasure" of the President or Governor (doctrine of pleasure: the government can, in principle, end their service).
• Art. 311: gives protection against that power. No civil servant can be dismissed or removed by an authority below the one that appointed them. They also get an inquiry and a reasonable chance to be heard, except in the cases listed in the second proviso to Art. 311(2).

• Art. 312: Parliament can create new All India Services (services shared by the Centre and the states) after the Rajya Sabha passes a resolution backed by two-thirds of members present and voting.

• Most reform ideas below aim to change how this set-up works in practice.

2. First ARC (1966-70)

• Chairs: Morarji Desai, then K. Hanumanthaiya (after Desai became Deputy PM in 1967).
• Output: 20 reports.
• Key reports:
• Interim report on "Problems of Redressal of Citizens' Grievances" (1966): proposed a Lokpal (anti-corruption ombudsman for the Centre) and Lokayuktas (the same for states). The Lokpal finally came through the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013.
• Personnel Administration:
  • It led to a separate Department of Personnel (1970).
  • That department was the forerunner of today's Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
• Centre-State Relations.

• Machinery of the Government of India (how ministries are organised).

• Legacy: it created the institutions for personnel management. Its push for specialisation was carried out much less.

3. Second ARC (2005-09)

• Set up: 31 August 2005 as a Commission of Inquiry (a body with legal powers to investigate, set up under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952). Its task was to make a detailed plan to overhaul public administration at all levels [3].
• Chairs: M. Veerappa Moily, then V. Ramachandran.
• Term ended: 30 April 2009. It gave 15 reports [3].

Report no.	Title	Year	Why it matters for civil services
1st	Right to Information: Master Key to Good Governance	2006	Transparency; changes to the Official Secrets Act
4th	Ethics in Governance	2007	Codes of ethics and conduct; Lokpal; fighting corruption
10th	Refurbishing of Personnel Administration	2008	Main civil-service reform report
11th	Promoting e-Governance	2008	Process re-engineering before computerising
12th	Citizen Centric Administration	2009	Citizen's charters; grievance redressal
13th	Organisational Structure of Government of India	2009	Fewer ministries; split policy work from delivery
15th	State and District Administration	2009	Stronger district administration

• Main recommendations:
• Civil Services Law under Art. 309: one Act to set out the values of the services, how officers are managed and how they are held accountable.
• Central Civil Services Authority: a statutory body (one created by an Act) to oversee appointments and postings.
• Mid-career reviews:
  • Officers would be checked at about 14 and 20 years of service.
  • Officers found unfit would be retired.
• Domain competency: officers would build skill in chosen sectors instead of moving between generalist jobs.
• Performance agreements: signed targets for ministries and senior officers.
• Lateral entry: outside experts appointed to senior posts.
• Repeal of Arts. 309-311 protection model:
  • Arts. 310-311 would be removed.
  • The protection would be replaced by statutory safeguards in the new Civil Services Law.

• Stronger district administration: the 15th report.

• Implementation status:

• The government decided on 13 of the 15 reports. These had 1,251 recommendations, and 1,005 were accepted [3].
• DARPG (Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances) watches over how they are carried out through a Committee of Secretaries [3].
• Partly done:
  • lateral entry (Joint Secretary level, from 2018-19);
  • e-governance;
  • citizen's charters.
• Not done: the Civil Services Law, the Central Civil Services Authority and the repeal of Arts. 310-311.

4. Mission Karmayogi (2020)

• Full name: National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB). Capacity building means improving the skills, knowledge and attitudes officials need for their work.
• Approved: by the Union Cabinet on 2 September 2020 [2].
• Coverage and money:
• About 46 lakh central employees [2].

• ₹510.86 crore over 5 years, 2020-21 to 2024-25 [2].

• Core idea: "rule-based to role-based" training.

• Old model: officials learn the rules of their service.

• New model: officials learn what their actual job (role) needs.

• FRAC (Framework of Roles, Activities and Competencies):

• Each post is mapped to its activities and the competencies it needs.
• The three types of competency are behavioural, functional and domain.
• Training is then matched to these gaps.

5. Institutions of Mission Karmayogi

Body	What it is	Main job
PM's Public Human Resources Council	Apex body chaired by the PM, with select Union ministers, CMs and experts	Gives strategic direction; approves capacity-building plans
Capacity Building Commission (CBC)	Set up on 1 April 2021 [7][8]	Sets training standards; vets ministries' plans; supervises training institutes
Karmayogi Bharat	Government-owned, not-for-profit SPV (a company set up for one job) [2]	Owns and runs the iGOT Karmayogi platform [2]
Cabinet Secretariat Coordination Unit	Unit under the Cabinet Secretary	Monitors how the plans are carried out

• Capacity Building Commission: detailed roles [2]:
• helps the PM's Council approve Annual Capacity Building Plans of ministries;
• has functional supervision (oversight of what they do, not ownership) over all Central Training Institutions;
• creates shared learning resources;
• recommends standard training methods and norms for common mid-career training;
• suggests policy changes in HR management;
• reports on the state of the civil services.

• S. Radha Chauhan took charge as CBC Chairperson in 2025 [11].

• iGOT Karmayogi (Integrated Government Online Training):

• An online, mobile-friendly platform where officials take courses at any time [2].
• It crossed 1 crore registered users in 2025 [9].
• Sādhana Saptah 2026 recorded over 3.18 crore course completions, about tenfold growth under the Mission [10]. (Figures change often; verify current.)

6. Related initiatives

• Aarambh (2019):
• The first common foundation course, held at Kevadia in 2019.
• Trainees from all civil services (All India Services, Central Services and others) trained together.

• It replaced separate service-wise beginnings.

• Karmayogi Saptah, the National Learning Week (October 2024):

• The PM launched it on 19 October 2024 in New Delhi [6].
• Each participant committed to at least 4 hours of competency-linked learning [5].
• It ran from 19 to 27 October 2024 [5].
• It recorded over 32 lakh course completions and over 38 lakh learning hours [5].

7. Assessment: the limits of training

• Training alone changes little. Behaviour follows incentives, so three other things must also change:
• Tenure: frequent, punitive transfers waste the skills an officer has built.
• Appraisal:
  • The APAR (Annual Performance Appraisal Report) rarely tells officers apart.
  • Competency gains are not yet clearly linked to promotion.

• Politicisation:

  • Transfers and postings are still used to reward or punish officers.
  • The Supreme Court in T.S.R. Subramanian v. Union of India (2013) asked for Civil Services Boards and fixed minimum tenure. Compliance has been uneven.

• Case for a Civil Services Act under Art. 309:

• Recruitment, tenure, accountability and safeguards are now spread across many rules.

• One Act would set clear, durable standards. This is the central unfinished idea of the 2nd ARC.

• Link to delivery:

• Capacity building should be judged by service-delivery outcomes, not by courses completed.

• This ties training to development administration: the civil service as an agent of planned change.

• Pay and incentives: the 8th Central Pay Commission:

• Announced: January 2025 [4].
• Terms of Reference approved: 28 October 2025 [4].
• Members: a Chairperson, one part-time Member and a Member-Secretary [4].
• Deadline: report due within 18 months of being set up [4].
• Nature: a temporary body that recommends salaries and benefits of central employees [4].
• Linking pay to performance is an open reform question.

Prelims Hooks

• 1st ARC (1966-70): chaired by Morarji Desai, then K. Hanumanthaiya. It gave 20 reports. Its 1966 interim report proposed the Lokpal and Lokayuktas.
• 2nd ARC: constituted 31 August 2005 under the Commissions of Inquiry Act. Chairs were Veerappa Moily, then V. Ramachandran. It gave 15 reports and its term ended in April 2009.
• Match the 2nd ARC report numbers:
• 1st = RTI;
• 4th = Ethics in Governance;
• 10th = Refurbishing of Personnel Administration;
• 11th = e-Governance;
• 12th = Citizen Centric Administration;
• 13th = Organisational Structure of GoI;

• 15th = State and District Administration.

• Trap: the Department of Personnel (1970) grew out of the 1st ARC, not the 2nd.

• Mission Karmayogi = NPCSCB. Approved 2 September 2020. Covers about 46 lakh employees with ₹510.86 crore (2020-21 to 2024-25).
• FRAC = Framework of Roles, Activities and Competencies. It is the basis of "role-based" training.
• Capacity Building Commission: constituted 1 April 2021. It is not a constitutional or statutory body; it was created by an executive decision.
• Karmayogi Bharat: a not-for-profit SPV that owns and runs iGOT Karmayogi.
• Aarambh (2019): the first common foundation course for all civil services.
• Karmayogi Saptah (National Learning Week): first held 19-27 October 2024.
• 8th CPC: Terms of Reference approved on 28 October 2025. Report due within 18 months.

Mains Points

• Recommendations vs implementation:
• The 2nd ARC's core personnel ideas remain on paper: a Civil Services Law, a Central Civil Services Authority and mid-career reviews.
• Lateral entry and e-governance were carried out in pieces.

• The result is reform at the edges without structural change.

• Mission Karmayogi's strengths:

• competency mapping through FRAC;
• learning at scale through iGOT;

• set standards through the CBC.

• Mission Karmayogi's limits:

• Training is not linked to postings, APAR and promotion.

• Short tenures and political transfers waste what officers learn.

• Doctrine of pleasure vs accountability:

• Repealing Arts. 310-311 and replacing them with statutory safeguards could balance neutrality (protection from political pressure) and performance (removing non-performers).

• It needs a Civil Services Act under Art. 309 and transfer reform in line with T.S.R. Subramanian (2013).

• Outcome-based capacity building:

• Plans should be judged by citizen-facing results: service delivery and grievance redressal.
• This links Mission Karmayogi with the 12th ARC report (Citizen Centric Administration) and the idea of development administration.