PART I

RATIONALISATION
OF THE
FUNCTIONS, ACTIVITIES AND
STRUCTURE OF THE
MINISTRY OF
ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

RATIONALISATION OF THE FUNCTIONS, ACTIVITIES AND

STRUCTURE OF THE MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT
AND HIGHWAYS

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................... 1
1

INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 7

THE PRESENT SET UP................................................................................. 8

ROAD DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................... 9

ROAD TRANSPORT .................................................................................. 15

ANNEX 1 ....................................................................................................... 20
ANNEX 2........................................................................................................ 22
ANNEX 3........................................................................................................ 23
ANNEX 4........................................................................................................ 24

Executive Summary
1.

The continuing division of responsibility for national highway

development between the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and

the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has resulted in different
approaches to the delivery of road projects, including on technical and
quality issues. It also hampers an integrated approach to the planning and
development of NH network. It would seem logical, especially, when an
officer of the rank of secretary to the government heads NHAI, to transfer
the entire national highway network to the NHAI for development and
maintenance. Such integration would provide for single-point responsibility
and avoid duplication of facilities and divided loyalties in the cadre of
engineers. A single file system could be implemented whereby files could
be directly submitted by Chairman, NHAI to the Minister on matters
pertaining to NHAI and its projects. The ministry and the government
should only be responsible for policy formulation, budgetary allocation and
monitoring, and should not be responsible for direct implementation of
projects.
2.

Ideally, the ministry should have the Director General (Roads) to

assist in policy formulation in regard to the national highways, and a chief

engineer for planning and a superintending engineer for budget and
monitoring to assist him. There could also be, if necessary a chief
engineer to deal with the state governments for up gradation of state
roads, including state roads of inter-state economic importance. As for the
other chief engineers and superintending engineers in the ministry, NHAI
should be allowed to choose incumbents according to its needs and their
suitability; the remaining posts should be abolished. The NHAI could then
bring to bear an integrated and comprehensive approach to national
highway development using either the consultant route or the state PWDs
as appropriate. The transfer of NH network to NHAI should, however, be

done in a phased manner over a period of time, say, five years. Corridors
could be progressively transferred on the basis of traffic density. This
would enable NHAI to gear itself up for the additional responsibilities and
also enable government to prioritise the corridors for development. Care
should also be taken to ensure that NHAI does not become a behemoth,
by itself wanting to develop and maintain the entire network. It should as
far as possible resort to special purpose vehicles (SPVs) and the BOT and
annuity routes for implementing projects. It should also encourage State
Road Development Corporations to participate in the development of
National Highway projects and use the state PWD, where appropriate, so
that their expertise is also availed of. In developing and implementing
projects, NHAI should as far as possible adopt a corridor approach and
develop an entire corridor instead of small stretches at different places.
NHAI should also establish arrangements for the maintenance and
management of the highways instead of focussing only on construction.
3.

For the development of the golden quadrilateral, government has

given NHAI an overall project approval and has left it to the Board of NHAI
to accord approval for each sub-project within the overall project. The
Board has been so constituted to function as a mini PIB. This approach
of empowering the Board to accord project approvals within a framework
of an overall project approval has very considerably facilitated the
expeditious award of contracts for the NHDP and their implementation. It
would be desirable to continue this arrangement, and accord project
approval for the development of the other corridors of the NH network in
future to facilitate the speedy improvement of the network. With the role of
NHAI being enhanced, the NHAI Board should be expanded to include
three or four outside experts with experience in fields such as road
development, road transportation, transport economics and road safety.
4.

Declaration of national highways should be strictly according to the

criteria and procedure prescribed.

5.

The Road Transport Wing, which is currently headed by a Joint

Secretary, assisted by one Deputy Secretary and two Under Secretaries

should be restructured and equipped with the necessary expertise to
administer the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 (MVA) efficiently.

The

restructured Road Wing should be re-named as the National Transport

Directorate and empowered to administer the MVA. To begin with this
Directorate should, through the help of experts, lay down the norms,
specifications and other requirements as are necessary for the effective
implementation of the MVA. Thereafter, the Directorate should evolve
arrangements with the assistance of state government authorities, to
monitor adherence to the standards/norms prescribed.
6.

The Motor Vehicles Act should be reviewed urgently to do away

with provisions with which the ministry or for that matter the Government
of India are not concerned. For instance, the Ministry of Road Transport is
required to prescribe emission standards for motor vehicles whereas
emission control and environmental protection are subjects of the Ministry
of Environment and Forests. Not having any expertise in the matter, M/o
RT&H merely notifies emission norms on the basis of the advice received
from the Ministry of Industry (which is responsible for the automobile
industry) and the Ministry of Environment and Forests. But it takes on the
responsibility of defending public interest and other litigation on air
pollution caused by motor vehicles. This clearly is not a satisfactory
arrangement and MoEF, which administers the Air Protection Act, should
also have the responsibility for dealing with vehicular emissions. Similarly,
the Motor Vehicles Act calls upon the ministry to prescribe the formulae for
awarding compensation in respect of fatalities in road accidents. All that
the Motor Vehicles Act should say is that no vehicle should be registered
or operated without a valid third party insurance policy and leave it to the
insurance companies to settle claims. There are several such provisions
in the Motor Vehicles Act that should be removed or transferred to the

appropriate ministry of the Government of India or to the state

governments.
7.

Road safety is a matter of serious concern; norms and schemes for

road safety should be developed by an expert body and left to state

governments for implementation.
8.

The Indian Road Congress collects a variety of data on roads and

road transport. There is now a need to identify the data requirements, and
the existing arrangements for their collection to avoid duplication.
Institutions and bodies which are already collecting and publishing data
pertaining to a sector should be encouraged to meet all the data
requirements in respect of that sector. There appears to be no need for a
Directorate of Transport Research for the purpose of data collection and
publication. As for research, there are well established and recognised
research centres, academic bodies and industry associations like the
CRRI, CIRT, Department of Transport in the University of Mumbai, AITD,
TERI, etc. and research as necessary should be commissioned from
these bodies. Funding research projects at these centres/organisations
would be more cost effective and the quality of research would be superior
as compared to research by an inadequately equipped research unit in the
Ministry. The Directorate of Transport Research could be abolished.
9.

The National Institute for Training Highway Engineers (NITHE) is

now well established and trains officers of state governments, public and
private sector organisations and engineers from SAARC and other
countries. It is now self-reliant and is not funded by the Government of
India. It should, henceforth, operate as a society and a centre for
excellence in training highway engineers and should not be a part of the
ministry.
10.

The restructuring suggested in this report will result in

(i)

All vacant posts, i.e. 57 in the Road Transport and

Highways and 58 in the Roads Wing, shall be abolished.

(ii)

With the transfer of project work for road development to

the NHAI, the residual work of this wing would be
handled by DG, Roads, assisted by two CEs and the
support level staff.

(iii)

When the proposed National Transport Directorate

becomes fully operational and converted into an
independent and empowered regulatory agency to
administer the MVA, and the Directorate of Transport
Research is abolished, the officers and staff currently
deployed for this work in the Road Transport Wing will be
either absorbed in the National Transport Directorate or
rendered surplus.

11.

With the restructuring suggested above, project responsibility for

road development would be transferred to the NHAI. The ministry would

then be left free to focus on policy issues relating to road development and
release of funds from the Central Road Development Fund to the state
governments etc. This residual work can be handled by DG, Roads
assisted by two chief engineers. As norms, standards and specifications
are set under the MVA, and as the National Transport Directorate
becomes fully functional, government should consider converting it into an
independent and empowered regulatory agency to administer the MVA.
The Authority could meet its fund requirements through the levy of fees.
12.

The ministry would then be able to focus on policies relating to the

development of roads and road transportation, on attracting public and

private investment in road development and on enhancing the quality of
road transportation. When the ministry shed its responsibilities for project
implementation, and a National Transport Directorate is set up to

administer the Motor Vehicles Act, the possibility of merging the ministry
with the Ministry of Shipping should be considered as that would help to
bring about an integrated approach to the development of all modes of
surface transport other than railways.

Rationalisation of the Functions, Activities and

Structure of Ministry of Road Transport and
Highways
1

Introduction

1.1

In July 1942, the Department of War Transport was established to

look after major ports, railways, road and water transport, petrol rationing,
etc. The functions of the department were broadly to coordinate the
demand for all modes of transport during the Second World War. In 1957,
the department was named as the Department of Transport, and placed in
the Ministry of Transport and Communications. In 1966, the Department of
Transport was once again renamed as the Department of Transport,
Shipping and Tourism and placed in the Ministry of Transport and
Aviation. A year later, the Ministry of Transport and Aviation was
bifurcated into the Ministry of Transport and Shipping and the Ministry of
Tourism and Civil Aviation. In 1985 when the combined Ministry of
Transport was set up to look after railways, aviation and surface transport,
the Ministry of Transport and Shipping became the Department of Surface
Transport in the Ministry of Transport. A year later, the combined Ministry
of Transport was abolished and the Department of Surface Transport
became the Ministry of Surface Transport. In 1999 the Ministry of Surface
Transport was bifurcated into two departments namely, the Department of
Shipping and the Department of Road Transport and Highways. In 2000,
the two departments were renamed as the Ministry of Road Transport and
Highways and the Ministry of Shipping.
1.2

In short, the Department of Transport has in the last 50 years

moved from being a department essentially intended to look after war time
transport needs to two independent ministries, one in charge of road
transport and highways and the other in charge of ports, shipping and
inland water ways. As the brief history of the department traced above
would show, there were periodic attempts to bring about an integrated

approach to all modes of surface transport, including the railways. But for
one reason or the other these attempts were abandoned, and what was
until recently a ministry looking after all modes of surface transport, except
the railways, has now been bifurcated into a ministry looking after roads
and road transport and another ministry looking after ports, and water
transport.

The Present set up

2.1

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is responsible for

road transport and the development and maintenance of national

highways. The subjects allocated to the Ministry of Road Transport and
Highways are at Annex 1. The ministry is headed by a Minister of State,
and the Secretary in the ministry is assisted by a Joint Secretary for Road
Transport, a Director General for Road Development, and an Advisor on
Transport Research. The Joint Secretary, Road Transport is assisted by
one Deputy Secretary and two Under Secretaries while DG, Roads is
assisted by 16 Chief Engineers and 40 Superintendent Engineers and
other technical and administrative staff.

A statement showing the

sanctioned staff strength of the Ministry is at Annex 2.

2.2

The Finance Wing of the ministry, headed by an Additional

Secretary and Financial Advisor, is common to the Ministries of Road

Transport and Highways and Shipping.
2.3

The organisational chart of the ministry is at Annex 3.

2.4

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), which was

established under the National Highways Act of 1988, is an autonomous

body in the ministry. In addition, the ministry is also responsible for the
National Institute for Training of Highway Engineers, which was set up in
1983, in a collaborative effort between the Centre and the state
governments to train highway engineers. The Indian Road Construction
Corporation Limited a public sector undertaking under the ministry has
since been wound up.
8

2.5

The ministry is responsible for the administration of the following

legislation:

2.6

a)

Road Transport Corporations Act, 1950

b)

The National Highways Act, 1956

c)

Motor Vehicles Act, 1988

d)

The National Highway Authority of India Act, 1988

The funds for border road development are also channelised

through the Ministry of Surface Transport to the Border Roads

Organisation (The BRO). The BRO is under the administrative control of
the Ministry of Defence.

Road Development

3.1.

In terms of list I of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, the

Government of India is responsible for the national highways. As of 1st

April 2001 India had a total national highway network of 57737 kms. The
national highways suffer from serious deficiencies such as inadequate
capacity, weak pavements, poor riding quality, and distressed bridges.
Barely two per cent of the national highway network is four lane; 82 per
cent is two lane and about 15 per cent, mainly in the North East, is still
single lane. There is no stretch of expressway of international standards in
the national highway network. Indias first expressway is the Mumbai-Pune
Expressway,

which

has

been

constructed

by

the

Maharashtra

government. The focus of road development now is to widen and

strengthen the national highway network, to renovate and reconstruct
bridges, and build bypasses on a selective basis around cities with a
population of more than 1 million.
3.2.

Given the requirement of funds to address the immediate needs for

improving the condition of the national highway network, the government

levied an additional excise duty and additional customs duty of Re. 1 per
litre of petrol in the budget of 1998-99. Subsequently, the budget of 19992000 levied an additional duty of Re. 1 per litre on imported and domestic
high-speed diesel (HSD). Revenues from these duties, which are
9

estimated at around Rs.6000 crore a year, are credited in the Central

Road Fund, which through an Act of Parliament in 2000 has become a
statutory fund outside the purview of the Consolidated Fund of India. The
Central Road Fund is used to fund the development of rural roads, state
roads and the development and maintenance of national highways. In
addition, the Government of India has resorted to large borrowing
programmes from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and OECF to
fund national highway development. The NHAI has also been permitted to
leverage its funds to raise market borrowings. The Government of India
had also decided in 1997 to levy tolls in perpetuity on roads that have
been 4-laned in order to create a stream of revenue for road development.
Tolls have, however, so far been levied only on the Jaipur 1- Kotputhli
section of NH8. In 1997, the Government of India announced major policy
initiatives, which included fiscal and financial packages, to attract private
investment in national highway development. So far some 20 projects of
bypasses and bridges have been awarded on a BOT basis to the private
sector, and these projects have brought in approximately Rs.1000 crore
by way of private investment.
3.3.

The budget for road development has shown a significant increase

in the last five years as would be seen from the statement below:
(Rs. In crore)
Year

M/o RTH
budget

NHAI budget

Total

1996-97

683.75

271.79

955.54

1997-98

969.23

580.00

1549.23

1998-1999

1084.84

1173.17

2258.01

1999-2000

1380.22

1063.60

2463.82

2000-2001

1816.48

2272.80

4089.28

2001-2002

1588

3222

4811

10

3.4.

The National Highway Authority of India was set up in 1988 and

made operational in 1995. Section 11 of the Act envisages that the

Government of India would transfer national highway projects to the NHAI
for development and maintenance as deemed appropriate. However, it
was the intention of the Act that the NHAI would ultimately be responsible
for the development and maintenance of the entire national highway
network. A chairman in the rank and pay of a secretary to the Government
of India heads the NHAI. The Authority has a board comprising the
chairman and not more than 5 full time members and not more than 4 part
time members. At present, there are 3 full time members and 4 part time
members. The organisation chart of NHAI is at Annex 4. The NHAI has 45
Project Implementation Units (PIUs) at different locations to oversee its
projects.
3.5.

In 1999, the Prime Minister announced a National Highway

Development Project as a priority project. The Project envisages 4 / 6

laning of 5952 kms. of the golden quadrilateral, namely, NH2 connecting
Delhi with Kolkatta, NH5 connecting Kolkatta with Chennai, NH4
connecting Chennai with Mumbai and NH8 connecting Mumbai with Delhi.
In addition, the project also envisages 4 / 6 laning 7300 kms. of the NorthSouth corridor connecting Srinagar with Kanyakumari and the East-West
corridor connecting Silchar to Porbandar. The total project, which involves
4 / 6 laning of 13252 kms. is estimated to cost about Rs.54,000 crore. The
entire project has been entrusted to the NHAI for implementation. In
addition, a length of 614 kms. consisting of stretches and bypasses on
other national highways have also been entrusted to the NHAI for
improvement. Thus, of the total length of 57737 kms. of national highways
a length of 13866 kms. has been vested in the NHAI for development and
maintenance and the remaining 43,871 kms. continue to be looked after
by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways through Director General
(Roads).

11

3.6.

The ministry is also currently implementing major works on various

stretches of the national highways aimed at improving the network and

strengthening and rebuilding bridges. Some 860 kms. 2 lane roads have
been strengthened, 360 kms. of single lane stretches have been
converted into 2 lanes, 42 kms. of 2 lanes to 4 lanes up to January 2001.
Thirteen major bridges and 68 minor bridges have also been rebuilt. The
ministry had launched in 1997 a Riding Quality Improvement Programme
at an estimated cost of Rs.573 crore covering about 3700 kms. of national
highways. This programme has been continued in the current year, and a
provision of Rs.890 crore has been made for improving the riding quality
of 5200 kms. of national highways. The ministry is implementing these
various works through the state PWD establishments. Each state PWD
has one or more chief engineers in charge of national highways running
through the state concerned. Proposals for road development are
developed by the chief engineer of the State PWD and forwarded to the
regional office of the ministry. The ministry has 13 regional offices located
at: Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkotha, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Patna,
Bhubaneswar, Shillong, Gandhinagar (Gujarat), Guwahati, Bhopal and
Tiruvananthapuram.
3.7.

The regional offices then forward the proposals to the chief

engineer in charge of the concerned state in the office of the DG, Roads in
the ministry. Of the total number of 13 chief engineers, in the office of the
DG, 11 are responsible for two or more states each. The concerned chief
engineer then processes the proposals received from the regional office
for investment approvals. Thereafter, the concerned chief engineer in the
ministry oversees, both directly and through the R.O., the award of
contracts and the implementation of the project.
3.8.

The NHAI on the other hand uses consultants to prepare detailed

project reports, invites and evaluate bids and awards contracts directly for
the implementation of projects, and, again uses independent consultant
engineers to oversee the implementation of the projects. The NHAI also

12

sets up special purpose vehicles (SPVs) in equity partnership with State

Government entities or private parties for implementing road projects. In
addition, it attracts private investment in road development through the
BoT route or the annuity scheme. In short, the ministry continues to rely
on the state PWDs to develop and implement projects on national highway
stretches which remain within its jurisdiction, whereas the NHAI has made
a clear break from the state PWDs and has established a new paradigm
for the delivery of road projects.
3.9.

The continuing division of responsibility for national highway

development between the ministry and the NHAI has resulted in different
approaches to the delivery of road projects, including on technical and
quality issues. It also hampers an integrated approach to the planning and
development of NH network. It would seem logical, especially, when an
officer of the rank of secretary to the government heads NHAI, to transfer
the entire national highway network to the NHAI for development and
maintenance. Such an integration would provide for single-point
responsibility and avoid duplication of facilities and divided loyalties in the
cadre of engineers. The focus of attention of the ministry should be policy
formulation, mobilising resources and monitoring. This is the arrangement
in UK where the implementation of highway projects is left entirely to the
Highway Authority, and the permanent secretary, assisted by a small
team, is responsible only for policy and interface with other ministries and
Parliament.
3.10. Ideally, the ministry should have the DG to assist in policy
formulation in regard to the national highways, and a chief engineer for
planning and a superintending engineer for budget and monitoring to
assist him. There could also be, if necessary a chief engineer to deal with
the state governments for upgradation of state roads, including state roads
of inter-state economic importance. As for the other chief engineers and
superintending engineers in the ministry, NHAI should be allowed to
choose incumbents according to its needs and their suitability; the

13

remaining posts should be abolished. The NHAI could then bring to bear
an integrated and comprehensive approach to national highway
development using either the consultant route or the state PWDs as
appropriate. The transfer of NH network to NHAI should, however, be
done in a phased manner over a period of time, say, five years. Corridors
could be progressively transferred on the basis of traffic density. This
would enable NHAI to gear itself up for the additional responsibilities and
also enable government to prioritise the corridors for development. Care
should also be taken to ensure that NHAI does not become a behemoth,
by itself wanting to develop and maintain the entire network. It should as
far as possible resort to (SPVs) and the BOT and annuity routes for
implementing projects. It should also encourage State Road Development
Corporations to participate in the development of National Highway
projects and use the State PWD, where appropriate, so that their expertise
is also availed of. In developing and implementing projects, NHAI should
as far as possible adopt a corridor approach and develop an entire
corridor instead of small stretches at different places. NHAI should also
establish arrangements for the maintenance and management of the
highways instead of focussing only on construction.
3.11. For the development of the golden quadrilateral, government has
given NHAI an overall project approval and has left it to the Board of NHAI
to accord approval for each sub-project within the overall project. The
NHAI has as its part time members, Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport
and Highways; DG, Roads; Secretary, Expenditure; and Secretary,
Planning Commission. The Board has been so constituted to function as a
mini PIB. This approach of empowering the Board to accord project
approvals within a framework of an overall project approval has very
considerably facilitated the expeditious award of contracts for the NHDP
and their implementation. It would be desirable to continue this
arrangement, and accord project approval for the development of the
other corridors of the NH network in future to facilitate the speedy

14

improvement of the network. With the role of NHAI being enhanced, the
NHAI Board should be expanded to include three or four outside experts
with experience in fields such as road development, road transportation,
transport economics and road safety.
3.12. The total road network in India should improve and grow as good
roads facilitate economic growth and promote national integration. But
only those roads that fall strictly within the criteria laid down for declaring a
road as a national highway should be so declared as bringing a State road
to the national highway standards and maintaining it is expensive.
Declaration of national highways should be strictly according to the criteria
and procedure prescribed.

Road Transport

4.1

Ministry of RTH is also responsible for the administration of the

Motor Vehicles Act 1988 (MVA) and the Road Transport Corporations Act,
1950. The Motor Vehicles Act deals with all aspects of road transport
industry and inter alia covers licensing and registration of vehicles,
licensing of drivers, issue of type approvals for vehicles, laying down
specifications and standards for the various components of a motor
vehicle and prescribing standards for exhaust emissions. Since road
transport is in the Concurrent List the provisions of the Act relating to
licensing and registration, issue of driving licenses etc. are left to the state
governments to implement. However, functions such as laying down of
specifications for motor vehicles, granting of type approval, prescription of
emission norms, etc. remain with the M/o RT&H. Although, all these
subjects are highly technical, the ministry does not have any technical
officer familiar with automobile or fuel technology. As a result, the ministry
has to depend for advice on technical matters on one of the test agencies
like the Automobile Research Association of India (ARAI). As ARAI and
other test agencies are funded by the automobile industry or the oil
industry, the ministry does not always have the benefit of unbiased advice;

15

nor does it have the benefit of continuity or of a data base. With rapid
advances in auto and fuel technologies, there is an urgent need to provide
for technical capability in the ministry. The Motor Vehicles Act also
regularly throws up legal issues in regard to freight transportation, interstate movement of vehicles, national permits, insurance etc. The ministry
has no law officer and has to depend on the Ministry of Law, which does
not provide for continuity. The Road Transport Wing, which is currently
headed by a Joint Secretary, assisted by one Deputy Secretary and two
Under Secretaries should be restructured and equipped with the
necessary expertise to administer the MVA efficiently. The restructured
Road Wing should be re-named as the National Transport Directorate and
empowered to administer the MVA. To begin with this Directorate should,
through the help of experts, lay down the norms, specifications and other
requirements as are necessary for the effective implementation of the
MVA. Thereafter, the Directorate should evolve arrangements with the
assistance of state government authorities, to monitor adherence to the
standards/norms prescribed.
4.2

The Motor Vehicles Act should be reviewed urgently to do away

with provisions with which the ministry or for that matter the Government
of India are not concerned. For instance, the Ministry of Road Transport is
required to prescribe emission standards for motor vehicles whereas
emission control and environmental protection are subjects of the Ministry
of Environment and Forests. Not having any expertise in the matter, M/o
RT&H merely notifies emission norms on the basis of the advice received
from the Ministry of Industry (which is responsible for the automobile
industry) and the Ministry of Environment and Forests. But it takes on the
responsibility of defending public interest and other litigation on air
pollution caused by motor vehicles. This clearly is not a satisfactory
arrangement and MoEF, which administers the Air Protection Act, should
also have the responsibility for dealing with vehicular emissions. Similarly,
the Motor Vehicles Act calls upon the ministry to prescribe the formulae for

16

awarding compensation in respect of fatalities in road accidents. All that

the Motor Vehicles Act should say is that no vehicle should be registered
or operated without a valid third party insurance policy and leave it to the
insurance companies to settle claims. There are several such provisions
in the Motor Vehicles Act that should be removed or transferred to the
appropriate ministry of the Government of India or to the state
governments.
4.3

The ministry is also responsible for road safety. The Road Safety

Cell in the ministry mainly formulates schemes for road safety and leaves
them to be implemented by the state governments or select NGOs. There
is an advisory board which helps the ministry to develop road safety
schemes. Lacking, technical background or expertise in road safety, the
Cell has been, over the years primarily engaged in printing literature and
other publicity material and distributing them under the banner of Road
Safety Awareness Programmes. Road safety is a matter of serious
concern. It is necessary that norms and schemes for road safety are
formulated without delay, so that these can be adopted and implemented
by the State Governments.

It is therefore necessary to constitute an

expert group to undertake this work in a time bound manner say to be

completed in six months time.
4.4

The ministry also has a wing known as the Directorate of Transport

Research. This wing compiles data on shipping and road transport and
publishes annual statistics in the form of Basic Road Statistics of India,
Statistics on Inland Water Transport, Port statistics, Indian Shipping
Statistics etc. In fact, the last edition of the Basic Transport Statistics of
India pertains to the year 1997-98. The Transport Research Wing does
not appear to have conducted any significant research programmes. Port
statistics are maintained and published by the Indian Ports Association.
Data on vehicles and on road transport are compiled by the state
governments and after much time lag collated, and published by the
Directorate of Transport Research.

The Indian Road Congress also

17

collects a variety of data on roads and road transport. There is now a

need to identify the data requirements, and the existing arrangements for
their collection to avoid duplication. Institutions and bodies which are
already collecting and publishing data pertaining to a sector should be
encouraged to meet all the data requirements in respect of that sector.
There appears to be no need for a Directorate of Transport Research for
the purpose of data collection and publication. As for research, there are
well established and recognised research centres, academic bodies and
industry associations like the CRRI, CIRT, Department of Transport in the
University of Mumbai, AITD, TERI, etc. and research as necessary should
be commissioned from these bodies. Funding research projects at these
centres/organisations would be more cost effective and the quality of
research would be superior as compared to research by an inadequately
equipped research unit in the Ministry.

The Directorate of Transport

Research could be abolished.

4.5

The National Institute for Training Highway Engineers (NITHE) is

now well established and trains officers of state governments, public and
private sector organisations and engineers from SAARC and other
countries. It is now self-reliant and is not funded by the Government of
India. It should, henceforth, operate as a society and a centre for
excellence in training highway engineers and should not be a part of the
ministry.
4.6

With the restructuring suggested above, project responsibility for

road development would be transferred to the NHAI. The ministry would

then be left free to focus on policy issues relating to road development and
release of funds from the Central Road Development Fund to the state
governments etc. This residual work can be handled by DG, Roads
assisted by two chief engineers. As norms, standards and specifications
are set under the MVA, and as the National Transport Directorate
becomes fully functional, government should consider converting it into an

18

independent and empowered regulatory agency to administer the MVA.

The Authority could meet its fund requirements through the levy of fees.
4.7

To sum up, the restructuring suggested above, will result in the

following:
(i)

All vacant posts, i.e. 57 in the Road Transport and

Highways and 58 in the Roads Wing, shall be abolished.

(ii)

With the transfer of project work for road development to

the NHAI, the residual work of this wing would be
handled by DG, Roads, assisted by two CEs and the
support level staff.

(iii)

When the proposed National Transport Directorate

becomes fully operational and converted into an
independent and empowered regulatory agency to
administer the MVA, and the Directorate of Transport
Research is abolished, the officers and staff currently
deployed for this work in the Road Transport Wing will be
rendered surplus, except for those absorbed in the
National Transport Directorate.

4.8

The ministry would then be able to focus on policies relating to the

development of roads and road transportation, on attracting public and

private investment in road development and on enhancing the quality of
road transportation. When the ministry shed its responsibilities for project
implementation, and a National Transport Directorate is set up to
administer the Motor Vehicles Act, the possibility of merging the ministry
with the Ministry of Shipping should be considered as that would help to
bring about an integrated approach to the development of all modes of
surface transport other than railways.

19

Annex 1

SUBJECTS ALLOCATED TO THE MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT

AND HIGHWAYS (SADAK PARIVAHAN AUR RAJ MARG
MANTRALAYA)
I

The following subjects which fall within list 1 of the seventh

schedule to the Consti tution of India:

1.

Compulsory insurance of motor vehicles

2.

Administration of the Road Transport Corporations Act, 1950 (64 of

1950)

3.

Highways declared by under law made by Parliament to be national

highways.

II

In Respect of the Union Territories:

4.

Roads other than National Highways.

5.

Tramways including elevated high speed trams within municipal or

any other contiguous zone.

6.

Administration of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (59 of 1988) and

taxation of motor vehicles.

7.

Vehicles other than mechanically propelled vehicles.

III

Other subjects which have not been included under the

previous parts:

8.

Central Road Fund.

9.

Coordination and Research pertaining to Road Works.

10. Road works financed in whole or in part by the Central government

other than rural roads and the road works in the tribal areas in the
states of Assam and Meghalaya specified in parts I and II of the table
appended to paragraph 20 of the sixth schedule to the Constitution.
11. Motor vehicles legislation
12. Promotion of Transport Cooperatives in the field of motor transport
and inland water transport.

20

13. Development of townships of Gandhidham.

14. Formulation of the privatisation policy in the infrastructure areas of
roads.
IV

Autonomous Bodies:

15. National Highways Authority of India.

V.

Societies/Associations:

16. National Institute of Training for Highway engineers.

VI

Public Sector Undertakings:

17. Indian Road Construction Corporation.

VII

Acts:

18. The Road Transport Corporations Act, 1950 (64 of 1950).

19. The National Highways Act, 1956 (48 of 1956).
20. The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (59 of 1988).
21. The National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988 (28 of 1993)

21

Annex 2
Staff Strength of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
Road Transport & Highways

Group A

Sanctioned posts 32
Secretary
Additional Secy.
Joint Secretary
Director/DS/DFA
Under Secretary
Sr. Analyst

Group B

1
1
1
4
11
1

Adviser (TR)
Director (T)
JD(T)
DD(T)
AD(T)
PPS

Sanctioned posts 188

SO/AO
Accountant
AD(OL)
Sr. Investigator
Assistants

29
2
1
9
71

Res. Asstt.
Desk Attache
MMO
PS
Steno Gr.C

Vacant posts 4
1 Sr. Analyst
2 AD(TR)
1 PPS
4
2
3

1
2
1

Vacant posts 7
1 Assistant
1 PS
1
22
51

6
1

Group C

Sanctioned posts 187

Vacant posts 35

Group D

Sanctioned posts 178

Vacant posts 11

Total

Sanctioned posts 585

Vacant posts 57

Sanctioned posts 141

Vacant posts 42

Roads Wing

Group A

Director General
Addl. DG
Chief Engineer
Group B

1
2
16

Sup. Engineer
Exe. Engineer
Asst.Exe.Engr.

Sanctioned posts 22
Asst. Engineer
Technical Assistant

11
3

Chief D/Man

40 Addl. DG
57 Sup.Engineer
25 Exe. Engineer

2
8
32

Vacant posts 4
8 Asst. Engineer

Group C

Sanctioned posts 73

Vacant posts 12

Total

Sanctioned posts 236

Vacant posts 58

22

Annex 3
ORGANISATIONAL CHART OF MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT &
HIGHWAYS
MINISTER OF STATE (RT&H)
(Independent Charge)

SECRETARY
(RT&H)

Financial Advisor*

Financial Adviser
EDP Cell

Chief Controller of
Accounts

Joint Secretary
(TA&PG) & CV)

Admn. Road transport

motor vehicle
legislation
O&M Public
grievances matters
Vigilance road safety
Coordination & Public
relation.

Director General
(RD)

Advisor (Transport *
Research)

Development &
Maintenance of
National highway other
than central sector
roads and central road
funds

Collection, compilation
and dissemination of
statistics of transport
economic/Statistical
analysis of date for
policy planning transport
coordination etc.

Accounts budget & Work

Study

1.
Regional Offices at
Bangalore, Mumbai, Calcutta,
Chandigarh, Jaipur,
Gowahati, Patna, Hyderabad,
Gandhi Nagar, Bhuvneswar,
Bhopal & Trivandrum ELO &
Shillong

2.
3.

National Highway
Authority of India
(NHAI)
Indian Roads
Construction
Corpn. (IRCC)
National Instt. for
training of
highway
Engineers

* Common to this ministry and the Ministry of Shipping

23

NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA

Organisational Structure

Chairman

Member (Fin)

Member
(A,IT &CM)

HQ
GMs, (A),
(IT) & Tech.)

PIUs
GQ: DelhiMumbai

A
CM
CGM
Tech.
PI
WBCVO
HQ
PIUs

HQ
GM (Fin), GM (CF)
DGMs/Managers

PIUs
Port
Connectivity
-

Administration
Corridor Management
Chief General Manager
Technical
Private investment
World Bank
Chief Vigilance Officer
Headquarters
Project Implementation
Units

Member (Tech) &

CGM (Coridor)
HQ
GMs (Tech)
DGM (Tech)
Managers (Tech)

PIUs
NS& EW Corridors

CGM (PI)

CGM
(Tech)

HQ
GMs (Tech)
DGM (Tech)
Managers (Tech)

PIUs
GQ: Mumbai-Chennai

GM
IT
MR
OSD CF
DGM GQ
NS&EW-

HQ
GMs (Tech)
DGM (Tech)
Managers
(Tech)

PIUs
GQ: Chenai
Kolkata

General Manager
Information Technology
Media Relations
Officer on Special Duty
Corporate Finance
Deputy General Manager
Golden Quadrilateral
North South & East West

PART II

RATIONALISATION
OF THE
FUNCTIONS, ACTIVITIES AND
STRUCTURE OF THE
MINISTRY OF SHIPPING

RATIONALISATION OF THE FUNCTIONS, ACTIVITIES AND

STRUCTURE OF THE MINISTRY OF SHIPPING
TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................2
1. MINISTRY OF SHIPPING .........................................................................................2
2. PORTS...................................................................................................................4
3. SHIPPING ..............................................................................................................9
4. SHIP BUILDING AND SHIP REPAIR..........................................................................11
5. NATIONAL SHIP DESIGN AND RESEARCH CENTRE....................................................14
6. LIGHT HOUSES ....................................................................................................15
7. MARITIME AUTHORITY .........................................................................................15
8. INLAND WATER TRANSPORT ..................................................................................16
9. COASTAL SHIPPING ..............................................................................................18
10.
GENERAL ........................................................................................................19
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................21
Annex 1..................................................................................................................25
Annex 2..................................................................................................................27
Annex 3..................................................................................................................28
Annex 4..................................................................................................................29
Annex 5..................................................................................................................31
Annex 6..................................................................................................................32
Annex 7..................................................................................................................33

RATIONALISATION OF THE FUNCTIONS, ACTIVITIES AND

STRUCTURE OF THE MINISTRY OF SHIPPING

Introduction

1.

Ministry of Shipping

As indicated in the report on the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways

the Ministry of Surface Transport was bifurcated into two ministries viz. the
Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in
November, 2000.

The Ministry of Shipping is responsible for major ports,

shipping, ship building and ship repair, national waterways and inland water
transport and light houses. The subjects allocated to the ministry are listed at
Annex 1 and the organisation chart is at Annex 2. A statement showing the
sanctioned staff strength of the Ministry is at Annex 3. The Ministry of Shipping
has the following subordinate offices, autonomous bodies, societies and
associations and public sector undertakings:

Subordinate Offices
1 Directorate General of Shipping
2 Andaman Lakshadweep Harbour Works
3 Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships
4 Minor Ports Survey Organisation
Autonomous Bodies
1 Port Trusts at Calcutta, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Ennore,
Tuticorin, Kochi, New Mangalore, Mormugao, Mumbai, Jawahar Lal Nehru
(Nhava Sheva) and Kandla
2 Dock Labour Boards at Calcutta, Kandla, Chennai, Mormugao and
Visakhapatnam
3 Inland Waterways Authority of India
4 Seamens Provident Fund Organisation

5 Tariff Authority for Major Ports

Societies/Associations
1 National Institute of Port Management (NIPM)
2 National Ship Design and Research Centre
3 Seafarers Welfare Fund Society
Public Sector Undertakings

1 Shipping Corporation of India

2 Hindustan Shipyard Limited
3 Cochin Shipyard Limited
4 Central Inland Water Transport Corporation Limited
5 Dredging Corporation of India
6 Hooghly Dock and Ports Engineers Limited
7 Ennore Port Company

The Ministry is also responsible for administering the following Acts:

1 The Indian Ports Act, 1908 (15 of 1908)

2 The Inland Vessels Act, 1917 (1 of 1917)
3 The Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1948 (9 of 1948)
4 The Merchant Shipping Act, 1969 (44 of 1958)
5 The Major Ports Trust Act, 1963 (38 of 1963)
6 The Seamens Provident Fund Act, 1966 (4 of 1966)
7 The Inland Waterways Authority of India Act, 1985 (82 of 1985)

2.

It would have been more appropriate to have named it as the Ministry of

Maritime Affairs instead of the Ministry of Shipping as the latter does not indicate
the range of subjects assigned to the ministry. The name Ministry of Maritime

Affairs will also help to heighten the status of the ministry in its dealings with
international agencies and other governments.

2.

Ports

3.

In terms of list I of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, the Ministry

of Shipping is responsible for the administration of ports declared as major ports

under the Major Ports Trust Act. There are at present 12 major ports in the
country viz. Calcutta including Haldia, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Chennai,
Ennore, Tuticorin, Cochin, New Mangalore, Mormugao, Jawahar Lal Nehru,
Mumbai and Kandla. All the major ports, except Ennore, are Trusts set up under
the Major Ports Trust Act and administered by a Board of Trustees. The Ennore
Port has been set up as a company under the Companies Act, and is called
Ennore Port Limited.
4.

Ninety five per cent of the Indias imports and exports are sea borne and

of this about 90 per cent is handled by the major ports and the rest by minor
ports. The major ports handled a total traffic of 281.03 million tonnes during the
financial year 2000-01.

The assessed capacity of the major ports, as on

31.3.2001 was 291.45 million tonnes. The expected capacity addition during
2001-02 is 52.40 million tonnes, which will take the total to 344 million tonnes.
As against, this, the capacity requirement projected for 2005-06 is 424 million
tonnes.
5.

The financial results of the major ports for the last two years are at Annex 4.

6.

The trustees of the Port Trust are appointed by the Government of India

under the Major Ports Trust Act.

The composition of the Trust provides for

representation to the Ministry of Shipping, the concerned State Government,

Department of Customs, Railways and various interests like stevedores, shipping
agents etc. and to port labour; the trustees tend to be parochial in their approach.
The composition of the Trusts and the very fact that a port is structured as a trust
and not as a corporate entity militates against the port operating on commercial
lines. Even today there are no profit centres in the ports, and their accounting

practises are not commercial accounting practices; no profit and loss statements
are worked out. The average pre-berthing time and average turn around time in
the Indian ports is still very high as compared to the ports in the neighbouring
countries such as Sri Lanka (Colombo), Singapore and Dubai. The productivity
of labour and equipment is also low. Although, measures have been taken to
bring about a reduction in port staff, Indian ports are still over staffed as
compared to modern ports like Singapore. A study has indicated that on an
average, the cargo handled per employee in the Indian ports in 1998-99 was
about 2030 tonnes as compared to 47,000 tonnes per employee in the U.K. ports
and 50,500 tonnes in Rotterdam. The manning scales at the different ports for
specific activities also vary widely. For example, for the transfer of containers
from ship to quay, Kolkata employs a total of 32 persons as against 12 at Haldia,
15 at Mumbai, 21 at Chennai and 4 at JNPT. The introduction of VRS in all the
major ports has helped to reduce port staff by about 11300 persons by 30th June,
2001, and the decision to roll back the retirement age from 60 to 58 has helped
to reduce the number further by about 4700 persons. But the staff strength in
Indian ports is still unduly high and these schemes should be actively pursued to
bring down the staff strength to normative levels.

Similarly, manning scales

should be rationalised and fixed on the basis of the lowest prevailing level, which
appears to have been provided for in the recent wage settlement.

Due to

inadequate draft and inefficiencies in the Indian ports, mother vessels do not call
at Indian ports; as a result,

containers from India are being transhipped in

Singapore, Colombo or Dubai, involving an additional cost of about $20 per

container. With manufacturing and trading companies elsewhere in the world
beginning to buy goods on a just in time basis, Indian exporters are unable to
avail of fixed day of callservice by the major shipping lines and are, therefore,
forced to maintain warehouses.

The cost of transhipment, warehousing and

delays were estimated to be around US$ 1.5 billion per annum in a World Bank
study. These are additional costs that the Indian economy has to bear at a time
when Indias exports have to become globally competitive.

7.

As major service providers to Indias foreign trade, it is imperative that the

ports are run on commercial lines. The Chairmen of the Port Trusts should also
be selected from the best available talent in the country instead of making
opportunities only from the services or the cadre of port officers.

All this can

happen only if ports are corporatised and subjected to the disciplines of the
market.
8.

With the view to introducing competition and commercial working practices

in the major ports, the Government of India announced some major policy
initiatives in October 1996. The policy package identified areas in ports that
would be thrown open for private participation and operation. It was the intention
that the Port Trusts would soon move towards becoming landlord ports, with all
the commercial services being provided by the private sector.

The policy

package also envisaged that Port Trusts would be corporatised eventually and
made to operate on commercial principles as companies under the Indian
Companies Act. It is in pursuance of this that a new major port namely, Ennore
Port, has been set up as a company.

Action has also been initiated to

corporatise JNPT; the Haldia Dock Complex of the Calcutta Port and the Ports of
Mangalore, Mormugao and Tuticorn are to follow. It should be the endeavour of
the government to corporatise all the major Port Trusts within the next three
years. In case there are difficulties in evaluating the assets and liabilities and
structuring the equity of old ports like Chennai, Mumbai and Calcutta,
government should consider setting up port companies to which all the
commercial facilities like berths and cargo handling equipment could be leased
out, with the Port Trust retaining only the ownership of the land and water front.
Such an arrangement would enable the port companies to provide services on
commercial lines. But corporatisation should not be an end in itself, as a port
company in the public sector may perform no better than a Port Trust. Port
companies should be privatised at the earliest, preferably through public offering.
9.

In 1996, the financial powers of the Port Trusts, which were limited to Rs.2

crore, for new investments, and Rs.5 crore in respect of replacements/renovation

were increased to Rs.50 crore and Rs.100 crore respectively.

With the

substantial increase in the financial powers of the Port Trusts hardly any
proposals now come to the Government of India for investment/expenditure
approvals. With the eventual corporatisation and privatisation of the ports, the
Government of India would also be considerably relieved of work relating to port
establishment, wage negotiations, etc.
10.

As would be seen from the organisational chart at Annex 2, the Secretary,

Ministry of Shipping is assisted by a Development Advisor with supporting staff.

The Development Advisor provides technical advice on port development. With
the Port Trusts themselves having competent personnel in all relevant disciplines
to prepare/evaluate proposals for port development and with ports now having
enhanced powers to take necessary investment decisions, there appears to be
no need for continuing the post of Development Advisor. The ministry, whenever
technical advice is required, can always draw the necessary expertise, be it civil,
mechanical or ocean engineering, from any of the ports, IITs or consulting
companies. The office of the Development Advisor as it now exists has only
resulted in creating an additional channel of scrutiny and there is a danger of
even non technical matters being referred to the Development Advisor, which
could cause avoidable delays.

The post of Development Advisor and

Development Wing in the Ministry could be abolished.

11.

The Ministry is also responsible for the Dock Labour Boards which were

set up in the ports of Mumbai, Calcutta, Visakhapatnam, Cochin, Chennai,

Mumbai and Kandla under the Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act,
1948. In order to ensure optimum utilisation of labour by making dock workers
and port workers inter-changeable, government has already decided to merge
dock labour with port labour, which has been achieved in Mumbai, Cochin and
Mormugao. Merger of the DLB with the ports in the remaining four major ports is
expected to be completed by the end of the current year. It should then be
possible to repeal the legislation pertaining to dock workers.
12.

The Dredging Corporation of India: The DCI was set up at a time when

adequate dredging facilities did not exist in the country and reliance on external
sources for dredging in the ports was not considered appropriate. The situation

has now changed. All the major ports are now permitted to invite international
bids for dredging and award contracts on a competitive basis. Major international
dredging companies are now operating in India. The DCI has limited capacity,
which is being put to optimum use.

The company is making profits.

The

operating and financial results of the company for the last 5 years upto 19992000 are at Annex 5. There is no rationale for retaining DCI as a public sector
undertaking and it should be privatised.
13.

The NIPM is already an autonomous body run by the Indian Ports

Association, which is the association of the major ports intended to provide

common services to the major ports.
14.

The Minor Ports Survey Organisation functioning under the ministry

conducts hydrographic surveys of minor ports, major ports, inland water ways,
irrigation systems etc. The organisation is even now working on a no profit no
loss basis realising charges for surveys at the rates fixed by the government.
This organisation could be corporatised and made to operate on commercial
lines.
15.

The Andaman and Lakshadweep Harbour Works was set up as a unit in

1965 for planning and executing the maintenance of ports and harbour facilities
at Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep. This unit should either be handed
over to the concerned UT governments or merged with the Calcutta/Chennai Port
Trusts and Cochin Port Trust. Given the volume of work in Andaman/Nicobar
and

Lakshadweep,

these

two

harbours

can

easily

be

handled

by

Calcutta/Chennai and Cochin Port Trusts.

16.

Conservancy functions in the ports are now being exercised by the Port

Trusts themselves. As Port Trusts are corporatised, it would not be prudent to

leave it to companies operating on commercial principles to exercise
conservancy functions, especially when IMO regulations relating to Port State
control are being tightened. In the minor ports, conservancy requirements are
not sufficiently understood and adhered to. As oil spillages and accidents in
minor ports can also have serious implications for safety and the environment,
conservancy should not be left to the minor ports. It would be desirable to vest

all conservancy responsibilities in all the ports, both major and minor, in a
Maritime Authority, which is discussed at some length at the end of this report.
This is the practice that has been adopted in UK and Singapore where the ports
have been corporatilised and are run by companies.

3.

Shipping

17.

In shipping, the role of the ministry apart from administering the Indian

Merchant Shipping Act and processing the conventions and protocols of IMO for
purposes of ratification or accession, is to create a conducive environment for the
growth of Indias shipping tonnage.

India has been ranked 17th in the world in

terms of tonnage and as of 31.12.2000 has a total tonnage of 6.93 million tonnes.
The chart at Annex 6, which shows the growth of Indian tonnage, would indicate
that there has been very little growth in the last five years. Merchant shipping
world over is run on commercial lines with decisions to invest in ships taken on
commercial considerations. India still continues with licensing of ship acquisition
through the Ship Acquisition Licensing Committee chaired by the Secretary,
Shipping. Although the licensing procedure has been simplified and streamlined
in recent years with the introduction of automatic approval for certain kinds of
acquisitions, the rationale for licensing ship acquisition in an economy that is
being increasingly liberalised is not clear. When a company desires to acquire a
ship, it should be allowed to sink or sail with the ship and there is no reason why
government should be concerned with the viability of the acquisition proposal.
What a Government or a regulator should be concerned with is the sea
worthiness of a vessel, and the sea worthiness of a ship is certified by Director
General, Shipping before it is registered under the Indian flag. Licensing of ship
acquisition should be altogether abolished and it should be left to DG, Shipping
to ensure the safety and sea worthiness of a ship.
18.

The enforcement of the Indian Merchant Shipping Act, 1988 is the

responsibility of the Directorate of Shipping, an attached office of the ministry.

DG, Shipping is responsible for all matters relating to shipping policy,
implementation of international conventions relating to safety, prevention of

pollution, promotion of maritime education and training, examination and

certification, etc. The DG enjoys a statutory status under the Merchant Shipping
Act and is assisted by three Deputy Directors General, five Assistant Directors
General, a Nautical Advisor, the Chief Surveyor and other supporting
administrative and technical staff. The office of the DG includes the mercantile
marine departments at Calcutta and Chennai with subordinate offices at
Jamnagar, Goa, Port Blair, Tuticorin, Vizag and Cochin.

There is also a

Seamens Welfare office at Chennai and Seamens Employment offices at

Calcutta and Mumbai to regulate employment of seamen and look after their
welfare. The DGs office inspects cargo and passenger vessels for safety and
sea worthiness and also examines and certifies seamen and officers working in
the merchant navy.
19.

The following four government run training institutes impart training for

cadets and officers in marine engineering and nautical disciplines; (1) Training
Ship Chanakaya, Navi Mumbai, (2) Marine Engineering and Research Institute,
Calcutta, (3) Marine Engineering and Research Institute, Mumbai, (4) LBS
College of Advance Maritime Study and Research, Mumbai. In addition, the DG
has recognised some 86 institutes in the private sector to supplement the training
efforts of the government institutes.

Training opportunities in these various

institutes are highly coveted and paid for either by the candidates themselves or
by the shipping companies sponsoring them. The training institutes are also self
sufficient and do not avail of any government support. A decision has already
been taken to set up an Indian Institute of Maritime Studies under the Societies
Registration Act, and place all the four government run institutes under it. The
Society should be given status of a deemed university or of an IIT and should
become totally autonomous.
20.

On the shipping side, the ministry is also responsible for the Shipping

Corporation of India which is the largest shipping company owning about 40 per
cent of Indias total tonnage. SCI, which has been conferred Miniratnastatus,
has a good track record of making profits. The net profit after tax in 1999-2000
was Rs.161.6 crore. There have been considerable delays in the acquisition of

10

tonnage by the SCI due to delays in securing investment clearances from the
GOI and in the process SCI has not been in a position to gear itself up for
changing cargo requirements and growth.

SCI is now a candidate for

disinvestment, and the disinvestment should be completed.

21.

The Ministry of Shipping also has a Chartering Wing (Transchart),

which is responsible for making shipping arrangements for the transportation of

cargo owned/controlled by the government or by government owned entities like
PSUs as per the policy of buying FOB/FAS and selling CAF/CIF. Transchart has
an enviable record of making shipping arrangements at internationally
competitive freight rates, thus saving valuable foreign exchange for the country
and in the process also providing cargo support to Indian vessels. The policy of
buying FOB and selling CAF/CIF is in the national interest and Transchart should
continue. There is, however, considerable scope for the computerisation of the
operations of Transchart and this could result in a reduction in the staff strength.
This exercise should be carried out in six months.

4.
22.

Ship Building and Ship Repair

The Ministry of Shipping is the nodal ministry for ship building and

repair industries, fishing vessel industry and floating craft industry. There are 28
established shipyards in the country including 19 private sector shipyards. Of the
remaining 9 shipyards, 7 are in the central public sector and 2 under the State
sector. Of the 7 central public sector undertakings the following four are under
the administrative control of the Ministry of Shipping, and the remaining three are
under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence:

I. Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Visakhapatnam

II. Cochin Shipyard Limited, Cochin
III. Hoogly Dock and Port Engineers Limited, Calcutta
IV. Central Inland Water Transport Corporation, Calcutta

11

23.

India has no comparative advantage in ship building. The bulk of the

steel and other components, including paints, required for ship building are
imported. In spite of efforts to modernise the technology used, ship building in
India is not world class and productivity is low. The delivery time in the Indian
shipyards is long as compared to shipyards elsewhere in the world. No foreign
shipping company ever comes to an Indian shipyard for building vessels. The
GOI provides a subsidy of 30 per cent on ocean going vessels ordered on Indian
shipyards and also an interest differential support up to 5 per cent to Indian
shipping companies which raise finances from an Indian financial institution for
ordering a ship on an Indian shipyard. Availing of this subsidy and with some
pressure from the government, SCI has placed orders for bulk carriers with HSL
and CSL. At the instance of the ministry, major ports also place orders on public
sector shipyards for the construction of tugs, vessels, etc. on a nomination basis.
There is little economic or strategic justification for providing the subsidy for
building ships of the sizes and classes where our yards do not have a
comparative advantage. What is important is that ships should be owned by an
Indian company, and fly the Indian flag.

The ship building subsidy and the

interest differential support should be provided only when a yard, quoting on the
basis of the subsidy, wins the order against competitive bids.
24.

India, however, is very well placed geographically from the point of

view of ship repairs, and both HSL and CSL and other private sector shipyards
have been making profits from ship repairs. Their turnover from ship repair has
steadily gone up.

Shipyards should become viable by courting orders for

construction of vessels on a competitive basis and by strengthening their ship

repair activities.
HSL: HSL, which was taken over by the GOI in 1952 has not been a profitable
venture. Financial results for the last four years are as under:

12

(Rs. In crore)
YEAR

TURNOVER

PROFIT/LOSS (-)

1997-98

104.99

(-) 62.19

1998-99

169.99

(-) 29.67

1999-2000

207.00

(-) 31.60

2000-2001

205.00

(-) 38.89

Accumulated losses of the company up to 31.3.2000 are Rs.1071.5 crore against

a paid up capital of Rs.101.81 crore. Had it been a manufacturing company, it
would have by now been referred to the BIFR. Given the location of the yard and
the facilities for ship building and ship repairs that it has acquired with substantial
government support (investment of Rs.251.16 crore up to 31.3.2000) efforts
should be made to secure a strategic partner for the company and disinvest GOI
holdings.

CSL: CSL which was incorporated in 1972 on the other hand is a profit making
company. It has made a net profit of Rs.39 crore in 1999-2000. The profits have
come largely from ship repair. There is no strategic or commercial rationale for
continuing CSL in the public sector. The company should be privatised as soon
as possible.
HDPE:

HDPE which is one of the oldest shipyards in India is consistently

suffering losses due to old and dilapidated machinery, low productivity, non
availability of building space and working capital and more importantly lack of
orders. The net worth of the company has been negative since 1989-90 and this
company also would have been referred to BIFR had it been a manufacturing
concern. Attempts made so far for the revival of the company in the short term
have failed and in the circumstances, government appears to have no proposals
to put together a long term revival plan. The company has valuable land in
Calcutta and should be sold as real estate and for whatever the assets can
obtain.

13

CIWTC:

The principal activities of CIWTC are transportation of cargo in the

inland water ways in the country, and between India and Bangladesh.

In

addition, it provides services in the areas of construction and repairs of small and
medium sized IWT/coastal vessels and repair of ocean going vessels.

The

company has an accumulated net loss of Rs.578.57 crore against a paid up

capital of Rs.108.43 crore. The ship building activity and ship repair activities of
this company have not been profitable due to a shortfall in orders and non
availability of working capital. CIWTC has not been in a position to compete with
private sector shipyards making similar sized vessels. The ship building and
repair activity of this company should be closed, and the assets disposed of. The
riverine operations of the company have been dealt with separately under Inland
Water Transportation.

25.

The Ministry has a Ship Building and Ship Repair (SBR Wing) to

advise on matters relating to development facilities for ship building and ship
repair, fishing trawlers and ancillary development. The focus of the SBR Wing
has been on the development of ancillaries used in ship building and import
substitution. With ship building and ship repairs carried out by professionally run
shipyards, both in the public and private sector, and with ancillary development
taking place in a liberalised economy there is no case for the continuance of the
SBR wing. Development activities relating to ship building and ship repair should
be best left to the yards themselves who have a much better awareness and
understanding of the technology advances in the sector than the ministry.

5.
26.

National Ship Design and Research Centre

NSDRC was set up as a registered society under the administrative

control of the ministry to provide support to the Indian ship building industry in the
field of development, design and research, ocean/water transport economies,
ship management and operation of vessels etc. NSRDC which has been
receiving some marginal financial support from the government should be

14

encouraged to run on commercial lines and become totally self-sufficient. There

is no need for the centre to remain under the administrative control of the
ministry.

6.
27.

Light Houses
Department of Lighthouses and Lightships in the Ministry of Shipping is

headed by a Director General. The department provides aids to navigation in the

harbours/coastal/oceanic phases of navigation to mariners sailing in Indian
waters. The Indian coastline is divided into 6 districts/regions and each district is
headed by a Director supported by technical and ministerial staff.

The

Department of Lighthouse earns light dues from ships entering or leaving Indian
ports and the light dues collected in the last three years are as under;
(Rs. In crore)
1997-98

79.39

1998-99

78.48

1999-2000

71.17

2000-01 (Projection)

80.00

The question whether the establishment and operation of lighthouses and

other navigational aids can be privatised with government or an independent
regulator ensuring standard and quality should be examined.

7.
28.

Maritime Authority
With ports eventually corporatised, conservancy functions in various

ports, including minor ports, should be exercised by the government or an

independent regulator; conservancy cannot be left to private port companines.
A Maritime Authority should be set up to oversee and regulate conservancy
functions in the major and minor ports and exercise all the functions of the DG,

15

Shipping and also of the DG Lighthouses. The merger of all the regulatory
functions relating to maritime matters would help to bring about a focussed and
coordinated approach to port and maritime safety. The Maritime Authority should
have a member in charge of ports, a member in charge of shipping, a member in
charge of lighthouses and a member, finance and be headed by one of them with
the rank of an additional secretary. With the setting up of such a Maritime
Authority, the Tariff Authority for Major Ports set up in 1997 to determine port
tariff could be wound up and the Maritime Authority empowered to look into
cartelisation/monopoly issues and arbitrary fixation of tariffs by ports/shipping
lines whenever such practices or tariff orders are disputed by users or to fix tariff,
where necessary. The creation of the Maritime Authority need not result in the
creation of additional posts as it would be staffed by the merger of DG, Shipping,
DG, Llighthouses and TAMP. The member in charge of ports and the supporting
staff can be drawn from the ports. With the merger of all the regulatory functions
pertaining to maritime matters it should be possible to avoid overlap and
rationalise staff. The Maritime Authority can also be made to meet its costs
through the levy of a conservancy cess on all ports and through fees for other
services rendered by the Authority.

8.
29.

Inland Water Transport

The Ministry of Shipping is responsible for the development of inland

water transport in the country and in particular for the development of waterways
declared as national waterways. The ministry also makes available assistance to
the State Governments for developing inland waterways.

The following

waterways have so far been declared as national waterways: Allahabad-Haldia stretch (1620 kms.) of the Ganga-Bharigathi-Hooghly river
system in October 1986 as National Waterway No. 1 (NW-1).
Sadiya-Dhubri stretch (891 kms.) of the Brahamputra river in September,
1988 as National Waterway No.2 (NW-2).

16

 Kottapuram-Kollam Stretch (168 kms.) of the West Coast Canal along with
Champakara Cancal (23 kms.) and Udyogmandal Canal (14 kms.) in
February, 1993 as National Waterway No.3 (NW-3).

30.

Inland Waterways Authority of India was set up in 1986 under the

Inland Waterways Authority of India Act for developing and regulating inland
waterways for the purpose of shipping and navigation. The IWAI is headed by an
officer in the rank of a Secretary to the Government and has an officer of the rank
of an Additional Secretary as its Vice Chairman.
31.

Of all modes of transport, inland water transport is the most fuel

efficient, economical and environmental friendly mode. In other countries like

USA, China, Netherlands, Germany etc. where IWT has been given due
importance and encouragement, IWT has a substantial share in the inland
transport network. In India, however, this sector has been neglected and today
carries less than 1 per cent of the total inland freight as compared to 14 per cent
in the USA, 46 per cent in Netherlands and 9 per cent in China. This is largely
due to inadequate width and depth in the waterways and lack of infrastructure
facilities like, cargo handling terminals, navigational aids and IWT fleet. The
IWAI has now accorded priority to making national waterways No.1 navigable
through the year by ensuring a least available depth (LAD) of two metres and by
providing navigational aids and terminal facilities. On the other two waterways,
conservancy works are being carried out and some progress is being made in
the provision of navigational aids and terminals. However, the kind of importance
that has been given to highway development through the Prime Ministers
National Highway Programme has not been given to the development of national
waterways and IWT. Annual funds are provided under the Plan on the basis of
specific schemes approved and not on the basis of a programme for
development of a corridor of national waterways. The financial power of the IWAI
has been increased to Rs. 15 crore but IWAI has not been empowered like the
NHAI to take up works as necessary to make national waterways fully navigable,
and to strengthen cargo handling facilities within an overall project approval. In

17

the national waterways as in the case of the national highways, a corridor

approach is necessary. An integrated approach has also not been put in place to
integrate inland water transportation with the national highway network and the
rail network and this has become all the more difficult with responsibilities for
roads and inland water transport/coastal shipping being assigned to different
ministries.
32.

Given the fact that India has an inland water network of 14,500 kms.

and a coast line of 6500 kms, coastal shipping and IWT would very considerably
reduce the stress on the road and rail network. The government must accord the
highest priority to the IWTs and formulate a National Waterway Development
Programme on the lines of the NHDP and empower the IWAI by broadening its
Board by including Secretary, Expenditure, Secretary, Planning, etc. to take all
investment decisions relating to an approved waterway in order to make it
navigable. The government has in January, 2001 announced an Inland Water
Transport Policy. The policy provides for a package of fiscal and financial
incentives to attract private investment in the development and operation of
national waterways. However, private investment will not flow into IWT sector
unless the IWAI makes one corridor in a waterway navigable through the year,
creates cargo handling facilities and demonstrates that cargo can be moved in
the corridor in a time bound manner.

9.
33.

Coastal Shipping
Coastal shipping in India is still not adequately exploited and has

tremendous potential to grow.

Coastal shipping has not developed in India

largely due to the following reasons:

Customs clearance requirements in the major ports.
High berthing and cargo handling charges as for ocean going
vessels.

18

 Lack of designated minor ports with adequate draft for handling

coastal vessels.
Lack of designated ports for coastal shipping with adequate
connectivity to the hinterland and the road network.
Lack of fiscal and financial incentives to make costal shipping
viable.
Although, some of these issues have been addressed, the focus of port and
shipping policies in the future should be to remove all constraints on the growth
of coastal shipping as this would very considerably ease the pressure on road
and rail and reduce the investment requirements for surface transport.

10.

General

34.

With the corporatisation of ports the setting up of a Maritime Authority

to exercise the statutory powers of DG, Shipping and to ensure conservancy in

ports and manage light houses, with the disinvestment of Shipping Corporation of
India, the shipyards and other PSUs in the Ministry and with the abolition of the
Development and the SBR Wings in the ministry, the Ministrys work would get
reduced very considerably. The focus of the Ministry should be on policies to
attract private investment in port development, to encourage coastal shipping
and inland water transportation to encourage multi-modal transport, to facilitate
the growth of inland shipping tonnage, and administer the laws assigned to the
Ministry.
35.

Thereafter, it should suffice for the ministry to have one Joint Secretary

with two Deputy Secretaries to look after all port related matters and one Joint
Secretary with one Deputy Secretary to look after residual shipping matters and
inland water transport. Transchart should continue although its staff strength
should be reviewed.

With the reduction in the workload of the Ministry of

Shipping and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways the possibility of
combining the two ministries once again into a Ministry of Surface Transport

19

should be considered so that an integrated approach can be brought to bear on

all modes of surface transport, barring the railways.
36.

Based on the discussion in the foregoing paragraphs, a statement

showing the reduction in the number of posts at the level of Section Officer an
above, is appended at Annex 7. The support level posts in the Ministry may also
be reduced correspondingly after an intensive review of the revised workload.

20

Summary of Recommendations
1.

Introduction of VRS in all major ports and the decision to roll back the
retirement age form 60 to 58, has helped reduce the staff strength by
16000 persons. However, the staff strength Indian ports is still very
high and the schemes should be perused actively to bring down the
strength to normative levels.

2.

Government should consider setting up port companies to which all the

commercial facilities like berths and cargo handling equipment could
be leased out, with the Port Trust retaining only the ownership of the
land and water fronts. These port companies should be privatised at
the earliest, preferably through public offering.

3.

The post of Development Advisor and the Development Wing in the

Ministry could be abolished.

4.

There is no rationale for retaining the Dredging Corporation of India

(DCI) s a public sector undertaking and it should be privatised.

5.

The Minor Ports Survey Organisation which is functioning under the

Ministry should be corporatised or made to operate on commercial
lines or attached to the Office of the Chief Hydrographer to the GOI.

6.

The Andaman and Lakshadweep Harbour works should either be

handed over to the concerned UT government or merged with the
Calcutta/Chennai Port Trust and Cochin Port Trust.

7.

Licensing of ship acquisition should be abolished and the Government

should leave it to DG, Shipping to ensure the safety and sea
worthiness of a ship.

8.

The Indian Institute of Maritime Studies which is proposed to be set up

under the Societies Registration Act, to run the four institutes, namely,
(I) Training Ship Chanakaya, (II) Marine Engineering and Research
Institute, Mumbai, (III) Marine Engineering and Research Institute,
Calcutta and (IV) LBS College of Advance Maritime Study and
21

Research, Mumbai; should be given status of a deemed university or

of an IIT and should become totally autonomous.
9.

SCI is a candidate for disinvestment and the disinvestment should be

completed.

10.

Corporatisation of the operations of Transchart would result in a

reduction in the staff strength. This exercise should be carried out in
six months.

11.

Efforts should be made to secure a strategic partner for HSL, which is

a loss making company and disinvest GOI holding.

12.

There is no strategic or commercial rationale for continuing CSL in the

public sector. The company should be privatised as soon as possible.

13.

HDPE has valuable land in Calcutta and it should be sold as real

estate.

14.

The ship building and repair activity of CIWTC should be closed and
the assets disposed of.

15.

With the ship building and ship repairs carried out by professionally run
shipyards, both in the public and private sector, and with ancillary
development taking place in a liberalised economy, there is no case for
the continuance of the SBR Wing. Development activities relating to
ship building and ship repair should be best left to the yards
themselves who have a much better awareness and understanding of
the technology advances in the sector than the ministry.

16.

NSDRC need not remain under the administrative control of the

ministry.

17.

The matter whether the establishment and operation of lighthouses

and other navigational aids can be privatised with government or an
independent, regulator ensuring standard and quality, should be
examined.

18.

A Maritime Authority should be set up to oversee and regulate

conservancy functions in the major and minor ports and exercise all
the functions of the DG, Shipping and also of the DG, Lighthouses.

22

The Maritime Authority should have a member in charge of the ports, a

member in charge of shipping, a member in charge of lighthouses and
a member, finance and be headed by one of them with the rank of an
additional secretary. Consequently, the tariff authority of major ports
could be wound up and the maritime authority empowered to look into
cartelisation/monopoly issues and arbitrary fixation of tariffs by
ports/shipping lines where necessary. With the setting up of Maritime
Authority, it should be sufficient for one J.S. level officer in the Ministry
assisted by one or two Deputy Secretaries to look after port policy,
international protocols and coastal shipping.
19.

Government must accord the highest priority to the Inland Water

Transport

and

formulate

National

Waterways

Development

Programme on the lines of the NHDP and empower the IWAI by

broadening its Board by including Secretary, Expenditure, Secretary,
Planning etc. to take all investment decisions relating to an approved
waterway in order to make it navigable.
20.

With the corporatisation of ports the setting up of a Maritime Authority

to exercise the statutory powers of DG, Shipping and to ensure
conservancy in ports and manage light houses, with the disinvestment
of Shipping Corporation of India, the shipyards and other PSUs in the
Ministry and with the abolition of the Development and the SBR Wings
in the ministry, the Ministrys work would get reduced very
considerably.

21.

It should be sufficient for the ministry to have on JS with two Deputy

Secretaries to look after all port related matters and one Joint
Secretary with one Deputy Secretary to look after residual shipping
matters and inland water transport.

Transchart should continue

although its staff strength should be reviewed. With the reduction in

the workload of the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Road
Transport and Highways the possibility of combining the two ministries
once again into a Ministry of Surface Transport should be considered

23

so that an integrated approach can be brought to bear on all modes of

surface transport, barring the railways.

24

Annex 1
SUBJECTS ALLOCATED TO THE MINISTRY OF SHIPPING
(POT PARIVAHAN MANTRALAYA)

I.
The following subjects which fall within list 1 of the Seventh
Schedule to the Constitution of India:
1.

Maritime shipping and navigation; provision of education and training,

training for the mercantile marine.

2.

Lighthouses and lightships.

3.

Administration of the Indian Ports Act, 1908, (15 of 1908) and the Major
Port Trusts Act, 1963 (38 of 1963) and ports declared as major ports.

4.

Shipping and navigation including carriage of passengers and goods on

inland waterways declared by Parliament by law to be national waterways
as regards mechanically propelled vessels, the rule of the road on such
waterways.

5.

Ship-building and ship-repair industry.

6.

Fishing vessels industry.

7.

Floating craft industry.

II.

IN RESPECT OF THE UNION TERRITORIES:

8.

Inland waterways and traffic thereon.

III.

IN RESPECT OF THE UNION TERRITOIRES OF THE ANDAMAN AND

NICOBAR ISLANDS AND THE LAKSHADWEEP:

9.

Organisation and maintenance of mainland-islands and inter-island

shipping services.

V.

OTHER SUBJECTS WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN INCLUDED UNDER THE

PREVIOUS PARTS

10. Legislation relating to shipping and navigation on inland waterways as

regards mechanically propelled vessels and the carriage of passengers
and goods on inland waterways.
25

11.

Promotion of Transport Cooperatives in the field of inland water transport.

12.

Legislation relating to and coordination of the development of minor and

major ports.
Administration of the Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1948
(9 of 1948) and the Schemes framed thereunder other than the Dock
Workers (Safety, Health and Welfare) Scheme, 1961.
To make shipping arrangements for and on behalf of the Government of
India/Public Sector Undertakings/State Governments/State Government
Public Sector Undertakings and autonomous bodies in respect of import of
cargo on FOB/FAS and export on C&F/CIF basis.
Formulation of the privatisation policy in the infrastructure areas of ports,
shipping and inland waterways.
Development of Township of Gandhidham.

13.

14.

15.
16.

26

Annex 2
MINISTRY OF SHIPPING (FUNCTIONAL)
Minister (Shipping)

MOS (Shipping)

Secretary (Shipping)

JS (Shipping)

Shipping
Development, Public
Sector
Shipping
Companies
and
shipyards,
Mercantile
Marine
Admn. & training
Light Houses & Light
Ships,
Implementation
of
Official
Language,
Policy,
Translation
Work form English to
Hindi & Vice Vasa
Technical Advice on
ship building and
ship repair inland
Waterways

JS (Ports)

Ports
Development
, Ports
Establishme
nt, Ports
Traffic, Ports
Labour
including
wage
revision of all
officers and
employees of
Port Trusts
and DLBs
and
Parliament
work

Port trust at
Mumbai,
Calcutta,
Cochin, Kandla,
JNPT,
Mormugao,
New
Mongalore,
Vizag, Chennai,
Tuticorin,
Paradip

1. DG(S)
2. DG(LL)

1. Seamans Provident
Funds Organisation
2. National ship design
& research centre
3. Inland Waterways
Authority of India

Development
Adviser
(Ports)

Technical advise
on development of
port etc.

Chief
Controller of
Chartering

FA *

Financial
Advise
EDP cell

Shipping
arrangement
for block &
liner cargo
on behalf of
all Govt.
Deptts.
Undertaking
projects etc.

CCA

Accounts
budget &
Work study

1. Andaman
Lakshadweep
Harbour Works
2. Minor ports
survey orgn.
3. Dock labour
boards at
Chennai, Calcutta,
Vizag, & Kandla
ports.

1. SCI Ltd
2. HS Ltd.
3. CS Ltd
4. HDPE
Ltd.
5. CIWTC

JS
(Admn,
Coordin
ation
and
CVO

Advisor *
(Transport
Research)

Admn
Coord. &
Public
relation
Parliament
work.
O&M
Public
grievances
matters
Vigilance

Collection
compilation and
dissemination
of statistics of
transport
economic
statistical
analysis of data
for policy
planning
transport
coordination
etc.

1. Traffic
authority for
major ports
(TAMP)
2. Dredging
Corpn. Of India
3. National
Instt. of ports
management

* Common to this Ministry and M/o RT&H

27

Annex 3
Staff Strength of Ministry of Shipping

Group A

Sanctioned posts 51

Secretary
DA (Ports)
Joint Secretary
C.C.C.
DS/Dir
Dy.CC
Sr. PPS
Director(Civ./Mech)
C.O.

Group B

1
1
2
1
6
1
1
4
4

A.C.O.
US
PPS
EE(SBR)
Dy. Dir(Civ./Mech)
DD (OL)
A.O.
Asst.Dir(SBR)

Sanctioned posts 112

DO/SO
JA
TO
AD(Civ./Mech)
AD(OL)

26
1
5
2
1

Chief D/Man
PS
PA
Asstt.

Vacant posts 6

8
10
1
1
6
1
2
1

DA (Ports)
A.C.O.
EE(SBR)
DD(Civ./Mech)

1
1
1
3

Vacant posts 1

3 Asstt.
9
24
41

Group C

Sanctioned posts 104

Vacant posts 5

Group D

Sanctioned posts 62

Vacant posts 1

Total

Sanctioned posts 329

Vacant posts 13

28

Annex 4
Performance of major ports during 1999-00 and 2000-01
(million tonnes)

Port

POL

Coal

Iron Ore

Fertilisers &
FRM
99-00
0001

99-00

00-01

9900

00-01

99-00

00-01

CDS

5.62

3.66

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.07

HDC

10.86

10.55

6.51

7,66

0.00

0.26

Chennai

10.05

8.32

9.65

12.20

6.19

Cochin

9.95

9.67

0.16

0.18

JNP

1.41

1.80

0.00

Kandla

34.61

25.01

MoPT

1.14

1.09

Mumbai

16.79

NMPT

Paradip

Containers

Other Cargo

Total

%
Change

99-00

0001

9900

0001

99-00

00-01

2.12

2.01

2.50

1.48

10.31

7.15

-30.6

0.47

0.66

0.43

0.79

2.45

2.89

20.71

22.81

10.1

6.82

1.16

0.91

3.98

5.99

6.41

6.98

37.44

41.22

10

0.00

0.00

0.41

0.48

1.25

1.79

1.03

1.00

12.80

13.12

2.5

0.00

0.13

0.02

0.79

0.39

10.68

14.2
8

1.96

2.08

14.97

18.57

24.0

0.83

0.62

0.00

0.00

1.52

0.73

1.13

1.29

8.21

9.09

46.30

36.74

-20.6

0.68

1.39

14.83

15.66

0.11

0.12

0.05

0.04

1.41

1.32

18.23

19.62

7.7

15.63

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.89

0.70

6.16

4.36

6.68

6.35

30.41

27.03

-11.1

8.32

9.96

0.12

0.22

6.39

5.11

0.19

0.21

0.02

2.59

2.38

17.61

17.90

1.6

2.22

2.22

7.45

9.90

1.03

2.99

0.64

2.65

2.30

2.16

13.64

19.90

45.9

Vizag

15.29

18.34

8.11

10.21

7.52

9.25

2.98

1.61

0.26

0,28

5.35

5.00

39.51

44.69

13.1

Tuticorin

0.46

0.40

3.58

5.60

0.00

0.00

0.87

0.75

1.63

1.57

3.45

3.97

9.99

12.29

13.0

Total

116.71

106.63

37.0
9

47.97

36.09

40.11

10.10

9.21

27.69

32.4
2

44.2
4

44.6
4

217.92

281.03

3.3

FINANCIAL RESULTS
Rs. In crore

Port

Operating
Income
990000
01

Operating
Expenditure
990000
01

Fin & Misc.

Income
990000
01

Fin & Misc.

Expenditure
990000
01

Net Surplus

%
Change

9900

00-01

CPT

520 *

533*

619

707

50

43

212

260

-261

-391

-49.8

Ch PT

339

397

267

304

121

105

47

152

146

46

-68.5

CoPT

180

186

147

153

23

20

54

83

-30

-1600

JNPT

368

324

227

217

108

115

115

129

134

93

-30.6

KPT

225

175

126

116

144

145

29

41

214

163

-23.8

29

MoPT

134

161

104

137

26

50

33

53

23

21

-8.7

MbPT

533

500

423

567

101

74

128

496

83

-489

-689.2

NMPT

171

173

95

110

15

13

36

36

55

40

-27.3

PPT

184

243

123

139

21

11

35

40

47

75

59.6

VPT

308

340

201

250

71

50

146

110

32

30

-6.3

TPT

90

111

52

58

12

14

13

32

37

35

-5.4

Total

3052

3143

2384

2758

692

640

848

1432

512

-407

-179.5

* The amount of dredging subsidy not included.

30

Annex 5

Performance of DCI for the last five years

(Unless otherwise indicated, figures are in Rupees Million)
1996-97
1

2.

3.
4.

5.
6.

7.
8.
9.

Invested Capital
a. Paid up capital
b. Long Term
borrowing
Capital Employed
a. Net Block
b. Working Capital
Total
Turnover
No. of Employees
a. Floating
b. Shore
c. Total
Value added per
employee
No. of Dredgers
a. Trailer Dredgers
b. Cutter Dredgers
c. Inland Dredgers
Classification
Capacity Utilisation
(%)
MOU Rating

Share Price
Highest (Rs)
Lowest (Rs)
11. EPS (Rs)
12. Dividend (%)

1997-98

1998-99

1999-00

280.00
1420.00

280.00
1233.40

280.00
1508.30

280.00
1155.40

280.00
2269.00

1265.30
2370.20
3635.50
2426.70

1083.30
2510.70
3594.00
2481.90

966.60
2528.70
3495.30
2562.30

1592.90
2124.30
3717.20
3415.30

3178.80
2068.70
5247.50
4352.30

785
541
1329
1.52

757
536
1293
1.64

710
542
1252
1.77

678
541
1219
2.40

640
416
1056
2.51

7
2
3

7
2
3

7
2
3

9
2
Mini Ratna

98

98

100

8
2
3*
Mini
Ratna
97

Excellent

Excellent Excellent Excellent

2000-01

101
Excellent
(anticipated)

10

12.17
25

102
2
15.12
33

126
54
14.94
33

270
63
25.95
50

126
57
39.41

31

Annex 6

GROWTH OF INDIAN
TONNAGE
80

Coastal
Overseas
Total

60
50
40
30
20
10

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

1994

1993

1992

1991

1981

1971

0
1961

In lakhs of tonnes

70

Years

32

Annex 7
Sl.
No.

Name of the Post

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23

Secretary
D.A.(Ports)
Joint Secretary
C.C.C.
DS/Director
Dy. CC
Sr. PPS
Dir (Civil/Mech)
C.O.
A.C.O.
U.S.
PPS
E.E. (SBR)
Dy. Dir (Civil/Mech.)
Dy.Dir (OL)
Accounts Officer
Asstt. Dir. (SBR)
Jr. Analyst
T.O.
SO/DO
Asstt Dir. (Civil/Mech.)
Asstt.Dir. (OL)
Chief D/Man
Total

Sanctioned
Posts

Posts to be
retained

Posts to be
abolished

1
1
2
1
6
1
1
4
4
8
10
1
1
6
1
2
1
1
5
26
2
1
3

2
1
4
1
4*
8*
6
1
1
1
5
14
-

1
1
2
1
4
4
1
6
1
1
1
12
2
1
3

89

48

41

Two posts of CO and 4 posts of ACO could be abolished wh en

chartering is fully computerised.

33

PART III

RATIONALISATION
OF THE
FUNCTIONS, ACTIVITIES AND
STRUCTURE OF THE
MINISTRY OF
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

Rationalisation of the functions, Activities and

Structure of the
Ministry of Human Resource Development

Table of Contents
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................ 1
a. Department of Elementary Education & Literacy ................................................................1
b. Department of Secondary Education & Higher Education...................................................2
c. Department of Women & Child Development .....................................................................7

1.

Department of Elementary Education and Literacy ................................................. 8

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.

Programmes .....................................................................................................................10
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.....................................................................................................10
Non Formal Education ......................................................................................................10
National Programme for Nutritional Support to Primary Education....................................11
Literacy.............................................................................................................................12
Institutions........................................................................................................................13
a. National Institute of Adult Education and Directorate of Adult Education Staff Strength ........13
b. Bal Bhawan ....................................................................................................................14
G. Implications for staff strength.............................................................................................14

2.

Department of Secondary Education and Higher Education ................................. 15

A. Advisory Cadre .................................................................................................................17

B. Non-teaching staff in academic institutions .......................................................................18
C. Fees and Scholarships .....................................................................................................18
D. Schemes for science education, environment education and yoga education...................21
E. Central Hindi Directorate, Kendriya Hindi Sangathan and Commission for scientific and
technical terminology........................................................................................................22
F. A scheme for financial assistance for appointment and training of Hindi teachers in nonHindi speaking States.......................................................................................................22
G. The scheme for modern Indian language teachers...........................................................22
H. Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad ......................................23
I. Veda Vidya Pratishthan, Ujjain ..........................................................................................23
J. National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT) ........................................25
K. University Grants Commission(UGC)................................................................................26
L. Implications for staff strength............................................................................................29

3.
A.
B.
C.
D.

Department of Women & Child Development........................................................ 31

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) ................................................................31
Early Childhood Education Scheme..................................................................................31
Central Social Welfare Board............................................................................................33
Implications for staff strength............................................................................................34

Annex-I.......................................................................................................................... 35
Annex-II......................................................................................................................... 37
Annex-III........................................................................................................................ 45

Rationalisation of the functions, activities and

Structures of the
Ministry of Human Resource Development

Executive Summary
a.
1.

Department of Elementary Education & Literacy

Enunciation of clear guidelines for sharing of responsibilities as between

the Central and State Governments would help to secure greater harmonisation
of the efforts in this crucial sector. Central intervention should be limited to
certain important, crucial areas. In the school education programmes Central
support should be limited to creation/strengthening of infrastructure facilities, with
the States taking care of the recurring expenditure stream.
2.

Considering that the problem is more in regard to retention rate in schools

and levels of learning rather than enrolment, the coeducational non-formal

education centres need to be phased out except in those areas where the
problem of non-enrolment still persists. The resources so saved should be used
for strengthening the schools system. In the NFE programme, greater emphasis
could be given to implementation through voluntary agencies.
3.

The national programme for nutritional support to primary education is an

excellent programme, which needs to cover the whole country. The benefits of
this programme in regard to improved health of the children and their mental
development would be more if cooked or ready-to-eat food is given to the
children. Central responsibility under this programme should be limited to the
cost of foodgrains with the state governments taking the responsibility for the
delivery, including processing/cooking of foodgrains.

Those States, which do

not now arrange to supply cooked or ready-to-eat food, should be encouraged to

switch over to this system through a graded system of incentives.
4.

Although there has been a very welcome improvement in the literacy rate

during past decade, 37% of the population in the age group below 35 years is still
illiterate. Therefore the literacy programme will have to be continued with vigour
for many years to come.

It is recommended that the content of literacy

programme would need continuous strengthening. The post literacy programme

needs even more strengthening in the view of the less than sharp focus and less
than total coverage nationally at present.
5.

The integration of implementation at the village/habitation level of the

various types of village level centres like Continuing Education Centres, Jan
Shiksha Sansthans, Non Formal Education Centres and Mahila Samakhya
Centres would help to optimise the use of funds allocated for such purposes.
This applies also to the village level centres being presently run under some of
the programmes of Department of Women & Child Development and of
Department of Family Welfare.

It is suggested that Continuing Education

Centres could be accepted as the delivery point for all these programmes.
6.

National Institute of Adult Education has very meagre faculty and

academic resources. Functionally too the Directorate of Adult Education is well

provided and is adequate to support the programme of literacy. The National
Institute of Adult Education should therefore be wound up.

1.

b.
Department of Secondary Education & Higher Education
Although within the education sector overriding priority needs to be

continued for elementary education higher education and technical education are
also important. This is because educated and skilled manpower for national
system becomes available from the products of higher education and technical
education. Therefore for efficiency and productivity in the national system, the
higher and technical education sectors need to be strengthened in the coming
years.

These sectors will also need to be continuously expanded because

participation rate in India in higher education is only about 5% compared to about

25% in developed countries.
2.

While considering continuation of existing schemes and programmes, it

should be kept in mind that small schemes with outlay of a few crores of rupees
per year do not serve much purpose, as under these schemes assistance cannot
be made available to many States/Institutions. Under such schemes approvals
also become highly subjective. Therefore only such schemes which can have an

outlay large enough to be able to assist institutions in most parts of the country
should be continued.
3.

Instead of central schemes seeking to extend assistance for too many

activities, however meritorious these may be, an understanding and convention

needs to be developed so that central assistance is limited to either one time
assistance for setting up or upgrading existing facilities or for infrastructure
improvement with state governments or private institutions, taking responsibility
for the recurring expenditure after the initial phase is over.
4.

The objective of education department having in-house academic

expertise is highly desirable but the present arrangement of seeking to ensure

this by having an advisory cadre does not serve the objective because even
good officials lose touch with academic world after a few years in the Ministry.
This objective will be much better served by creating about half a dozen positions
at the level of professors and taking such persons on deputation on tenure basis
so that they provide academic expertise to the Department while they are in the
Department and they go back to their parent institution after the tenure before
they become out of date. With such an arrangement in place, the advisory cadre
could be phased out by stopping future recruitment and extending a voluntary
retirement scheme option to existing incumbents.
5.

The proportion of non-academic staff in academic institutions is too high

by any standards.

It is not only pre empts scare resources but also often

becomes hindrance in smooth functioning of the organisation.

It is

recommended that education department should divide existing academic

institutions in categories depending on the support services such institutions
provide and fix ratio of non-academic staff to academic staff in the range of 1:1.5
to 1:2. Such ratio should be attained within next few years by asking concerned
academic institutions to abolish 75% of non-academic positions falling vacant in
a year till the desired ratio is achieved. The remaining 25% positions could be
allowed to be filled up at the discretion of head of the institution so that vacancy
in essential positions does not disrupt work.

Maintenance grant to such

institutions should be reduced to the extent of positions abolished as above, after

allowing these institutions to retain a part of the savings for being used for
important programmes.
6.

The issues relating to principles governing determination of grant-in-aid,

raising fees in academic institution to meaningful level and instituting a

meaningful scheme of freeships and scholarships have to be decided and
implemented in an overall and holistic manner because one impacts on the other.
The principles governing determination of grant-in-aid need urgent revision, the
fees in academic institutions need to be revised to meaningful levels and at the
same time a sizeable number of freeships and scholarships need to be instituted
for encouraging meritorious students and for enabling students from poor families
to continue to avail of higher education.
7.

The scheme of science education should be modified to allow only one

time assistance to a secondary or higher secondary education schools with

recurring assistance being left to be provided by the concerned state
government. The schemes of environment education and yoga education are
too small to be meaningful and these should be terminated.
8.

Given the developments and the good work done for development and

propagation of Hindi during the preceding five decades the Central Hindi
Directorate, Kendriya Hindi Sansthan and Commission for Scientific and
Technical Terminology need to be merged as one body.
9.

The scheme for financial assistance for appointment and training of Hindi

teachers in non-Hindi speaking states and scheme for modern Indian language
teachers do not prima facie seem to be needed now with good arrangements for
teaching languages having been made in schools in most states.

The

Department should evaluate continued usefulness of these schemes and

consider whether these need to be continued.
10.

The Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad need

not any longer be maintained and funded fully by the government of India. It is
recommended that the budget support for this institution be gradually reduced,
with the state government or a suitable private organisation taken an increasing
role in the management and financing of this institution.

11.

The Veda Vidya Pratishthan, Ujjain has not been able to develop even

after 14 years and its work remains substantially undeveloped. Keeping in view
the large number of Sanskrit Departments in the Universities and very good
standard of many institutions are promoting learning of Sanskrit in the country,
this institution could be wound up.
12.

The scheme for scholarships to students studying Sanskrit in High/Higher

Secondary Schools and scheme for grant to state government for promotion of
Sanskrit are too small to have any impact at the national level. The quantum of
scholarships is also grossly insufficient. These schemes do not seem to be
performing any meaningful function.

The Department should evaluate the

usefulness of these schemes and whether these need to be continued.

13.

The National Scholarship Scheme, scholarship to students from non-Hindi

speaking states for post matric states in Hindi and scholarship at secondary
stage for talented children from rural areas do not appear meaningful in the
present context.

Under the first two schemes, the amount of scholarship is

grossly inadequate and disbursements are grossly delayed and the third scheme
has become redundant after the setting up of Navodaya Vidyalayas. These
schemes could be terminated.
14.

In NCERT, development and preparation of textbooks is a necessary

activity but publication of textbooks does not need to be taken up by the NCERT.
It puts a large burden of non-academic work on NCERT and distracts NCERT
from academic functioning. NCERT should therefore get its books printed and
published by outsourcing such work on the basis of royalty or fee for publication
of a specified number of textbooks.
15.

The proportion of non-academic staff in NCERT should be brought within

the limits recommended in this report for other academic institutions.

16.

The regional offices of NCERT are no longer required. These should be

abolished.
17.

The Indian Council of Social Science Research, Indian Council of

Philosophical Research and Indian Council of Historical Research has very

limited mandate and to that extent less than effective. In any case, it is best for

the government not to get involved in matters relating to history and philosophy.
It is recommended that either government should totally distance itself from the
Council for historical research and Council for Philosophical Research by making
these Councils totally autonomous or the government could consider integrating
all the three Councils so that a viable and powerful Council for supporting
research and studies in the overall field of social science comes into being.
18.

The UGC Secretariat, by its very nature of recruitment policy has

inadequate academic expertise. It is recommended that UGC should fill up about

a dozen senior level positions by inducting academics on deputation or tenure
basis so that they could provide necessary academic expertise to UGC while
they are with UGC and they go back to parent universities before they become
out of date.
19.

The responsibility for determining and disbursing maintenance grants to

Delhi colleges was entrusted to UGC for historical reasons. It distracts UGC
from acquiring a national perspective.

It is recommended that this function

should be transferred to a body to be designated by the state government of

Delhi, as is the practice in all other states.
20.

UGC has a huge number of programmes with very small outlays. Such

programmes do not have impact nationally and sanctions tend to be subjective.

It is suggested that UGC should reorganize its programme so that there are only
8 or 10 programmes each with an outlay of about Rs.50 crore or more. This will
enable assistance to be extended to most of the universities, which are eligible
for assistance and in an objective manner. It is also recommended that funding
for research programmes should be shifted from fellowships and block
assistance to university Departments to assistance for research projects, which
will allow better outcomes. The proportion of plan funds of UGC made available
for assistance to research projects would need to be increased. This will help
universities to regain primacy in research.
21.

When the work of UGC is reorganized as above, its staff strength could be

reduced by about 30%.

22.

The accreditation system in India has not developed. Both the UGC and

the university system have remained unenthusiastic about it. Accreditation is a

valuable guidance to parents, teachers, students and funding agencies about
quality of education in the institution. It is recommended that this should be
made applicable to all the universities and colleges with a sense of urgency. It is
also recommended that UGC assistance should be linked to grading during
accreditation so as to promote excellence in the system.

1.

c.
Department of Women & Child Development
The Scheme of Short Stay Homes and the Scheme of Working Women

Hostels have overlapping objectives and could be integrated and implemented as

one scheme.
2.

The Kishori Shakti Yojana, Swa Shakti Project and the Indira Mahila

Yojana could be merged into Integrated Women Empowerment Programme.

The continuing education centres of literacy programme could be the point of
delivery at village level for the village level programmes of Department of
Elementary Education, Department of Secondary Education and higher
education, Department of Women & Child Development and Department of
Family Welfare.
3.

The Central Social Welfare Board was set up in 1953 when the Ministry

did not have an extensive range of programme as at present. It does not make
for effectiveness and efficiency that both the Ministry and CSWD implement a
range of overlapping programmes. It is recommended that the CSWD should
focus more on opinion building and social mobilization for womens
empowerment. Accordingly, there does not any seem justification for CSWD to
maintain its regional offices. These could be wound up and the staff strength in
the head office reduced to about 50 to 75.
4.

In the Department, 1 post of Joint Secretary, 2 posts of Deputy

Secretaries and 4 sections could be declared surplus.

Rationalisation of the functions, activities and

Structures of the
Ministry of Human Resou rce Development

1.

Department of Elementary Education and Literacy

1.1

The Constitutional mandate in the field of elementary education flows from

Article 45 containing the Directive Principle that the State shall arrange free and
compulsory education to all children up to the age of 14 years. In the earlier
years, this was interpreted to mean that the primary responsibility for providing
elementary education vested with the State Governments.

As a consequence,

Central funding and programmes for elementary education remained minimal till
the 70s. This situation changed in 70s as a result of Constitutional Amendment
by which education was brought under the Concurrent List and it now figures at
item 25 in the Concurrent List. The Constitutional Amendment was followed by
the enunciation of the National Policy on Education in 1986, which triggered a
series of sizeable interventions by Government of India in the school sector,
specifically for elementary education sector like Operation Black Board, the
Scheme of Teacher Education and Non Formal Education.
1.2

The Department of Elementary Education looks after two extremely

important sectors, one, which would lead to universal elementary education, and
the other, which would lead to universal literacy.

In regard to universal

elementary education, of late, at least at the functional level, the emphasis has
been on achieving universal primary education first. Universal primary education
would necessarily imply, firstly universal enrolment of all children who attain the
school going age, secondly, retention of these children in schools for five years
so that they complete the primary stage and thirdly attainment of acceptable
standard of learning by these children at the end of five years of schooling. An
analysis of the present situation shows that the gross enrolment ratio in the
country as a whole is already more than 100 per cent though there are smaller
habitations and villages and of course individual families whose children still do
not get enrolled. However, the situation in regard to retention in schools for five
years and in regard to standard of learning is much poorer. The drop out rate is
8

still around 40 per cent and it is well known that standards of learning in Indian
schools generally do not compare favourably with the standards prevailing in
many other countries. In regard to literacy, notwithstanding the commendable
efforts in the 80s and 90s in reducing illiteracy, the literacy rate is still only 63 per
cent and this when the content of basic literacy is still quite modest. A literate
and educated population even if it is only up to elementary stage is an asset and
also an essential requirement not only for the national economy but for an orderly
society as well. Therefore, there is a strong case for continuing and if possible,
further strengthening Central intervention for supporting the efforts in elementary
education and universal literacy.
1.3

While looking at individual programmes, however, one needs to adopt

some rational guiding principle for sharing of responsibility between Central

Government and State Governments. This issue is relevant because after rightly
accepting the need of Central intervention in the school education and literacy
sectors, there has been a tendency for the Centre to intervene in most areas in
this sector. Such an approach sends a wrong message to the States, in that the
States in turn, tend to abdicate their responsibilities in this crucial task, and
leave it to the Centre to formulate suitable programmes and fully fund them.
There is evidence in terms of experience of the last two decades to support this
apprehension. Therefore, a guiding principle for limiting Central intervention to
some critically important areas would actually help in evolving a more viable and
useful partnership between Central Government and the State Governments for
the development of this sector. It is recommended that Central intervention in
the school education sector should be limited to assistance for strengthening and
creating infrastructure with the recurring needs becoming the responsibility of the
concerned State Government.

The argument that State Governments lack

resources does not seem to be valid; it is more a question of priority attached to

this sector by the concerned State Government.

If a State Government is

indifferent to the needs of elementary education or for that matter to any other
sector, even 100 per cent Central funding will not achieve the desired objective

because such indifference would influence effectiveness and efficiency in

implementation of the Central interventions.
1.4

Within the above mentioned perspective the following recommendations

are made in regard to the programmes in the Department of Elementary

Education & Literacy: -

A. Programmes
1.5

The Plan outlay for the Department of Elementary Education and Literacy

is Rs.3800 crore for the year 2001-02. When compared to Plan outlay of Rs.
1721 crore for the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, this reflects
adequate priority for elementary education and literacy.

B. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

1.6

The Department has decided to integrate programmes of Operation Black

Board. District Primary Education Project, Non Formal Education and Teacher
Education into a holistic Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. It is understood that the Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan is in the preparatory stage and it will be taken up in the different
parts of the country progressively. It has a very welcome feature of involving the
community in monitoring and in accepting habitation as the unit for planning of
educational facilities.

In keeping with the general principle stated in the

preceding paragraphs, it is suggested that funding of the recurring needs of the

programme should be the responsibility of the State Governments concerned.

C. Non Formal Education

1.7

The scheme of Non Formal Education (NFE) was started in 1979-80 for

the then educationally backward States of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh,

Assam, Bihar, J&K, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and
West Bengal for providing elementary education to the children who missed
attending elementary school.

The scheme has two parts, one envisages

coeducational NFE centres in which Central Government provides 60 per cent

assistance and the other provides 90 per cent Central assistance for NFE

10

centres for girls. In addition there is 100 per cent Central assistance on a much
lesser scale for NFE centres run by the NGOs. At present there are 2.92 lakh
NFE centres of which about 58000 are run by NGOs. A sum of Rs.300 crore
was provided for this scheme in the last year.
1.8

The scheme has been in operation for 22 years now. The nature of the

scheme is such that it makes verification or supervision extremely difficult as

there are no fixed timings for NFE centres; nor is there any fixed place.
Generally such NFE centres are run in the evening when any outside inspecting
person is unlikely to visit the village and undertake verification. In any case
enrolment as such is no longer a major problem in most parts of the country.
The problem areas that remain and that warrant maximum attention are the
issues of drop outs and standards. As such there is a case for gradually bringing
down the scale of NFE programme with the resources so saved being diverted
for strengthening the school system, which will effectively address the twin
problems of drop outs and standards. This is being suggested, as one of the
main reasons for the sizeable drop out rate and inadequate standards of
attainment is poor school facilities. In principle, the most justifiable part of NFE
programme is the portion being run through NGOs. This part of the programme
could therefore receive greater emphasis. In the first instance co-educational
NFE centres could be phased out except in those areas where the problem of
non-enrolment still prevails. The NFE centres for girls could be continued till
participation rate of girls equals the participation rate of boys in elementary
schools.

The continuing education centres in the villages for post literacy

programme should become the location for NFE centre also. This would improve
effectiveness of NFE centre and would facilitate community supervision of its
functioning.

D. National Programme for Nutritional Support to Primary Education

1.9

It is generally accepted that nutritional status of about half the primary

school going children is below the level required for healthy development of
children of that age group. Poor nutritional status of a child depresses not only

11

educational achievement but also tends to perpetuate poor health. Therefore the
programme for nutritional support to children attending primary schools is a
highly commendable one.

However, due to operational constraints the

programme started in 1995 was for distribution of food grains to the parents of
children attending primary schools. At present, the programme involves Central
assistance to the extent of 100 gms. per school day, per student in States where
cooked meal is provided and 3 kgs. of food grain per month, per child where food
grains are distributed subject to a minimum 80 per cent of attendance. Most
State Governments implementing this programme have pointed out that the midday meals programme has led to improvement in attendance. This will, however,
be only a limited gain unless better attendance is converted into more effective
learning as should be reflected in reduction in drop out rate and better levels of
learning. The arrangements for distribution of food grains to parents do not
automatically ensure that the intended benefit flows to the school going children.
In such a system it is not certain what portion of the distributed food grain
augments the diet of the child. Therefore, such a programme is likely to have
minimal educational benefit. However, only seven States viz. Gujarat, Kerala,
Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Pondicherry and Delhi seem to be
providing cooked or ready to eat food.

The programme should therefore aim at

provision of cooked or ready-to-eat food to the children in all States. The central
assistance under this scheme could be in the form of food grains with the cost of
cooking and distribution being met by the concerned State Government. In order
to expedite the change over in those States, where at present, the foodgrains are
handed over to the parents, a system of graded incentives to concerned State
governments could be introduced.

E. Literacy
1.10

The Literacy Programme has substantially improved after the programme

was converted into a mass campaign format under the aegis of National Literacy
Mission in the wake of the formulation of National Policy on Education in 1986. A
psychological breakthrough in the programme was achieved when Kottayam city

12

followed by Ernakulam district in Kerala achieved total literacy around 1989.

Literacy level now is estimated to be 63 per cent though literacy among women is
still lower than among men. The encouraging feature is that the gap between
rural literacy (56.7 per cent) and urban literacy (80.1 per cent) and similarly
between literacy among males and females has narrowed down with female
literacy now at 50.4 per cent. Out of 588 districts in the country, 559 have been
covered by the National Literacy Mission.

Total Literacy Campaigns are at

present under implementation in 172 districts, continuing education programme

in 95 districts and post literacy programmes in 290 districts.
1.11

The content of literacy programme is however quite weak and as the

present programme approaches acceptable coverage, the issue of improving the

content would merit greater attention. The pronounced weakness, however, is in
regard to post literacy programme which has taken a long time in taking shape
and whose coverage is still inadequate. The difficulty has been in clearly defining
continuing education programme and the post literacy programme.

It will

improve things if this literacy programme is defined with greater clarity and
conciseness. The organisation and functioning of Continuing Education Centres,
Jan Shiksha Sansthans, Non Formal Education Centres and Mahila Samakhya
Centres at the village level have a great deal of similarity. The integrations of
implementation of these programmes at the village/habitation level would secure
more efficient use of resources and this synergy would also help improve the
outcome.

F. Institutions
a. National Institute of Adult Education and Directorate of Adult Education
Staff strength
1.12

The Directorate of Adult Education has been supporting the literacy

programme for many decades. The National Institute of Adult Education was set
up in late 80s after the National Policy on Education in 1986 was enunciated.
Both these institutions have considerable overlap in functioning. The National
Institute of Adult Education is also a weak institution, with only 4 faculty level

13

posts and 8 support staff.

It is obvious that it is hardly quipped to perform

meaningfully academic or supervisory functions. Such programmes can be more

effectively supported and planned through the Directorate of Adult Education.
The National Institute of Adult Education can therefore be wound up.
b. Bal Bhawan
1.13

Bal Bhawan is an institution set up for development of all round

personality of children through informal education and related activities. It is a

laudable objective but normally managing such an institution should not be
Central responsibility.

Over a period of time this responsibility should be

transferred either to the State Governments or to well established nongovernmental organisations.

G. Implications for staff strength
1.14

The existing staff strength in the Department of Elementary Education is

set out in a tabular form in Annex-I.

1.15

The Department of Elementary Education has only modest staff strength,

with the Secretary being assisted by 2 Joint Secretaries, 2 Directors and 10

Deputy Secretaries. The changes suggested in regard to the various offices in
this department are not such as to warrant any changes in the staff strength of
the department itself.

14

2.

Department of Secondary Education and Higher Education

2.1

In the Constitution the responsibility for coordination and determining of

standards in institutions, for higher education and technical education is vested in

the Union Government. These items figure under entries 63, 64 and 65 in the
Union List. Thus in the earlier years, when it was assumed that elementary
education was primarily the responsibility of the State Governments, bulk of the
funds available to the Union Education Ministry was allotted for supporting higher
and technical education.

The position has changed somewhat, with the

amendment of the Constitution in the Seventies, bringing elementary education

to the Concurrent List.

Even so the Central Governments involvement in

promoting higher education and technical education continues to be quite

significant. This is necessary, given the need for adequate availability of trained,
skilled and highly professional manpower for the management of the economy on
the one hand, and for laying the foundation for a strong research base in the
country on the other.
2.2

While there has been a large expansion in the institutions of higher

education and technical education in the country during the preceding decades,
the coverage in terms of enrolment as well as in terms of graduates passing out
is still on the low side. In India, only about 5% of persons in the age group of 1824 avail of higher or technical education whereas this number is 25% or more in
developed countries. Most developed countries of the world are now moving
towards achieving universal secondary education, having achieved universal
elementary education many years back. This is a rational approach as a person
would be around the age of 18 years when he or she completes secondary
education, which is also the age for entry to various professions. Thus a person
continues to learn in educational institutions till he or she attains the working age.
At present, the number of persons attending any stage of education in India
progressively becomes half of the proceeding stage. Thus, there is progressively
lesser participation in secondary education and higher education in India. In
such a situation, the Central Government and the State Governments will need to

15

continue to strengthen the secondary and higher education sectors for many
years while of course according high priority to the elementary education sector.
2.3

After the national policy on education in 1986 was formulated, there was a

large increase in Central intervention in the secondary education sector.

Schemes for science education, environment education, yoga education and
vocational education were started for strengthening these key areas. A scheme
for setting up a Navodaya Vidyalaya in each district was initiated so that good
quality education could be provided to the children from rural areas. In the field
higher education the initiative has been left largely to the University Grants
Commission.

Simultaneously, there has also been a large increase in the

number of Central universities, which has almost doubled after the national policy
in 1986.
2.4

While considering the justifiability of current programmes in this sector, the

rationale followed has been that in view of the size of the country and number of
institutions in any particular category, it is not meaningful to have schemes with
outlay of only a few crores of rupees annually. Such schemes obviously cannot
reach out to most of the institutions in that category and assistance in such cases
gets extended on pick and choosebasis, which is not a happy situation. The
grant of assistance in such cases remains largely subjective. Therefore, such
schemes have been recommended to be dropped or transferred to State sector.
Moreover, while it is laudable for the Centre and the States alike to take
initiatives in this crucial sector, there has to evolve an understanding and
convention about the respective areas of intervention for Central and State
Governments if the results are to be optimised, particularly when resources are
scarce. It is in this context that it is being suggested in this report that while
Central Government and its agencies should contribute to institution building,
funding of recurring expenditure should be phased out or at least limited over a
period of time, allowing the State Government and the private sector a greater
role in the management of the institution and universities.
2.5

Plan outlay for the Department of secondary education and higher

education is Rs. 1919 crore in BE 2001-2002.

16

Out of this, the share of

secondary education is Rs. 599 crore, higher education is Rs. 502 crore and of
technical education Rs. 500 crore.

2.6

A. Advisory Cadre
The Group A & B level staff in the Department is mainly from the Indian

Administrative Service (IAS) and other Central services, the Central Secretariat
Service(CSS) and from Education Advisory Service. The Education Advisory
Service was constituted with the intention that persons specializing in various
branches of education would be better suited to deal with educational matters
coming up before the government.

Over the years, a parallel hierarchy of

educational advisory cadre has been built up beginning from Education Officer
and progressing onto Assistant Education Adviser, Deputy Education Adviser,
Joint Education Adviser and Education Adviser. While there is some induction at
middle levels by open selection through UPSC and selection to the post of
Educational Adviser is by open selection, other posts are filled up by promotions.
This arrangement needs a fresh look. This is because while those who initially
join these posts are undoubtedly the best available they soon lose touch with
academic work and academic institutions over the years and after some years in
the Department they become indistinguishable from the officers in the
Department drawn from other services. Thus, the intended advantage of access
to educational expertise is not available in practice.

At the same time

considering their background, their skill in secretariat type of functions remains

sub-optimal. The objective of having in-house expertise in educational matters
would be better served by taking about half a dozen persons at the level of
professors from the university system on a deputation basis or on short-term
contract basis for dealing with matters relating to technical education, higher
education and languages which require expertise in these areas. Such persons
coming on a tenure basis and reverting to their parent institutions after
completion of the tenure would provide the much needed expertise. It is,
therefore, recommended that such an arrangement should be put in place and
the existing advisory cadre be phased out by stopping fresh recruitment and

17

induction and by offering voluntary retirement scheme option to those now in

position.

2.7

B. Non-teaching staff in academic institutions

As in the ministries, office support staff strength has increased beyond all

acceptable norms in academic institutions too. Such staff far outnumber the
academic staff in academic institutions. Far from facilitating work, it has become
a burden adversely affecting performance, as the management of such staff itself
becomes a major responsibility. Such a large proportion of support staff also
pre-empts a good portion of the scarce resources available to the institution.
This point is illustrated by the case of Central Universities where the nonacademic staff is at least 2.5 times the academic staff and in some Central
universities it is six times the academic staff strength. In addition, there is also a
large number of support staff in the form of daily wagers in some of the Central
universities.

All academic institutions and autonomous bodies performing

academic functions like NCERT should reduce the non-academic staff strength
so as to achieve a ratio of 1:1.5 to 1:2 between academic and non-academic staff
within next few years. As all the institutions do not perform identical functions
and therefore the requirements of non-academic staff would all vary somewhat
from one institution to the other, the Department could, categorise these
institutions into a few groups, fixing the ratio for each group on the basis of its
special requirements. Pending such a determination, all institutions should be
advised to abolish at least 75% of the posts among non-academic staff, which fall
vacant every year. The remaining 25% positions could be allowed to be filled up
at the discretion of head of the institution so that vacancy in essential positions
does not disrupt work. Maintenance grant to such institutions should be red8ced
to the extent of positions abolished as above, after allowing these institutions to
retain a part of the savings for being used for important programmes.

2.8

C. Fees and Scholarships

The issues relating to change in the grant-in-aid system, revision of fees to

bring fees at a meaningful level and revamping the scholarship system need to

18

be looked at as a components of a unified system because one impinges on the

other. Unless the present system of determining grants-in-aid is changed, the
educational institutions will not show initiative and will remain indifferent to raising
resources, as the grant-in-aid system does not allow them to benefit from the
additional resources they raise.

Because of this indifference to raising

resources, the problem of revision of fees to more meaningful levels does not get
addressed. For instance in higher education, the fees have remained unrevised
for decades. The tuition fees in universities and colleges have no relation to the
cost of education in such institutions. Although section 12A(2) of the University
Grants Commission Act puts responsibility on the UGC to lay down limits for
revising fees it has refrained from specifying any such levels. The individual
universities also have powers under the relevant university Act to increase fees
but the general trend has been against increasing fees obviously because it will
meet with some opposition from student community. Thus, universities look to
UGC to take responsibility and issue directive and UGC tends to pass this
responsibility on to the government and the fees remain at the same unrealistic
levels. One of the reasons for lack of initiative in this regard in increasing fees is
that such a measure would be a thankless task for the universities because
income from fees would get adjusted in the annual grant leaving no additionality
to the university. Considering that a fair number of students attending private and
public schools pay monthly fees of Rs.500 or more and also considering the
general level of economic well-being among the families availing of higher
education, it is suggested that fees in the range of Rs.300 500 per month
should be considered for general higher education courses. This level cannot be
said to be beyond the reach of an average family. An arrangement under which
these institutions are allowed to retain a certain proportion, say at least 50%, of
the additional resources they raise (over a base line figure) for being spent on
some of their more important and urgent needs, should provide them the
necessary stimulus for raising additional resources of their own, including though
upward revision of fees.

19

2.9

Even though the level of fees suggested here is not unaffordable to an

average family, there would be some students from poorer families for whom
fees of this order would be a burden. Actually it has been one of the good
features for the Indian system that after Independence opportunity for
advancement has been consciously created for students from poor families. This
good feature should not be allowed to be lost. The universities could therefore
be allowed to retain a portion, say 25% of the additional realisations from
increase of fees for being used for extending freeship to the students from poor
families. The scholarships could cover both merit based and means based, so
as to cater to both types of requirements. The government could also allocate a
number of both types of scholarships to individual institutions on a continuing
basis and such number can be reviewed once very three to five years. This will
allow individual institutions to select students for such scholarships and to
disburse scholarships to them from the beginning of the academic session itself.
2.10

The technical and management institutions in the Government of India

sector have already taken steps in recent years for increasing fees and therefore
fresh suggestions are not being made in regard to them here. It is expected that
the above mentioned recommendations for increasing fees, for freeships and
educational loans will improve the secondary school system and higher
education system over the years both academically and financially while at the
same time reasonably protecting the educational interests of the poor families.
2.11

Education in Central schools has been practically free though recently, the

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has increased fees other than tuition fee to bring
the level of fees to about Rs.100 per month per student. Not only the fees but
even hostel and mess charges in Navodaya Vidyalayas have been free. This
emphasis on freeship has been largely due to the Constitutional provision in
Article 45, which envisages free and compulsory education upto the age of 14
years. The logic of this directive has been routinely extended into the secondary
sector. There are sizeable sections of the community, which can afford payment
of a reasonable fee at the secondary level. Non-payment of fees actually puts
students and parents at a disadvantage in a sense as when they receive free

20

education, their right to demand good education gets circumscribed. At the

secondary stage a fee of around Rs.200-300 should therefore be charged in the
Kendriya Vidyalayas. As suggested earlier, a proportion of the income so raised
could be allowed to be retained by the school, to be used for strengthening
academic programmes and for improving school facilities on the advice of the
school advisory committee or parent-teacher association. Considering that the
enrolment in Kendriya Vidyalayas is 7.5 lakh, this would generate substantial
resources, which could become a tool of rejuvenation of the school system.
2.12

In Navodaya Vidyalayas, there is an enrolment of 1.27 lakh students and it

is increasing as all the schools have not grown up to class XII yet.

It is

understood that about half the children in Navodaya Vidyalayas are from families
below the poverty line. This emphasis on poorer sections would need to be
continued. However, there is no reason for not charging any fee from families,
which are not below the poverty line. Fees at the level suggested for Kendriya
Vidyalaya students at secondary stage should be charged from non-poor families
in Navodaya Vidyalayas too. Here again the school could be allowed to keep a
proportion of such income from the increased fees and use it for strengthening
academic programme and school facilities.
D. Schemes for science education, environment educati on and yoga
education
2.13

The allocation for the scheme of science education in 2001-02 is Rs.17.85

crore, for the scheme of environment, education Rs.2.6 crore and for yoga
education, Rs.30 lakh. The specific areas which these schemes address are no
doubt important but in the case of the scheme of science education, the
Government of Indias support should be in the form of one time assistance for
creating or building up science laboratories and libraries. The recurring items of
expenditure should be borne by the State Governments. In regard to the other
two schemes relating to environment education and yoga education, the outlays
are such that these schemes cannot be implemented effectively in more than a

21

handful of centres. There is thus no reason to continue such schemes in the

central sector. These schemes can therefore be terminated.
E. Central Hindi Directorate, Kendriya Hindi Sangathan and
Commission for scientific and technical terminology
2.14

These institutions were set up for promoting the use of Hindi and for

development of Hindi language. This has been a legitimate objective and a large
degree of success has been achieved during the preceding five decades and
much of the desired promotional work has been done already. The Commission
for Science and Technical Terminology has completed the initial work of
developing extensive terminology in Hindi. The Commission for Scientific and
Technical Terminology could therefore be integrated with the Kendriya Hindi
Sansthan where it could function as an expert committee serviced by the
Sansthan Secretariat. There is also a sizeable overlap in the functions of Hindi
Directorate and Kendriya Hindi Sansthan. These institutions no longer require to
exist as separate institutions.

The Central Hindi Directorate could be wound up

and the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan could henceforth discharge the functions of the
Central Hindi Directorate also.

2.15

F. A scheme for financial assistance for appointment and training of

Hindi teachers in non -Hindi speaking States
This scheme was initiated some decade back when there was need for

promoting learning of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking States as the responsiveness

on the part of the States initially was not adequate. This is perhaps no longer the
situation now.

The outlay of Rs.9.75 crore is also too meagre to give any

significant thrust to the programme. The Department could therefore evaluate the
usefulness of the scheme and take a view on its further continuance.

2.16

G. The scheme for modern Indian language teachers

This scheme was started for propagating teaching of modern Indian

languages preferably South Indian languages in Hindi speaking States as in the

case of preceding scheme. The outlay for this scheme is just Rs.5 lakh, which
cannot meet even a fraction of the requirement. Therefore for reasons recorded

22

in the case of preceding scheme it is suggested that the Department should

evaluate the usefulness of the scheme and take a view on its continuance.

2.17

H. Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad

This institute was set up for giving support to teaching of English. It

receives developmental support as plan grants from UGC and non-plan grant of
Rs.20.12 crore from the Ministry. It needs to be noted that education in English
and teaching of English is now on a very sound footing in the country. It does not
need the kind of support it needed in the earlier decades. This activity need not
therefore continue as a 100% carefully funded one. The financial support for this
institute could therefore be reduced, allowing the State or some private sector or
educational institute to take an increasing interest in its management and
funding.

2.18

I. Veda Vidya Pratishthan, Ujjain

Veda Vidya Pratishthan was set up as a Central institution in 1987 for

promoting vedic studies and research. It has annual outlay of Rs.2.00 crore.
Unfortunately, this institution has not developed meaningfully even after 14
years. Its activities in 2000-2001 consisted mainly of organization of one All India
and six regional vedic sammelans and eight seminars also promoting some
modest assistance to vedic institutions. Vedic studies are adequately looked
after by Sanskrit Departments in the universities and by a number of eminent
Sanskrit and vedic institutions in the non-Government sector. Thus while this
area of study is undoubtedly important in the Indian prospective it does not justify
continuance of an institution which has failed to come up to expectations. It is
suggested that this institution should be wound up, and the assets and facilitates
transferred to the local university or the State Government. Government can
always extend financial support to universities and educational institutions for
undertaking studies in this field.
2.19

(i)

Scheme for teaching Sanskrit in high/higher secondary schools

(ii)

Scheme for scholarship to students studying Sanskrit in high/higher

secondary schools.

23

(iii)

Scheme for grants to State Governments for promotion of Sanskrit

Under the first scheme assistance is extended to State Government for

appointing Sanskrit teachers in secondary schools and higher secondary
schools. The outlay for scheme is minimal and it does not ensure meaningful
coverage. In the second scheme scholarships are given to students in class IX
to class XII at the rate of Rs.100 per month at secondary level and Rs.125 per
month at higher secondary stage. The coverage of the scheme is only about
1300 students. In the third scheme, assistance is extended for a large number of
miscellaneous items like upgrading the salary of teachers, honouring vedic skills,
conducting Vidwat Sabhas, holding evening classes etc. Thus, none of the three
schemes has coverage or impact at national level. It is therefore necessary for
the Department to evaluate the usefulness of these schemes and take a view on
their continuance.
2.20

(i)

National scholarship scheme

(ii)

Scholarship to students from non-Hindi speaking States for post

matric studies in Hindi.

(iii)

Scholarship at secondary stage for talented children from rural

areas.

The first two schemes have been in existence for a long time and the third
scheme was started in early 80s for making available education of good standard
to students from rural areas by placing them after selection in good public
schools. The first scheme of national scholarships extends scholarship on meritcum-means basis. The rate of scholarship varies from Rs.60 to Rs.120 per
month for day scholars and Rs.100 to Rs.300 per month for hostellers. It is
obvious that the quantum of scholarship is grossly inadequate considering the
present costs. Also, the system of disbursement means that scholarship does not
reach students at times even by the end of academic session. The second
scheme was started in 1955-56 for encouraging the study of Hindi in non-Hindi
speaking States. The amount varies from Rs.50 to Rs.125 per month. It is
suggested that not only is this amount meaningless now, the need for
encouraging study of Hindi is no longer a large issue because teaching of Hindi

24

and other languages has become generally well accepted all over the country
now. The third scheme has been overtaken by the much more extensive and
meaningful scheme of Navodaya Vidyalayas. Clearly all three schemes have
outlived their utility and could be wound up.

2.21

J. National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT)

The National Council of Educational Research & Training with

headquarters at Delhi and 4 regional colleges and 15 regional offices was set up
in 1960s. It is the pre-eminent research organization for school sector in the
country. It also conducts and administers the prestigious national talent search
examination every year and All India Educational Survey from time to time. It
has conducted and published results of sixth educational survey in 1998. The
NCERT has total staff strength of 2946 out of which roughly half i.e. 1465 are in
the headquarters. The staff includes 693 posts in Group A out of which about
500 are academic posts.
2.22

Keeping in view the pre-dominantly academic nature of the activities of

NCERT, the academic positions need no curtailment. However, the large support
staff needs a fresh look. It has been suggested in this report that all academic
institutions should achieve ratio of 1:1.5 or 1.2 as between teaching and nonteaching posts within the next five years. This should be made applicable to
NCERT also and as suggested for other such organizations, 75% of nonteaching posts falling vacant in any year should be abolished.
2.23

Over the years, writing and publication of textbooks for school levels has

become the all important function in the NCERT. There is no denying the benefit
which has accrued to the school system in the country due to good standard of
NCERT textbooks but the responsibility of publication of such textbooks taken on
itself by the NCERT is not only unnecessary but is also a distraction from
academic work. It is understood that there are about 200 persons looking after
this responsibility. The activity of directly printing of textbooks by NCERT should
be stopped. The NCERT should continue to produce textbooks but it should
evolve a system of giving the manuscript for publication to private publishers and

25

State textbook agencies on royalty or fee to be determined on the basis of size of

publication.
2.24

The NCERT has 16 regional offices. These offices have been set up over

the decades for effecting coordination with the state education departments and
agencies. With the dramatic improvement in the means of communications, and
with SCERTs in most states, there is no merit and no real need for maintaining
such offices now. It is, therefore, recommended that these field offices should be
abolished.
2.25

(i)

Indian Council of Historical Research

(ii)

Indian Council of Philosophical Research

(iii)

Indian Council of Social Science Research

University Grants Commission was set up in 1956 to look after the higher
education sector as a whole. Subsequently Indian Council of Social Science
Research was established in 1969 with the objective of supporting and
sponsoring research in social sciences. However, the process did not stop there
and Indian Council of Historical Research was set up in 1972. Indian Council of
Philosophical Research was also set up. The latter two councils have been set
up to promote and support research in these respective areas. There is an
inherent inappropriateness in government directly getting involved in history and
philosophy. Objectivity of work in these areas would be enhanced if there is no
direct government role in these areas. In any case, these areas are only a
segment of social sciences generally. It is recommended that either government
should totally distance itself from the Council for historical research and Council
for Philosophical Research by making these councils totally autonomous or
government could consider integrating all the Councils so that a viable and
powerful council for supporting research and studies in the overall field of social
science comes into being.

2.26

K. University Grants Commission(UGC)

The University Grants Commission was set up under the University Grants

Commission Act 1956. The University Grants Commission has responsibility for
coordination and determination of standards in universities.

26

It has direct

responsibility for assessing and dispensing maintenance grants to central

universities, some deemed universities and Delhi colleges.

It also has

responsibility for assessing and providing plan assistance for development of

universities and colleges in the country.

There are 180 universities in the

country, 42 deemed universities and about 11,400 colleges.

2.27

The University Grants Commission has a staff strength of 883 including

130 group A positions, 127 group B positions and 483 group C positions. Its plan
budget is Rs.501 crore and non-plan budget is about 610 crore.
2.28

One of the major weaknesses in the structure of UGC secretariat is that

there is very little in-house academic expertise. At Group A level, positions are
filled up either by promotion from the clerical levels or by some induction at the
level of education officer. Such persons subsequently go on to occupy positions
of Deputy Secretary, Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary. The position of
Secretary, UGC is filled up by open selection. Those who rise from clerical levels
cannot be expected to have the necessary academic credentials though they
could be very well versed in secretariat functioning.

Even those who are

inducted at the level of education officer have admittedly very good record when
they are inducted but they lose touch with the academic functioning after some
years. Therefore, pretty little academic expertise becomes available at middle
and senior level. This is not appropriate for an institution like UGC. UGC should
therefore create about a dozen positions for looking after various specialized
branches of learning for which persons serving as professors in universities could
be selected on tenure basis. Taking such persons on tenure basis will have the
advantage that while they are with the UGC, they would provide academic
expertise and before they lose touch with the academic world, they will go back
to the university system. Such an arrangement will benefit decision-making on
academic matters in the UGC considerably. These posts can be created by
abolishing an equivalent number of existing posts, which by any norms are too
many.
2.29

The UGC has the responsibility of determining maintenance grants and

disbursing it to Delhi colleges. There are about 70 such colleges. This function

27

has come to the UGC for historical reasons as Delhi was a union territory earlier
and did not have the organizational set up of managing such work. This function
causes UGC to lose focus on the issues of coordination and determination of
standards in the national system.

Now that Delhi has a full fledged State

Government it is recommended that the responsibility for determination and

disbursement of maintenance grant to Delhi colleges should be transferred along
with the funds to an appropriate agency designated by the State Government of
Delhi.
2.30

Over the decades, a large number of programmes have been initiated in

the UGC. These now number over 50 and the annual outlay for many of these
programmes is only a few crores of rupees per year.

This situation is not

desirable. With small outlays, the UGC assistance cannot be available to any
except a few universities and in such a situation, subjectivity in extending
assistance tends to dominate. It will be desirable for UGC to have a minimum
outlay say Rs.50 crore - for any scheme so that many universities could apply
for assistance under any particular programme. UGC should therefore consider
grouping its various programmes so as to achieve this objective.
2.31

The UGC has responsibility for extending assistance for both standards of

teaching and for research. However, within the resources available to the UGC,
the share of research is a small fraction. Apart from other equally valid reasons,
this situation is also responsible for universities steadily losing primacy in the
R&D effort in the country. It also needs to be noted that out of the assistance
UGC extends for research, only a small fraction goes directly for specific
research projects. A good proportion is disbursed in the form of fellowships at
various levels for strengthening of infrastructure in science and technology
(SIST) under which sizeable financial assistance is extended to well recognised
university departments for a block of years for research in specified areas. Such
sanction for fellowships to university departments tends to continue indefinitely
once these are awarded and the research outcomes tend to remain sub optimal.
With a view to strengthening research and development effort in the country and
for restoring the primacy of universities in such endeavour, bulk of UGC

28

resources for research should be in the form of assistance for research projects.
Research projects should be preferred as the researcher has to specify right at
the beginning while seeking assistance what outcome is expected and such
outcome is easily monitorable at the end of the research project.

This

mechanism also automatically allows subsequent sanctions to be given only to

those researchers who have shown good results earlier.

Equally important,

UGC should also seek to enhance the resources to be allocated for research
out of its total funds.
2.32

In India the system rating and grading of universities and colleges through

an accreditation system has not really taken off. The UGC made a beginning in
this direction by appointing an expert committee around 1989 and an
accreditation mechanism as a society under Societies Registration Act was set
up in 1993 but actual accreditation remains minimal. The university system as a
whole remains suspicions of the venture and UGC indifferent. In the absence of
accreditation, the good institutions continue to miss recognition and dysfunctional
institutions happily remain unmentioned.

The prevailing situation is not

conducive to institutions striving for excellence.

In western countries the

accreditation system is a valuable tool for providing quality assurance about

courses and institutions to students, parents and funding agencies.

An

accreditation system can only benefit the university and college system. It is
therefore recommended that UGC should actively promote accreditation system
by confining its assistance to only those universities and colleges which acquire a
grade above a specified minimum level during accreditation and also by offering
assistance at a higher level to those who acquire a high grading.

2.33

L.
Implications for staff strength
Existing staff in the Department of Secondary Education and Higher

Education is shown in a tabular form in Annex-II.

2.34

A recommendation has been made in this report for phasing out of the

Adviser Cadre post over a period of time by stopping further recruitment and
offering a Voluntary Retirement Scheme option to existing incumbents, while
simultaneously creating half a dozen positions at the level of professor in

29

universities on deputation basis for providing educational expertise to the

Department in various fields.

Substantial reorganization and reorientation of

schemes and scholarships bureau and simultaneously starting an educational

loans scheme have also been suggested.

Such reorganization will lead to

substantial reduction in work to be handled by this bureau.

Therefore, it is

suggested that while retaining the position of one Joint Secretary in charge of the
bureau who could be assisted by 2 Directors/Deputy Secretaries and 2 sections
under them, the remaining sections and ACS Cell could be phased out.
Substantial reorganisation has also been suggested in this report in the
languages bureau. The work in the languages bureau would also get reduced
and accordingly 2 sections out of the existing 5 sections could be phased out.

30

3.

Department of Women & Child Development

3.1

The Department of Women & Child Development was set up in 1985 to

give impetus to the holistic development of the women and children. As a nodal
agency looking after the advancement of women and children, the Department
formulates plans, policies and programmes, enacts legislation affecting women
and children and guides and coordinates the related efforts in both government
and non-government sectors.

The government has recently formulated the

national policy for empowerment of women in the year 2001.

3.2

The Department has plan outlay of Rs.1650 crore for the year 2001-02

and non-plan outlay of Rs.55 crore. Of these, the Integrated Child Development
Services Programme started 25 years back is by far the largest with an outlay of
about Rs.1360 crore.

3.3

A. Integrated Child Development Servi ces (ICDS)

The ICDS Programme was started in 1975-76 in 33 blocks in the country.

It now covers 4384 blocks. Considering the poor nutritional status of about half
the children and women in child bearing age in the country, this intervention is
not only inescapable but highly commendable. The nutritional status of children
affects not only their physical well being in future life but also development of
intellect. Simultaneously, nutritional status of women of child bearing age has
crucial importance for the children they might bear in coming years. Therefore,
this programme will need to be continued for the foreseeable future.

3.4

B. Early Childhood Education Scheme

This scheme was started in 1982 to reduce the drop out rates.

The

scheme is being run by voluntary organizations in 9 educationally backward

states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh,
Orissa, Rajasthan, Tripura and Bengal. At present, there are 2616 ECE centres
in the country.

With the universalisation of ICDS these centres are being

integrated with the ICDS network.

3.5

(i)

Short Stay Homes

31

(ii)

Working Womens Hostels

The scheme of Short Stay Homes for women and girls was started in 1969 to
protect and rehabilitate those women and girls who are facing social and moral
danger due to family problems, mental strain, exploitation and other problems.
The working womens hostel scheme operates with financial assistance to NGOs
and local bodies for construction of hostels for working women. In view of the
vulnerability of women in the society, the schemes are justified. However, as
both schemes have similar objectives and the women and girls are the
beneficiaries under both these schemes, these schemes could be merged into a
single scheme. This will help to economise on administrative overheads and
optimise performance.

3.6

(i)

Integrated Women Empowerment Programme

(ii)

Kishori Shakti Yojana

(iii)

Swa-Shakti Project

(iv)

Indira Mahila Yojana (IMY)

The government has recently approved restructuring of Indira Mahila

Yojana(IMY) into the Integrated Women Empowerment Programme and
extended it from existing 238 blocks to 650 blocks by the end of 1999. Under
Kishori Shakti Yojana, the emphasis is on training component particularly
vocational aspects for adolescent girls. Under the Swa-Shakti Project, started in
1998, the intention is establishment of about 10,000 womens self-help groups
under the Indira Mahila Yojana.

Indira Mahila Kendras are set up at the

Anganwadi level though it simultaneously recognizes other groups under the

adult literacy programmes and health programmes. As the four programmes
listed above have similar and overlapping objectives, the other three
programmes could be merged with the Women Empowerment Programme.
Apart from leading to reduced overhead costs, this will also help to maximise the
flow of benefits with the available resources.

32

3.7

Mahila Mandals have also been promoted under the Department of Family

Welfare which extends assistance for them and similarly there are continuing
education centres at village level under the post literacy programme.

Such

replication of institutional set up at village level does not serve any purpose. Due
to fragmentation and working in isolation, the programme outcomes also remain
low. It is, therefore, recommended that under all these programmes there should
be only one village level association or group where programmes of different
ministries and different programmes of the same ministry can converge. This will
be more convenient to the local population and it will optimize programme
outcomes. Perhaps continuing Education Centre would be the most suitable
choice for being accepted as unified level institution.
3.8

The support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP)

is in operation since 1987. It seeks to provide skills and new knowledge to poor
and asset-less women in agriculture, animal husbandry, dairying etc. sectors.
The unified village level institution approach suggested earlier should be
extended to cover this programme also.
3.9

The National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development

(NIPCCD)

The NIPCCD is an autonomous organization.

It has been set up with the

objective of promoting voluntary action by taking a comprehensive view of child

development.

The Institute is located at Delhi and has regional centres at

Guwahati, Bangalore and Lucknow. The emphasis in the programmes of the

Institute is on training programmes, research and documentation.

This is a

valuable resource for guiding programme formulation and implementation in the

government.

3.10

C.
Central Social Welfare Board
The Central Social Welfare Board was set up many decades back in 1953

as an institution to look after neglected, weak, handicapped and backward

sections of the society. The Central Social Welfare Board has a sizeable staff
component of 240 in the headquarters and 157 in field units. It implements a
number of programmes as listed below:

33

(i) Condensed Course of Education for Adult Women;

(ii) Vocational Training Programme;
(iii) Awareness Generation Projects;
(iv) Socio-Economic Programme;
(v) Crche Programme;
(vi) Working Womens Hostels;
(vii) Family Counselling Centre;
(viii) Voluntary Action Bureau;
(ix) Short Stay Homes.
3.11

With the Department implementing an extensive range of programmes for

both women and child development, much of need and justification for existence
of Central Social Welfare Board is no longer there. It was set up in the year 1953
when the extensive range of programmes being implemented nation wide directly
by the Department were not there.

Therefore, government should consider

whether Central Social Welfare Board is needed at all now. In any case, even if
it is to be continued, it should confine its activities to opinion building and social
awareness. Viewed this way, there would be no need for field units of CSWB and
these could be abolished. Besides, most States have State level Social Welfare
Boards. For the functions now proposed for CSWB, a staff strength of about 50
to 75 should prove sufficient.

3.12

D.
Implications for staff strength
The existing staff in the Department is shown in a tabular form in Annex-

III.
3.13

In line with the reorganization and reorientation of programmes suggested

in this report, 1 post of Joint Secretary out of the existing 4, two positions of
Deputy Secretaries out of existing 7, and 3 sections out of the existing 12 could
be declared surplus. In regard to Central Social Welfare Board, implementation
of the recommendations would imply abolition of 157 posts in field offices of
CSWB and about 190 positions out of the existing 240 in the headquarters.

34

Annex-I
Staff Strength
DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION & LITERACY
Post
Secretary

Pay scale
(Rs.)
26,000 (fixed)

Sanctioned Filled
Strength
1

Joint
Secretary
Director

18,400-22,400

14,300-18,300

5*

DS

12,000-16,500

10

DEA(G)

12,000-16,500

US/AEA(G)

10,000-15,200

14

12

DD(P)

10,000-15,200

EO(G)

8,000-13,500

1+1*

AD(P)

8,000-13,500

Programmer

7,500-12,000

DO/SO

6,500-10,500

20

19

PS

6,500-10,500

AEO(G)

6,500-10,500

1*

Remarks
Being formally created

*3 on personal basis

*filled as SO

*Regular incumbent is
away on deputation

I.

Education Bureau

AE.I
AE.III
AE.IV
AE.V
AE.VI
AE.VII
AE.VIII
AE (D.I)
AE(D.II)

Assistants
S
P
V

UDCs
S
P

2
0
3
4
3
1
0
1
2
16

1
0
0
0
0
2
1
0
0
4

1
0
2
1
2
3
1
1
5
16

1
0
1
3
1
+2
+1
0
+3

1
1
2
0
0
1
0
1
2
8

V
0
1
+2
0
0
1
1
+1
+2

LDCs
S
P
V
1
1
1
0
2
1
0
3

0
0
0
0
2
1
1
2

1
1
1
0
0
0
+1
1

35

II. Elementary Education &

Teacher Education
ES OFFICE
EE
OB
NFE-I
NFE-II
NFE-III
TE-I
TE-II

0
3
2
2
2
2
1
3
15

0
2
2
1
3
5
1
2
16

0
1
0
1
+1
+3
0
1

0
1
1
1
2
0
0
0
5

0
2
2
1
0
0
2
1
8

0
1
+1
0
2
0
+2
+1

0
2
1
1
1
1
0
1
7

0
1
1
1
0
0
0
1
5

0
1
0
0
1
1
0
0

31
62

16
48

15

0
9

3
19

+3

6
22

5
16

III. DPEP Bureau

DPEP & CS
GRAND TOTAL
Abbreviation:
UDCs S
P
V
-

36

Upper Division Clerk

Sanctioned Strength
In Position
Vacant

Annex-II
DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY & HIGHER EDUCATION
Post

Pay scale (Rs.)

Secretary
Spl. Secy.
Addl. Secy.
Jt. Secy./JEA
Director

26,000 (fixed)
26,000 (fixed)
22,400-24,500
18,400-22,400
14,300-18,300

Sancti
oned
Stren
gth
1
1
1
6
5

Dy. Secretary
Director(T)
AAA
Director(OL)
DEA(T)
DEA(G)

12,000-16,500
14,300-18,300
14,300-18,300
14,300-18,300
12,000-16,500
12,000-16,500

8
1
1
1
4
4

7
1
1
1
3
2@+
1*

DEA(Skt.)
JD(P)
Sr. PPS
US/AEA(G)
PPS
AEA(T)
AEA(Skt.)
Sr.S. Analyst
Sr. Analyst
DD(P)
CIO
LO
SO(BP)
EO(G)
EO(T)
EO(Skt.)
AD(P)
Programmer
DO/SO
AEO(T)
AEO(Skt.)
AEO(Stat.)
JA
AD(OL)
ALIO
Spl.Off. (CR)
PS

12,000-16,500
12,000-16,500
12,000-16,500
10,000-15,200
10,000-15,200
10,000-15,200
10,000-15,200
10,000-15,200
10,000-15,200
10,000-15,200
10,000-15,200
10,000-15,200
10,000-15,200
8,000-13,500
8,000-13,500
8,000-13,500
8,000-13,500
7,500-12,000
6,500-10,500
6,500-10,500
6,500-10,500
6,500-10,500
6,500-10,500
6,500-10,500
6,500-10,500
6,500-10,500
6,500-10,500

1
1
1
25
1
5
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
2
1
6
2
60
1
1
3
2
4
2
1
22

1
25
4*
3
1
1
1
2*
1
5
1
60
1
1
3
2
4
2
1
22

Filled

1
1
1
6
8

Remarks

Including those on personal

basis

@ filled as DS
* on deputation & joining back
on 30.6.2001
Being filled shortly

*(3 on personal upgradation)

* on deputation

Filled as DO
Filled as SO

Away on deputation

37

Name of Bureau/Division

Assistant

UDCs

LDCs

HRM Office

+2

+1

+2

ES Office

+1

AS Office

+1

+1

FA Office

+1

SS Office

+1

MOS Office

+1

E -I and Training Cell

+1

E -II

+1

E -III

+1

Vigilance & P.G. Cell

+2

CRU

+1

Cash

6*

+3

+2

S&S

Parliament Unit

+1

CR

+1

+2

Publication Unit

CDN

IFC

+1

Total

33

38

26

30

40

33

Total
I. Administration & Publication

*One Assistant working as Cashier with Special pay. One Accounts Clerk.
II. Book Promotion & Copyright
E.P.U.

B.P -1

+1

B.P -2

+1

+3

Copyright Office & ICU

Total

38

12

10

Name of Bureau/Division

Assistants

UDCs

LDCs

IFD

+1

IF -I

IF -II

IF -IV

+1

IF(Desk)

Grant -in-aid

+1

EC/UC Unit

+1

IWS

+1

Director (Finance)

+1

Total

13

12

WR(L)

+1

LG Cell

Skt -I

Skt -II

+1

Minority Cell

+2

+1

Total

OLU

+1

HTU

3#

+3

Total

III. IF Division

IV. Language & Sanskrit

V. Official Language

#including one UDC as Proof Reader.

39

Name of Bureau/Division

Assistants

UDCs

LDCs

PN Desk (V)

+1

PN Desk (II & III)

2$

PN.I

+2

Stat. Unit

+2

Paper Unit

P&M Section

Total

VI. P&M and Stat

$ Including one UDC as Accounts Clerk.

VII. Scholarship
NS-I

+1

NS-II

+1

Acs Cell (NS)

ES-I

ES-III

ES-IV

ES-V

Total

18

16

14

10

19

10

VIII. Secondary Education, Education Tech. Vocational Education.

40

Sch-I

Sch-III

Sch-IV

Sch-V

+2

NFTW

1*

VE-I&III

+2

Desk (IE)

Desk (SCE & ENE)

Name of Bureau/Division

Assistants

UDCs

LDCs

+1

+1

23

22

13

13

TS -I

+1

TS -II

+2

TS -III

+2

TS -IV

TS -V

TS -VI

+1

+1

TS-VII (World Bank)

Total

21

23

10

UNESCO Unit & Director(Unesco)

+1

INC

Unesco Library

+1

International Co-operation Cell

+1

UT -I

+1

UT -II

+1

+1

Total

10

10

EHV Cell
Total

@ One UDC as Accounts Clerk.

IX. Technical

X. UNESCO

Total
XI. UT Division

XII. University
U-I

+1

U -III

+1

U -IV

+1

U -V

41

Name of Bureau/Division

Assistants

UDCs

LDCs

WR (Desk-U)

+3

Desk U(A)

15

17

13

SC/ST Cell

+1

NER Cell

+1

+1

Total
XIII. SC & ST Cell, NER Cell

XIV. Monitoring Cell for NPNSPE

Monitoring Cell for NPNSPE

Grand Total

42

161 175

88

148 115

S.N.

NAME OF POST

SANCTIONED STRENGTH

Grand

Assistant

D/o Sec. &

D/o E.E.
Total
Higher Edu.
& Lit.
161
62
223

Sr. Investigator Gr.I

Stat. Investigator Gr.II

Research Assistant

Sr. Hindi Translator

Jr. Hindi Translator

12

12

Accountant Gr.B

Accounts Clerk

Accountant Gr.C

10

Investigator (B.P.)

11

Artist

12

U.D.C.

124

133

13

Steno Gr.C

43

19

62

14

Steno Gr.D

42

20

62

15

Caretaker

16

Computer

17

Proof Reader

18

D.E.O.(Gr.A)

19

D.E.O.(Gr.B)

20

L.D.C.

112

22

134

21

S.C.D. (Ordinary)

22

S.C.D. (Gr.II)

23

S.C.D. (Gr.I)

24

Despatch Rider

25

Gest. Operator (Sr.)

26

Gest. Operator (Jr.)

43

S.N.

NAME OF POST

27

Hosp. Attendant

28

Daftary

29

Sr. Peon

30
31

SANCTIONED STRENGTH
Grand
D/o Sec. &
D/o E.E.
Total
Higher Edu.
& Lit.
1
2
38

14

52

Peon

90

38

128

Farash/Sweeper-cum-Farash/

33

33

Sweeper
32

Packer

33

Chowkidar

44

Annex-III
Sanctioned Strength of Staff of D/o Women & Child Development
S.
No.
1.
I
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
II.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.

III.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.

Designation
2.

Sanctioned
strength
3.

Incumbency

Vacant

4.

5.

Group A
Secretary
Joint Secretary
Director(PREM)
Director/Dy. Secretary
Director(F)
Joint Director
Deputy Director
Under Secretary
PPS
Assistant Director
Project Manager
Research Officer
Total(I)
Group B
Desk Officer
Section Officer
Junior Analyst
Assistant Director(H)
Sr. Tech. Asstt.
Private Secretary
Res. Assistant(WS)
Personal Assistant
Sr. Res. Investigator
Accountant
Assistant
Sr. Hindi Translator
PS to DS(WB)
Accountant(WB)
Total (II) :

1
4(3+1 MSY)
1
5
1
1
5(4+1 MSY)
7
1
6
4
1
37

1
4
1
5
1
1
4
7
1
6
4
35

Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
1
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
1
2

10
12(11+1 MSY)
1
1
2
9(8+1 MSY)
1
15
5
4
34
1
1
1
97

10
12
1
1
2
9
1
15
1
4
34
1
1
1
93

Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
4
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
4

Group C
Research Investigator
Artist
Accountant(Gr.C)
Stat. Assistant
UDC
Steno. Gr.D
Jr. Hindi Translator
LDC

2
1
1
1
32
17(16+1 MSY)
3
33(32+1 MSY)

2
1
1
30
17
2
29

Nil
Nil
1
Nil
2
Nil
1
4
45

1.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.

2.
Computer
Staff Car Driver
Despatch Rider
Steno (WB)
Date Entry Operator(WB)
Total (III) :

1
4
3
3
1
102

3.
1
4
3
3
93

4.

5.
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
1
9

IV
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.

Group D
Jr. Gest. Operator
Daftry
Sr. Peon
Peon
Farash
Sweeper
Sweeper-cum-Farash
Peon (WB)
Total (IV) :

1
15(14+1 MSY)
1
35(33+2 MSY)
2
3
2
1
60

1
15
1
30
2
2
2
53

Nil
Nil
Nil
5
Nil
1
Nil
1
7

Grand Total (I -V)

Group A

37

35

Group B

97

93

Group C

102

93

Group D

60

53

Grand Total:

296

274

22

Sanctioned posts for MOS Office

S.
No.
1.
1.

In Position

Vacant

2.
Private Secretary

Sanctioned
strength
3.
1

4.
1

5.
0

2.

Addl. P.S.(O.S.D.)

3.

Asstt. Private Secretary

4.

First Private Secretary

5.

IInd Personal Assistant

6.

Hindi Steno. (LPA)

46

Designation

7.

Clerk (LDC)

8.

9.

Jamadar (Redesignated
as Attendant)
Peons

10.

Driver

Total :

13

12

47

PART IV

RATIONALISATION
OF THE
FUNCTIONS, ACTIVITIES AND
STRUCTURE OF THE
MINISTRY OF
YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS

Rationalisation of the functions, activities and

Structure of
Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports
Table of Contents

Executive Summary ............................................................................................. 1

Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports .............................................................................. 1

1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 3
2. Youth Affairs ................................................................................................... 3
3. Promotion of National Integration.................................................................... 5
4. Assistance to rural youths and sports clubs .................................................... 6
5. Sports ............................................................................................................. 6
6. Sports Authority of India.................................................................................. 7
7. Rural Sports Programme ................................................................................ 7
8. Grants for creation of sports infrastructure...................................................... 8
9. Implications of Staff Strength .......................................................................... 9
Annex-I............................................................................................................... 10
Annex-II.............................................................................................................. 12

Executive Summary
Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports
1.

The National Service Scheme, National Reconstruction Corps, National

Service Volunteer Scheme, National Fitness Corps and National Discipline

Scheme are similar schemes which seek to achieve almost the same objective.
It is recommended that all these schemes should integrated into one so that a
reasonably large programme in this sector can achieve better results.
2.

The Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) has the very good objective

of organizing youth for social work. However, a centralized system does not
seem to be conducive for promoting youth activity in the country.

It is

recommended that NYKS should be divided up into state level bodies for
coordinating out youth activities.
3.

The scheme for assistance to voluntary organizations and scheme for

training of youth are recommended for termination and the scheme for youth of
backward tribes transferred as an activity to the NYK.
4.

The scheme for promotion of national integration is recommended to be

transferred as an activity to NYK.

5.

The scheme for assistance to rural youth and sports clubs is too small to

have much impact. It is recommended that it be shifted to the states sector.

6.

The Sports Authority of India appears to have an unduly large staff

compliment. The Department should commission a study to redetermine the staff

strength required at different levels in the SAI with reference to the actual work
requirements.
7.

The primary responsibility for coaching should be shifted to sports

federations. The Government of India can assist some of the sports federations
which are well managed and which maybe in need of financial assistance. It
should be sufficient if SAI has enough coaches for conducting coaching
programmes in its own campus and at its required coaching centres.

8.

The scheme for assistance to and specialized coaching for talented

persons and scheme for mass participation are recommended to be shifted to

concerned national federations. It is recommended that the scheme be given a
much sharper focus by eliminating smaller items by focussing on modern and
sizeable facilities on a much larger scale.
9.

The scheme of rural sports programme is very small, in amount. It is

recommended that it should be increased so that assistance is possible for most

of the districts in the country for rural sports.
10.

The two schemes relating to National Welfare Fund for Pension to

meritorious sports persons and Sports Funds for Pension to meritorious sports
persons merged and maintained as one scheme because both have the same
objective.

Rationalisation of the functions, activities and

Structure of
Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports

1.

Introduction

1.1

The Department of Youth Affairs and Sports was created in 1982 at the

time of organization of IX Asian Games in New Delhi. Although the item sport
figures as entry 33 in the State List under the Constitution of India, Government
of India has considered it necessary to have a separate Department for Youth
Affairs and Sports keeping in view the low level of participation among youth in
sports and the generally poor performance by India in sports competitions
internationally. It is generally accepted that sports promotion should primarily be
the responsibility of various National Sports Federations and that the role of the
government should be to facilitate creation of necessary infrastructure and
promote broad-basing sports as well as for achieving excellence in various
competitive events.

Even so the Department is implementing a number of

schemes, listed in Annex-I. The Department has plan outlay of Rs.215 crore and
a non-plan provision of Rs.45 crore in B.E. 2001-02.
1.2

The Department has National Service Scheme organization as a

subordinate office and has four autonomous organizations under it viz.

i) Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan;
ii) Sports Authority of India;
iii) Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development;
iv) Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education.

2.

Youth Affairs

2.1

The major schemes under Youth Affairs are:

i) National Service Scheme;
ii) National Reconstruction Corps;
iii) National Service Volunteer Scheme;
iv) National Fitness Corps;
v) National Discipline Scheme.

2.2

The National Service Scheme was launched in 1969, in 37 universities

involving 40,000 students with the objective of development of personality of

students through community service. It has grown to cover 17 lakh students
coming from 176 universities. This scheme has two types of programmes viz.
Regular Activities and Special Camping Programmes. It has outlay of Rs.30
crore in 2001-02.
2.3

National Service Volunteers Scheme was started in 1977-78 for students

who have completed their degree and are below 25 years of age to involve them
on voluntary basis in nation-building for one or two years.

There is budget

provision of Rs.5.4 crore for this scheme in 2001-02.

2.4

National Reconstruction Corps was started in 1999 with the objective of

providing opportunity to youth to participate in nation building. There is a budget

provision of Rs.10.80 crore for the scheme for the year 2001-02.
2.5

There is great merit in involving youth in national reconstruction through

voluntary work. However, the schemes mentioned above have similar broad
objectives with only slight differences.

These schemes could therefore be

merged and a unified scheme for involving youth, both students and nonstudents, in nation building could be implemented. This will secure a better focus
in the implementation of these schemes. The suggested integration of these
schemes would render some of the staff sanctioned for the new schemes
redundant.

The redundant positions would need to be identified and these

positions would need to be abolished.

2.6

Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) has a countrywide network

covering 500 districts. It has developed a tiered structure with youth clubs and
Mahila Mandals in the villages and 46 regional coordinators and 18 zonal
directors at regional level. The main objective of the programme is to promote
the youth club movement in the country. This objective is quite laudable but it is
doubtful whether it should be implemented in a centralized manner by the
Government of India. The youth movement would probably prosper better if it is
allowed to function in a decentralized manner.

With this objective, it is

recommended that the countrywide organization of the Sangathan may be

dispensed with and State level bodies allowed to oversee the set up in districts
and villages for which purposes the funds provided for the scheme could be
transferred to States. The regional levels of the Sangathan are clearly redundant
and can be abolished.
2.7

(i)

Assistance to Voluntary Organization

(ii)

Training of Youth

(iii)

Special scheme for youth of backward tribes

The

first

scheme

provides

financial

assistance

to

voluntary

organizations working in the field of youth welfare to involve youth for

development activities particularly in rural areas. Considering that the
Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan implements a wide range of
programmes in this direction, this scheme appear redundant and can
be terminated.
The scheme for training of youth aims at improving the productive
potential of youth through training for promoting self-employment and
better

improvement.

The

schemes

of

the

Ministry

of

Rural

Development cater to this need at a much larger scale and through

more specialized bodies.

This scheme can also therefore be

terminated.
The third scheme for promoting youth activities for youth of backward
tribes has a laudable objective but then this scheme could well be
integrated with the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan and the outlay set
apart for this scheme made available to that organization.

3.

Promotion of National Integration

3.1

This scheme seeks national integration through greater exchange and

understanding among youth of various regions of the country. Assistance is also

provided to voluntary organizations under this scheme. The main programmes
under the scheme are: organization of national integration camps and inter State
Youth Exchange Programme. This activity could also be implemented through
the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan.

4. Assistance to rural youths and sports clubs

4.1

This scheme is implemented by NYKS on an agency basis for the

Ministry. Under this scheme, assistance is extended to youth clubs at grass root
level and assistance upto Rs.30,000 can be given for sports clubs, one in each
block in a phased manner. Ideally, support for activities of this type at the village
level should be extended by State Governments. This scheme, along with the
funds could therefore be transferred to the States.

5.

Sports

5.1

General participation in sports is highly desirable because it promotes

healthy values among the participants and it has beneficial effect on health and
well being of the participants. Sports events also provide healthy entertainment
to the viewing public. International sports have become highly competitive in
which the Indian performance has been somewhat below par, particularly in
athletics and swimming. It needs to be noted that improving participation rate
among the youth in sports and improving performance at international level
requires:
i) Assistance to and specialized coaching for talented persons;
ii) Infrastructure of acceptable standards;
iii) Mass participation to throw up sufficient number of talented sportsmen;
All the three mentioned above components are currently weak in the country. In
addressing these issues, the government should rely basically on sports
federations to organize and conduct sports facilities.

This would imply

willingness of the government to supplement the resources of the sports

federations where they meet the norms in regard to their internal management
and in regard to organization of national level, state level and district level events
of these activities.

While a few sports federations like that for cricket are

financially very sound, most of them are weak. For effective promotion of sports
in the country, government could consider taking a more pro-active role in

assisting well-managed sports federations. In regard to coaching, it is noted that

the institutional framework of National Institute of Sports, Patiala, Lakshmibai
National Institute of Physical Education and Sports Authority of India including its
regional centres is sufficient to provide competent coaching.

This can be

supplemented by the national sports federations. With such arrangement there

should be no need for the Department to have independent coaching schemes.

6.

Sports Authority of India

6.1

Sports Authority of India (SAI) has 178 group A positions, 58 group B

positions, 661 group C positions and 1302 group D positions. It also has 1596
coaches positions all over the country. Compared to the functions performed by
the Sports Authority of India, this staff appears excessive.

The Department

should commission a study and determine the staff strength required in SAI with
reference to the actual work requirements. Further, while some coaches will need
to be maintained by the SAI for conducting coaching programme in its own
camps and its regional coaching centres a question arises whether SAI should
maintain such a large number of coaches all over the country as it now does.
Coaching should be one of the primary responsibilities of the concerned sports
federations.

Government could extend necessary financial support to the

federations for such purposes. This aspect would also need to be gone into in
the proposed study.

7.

Rural Sports Programme

7.1

This programme was started in 1970-71 and on merits is a very appealing

one. However, it needs to be noted that neither Government of India nor the
Sports Authority of India is at present providing any substantial support for the
programme. The assistance is more in the nature of a token provision which
allows some support to be extended for rural sports in some cases. Rural sports
programme is a very good programme and it is even more important because a
majority of youth are outside educational institutions. It would be in the fitness of
things if there is possibility of supporting at least some rural sports activity in

every district of the country.

This would probably require an allocation of

something like Rs.50 crore per year for the programme. It is suggested that the
Department should strive to take this programme to this level so that it can have
meaningful effect. This scheme, along with the funds could then be transferred
to the States, so that each State is able to fashion and implement the scheme
with reference to the requirements of that State.

8.

Grants for creation of sports infrastructure

8.1

This is a good scheme considering very weak sports infrastructure in the

country. However, the scheme tends to lose focus by seeking to assist a large
number of items including assistance for things like construction/improvement of
facilities in schools belonging to Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Navodaya
Vidyalaya Sangathan and State Governments. It is suggested that this scheme
should be made more focussed by limiting financial assistance to a small number
of items like synthetic tracks, synthetic surfaces, stadia etc. This would improve
the outcome from these schemes.
8.2

(i)

Grants to rural schools for sports equipments and play fields;

(ii)

Rural Sports Programme;

(iii)

Promotion of sports in universities and colleges;

(iv)

Promotion of sports and camps in schools

All the four schemes have laudable objectives but the appropriateness of these
schemes being administered by the department is questionable.

The first,

second and fourth schemes could be left to the care of the concerned State
Governments; while the third scheme for universities and colleges should be left
to be looked after by the University Grants Commission.
8.3

(i) Scholarships to Sports Persons

(ii) Assistance to promising sports persons and sporting personnel

The scheme of scholarships to sports persons who distinguish themselves and

show potential of reaching Asia or World levels is a justifiable scheme for
promoting excellence and for encouraging such persons who achieve
international recognition. It is suggested that both these schemes should be

merged by terminating the latter scheme and augmenting, if necessary, the scale
of the scheme for scholarship.

8.4

(i) National Welfare Fund for Pension to Meritorious sports persons

(ii) Sports Fund for Pension to meritorious sports persons

Both schemes have similar objectives. These should be merged into a single
scheme.

9.

Implications for Staff Strength

9.1

Existing staff in the Department is shown in a tabular form in Annex-II.

9.2

In the Department of Sports there is only modest staff at Group A level

with the Secretary being assisted by 2 Joint Secretaries, 1 Director, and 3 Deputy
Secretaries. Therefore, no staff reduction at these levels is being recommended.
However, the substantial reorganization and reorientation of programmes of the
Department suggested in this report would call for some reduction in the number
of sections. Thus three or four of the existing 14 sections could be wound up.

Financial Outlays for Department of Youth Affairs & Sports

Scheme-wise Budget Estimates and Revised Estimates 2000 -2001
and Budget Estimates, 2001 -2002
Sl.

Name of Scheme

1
2
A.
Youth Welfare Schemes
1 National Service Scheme
2 Assistance to Voluntary Organizations
3 Promotion of Adventure Activities
4 Scouting and Guiding
5 National Service Volunteer Scheme
6 National Integration Programme
7 Youth Hostels
8 National Discipline Scheme
9 Youth & Sports Clubs (Revised scheme of youth clubs)
10 Promotion of Youth activities and training (Revised scheme of Training
for Youth)
11 National Fitness Corps
12 Special Scheme for Promotion of Youth Activities among the youth of
backward tribes
13 Youth Development Centre
14 National Reconstruction Corps
15 Schemes for Youth with Special need
Total Youth Welfare Schemes

Budget Estimates Revised Estimate

2000-2001
Plan
NonPlan
3
4

2000-2001
Plan
Non
Plan
5

2615
160
200
125
600
400
200
155
140

550
500
-

2515
190
150
125
540
375
100
155
180

140

1
-

205

50
1200
1
5986

1051

50
300
1
4886

Sl.

1
B
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Name of Scheme

2
Sports and Physical Education
Grants for Games & Sports in Universities/Colleges
Grants for National Sports Federations
Schemes for grants for creation of Sports Infrastructure
Incentives for Promotion of Sports Activities in schools
Support for Supply and Installation of Synthetic Surfaces
Exchange of Sports & Physical Education Teams Experts
National Sports Championship for Women
Grants to NCC Jt. Divn. Troops in Public/Residential
Central Schools
Sports Scholarship Scheme
Rural Sports Programme
National Welfare Fund for Sports Persons
Assistance to Promising Sports Persons
Promotion of Sports among disabled
National Fitness Programme
Total Sport s & Physical Education

500
1500
1000
400
850
50
-

200
26
19

500
2200
1150
400
200
-

183
40
17

300
125
230
5
25
4985

3
5
253

400
125
60
25
5060

6
246

Annex-II
Staff Strength
Department of Youth Affairs & Sports

S.No.

Name of the Post

Secretary

No. of
Posts
1
1

In Position

Joint Secretary

Director

Deputy Secretary

Prog. Adviser

Under Secretary

Principal PS

Private Secretary

Desk Officer

10

Section Officer

11

11

Jr. Analyst (WS)

7(one US working as DS on
personal upgradation basis
1(the present incumbent is working
as Sr. PPS on in-situ basis
4 (one PS is working as PPS on
personal upgradation basis
- (Against 2 posts of Dos, 2 Sos
are working in excess
13 (4 SOs are working as US on insitu basis)
1

12

AE(Civil)

13

AD(OL)

3 (One Director working as JS on

personal upgradation basis)
1
3 (One US working on personal
upgradation basis)
- (vacant)

Total No. of Sections - 14

Total No. of Desks -

Total No. of Cells -

Total No. Units -

12

Department of Youth Affairs & Sports

No. of Posts

Sanctioned
Strength
40

In
Position
38

25

26

PA

Stenos

RA(WS)

Accountants

Assistant
UDC

Vacant

Remark

2
Extra Adjusted against the
post of LDC
1

10 Excess Adjusted against the

post of PA
1
2

Department of Sports
SN

Name of the Post

Sr. Translator

Sanctioned
Strength
1

In
Position
1

Vacant

Remark

Jr. Translator

Being filled

LDC

26

23

-do-

Sr. Peon

Daftry

-do-

Staff Car Driver

Accounts Clerks

-do-

Photocopier operator

-do-

13

PART V

RATIONALISATION
OF THE
FUNCTIONS, ACTIVITIES AND
STRUCTURE OF THE
MINISTRY OF
ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS

Rationalisation of the functions, activities and structure of

the Ministry of Environment and Forests
Table of Contents
Executive Summary....................................................................................................1
I.
Evolution of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.........................................4
II. The Present Set up.............................................................................................8
III. Suggestions for Restructuring ..........................................................................17
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.

Environmental Clearances ...................................................................................... 17

National River Conservation Directorate.................................................................. 18
National Afforestation and Eco Development Board ................................................ 20
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education................................................ 23
Botanical Survey of India, Zoological Survey of India and Forest Survey of India.... 25
Directorate of Forest Education, Dehradun ............................................................. 27
Autonomous Organisations ..................................................................................... 27
Centres of Excellence: ............................................................................................ 29
Environmental Information Service Centres ............................................................ 30
Main Ministry ........................................................................................................... 31

Executive Summary
1.

The work relating to environment clearances could be centralised under

the charge of the Special Secretary.

The Divisions dealing with impact

assessment, hazardous substances movement management, control of pollution

and common Effluent Treatment Plants could function under the Special
Secretary.
2.

The decisions already taken in the National River Conservation

Directorate for streamlining the procedures for sanctioning of projects and for
release of funds should be put in place without delay. In order to enable the
Project Director to devote full attention to the work of the directorate, the present
practice of entrusting this Director with additional responsibilities in the Ministry
should be discontinued. This organisation is ideally suited for the adoption of
level jumping and Desk Officer system as recommended by the last Pay
Commission. The SIU should be required to undertake a fresh assessment of
the staff strength of this directorate on the basis of adoption of these
suggestions. In the meantime, the 34 posts, found surplus on the basis of an
internal work study in 1993 should be abolished forthwith.
3.

The National Afforestation and Eco Development Project should be made

the main instrument for the realisation of the objectives for the Nation Forest
Action Plan. Towards this end the Ministry should take all efforts for accessing
international donors for increasing the coverage under the greening programme.
The Ministry should also establish procedures for working in tandem with the
Ministry of Rural Development, so that the funds available in the 1,70,000
villages adjoining forest areas under the Sampoorna Gram Vikas Yojana could
be accessed for meeting the wage component of the various works undertaken
by NAEB in these villages and in the adjoining forest areas.
4.

The Director General of Forests should be made the Chief Executive of

NAEB. In order that the DG, Forests is able to devote adequate attention to
NAEBs work, which is likely to increase in the coming years, necessary
arrangements would need to be put in whereby the DG, Forests, in his capacity

as Special Secretary, Forests, in the Ministry is required to handle only IFS cadre
management matters and the more important of the issues on the forest side.
5.

As in the case of the NRCD, this organisation should also be made fully

officer oriented. The SIU should be required to undertake a quick study for
downsizing the staff strength in this organisation on this basis.
6.

ICFREs activities need to be sharply focussed and its programmes

implemented in a time bound manner. A number of activities (as listed in the

report) which have become redundant over the years or which can well be
undertaken better in the private sector need to be wound up. There is thus a
case of a drastic downsizing of ICFREs staff strength. Pending finalisation of
these detailed proposals, action should be taken to abolish immediately all the
936 vacant posts.
7.

The three survey organisations, BSI, ZSI and FSI should be brought under

the supervision of the Additional Secretary so as to ensure a coordinated

approach to ecological thematic mapping. In these three agencies there is need
for more focused work and implementation of activities in a time bound manner.
As in the case of the BSI, there is need for a drastic downsizing of the staff at the
support levels in ZSI and FSI also. The SIU should be required to undertake this
examination immediately.
8.

In the absence of the need for providing induction training to direct recruits

on a regular basis, the need for continuance of the three forest service colleges
at Coimbatore, Burnihat and Kurseong has come into question. The concerned
State Governments should be encouraged to take over these institutions for
providing in-service training to other cadres, by providing grants on a sliding
scale in the initial years for meeting the recurring expenditure of these
institutions.
9.

The autonomous organisations under the Ministry should be advised of a

likely reduction in budget support in the coming years because of fiscal

constraints and they should be required to draw up action plans both for
maximising internal resources and for accessing other sources of funds as well
as for reducing expenditure commitments. These action plans together with the

Ministrys proposals for diluting its control over these organisations should be
incorporated in the Memorandums of Understanding entered into with these
organisations.
10.

A similar approach needs to be followed in the case of Centres of

Excellence as well. The objective should be to ensure that the Budget support
for the existing Centres of Excellence is reduced out over a period of time, giving
the ministry the needed flexibility for promoting new Centres of Excellence in
other sectors and in other areas.
11.

The performance of the 26 Environmental Information Service Centres

(ENVIS) needs to be quickly assessed so that Budget support for those that are
not functioning well or serving a useful purpose could be withdrawn. Till the
completion of this review there should be a freeze on funding of new ENVIS
centres.
12.

The remaining 51 posts found surplus in the Ministry on the basis of the

earlier internal work measurement study, should be abolished straightaway.

13.

The Environment Wing of the six regional offices of the Ministry should be

closed down. The follow up of work relating to environmental clearance can be

undertaken by the six zonal offices of the Central Pollution Control Board.
14.

The Ministrys proposal to set up a Wild Life Crime Cell is a welcome one.

Matching savings should be found by surrendering sufficient number of posts in

the Ministry.
15.

The suggestions made for the handling of work in the NRCD, NAEB and

for environmental clearance cases, should, by reducing the flow of routine work
in these three areas, enable the Secretary to focus more on policy formulation,
promotional activities and project implementation.
16.

There should be some flexibility in the positioning of Scientists, Forest

Officers and generalists at the middle and senior levels. There is also need for
induction of specialists from other disciplines as highlighted in section 2.

Rationalisation of the functions, activities and struc ture

of the Ministry of Environment and Forests
I.

Evolution of the Ministry of Environment and Forests

1.1

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has its origins in the

National Committee on Environmental Planning and Coordination (NCEPC) set

up in the year 1971 to prepare country documents for India to be sent to the UN
Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm held in June 1972. The
Committee was headed by the then Member (Perspective Planning) of the
Planning Commission. The selection of a member of the Planning Commission
as Chairman was itself suggestive of the multidisciplinary nature of the subject of
environment and of its importance in planning for socio-economic development.
NCEPC was envisaged as a focal point in the government acting as a think tank
and a catalyst in addition to performing some functions of its own to persuade
other ministries to integrate environmental concerns into their plans and
programmes. The Committee had members drawn from diverse subject areas
and included naturalists, economists, medical researchers and eminent public
men. The NCEPC was serviced by the Department of Science & Technology
(DST) within which a small group of officers formed the secretariat of the
Committee.
1.2

In the year 1985, a Department of Environment was created which

became the Ministry of Environment and Forests. It is significant to note that

Forests earlier formed part of the Ministry of Agriculture. Though this was quite
logical, it was probably felt that issues relating to forests could be overshadowed
by the more urgent issues surrounding agriculture in such an arrangement, and
that a more appropriate placement for forests would be with environment. The
formation of the new ministry signified the growing importance of the subject of
environment in general and the role of forests in particular in environmental
conservation. Animal welfare was also brought into the fold of the ministry but
has now been taken out.
1.3

The addition of Forests and Wildlife has made the ministry a superbody.

With 22.5% of the countrys land area reported to be under forests, the subject of
4

forests and wildlife being brought under the Concurrent List and with 87 national
parks and over 400 sanctuaries, the work of the forest wing of the ministry is,
today, very much more than what the forest wing in the ministry of Agriculture
had to deal with in earlier years. The sustainable management of forests and
wildlife is an important issue in Centre-State relations.

The National Forest

Policy of 1988 aims to bring one-third of the land area of the country under tree
cover.

The National Forestry Action Plan (NFAP) drawn up recently would

involve a massive nationwide effort in its implementation. The ministry is also the
controlling authority for the nearly 3000 strong Indian Forest Service cadre.
1.4

Since pollution of rivers is a highly visible form of environmental

degradation, it is but natural that the task of cleaning up the countrys major
rivers should fall on the MoEF. What started as the Ganga Action Plan (GAP)
spread to the Yamuna and the Gomti and at present almost all the major river
basins in the country are covered under the National River Conservation Plan
(NRCP). The Plan is administered by a Directorate within the Ministry.
1.5

Over the years, a number of laws related to environment have been

enacted by the Parliament and considerable subordinate legislation has also

come into force.

These have made the MoEF play an increasing role in

regulatory matters. For example, the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the
Notification

on

Environmental

Impact

Assessment

Procedures

making

environmental clearances mandatory for selected groups of industries and other

activities (1994), the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification of 1991, the
Management of Hazardous Wastes Rules and the rules governing introduction of
and experimentation with living organisms have all made the regulatory role of
the ministry more pronounced than before. Nearly 100 development projects,
both in the public and private sectors, are cleared every year by the ministry.
Under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, over 350 proposals are cleared in a
year.
1.6

Two other important developments since 1972 need to be noted. One is

the introduction of Article-48A and Article-51A(g) in the Constitution of India in

1977 which have cast a binding obligation on the state to protect and improve the

environment and a corresponding duty on the citizen.

Article-48A has been

interpreted by the Supreme Court of India in conjunction with Article-21 (Right to

Life) as conferring on the citizen a fundamental right to enjoy a clean and healthy
environment.

This development, in particular, has increased the burden of

responsibility on the ministry manifold.

1.7

Courts have held that the duty cast on the state under Article-48A of the

Constitution of India has to be discharged in a proactive and not in a passive

manner. That is, the state should, on its own volition, take steps to protect and
improve the environment instead of springing into action only when disaster
strikes. Several examples can be quoted in this context. The introduction of
unleaded fuel in the metro cities in April 1995, drastic reduction in the sulphur
content of diesel all over the country, introduction of European emission norms
for automobiles, controlling pollution of rivers like the Ganga and Yamuna,
directions given to leather tanneries to treat effluents and pay the costs of
environmental remediation are some of the notable instances where the ministry
had to take urgent action following the Supreme Courts directives.
1.8

A consequence of these developments is that litigation has come to

occupy a good deal of time of the ministrys officials. Public Interest Litigation
(PIL) has emerged as a distinctive feature in the Indial legal scene to compel the
executive branch of the state fulfil environmental imperatives.

The Green

Judiciary, a development of the last decade, has donned the mantle of an

environmental watchdog and through its various pronouncements has evolved a
new area of jurisprudence defining the roles of the state and the citizen in
environmental protection and improvement and bestowing a new interpretation
on the Law of Torts as it applies to environmental damage.
1.9

The other notable development since 1972 is the coming into being of

many international conventions concerning various aspects of the environment

and the Earth Summit of 1992 which adopted Agenda-21, a blueprint for
sustainable development.

Conventions like the Montreal Protocol, the

Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biodiversity

have given rise to several initiatives in the ministry. To implement the Montreal

Protocol, an Ozone Cell was set up and rules governing phase-out of ozone
depleting substances in India have been notified. As part of the Climate Change
Convention, a Centre for Clean Development Mechanisms has come into being.
To give effect to the Biodiversity Convention, a Biodiversity Bill has been
introduced in the Parliament.

The Basle Convention on Transboundary

movement of hazardous wastes is another important convention for India as the

country being poor in non-ferrous metals imports substantial quantities of metal
concentrates and recyclable material for meeting its primary metal requirements.
Likewise, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
has increased greatly the surveillance functions of the ministry.
1.10

The organizational chart of the ministry (Annex-I) indicates its wide spread

of functions ranging from brownissues like control of pollution to greeningthe

country, from management of hazardous wastes to management of wildlife and
from promoting clean industrial technologies to research in sylvicultural genetics.
1.11

Some aspect or other of environmental concerns is dealt with in many

other wings of the government, notably the Planning Commission, the ministries
of Urban Affairs, Agriculture, Energy, Health, and the departments of
Biotechnology, Rural Development and the Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR). Environment is too vast a subject to be dealt with by one
ministry and hence any Ministry of Environment can and should be principally a
catalyst and a coordinator though it can discharge some functions of its own not
dealt with specifically by any other ministry.

II.

The Present Set up

2.1

The functions presently allotted to the Ministry are set out in Annex II.

This list fully reflects the additional responsibilities vested in this organisation
over the last three decades. In line with the enlargement of the range of duties,
the staff complement which was a miniscule half a dozen officers who acted as
the Secretariat of NCEPC when it was set up in 1971, has increased to over 850
in the Ministry alone. Inclusive of the staff strength of the Attached and other
offices, the total number is over 9000 (Annex III).

More important that this

number, is the number of different, distinct areas of work in the Ministry, as

reflected by the separate boxesin the organisational chart at Annex I.

2.2

The environmental concerns cut across numerous sectors.

As such

various other Ministries/Department also have a role to play in addressing

environmental concerns. The placing of both Environment and Forest in a single
Ministry should facilitate a holistic view being taken of these areas. In actual
practice, however, these two often function as two water tight compartments.
What is more with NAEB functioning under a Special Secretary/Additional
Secretary, this area of work has got separated to a large extent from the National
Forestry Action Plan.

2.3

The Ministry has a total budget of Rs.911 crore in BE 2001-2002, of which

the provision for non-plan expenditure is Rs.111 crore. There a large number of
plan schemes, with a total outlay of Rs.800 crore, of these the National River
Conservation Plan, with an outlay of Rs.191 crore and the National Aforestation
& Eco Development with an outlay of Rs. 137 crore are the two biggest
programmes. There are 20 Centrally Sponsored Schemes with an outlay of Rs.
493 crore.
2.4

Broadly, work on both the environment side and the forest side can be

divided into the following areas:v

Policy and Planning

(eg:- Pollution abatement policy, National Forest Policy)

Regulatory Functions
a)

Clearances for projects under the Environment (Protection) Act,

1986, and the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980; setting of pollution
standards, implementation of Coastal Regulation Zone Notification,
1991, and other notifications like those governing storage, handling
and transportation of hazardous wastes and hazardous chemicals;
clearances for introducing genetically modified organisms in the
country,

b)

legal work consisting of framing new legislation; representing the

government in public interest litigations,

Project implementation
National River Conservation Plan (NRCP); National Lake Conservation
Project,

National

Environmental

Awareness

Education

Campaign;

Multilaterally and bilaterally aided projects; National Afforestation and

Ecodevelopment Board (NAEB) to promote greening of denuded forest
lands and adjoining areas; National Forestry Action Plan; Project Tiger
and Project Elephant.
v

Promotional and extension activities

Promoting environmental education and research through the Ecosystem
Research Group, the Environment Research Committee and other
Committees and through financial assistance to centres of excellence.

International Relations
Administration of international conventions, bilateral agreements and
interaction with UN bodies.

2.5

As the following analysis will bear out, it will not be an exaggeration to

state that in the pre-occupation with regulatory functions, international

commitments and responses to judicial activities, areas like policy and planning,
project implementation and promotional activities have not received the attention
that they deserve.
2.6

Of the above items of work, the one which occupies much of the energies

of the ministry today is regulatory work. Regulatory functions like according

environmental clearances consume a significant part of the time and efforts of
the ministry.

With industrial liberalization having done away with customary

licenses, the only license required today at the central level is environmental
clearance. Industrial liberalization and inflow of foreign direct investment have
led to an increase in projects of physical infrastructure and manufacturing all of
which needing environmental clearance.
2.7

Environmental clearance is a fairly lengthy and arduous process both for

the project proponent and the ministry. It calls for the preparation of a detailed
environmental impact assessment report spread over seasons and an
environmental management plan by the proponent. The level of detail remains
more or less the same for all categories of projects and with certain projects like
mining or hydroelectric power generation a two-stage clearance is necessary.
About 180 project proposals are received in a year of which about 100 are
accorded clearance and 80 are either rejected on merits or closed for want of
necessary information from their proponents.
2.8

Environmental clearance is a time-bound process as the EIA Notification

of 1994 requires the ministry to clear or reject a proposal within 90 days of

receipt complete with impact assessment and management plan. Although the
ministry is assisted in the process of examination of proposals by committees of
outside experts, its senior officials are expected to weigh and consider the
recommendations of these committees and profer their advice to the Minister to
accept or reject any proposal. Similar is the case with proposals received under
the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification of 1991. The countrys 8000 km long
coastline can spur economic growth and become a major tourism destination in
the world. This factor has given rise to a number of project proposals on the
coast calling for careful scrutiny. Forest clearances are an added regulatory

10

burden on the ministry with close to 400 proposals received in a year. It can be
stated safely that project clearance has emerged as a major function in the
ministry in recent years.
2.9

Another preoccupation forced on the ministry is litigation brought about by

Public Interestpetitions. Since any developmental project has a bearing on the

environment and since environmental protection itself is a wide term covering
protection of land, water and air from any form of adverse biotic interference,
launching public interest litigation against developmental projects has become a
way of life with some groups in the country. MoEF invariably turns out to be a
respondent in these petitions even though the subject matter of the petition may
or may not fall within the business allocated to the ministry. The ministry is thus
forced to deal with subjects familiar to it at times and unfamiliar at other times.
This also necessitates gathering information from many other ministries and their
agencies and state governments and in ensuring finally that the concerned
ministry or the state government acts in accordance with court directives. MoEF
is held accountable by the courts for compliance of their directives irrespective of
the fact that the burden of compliance should also fall on other ministries and the
state governments.
2.10

On the forest side the regulatory role takes the form of granting or

rejecting permission under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, for converting
any forest area for non-forest purposes. But this regulatory role is somewhat
different from the regulatory function of environmental clearance on the
Environment side of the ministry. Its scope is limited and the only condition
imposed while granting clearance is that the project proponent should provide
funds for afforesting an equal area of denuded forest lands or twice the area of
non-forest land. Further monitoring is not necessary as it becomes the duty of
the state governments to take up the compensatory afforestation work that has
been paid for. An important point, however, is involved in this exercise. Often,
delicate Centre-State issues arise like legalizing encroachments on forest lands
with the state governments supporting such legalization and the Centre not being
in a position to agree. Where a state government itself is a promoter of a project,

11

as in the case of a hydro-electric or irrigation project involving forest area,

MoEFs rejection of the proposal for forest land conversion is received with
reservations by the state government. Often, intervention at the level of the
Minister of Environment and Forests becomes necessary.
2.11

The preoccupation of the ministry with environmental clearances and

litigation comes in the way of paying adequate attention to other and equally
important items of work. One such area is policy making. Policy statements often
tend to be too general and not specific. As an example of the absence of detailed
policy requirements, one can cite the provision in the Pollution Abatement Policy
to introduce market based instruments for pollution control. The policy is silent
on which instruments would suit Indian conditions better than others. There has
been no move to make an attempt to introduce such instruments so far although
many models are available abroad. In such a situation, the policy statement has
remained a mere pronouncement.

Again, the insistence of

Best Available

Technologysolutions for pollution control in industry ignore costs and this has
been responsible for the industry to looking upon pollution control as an
imposition than a help.

Industry specific cost-benefit studies on pollution

abatement and waste minimization and reuse are noticeably absent.

This is not

to say that the ministry itself should be engaged in such studies. Necessary
surveys and research work could be sponsored in Universities, Institutions of
Technology and Management Institutes or even got done through consultants.
2.12

Besides the load of regulatory work, there could, perhaps, be another

reason for the inadequate attention being bestowed on policy and related work.
There has been a long held view that environment is purely a scientificsubject
and that too confined to botany or zoology. Absence of realization that other
scientific disciplines like occupational and community health, industrial
toxicology, soil sciences, hydrology, chemical engineering, to quote a few
examples, should also be harnessed to deal with environmental matters is
palpable. Further environmental protection is not a matter of mere scientific or
technological quick-fix.

It straddles economics and sociology.

Unless a

protection strategy is economically viable, it is bound to meet with resistance

12

from those called upon to ensure such protection. Lack of sociological inputs into
policy making and programming arouses the ire of local populations and NGOs
as is often witnessed when populations are displaced to make way for
developmental projects. It would, therefore, be necessary to equip the ministry
with adequate and appropriate human resources.
2.13

Subjects like green accounting and assessment of environmental

damage call for qualified economists who are not available in the ministry.
Infact, the subject of economics, so integral a part of sustainable development
strategy, is conspicuous by its absence in the ministry.
2.14

Similarly, legal work, which is considerable, is poorly looked after often

leading to criticism from the courts. Almost all legislations dealing with various
aspects of environmental protection need to be given a fresh look in the light of
changed circumstances and experience gained so far. Some like the Water
(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and the Air (Prevention and
Control of Pollution) Act, need to be amalgamated. A legislation on solid waste
management deserves to be brought on the statute book. A strong legal cell
needs to be established in the ministry. Further, international conventions have
legal and economic dimensions. For instance, the Framework Convention on
Climate Change holds much significance for the countrys economic growth. The
convention has already led to the creation of international markets for trading in
carbon credits. The WTO Agreement has substantial environmental features in
it and environmental considerations are often invoked to erect non-tariff trade
barriers by some countries to block imports from India. In the forthcoming Doha
ministerial meeting of the WTO, environment and social clauses are most likely
to figure. The handling of these subjects in the ministry cannot be said to be
adequate at present.
2.15

Another area which attracted greater attention in the earlier years was

research. The Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB) initiated by the UNESCO
in the sixties received enthusiastic support in the NCEPC and even today the
Ecosystems Research Scheme and other special schemes support research
projects in universities and other higher scientific institutions.

Similarly, the

13

Environmental Research Programme has been funding research in pollution

related activities and resources conservation and management. Besides these
schemes run directly by the ministry, there is considerable research work going
on in institutions under the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education
and in institutions like the Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Himalayan Ecology.
2.16

Promotion of research should have a high visibility in the working of the

ministry. However, one can sense research occupying only backroom space in
the face of more pressing and sensational nature of other items of work of the
ministry. With a strong support for research, the ministry would be in a position
to speak with authority on subjects which are now before the judiciary and are
those which are covered by international conventions.
2.17

Although a number of research projects are sponsored by the ministry, it is

seen that the proposals are more academically and not policy oriented. While
academic research has its importance, the ministry should identify major areas
for research based on its needs and invite proposals from institutions instead of
merely scrutinizing and sanctioning whatever that comes before it.
2.18

Again, research proposals are invariably on the side of natural sciences.

There are hardly any projects on health related aspects or on brownsubjects or

on the humanities side. Identifying suitable projects in these areas and funding
them would go a long way in obtaining inputs for policy and law making.
2.19

Promoting environmental education and creation of nationwide awareness

of the need to protect the environment are among the responsibilities of the
MoEF. An important aspect of this effort is the availability of sufficient number of
MoEF will have to identify such gaps and institute steps to fill these with the
cooperation of the UGC, All India Council of Technical Education etc. Again,
giving high visibility to grassroots work being done by many individuals and
NGOs all over the country and propogating adoption of successful, traditional
and appropriate technologies in soil and water conservation or forest
management is another area which merits greater attention.
2.20

Likewise on the forest side also with the clearance work and day to day

fire fighting taking up most of the time the National Forestry Action Plan remains

14

largely on paper, while, in the Ministry there have been no attempts at

sharpening the focus of research work in ICFRE.

The NFAP envisages an

investment of RS.1,20,000 crore over a twenty year period by the Centre to the
States with a view to achieving the target of covering one-third of the country with
forests. Compared to this the annual outlay of NAEB, the main investment with
the Ministry for achieving this target has been less than Rs.100 crore per annum
(increased to Rs.137 crore this year). ICFREs activities are so numerous and
diverse, and staff strength so large, as to make staff management itself the main
focus of attention of the top management, that there have been no major efforts
for time bound action plans for core research work. In the case of FSI, ZSI and
BSI there is need for drawing clear cut and focused programme of work, to be
implemented in a time bound manner. In the area of wild life, illegal trade has
grown alarmingly and is threatening the survival of many an endangered species.
Concrete steps for countering this threat need to be taken urgently.
2.21

The progress in various promotional activities as well as in project

implementation has also been somewhat tardy. One of the major indicators for
assessing the performance in these areas is the utilisation of funds allocated. As
will be seen from the statement below there have been significant shortfalls
almost every year in the last six year period, the shortfall being as high as 34% in
1998-99.
Annual Plan Outlay (B.E.)
Rs. crore
Sl.
No.

Sector

YEAR

1995-96

1996-97

1997-98

1998-99

1999-2000

2000-01

2001-02

Environment

80
(63)

125
(124)

198
(115)

211
(115)

192
(118)

231
(155)

213

National River Conservation Plan

79
(42)

106
(122)

109
(99)

192
(108)

200
(157)

210
(128)

191

Forest & Wild Life

108
(98)

148
(95)

145
(124)

209
(173)

215
(178)

257
(173)

259

National Afforestation & Eco

Dev.

104
90
92
92
94
(93)
(88)
(68)
(72)
(87)
371
469
544
704
700
(296)
(429)
(406)
(468)
(540)
The Figures in brackets indicate the actual expenditure in the year.

152
(94)
850
(610)

137

Total

15

800

2.22

A number of reasons, including drastic reduction in the outlays at the

revised estimate stage on grounds of fiscal stringency aRE advanced for

explaining the shortfall. The consistent shortfall however clearly underlines the
need for tightening up of the procedures for sanctioning of funds and in
implementation of projects.
2.23

The shortfalls cut across virtually every major activity on the plan side.

For instance, last year (2000-01) on the environment side as much as Rs. 8.90
crore out of the budget provision of Rs.10 crore for the National Lake
Conservation Plan was surrendered; under the pollution control projects the
surrender was nearly Rs.5 crore representing 20% of the outlay; under the Taj
Protection Mission half of the budget provision of Rs.50 crore was surrendered,
while in the India Environment Management Capacity Building Technical Project
nearly Rs.19 crore of the original provision of Rs.32 crore was surrendered. In
the case of the lump sum provision for the North-East also a sum of Rs.20 crore
out of the total available provision of Rs.85 crore in the budget was surrendered.
In the single largest programme, namely, National River Conservation Project as
much as Rs.76 crore out of the original budget provision of Rs.193.50 crore was
surrendered. There are similar shortfalls under the various programmes on the
forest side as well, though the picture is somewhat better compared to the
environment side. Thus in the Eco Development around Protective Areas nearly
Rs.12.50 crore was surrendered out of the original budget provision of Rs. 54
crore. Under Integrated Afforestation and Eco Development Project Rs. 22.10
crore out of a budgetary allocation of Rs.72.50 crore was surrendered. In respect
of the research programmes of the ICFRE, Rs.4.15 crore was surrendered.
2.24

All these clearly highlight the need for a fresh look at the various

procedures for the release of funds and in project implementation if the

promotion schemes and the various projects are to play their part effectively.

16

III.

Suggestions for Restructuring

3.1

The several issues highlighted in the earlier section underline the need for

the restructuring proposals to focus on the following:

i.

Improving project implementation capacity in the various wings of the

Ministry; in particular adopting less cumbersome procedures in the
NRCD and strengthening the NAEB.

ii.

Redefining the core activities of the ICFRE and drawing up a time

bound action plan in key areas of research.

iii.

Making Autonomous Bodies and Centres of Excellence more self

reliant, working towards specific goals.

iv.

Placing the environment clearance work under the Special Secretary

so that only the more important cases have to go through the
Secretary.

v.

Re-grouping the activities within the Ministry so as to make these more

compact and

vi.

Above all, in almost all areas drastically downsizing of the staff

strength and shedding unnecessary activities. This is necessary if each
organisation in the Ministry and the main Ministry itself is to be made
lean and efficient and achieve a greater focus in its functions.

3.2

The specific suggestions in respect of some of the organisations in the

Ministry and for the Ministry itself are set out in the succeeding paragraphs.

a.
3.3

Environmental Clearances

The work relating to processing of environmental clearance cases could

be brought under the charge of the Special Secretary in the Ministry.

The

divisions dealing with Impact Assessment, Hazardous Substances Management,

Control of Pollution and Construction of common effluent treatment plants could
report to this officer. The Special Secretary could put up papers, directly to the
Minster, except for the more important once, which alone would be required to be
routed through the Secretary.

17

3.4

If this arrangement works well, in due course it could pave the way for

entrusting this work to a separate Authority, outside the Ministry.

3.5

Considering that over 180 project proposals are received every year for

obtaining environmental clearances and each project would involve an outlay of

not less than Rs.50 crore, it is suggested that a fee proportionate to the
investment is levied on the proposals received. To cite an example, Government
of Tamil Nadu charges a front-end fee running to lakhs of rupees on applications
for clearances under the Coastal Regulation Zone notification.

b.
3.6

National River Conservation Directorate

The National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD) with its headquarters

at New Delhi and two regional offices at Allahabad and Kolkata has a sanctioned
staff strength of 117. This Directorate which was earlier implementing the Ganga
Project has taken up number of other river projects as well in recent years. In
view of the expanded mandate a proposal for winding up the two regional offices
at Kolkata and Allahabad, which were set up for intensive monitoring of the
Ganga Project implementation is already under consideration of the Ministry.
3.7

As brought out in the statement on page 15, there have been large

shortfalls in utilisation of plan funds allocated for this project. In 1998-99 the
surrender was Rs. 84 crore (40%), in 1999-2000, Rs. 43 crore (22%) and in
2000-01, Rs. 82 crore (40%). Such large shortfalls are attributed to two factors.
First, was the practice of getting a proposal from the State Government in an
outline form and then on the basis of a detailed examination of this outline in the
NRCD, the State Governments being required to prepare a detailed project
report, which was again scrutinized thoroughly in the NRCD before approval was
given.

A decision has reportedly been taken recently, though yet to be

implemented, that in future even in the first instance the State Governments
would be required to prepare a detailed project report with the help of outside
consultants, which would be examined in overall terms only by NRCD before
being approved.

This change when put into effect is expected to reduce

considerably the time taken in according approval. The second problem faced

18

has been in getting the utilisation certificates from the State Governments.
Under the present arrangements, wherein funds are released to the State
Governments there is considerable time lag in the project authorities getting the
funds released by the State Government. As a result, the project authorities are
starved of funds for several months and are not able to absorb the full allocation
for the year. Here again a decision appears to have been taken recently that the
funds should be released directly to the project authorities. A better alternative to
bypassing the State budget would be for the NRCD to discuss this matter with
the State Governments and put in arrangements for ensuring timely release of
funds to the project authorities. This could be achieved by informing the State
Governments, well before their budget is finalised, of the order of funds to be
allocated in the next year by NRCD for the projects in their State, so that
adequate provisions are made in the State Budget. This way, as soon as NRCD
releases funds to a state, that state should have no problems in releasing the
necessary funds to the project authorities from out of the provision already made
in their budget.
3.8

Clearly, there is need for greater attention to project approvals and timely

release of moneys particularly with the large expansion in the sphere of work of
this directorate. This then should be the top priority for this Directorate. In order
to enable the Project Director to devote full attention to the work of the
Directorate, it would be necessary to discontinue the present practice of
entrusting to this officer additional responsibilities in the Ministry as well.
3.9

It is seen that in the Directorate there are 6 senior level functionaries

including the Project Director, 12 Scientists and a compliment of nearly 100

support staff headed by two Under Secretaries.

In organisations like this

Directorate every attempt should be made to put in modern methods of office

management and for making full use of the advances in the IT sector and for
farming out of support services. Making the office lean is a basic requisite if the
office is to function in an efficient manner as otherwise a good part of the time of
the top management is lost in managing the Directorate office itself. In these
circumstances it is recommended, that Staff Inspection Unit (SIU) should be

19

required to take up a fresh assessment of the staff strength of this Directorate so

that it could be drastically pruned. An internal work study undertaken in the
Ministry in 1993 had come to conclusion that the non-scientific staff could be
downsized from 86 to 52 (Statement at Annex IV). Perhaps this was not followed
up because of the expansion in the responsibilities of this directorate. This
reduction of 34 posts and as also the winding up of the regional offices at
Allahahad and Kolkata should be given effect to immediately. If in line with the
expansion in the role of the Directorate, some additions at the senior/scientific
levels are considered necessary that could be examined separately.

c.
3.10

National Afforestation and Eco Development Board

The National Afforestation and Eco Development Board (NAEB) is the

main instrument that the Ministry has under its direct supervision for achieving of
the National Forestry Action Plan (NFAP). However, while NFAP envisages an
investment of the order of Rs.1,20,000 crore over a 20 year period by the Centre
and

the States, the annual plan outlay of NAEB is less than Rs.100 crore

(increased to Rs.152 crore in BE 2001-2002)! Thus, if NFAP has to become a

reality then the availability of the funds for the NAEB has to register a 30 to 40
fold increase! While this order of increase appears staggering, it is feasible,
provided action is taken on two different fronts:
(a)

With the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol there will be sharp

increase in the number of international donors, looking for
investments in carbon sinks in developing countries. The flows
could be substantial, estimated at several US $ 100 billion. India
could and should seek access to these funds in a big way. This will
be a major task to be undertaken by the Ministry and the NAEB.

(b)

Government have recently announced a wage employment

programme in rural areas titled Sampoorna Gram Vikas Yojana.
While an outlay of Rs.10,000 crore has been indicated now one can
expect a substantial increase in its outlay once the implementation
gains ground. While this programme is to be implemented in all the

20

villages of the country, NAEBs activities are focused in the

1,70,000 villages, accounting for nearly 1/3rd of the total number of
villages, which adjoin forest lands. Thus, a proper tie-up between
NAEB and the department of rural development, could lead to
NAEBs allocations being utilised for the material component and
Sampoorna Gram Vikas Yojana funds being accessed for the wage
component. This way NAEBs coverage could be increased six to
eight fold.

Greening, putting in soil conservation and moisture

retention programme in these 1,70,000 villages and in the adjoining

areas would go a long way in providing livelihood security for the
people of these villages, increasing density of forest cover in the
forests and adjoining areas, and more importantly help arrest the
depletion of water resources by promoting increased water
retention at the source points. The focus of NAEB should be on
catchment area treatment and soil conservation in the interior
areas and on greening, fuelwood and fodder planations on the
periphery and in the village commons. This has to be a cooperative
effort, with full participation of the beneficiary population and the
instrument for this will be the Joint Forestry Management Groups
which will have to be set up in all the villages where such work is
taken up.
3.11

For ensuring that NAEB becomes the main instrument for the

implementation of NFAP, it is necessary to bring about a greater coordination

between NAEB and the forest wing of the Ministry on the one hand, and with the
State Forest Departments on the other. The Director General, Forest who is a
special Secretary in the Ministry should therefore be the Chief Executive of the
NAEB. The programmes of NAEB have to be implemented through the forest
departments of the various states and the need for close working will increase
exponentially when the outlays for the NAEB increase. The appointment of the
Director General, Forests as the Chief Executive of NAEB will go a long way in
securing this coordination also.

As the work load of NAEB increases, the

21

Director General, Forest would have less time for his role as the Special
Secretary in the Ministry.

It will therefore be necessary to put in suitable

arrangements whereby the Director General Forests, in his capacity as Special

Secretary has to devote attention only to IFS cadre management matters as well
as to the more important issues on the forest side.
3.12

The NAEB today has a complement of 91 staff of whom 19 are Group A

officials including IFS officers and scientists. As the volume of work increases
sharply there could be a need for increasing the number of senior level officials
on the technical/scientific/managerial side in this organisation. At the same time
it will be necessary for the organisation to shed a large complement of support
staff. Even the adoption of the pattern as suggested for the NRCD could lead to
a reduction of over 30 officials at the Group C/Group Dlevel. This should be
done straightaway and as this work is organized on more modern and efficient
manner, making full use of the advances made in communication technology, the
number of support staff could be reduced further.
3.13

The NAEB today now has a Council, which is rather unwieldy with over 30

members. This Council which is presided over by the Minister for Environment &
Forests should be made a more compact one. Its membership could consist of
the Secretaries of the concerned Ministries Environment and Forest,
Expenditure, Rural Development, Land Resources, Agriculture and Water
Resources and also have half-a-dozen of leading lights of NGOs and eminent
persons in this field. The Director General as the Chief Executive would function
as the Member Secretary. While the Council could meet once in three or six
months, there could be a Board presided over by the Secretary of the
Environment Ministry and consisting of Secretary (Expenditure), Secretary (Rural
Development) and the Directorate General, Forest to meet every month to take
decisions on all operational matters. This way the NAEB could be put on a single
file system with the Ministry instead of its proposals having to be examined
afresh in the Ministry.

22

d. Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education

3.14

For placing forestry research on a sound footing, it was considered

necessary to set up an apex body to serve as an umbrella organisation for both

forest research and education.

The result was the establishment of Indian

Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) in December 1986. This

body was made an autonomous organisation in June 1991. The major objectives
of the council are:
(1)

to undertake, promote and coordinate forestry education, research

and its application.

(2)

to develop and maintain a national information centre for forestry

and allied services.

(3)

to act as a clearing house for research and general information

relating to forest and wild life.

3.15

(4)

to develop forest expansion programmes and propogate the same.

(5)

to provide consultancy services in these areas.

It has under its charge eight research institutes and three advanced

centres in various parts of the country catering to the research need of different
biographical regions of the nation. The eight research institutes are:
(1)

Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun

(2)

Institute

of

Forest

Genetics

and

Tree

Breeding

(IFGTB),

Coimbatore
(3)

Institute of Wood Science and Technology (IWST), Bangalore

(4)

Tropical Forest Research Institute (TFRI), Jabalpur

(5)

Institute of Rain and Moist Deciduous Forests Research (IRMDFR),

Jorhat

3.16

(6)

Arid Forest Research Institute (AFRI), Jodhpur

(7)

Himalayan Forest Research Institute (HFRI), Shimla

(8)

Institute of Forest Productivity, (IFP), Ranchi

It also has numerous divisions and centres each addressing a specialised

area of requirement.

23

3.17

ICFRE has a total staff strength of over 2800, including 1526 scientific and

technical officials. The Forest Research Institute, Dehradun is the oldest (set up
in 1906), the largest (has a staff strength of more than 1600) and also the most
well known, domestically and internationally, for its pioneering work in research
as well as education in the forest sector.
3.18

A common perception, shared even at the senior levels of the Ministry is

that the range of activities of the ICFRE is so wide and diverse that its work lacks
focus. Some of the areas of work are no longer relevant while some others could
be better done in the private sector. The staff strength is also excessive. For
instance, the Institute of Applied Manpower Research (IAMR) which had
undertaken the human resource development consultancy work in 1998 of
ICFRE and its institutes has placed the surplus staff strength at 494 in FRI, 42 in
AFRI, 40 at TFRI, 90 at IRMDFR, 37 at IWST, 33 at IFGTB, 18 at HFRI and 25 at
IFP! The surplus staff identified is well over 25% of the total staff strength of
these organisations.

IAMR has also pointed out that even at the level of

scientists and research and technical assistants there is no need for fresh
recruitment for some years to come.

The report has further pointed out that in

most institutes LDCs do not have enough work; that vehicles holding and drivers
strength would need to be rationalised; that the cellulose and paper plant has
been non-functional; that the three presses put up with huge capital cost are
functioning much below capacity; etc. etc.
3.19

In the circumstances it is necessary that the Ministry undertakes urgently,

through a group of experts a review of the functions and activities of ICFRE, so

as to identify the core areas on which it should focus and undertake all its
activities in a time bound manner; shed all those activities which are either no
longer relevant or could be better undertaken by the private sector; and downsize
the staff strength to make these organisations lean and efficient ones. Pending
such a comprehensive and detailed analysis, some of the areas, as identified in
the course of discussions with concerned officials, which could be taken up for
examination straightaway are:

24

(a)

Shifting of the Centre for Social Forestry and Eco Rehabilitation

(CSFER) from Allahabad to Dehradun.

(b)

need for the ICFRE Centre at Hyderabad

(c)

need for a Paper and Pulp Division at Dehradun a national level

institute is functioning at Sahranpur.

(d)

need for maintaining the three printing presses.

(e)

need for continuance of activities like wood working, wood

treatment or paper, all of which are best left to the private sector

(f)

feasibility of merging the Forest Product Division of FRI with IWST,

Bangalore; and the Chemistry Division with the MFP Division at
FRI, Dehradun

(g)

shifting of the Extension Division to ICFRE headquarters;

(h)

shifting of the Sociology Division at IFGDB, Coimbatore to the

ICFRE headquarters; etc.

3.20

At the other end of the spectrum, the Jorhat Institute of ICFRE with the

sub centre at Aizwal, Mizoram would need to be strengthened.

Likewise

tropical forest related applied research activity has come to occupy international
importance in view of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, the Framework
Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol and developments to
bring into being a Convention of Forestry. This area of work would also need to
be strengthened.
3.21

Given the scope as well as need for large scale downsizing, pending the

exercise suggested above except for some key posts, the 936 vacant posts,
including the 455 at scientific, research and technical levels abolished
straightaway.

e.
3.22

Botanical Survey of India, Zoological Survey of India and

Forest Survey of India

Currently Botanical Survey of India (BSI) and the Zoological Survey of

India (ZSI) are looked after on the Environment side of the Ministry and the
Forest Survey of India (FSI) is looked after on the Forest side. This bifurcation of

25

supervision is quite artificial and goes against the need to integrate the
information and data available with the three Surveys. As Ecological thematic
mapping is the need of the hour, it is necessary that the responsibility for
overseeing the functioning of these three organisations should vest in one senior
officer say the Additional Secretary in the Ministry.

Map preparation has to

keep pace with survey work which today has been speeded up vastly, thanks to
remote sensing techniques.

It is ascertained that the limiting factor is non-

availability of technical staff at certain key positions, while availability of

(expensive) machinery for map preparation could be considered adequate. In
both ZSI and BSI, there is need for increasingly adopting modern approaches to
taxonomy like DNA finger printing and adopting of surveying techniques like
Global Information and Positioning Systems (GIS, GPS). These organisations
should also be involved in implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity
and the proposed National Biodiversity Act. Adoption of GIS, GPS techniques
would reduce significantly the time taken in conducting field surveys and in
cutting down the requirements of non-scientific and non-technical manpower.
Thus, in these organisations, particularly in FSI and BSI there may be a need for
some strengthening in the scientific and technical cadres. At the same time there
is need for a drastic pruning at the support staff levels.

In these

scientific/technical organisations the ratio between such officers and support

staff - should not be allowed to exceed 1:1.5 or at the maximum 1:2. Increased
use of IT based office equipments, and farming out of some of the support
services, would help to achieve these ratios, leading to a substantial increase in
productivity and fall in expenditure outgo.

The SIU could be required to

undertake and complete this redetermination of staff strength in these

organisations within a three months period so that such changes as become
necessary could be put in place before the commencement of next financial year.
Based on a work study review, 180 posts have been abolished in BSI in August
1999.

26

f.
3.23

Directorate of Forest Education, Dehradun

The Directorate has four State Forest Service Colleges under its

administrative control.

In addition to this, the Directorate has control over

admissions, curricula and conduct of examinations in five state government run

forest colleges. Of the four under its direct administrative control, efforts have
been made from time to time to transfer the colleges at Coimbatore (Tamil
Nadu), Burnihat (Assam) and Kurseong (West Bengal) to the respective State
Government and keeping only the college at Dehradun under the Central
Government.

The reluctance of the State Governments to take over these

colleges may be, in part, due to many State Governments not making yearly
recruitments to state forest service cadres some have not done so for many
years. In the absence of regular recruits, these colleges end up by conducting
occasional in-service courses for officers at present. The available infrastructure
could be utilised for providing training on a regular basis to the other cadres of
the Forest Departments as also to those of some of the allied departments. The
efforts for handing over the three colleges to the concerned State Government
should be renewed and as an incentive, grants could be offered on a sliding
scale, for meeting the recurring expenditure in the initial years.

g.
3.24

Autonomous Organisations

Inclusive of ICFRE, which has already been dealt with, there are seven

autonomous organisations functioning under this Ministry. The other six are :
1.

G.B.Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development at

Kosi-Kataman;

2.

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), New Delhi

3.

Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal

4.

Wild Life Institute (WLL), Dehradun

5.

Indian Plywood Industries Research & Training Institute (IPITRI),

Bangalore

6.

Central Zoo Authority (CZA), New Delhi

27

3.25

For all seven taken together the total budget support in year 2000-2001

was over Rs.110 crore. Of this ICFRE and CPCB accounted for Rs.80 crore.
The total internal resources raised by these organisations last year was less than
Rs.5 crore in other words these organisations are more or less fully funded by
government.
3.26

Most autonomous organisations, in practice, function more as subordinate

offices, with little freedom or autonomy in managing their affairs, while at the
same time not receiving adequate attention of the Ministry.

All government

procedures and financial rules are implicitly followed without any change. This
position can change only if the dependence on budget support can be reduced to
less than 50% of the recurring expenditure. As such, and also as due to fiscal
constraints, government budget support for such organisation as a proportion of
their recurring expenditure could be reduced in the coming years, it is therefore
necessary to put in place arrangements under which these organisations are
required to:
(a)

spell out clearly the core activities, which could then be addressed
in a focussed and time bound manner;

(b)

shed unnecessary activities, staff and expenditure; and

(c)

meet an increasing part of their expenditures through maximising

internal resources, charging fees for services rendered and seeking
resources from other sources (like project finances).

3.27

For instance IIFM could endeavour to raise more resources by levying

appropriate levels of fees for the various courses run by it. The association of a
suitable NGO or an outside professional body in the management as well as part
financing of the National Zoo Park in Delhi could be considered. Likewise when
funds are made available for Zoos run by State Governments, such association
of NGOs or outside professional bodies could be stipulated. The management
responsibility of IPITRI could be vested in private units which are quite large and
well modernised.

The G.B.Pant Institute could seek project assistance,

particularly from external donors.

28

3.28

All these efforts would require that these organisations be given greater

freedom and flexibility in organising their work and managing their affairs. As
such the Ministry in turn should be willing to dilute its overall control over these
organisations.
3.29

It is therefore recommended that these autonomous organisations be

informed straightaway that budget support could be progressively reduced in the

coming years and also that the Memoranda of Understanding should clearly set
out the action to be taken by them in the three areas listed earlier, even as the
Ministry on its part will should itself to the dilution of its control over the
organisation giving it greater freedom and flexibility in managing its affairs. By
way of encouraging these organisations to move in this direction, they could be
informed that the budget support in the year 2002-03 would be reduced by 10%.

h.
3.30

Centres of Excellence:

There are seven centres of excellence promoted by the Ministry so far.

These are:
1. Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Ahmedabad
2. CPR Environment Education Centre (CPREEC), Chennai
3. Centre for Ecological Science, Bangalore
4. Centre for Mining Environment, Dhanbad
5. Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON)
6. Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystem
(CEMDE), Delhi
7. Tropical Botanic Garden & Research Institute (TBGRI), Trivandrum
3.31

The provision, by way of Budget Support for these seven centres is

Rs.6.50 crores in BE 2001-02. The internal resources generated and funds

raised from other sources by many of these organisations are quite negligible.
SACON is more or less fully funded by the Ministry while at the other end no
budget support was extended to TBGRI last year. Where there is more or less
full funding, all government procedures and financial rules are followed and
government scales of pay are also adopted. The implication of full funding under
such conditions is that the salary commitment is considered as a liability to be

29

borne by government. Thus unless this arrangement is terminated early, such

centres, with all their staff and other commitments will become a permanent
liability for the government, a liability that was not contemplated when the
Ministry agreed to extend support for these centres of excellence. At the same
time because of fiscal constraints the budget support for these centres is likely to
be reduced in the coming years.
3.32

While efforts for promoting environmental research and extension by such

centres needs to be encouraged, it is equally necessary for government to inform

these bodies that not only could government budget support be reduced in the
coming years, because of fiscal considerations, but also that it could be in the
form of lump sum grants not earmarked for specific purposes like salary etc.
Those centres of excellence which are dependent, on substantial budget support
should also be encouraged to reduce, within the next few years, the dependence
on government budget support to less than 50% of the recurring expenditure by
following the suggestions made in the case of autonomous organisations. In
such cases the MOUs should also spell our clearly dilution of government control
and the manner in which these Centres will have greater freedom and flexibility in
managing their affairs. Those Centres, like TBGRI, which may not require budget
support,

except

for

small

amounts,

and

that

too

only

for

specific

projects/activities, could be exempt from this procedure.

i.
3.33

Environmental Information Service Centres

Under this scheme, started in 1983, the Ministry has so far helped set up

26 Environmental Information Service Centres (ENVIS). In each case an existing

institution was encouraged to set up the centre, by giving a grant initially for
funding the hardware, and later, every year, a project finance support.

provision of Rs.1.25 crore has been made in BE 2001-02 for this scheme,
compared to an actual expenditure of Rs.1.87 crore last year.
3.34

The outgo, in respect of each Centre is not large the maximum is under

Rs.8.50 lakhs for the Annamalai University , the Centre on Mangroves, estuaries,
coral reefs and lagoons. Thus it is very a cost effective way of environmental

30

data in a large number of areas. However considering that as many as 26

centres have been assisted so far, with many of these in position for 15 years or
more, it is necessary to review the work output of these centres, so that those
that are not functioning well or serving an useful purpose can be closed down, or
at least government support withdrawn. Till such a review is completed, there
should be a ban on funding of new ENVIS Centres.

j.
3.36

Main Ministry

An internal work measurement study undertaken by the Ministry in 1993

identified 105 posts as surplus but at the same time endorsed the need for
creation of 51 posts, leading to a net surplus of 54.

The category wise

distribution of these posts is at Annex IV. It is understood that the Ministry has
abolished 51 of the posts identified as surplus and also surrendered 47 more
posts, mostly in the civil construction wing in response to the requirement of
enforcing a 10% cut in staff strength.

As will be seen from the break up

statement, the creation of 51 posts recommended in the internal work study

included 34 posts by way of leave reserve in categories like Assistants, UDCs,
LDCs, Stenos, peons etc. Considering the large number of posts even otherwise
available in each of these categories and also the fact that most officials tend to
accumulate leave in order to encash it at the time of retirement, clearly there is
no need for creating afresh leave reserve posts. The Ministry should therefore
take action to abolish the remaining 54 posts identified earlier as surplus,
retaining the flexibility to fill up only a few positions that are crucial for the efficient
discharge of work.
3.37

The Ministry has its regional offices at Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhuvaneshwar,

Lucknow, Shillong and Chandigarh. These offices follow up the conditions

stipulated while giving environmental and forest clearances.

Each office at

present has one Conservator of Forests, two Deputy Conservators of Forests,

four Scientists and necessary support staff. The total sanctioned strength of all
these offices is 196 of whom 144 are in position. In the case of environmental
clearances in most cases the follow up work takes the shape of getting reports
from the state Pollution Control Boards and forwarding these to Delhi, with such

31

inspections wherever called for. Considering that the Central Pollution Control
Board also has six zonal offices, each with a good complement of scientist staff
and support) it should not be difficult for the follow up of the environmental cases
to be undertaken by these zonal offices of the CPCB. In the circumstances the
posts sanctioned for following up environmental clearances in the 6 regional
offices in the ministry could be abolished. The posts sanctioned for following up
Forest Clearance cases, together with minimum support staff could however be
continued. As the total staff required in these six offices may not exceed 48 (3
forest service officers and five support staff in each office) the remaining 148
posts, including the 52 posts that are vacant as on date need to be abolished.
The post of Additional Director General of Forests sanctioned in the Ministry for
coordinating the forest clearance cases however needs to be continued,
particularly, in view of the other responsibilities also assigned to this official in the
Ministry.
3.38

Illegal trade in wild animals and produce thereof is assuming alarming

proportions threatening the survival of many an endangered species. As part of

the measures for countering this threat, the Ministry is presently planning to set
up a wildlife crime cell for creating a data base to facilitate tackling of habitual
and professional offenders. This cell is to consist of two officers of the rank of
AIG, supported by two data processors. The setting up of this cell is a welcome
move. Matching savings should, however, be found by surrendering some posts
(not vacant posts) in the Ministry.
3.39

The position of a Special Secretary in any ministry is an anomalous one.

This arrangement also tends to dilute the overall responsibility of the Secretary
for the efficient discharge of all functions in the ministry. The arrangements
suggested, whereby the DG, Forests will function more as the Chief Executive of
the NAEB and the assigning of the Environmental clearance work to the Special
Secretary should help to correct the situation considerably. The reduction in the
flow of routine work from NAEB, NRCS and Environmental Clearance cases
should enable the Secretary to focus more on policy formulation, promotional
activities and project implementation.

32

3.40

At present the senior officers at the level of scientists, forest service

officers and generalists function in water tight compartments. While this may be
unavoidable to some extent, the adoption of a multi-disciplinary approach would
call for some flexibility in interchange of these 3 groups of officers at senior level
posts. The Ministry could examine this aspect.

As pointed out in paragraph

2.13, 2.14 and 2.15. There is need for including specialists from other disciplines
also at the Director/Joint Secretary level.

33

Ministry of Environment & Forests

Table of Contents Annex
Annex I.......................................................................................................................34
Annex II......................................................................................................................36
Annex III.....................................................................................................................37
Annex IV ....................................................................................................................38
Annex V .....................................................................................................................40

35

Annex II
Allocation of Business

1.

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.

Environment and Ecology, including environment in coastal waters, in

mangroves and coral reefs but excluding marine environment on the high
seas.
Botanical Survey of India and Botanical Gardens.
Zoological Survey of India.
National Museum on Natural History.
The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (6 of 1974).
The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977 (36 of 1977).
The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 (14 of 1981).
The Indian Forest Act, 1927 (16 of 1927).
***
The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 (53 of 1972).
The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (69 of 1980).
The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986).
The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991 (6 of 1991).
Biosphere Reserve Programme.
National Forest Policy and Forestry Development in the country, including
Social Forestry.
Forest Policy and all matters relating to forests and forest administration in so
far as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are concerned.
Indian Forest Service.
Wild Life Preservation and protection of wild birds and animals.
***
Fundamental research including coordination thereof and higher education in
Forestry.
Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park.
National Assistance to Forestry Development Schemes.
Indian Plywood Industries Research Institute, Bangalore.
National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board.
Desert and Desertification.

36

Annex III
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS
As on 31.8.2001

Sanctioned Staff Strength

1

2
3
4
5.
6
7
8
9
10

11
12

Ministry proper
of which
NRCD : 117
NAEB : 94
CPCB, New Delhi
NMNH, New Delhi
Wild Life Institute, Dehradun
G.B. Pant Institute
National Delhi Zoo Park
IIFM, Bhopal
BSI, Calcutta
ZSI, Calcutta
ICFRE group
of which
FRI : 1642
IGNFA :
92
A&N Island Corporation, Port Blair
Others
Total

857

517
153
166
84
269
157
1374
1194
2802

518
969
9060

37

Annex IV
The tentative assessment of the SIU in respect of Non-Scientific Posts at the
Headquarters of DPD at New Delhi (excluding the Regional Offices at Allahabad and
Calcutta) is as follows:

Assessment

Sanctioned
Strength
in
Delhi

In position at
the time of
study

Director

2.

Jt Director

3.

Dy. Secretary

4.

Under Secretary

5.

PAO

Desk Officer

7.

Section Officer

8.

Hindi Officer

9.

Hindi Translator

10.

Draftsman

11.

Accountant

12.

Assistant

13.

UDC

14.

LDC

15.

Staff Car Driver

16.

Despatch Rider

17.

Pvt. Secretary

S.No.

Category of Post

1.

Remarks

(To
diverted
Ministry)

be
to

38

18.

Steno Gr, C

12

19.

Steno Gr. D

20.

Gestetnor Operator

21.

Daftry

22.

Jamadar

23.

Peons

14

16 (+ 2D/W)

24.

Safaiwala

25.

Farash

1 (+1D/W)

Total

86

70

52

7(+ 3D/W)
(+3 Adhoc)
1

3
4
1

39

Annex V
Sanctioned and Asses sed Strength in Ministry Proper
S.No.

Category

Sanctioned Strength

Assessed Strength

Group A
1.

Secretary

2.

I.G.F.

3.

Additional Secretary

1
2

4.

Additional IGF

5.

Joint Secretary

6.

Advisor

7.

Director (PT)

8.

Director/Deputy Secretary

9.

Director (AOW)

--

10.

DIGs/Director (AW)

11.

Additional Director (WL)

12.

AIGs

13.

Dy. Director (PT)

14.

Dy. Director (WL)

15.

Dy. Director (State)

16.

Scientist (SG)

17.

Scientist (SF)

17

18.

Scientist (SE)

19.

Scientist (SD)

20.

Scientist (SC)

21.

Dy. Director (OL)

22.

Senior Analyst

23.

Under Secretary

10

63

14
11
7

40

24.

Joint Director (Legal)

25.

Joint Director (O&M)

26.

Principal (PS)

27.

Helicopter (Pilot)

121

105

Total
Group B
1.

Desk Officer

2.

Section Officer

27

28

3.

Junior Analyst

4.

Protocol Officer

5.

Accounts Officer

6.

PS (Sr.PA)

23

20

7.

TO(F)

8.

RO(Env.)

9.

RO(WL)

10.

Assistant Dir(OL)/Assistant Editor

11.

Sr. Hindi Translator

12.

Protocol Assistant

13.

Accountant

14.

Assistant

58

37 +4 (LR)

15.

Steno Grade C

30

37+4 (LR)

16.

Legal Assistant

17.

RA(WS)

18.

Accounts Assistant

19.

Desk Attache

20.

RAs

20

17+2 (LR)

21

RI

41

22.

Sr. Library Information Assistant

Total

198

175 +10 (LR)

Group C

1.

Jr. Hindi Translator

2.

Technical Assistant (WL)

3.

Jr. Tech. Assistant

4.

Caretaker

5.

UDC

41

29

6.

Steno Grade D

57

33 + 3 (LR)

7.

Cateloguer (LIA)

8.

Data Entry Operator (Gr.A)

9.

Data Entry Operator (Gr.B)

10.

LDC

72

73+10 (LR) on UDC &

LDC

11.

Reprographer

12.

Staff Car Driver

19

19

13.

Telex Operator

14.

Telephone Operator

15.

Despatch Rider

16.

Sr. Gestetner Operator

211

174+13 (LR)

Total
Group D
1.

Jr. Gestetner Operator

2.

Record Sorter

3.

Jr. Library Attendent

4.

Daftry

23
7

28+(LR)
15+1(LR)

5.

Jamadar

42

6.

Farash

7.

Safaiwala

24

24

8.

Peon

95

75

9.

Chowkidar

10

10.

Mali

+8LR-19

Total

+1

169

157 +11 (LR)

Summary

Group

Sanctioned Strength

Assessed Strength

Surplus

121

105

16

198

185

13

211

187

24

169

169

Total

699

645

54

43

PART VI

RATIONALISATION
OF THE
FUNCTIONS, ACTIVITIES AND
STRUCTURE OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE

Rationalisation of the functions, activities and

Structure of the
Department of Culture
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ..............................................................................................................1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 2
Archaeological Survey of India ................................................................................................. 6
Centre for Cultural Resources and Training.............................................................................. 9
National Council of Science Museums ..................................................................................... 9
Lalit Kala Academy, Sangeet Natak Academy and Sahitya Academy .................................... 10
Anthropological Survey of India .............................................................................................. 10
Observation of Centenaries and anniversaries of important national personalities and events 11
Implication for staff strength ................................................................................................... 11

Annex-I................................................................................................................................13
Annex-II...............................................................................................................................14
Annex-III..............................................................................................................................15

Rationalisation of the functions, activities and

Structure of the
Department of Culture

Executive Summary
1.

As a subordinate office of the Department of Culture, the Archaeological

Survey of India has to deposit all its receipts into the government treasury.
Because of the delays in obtaining adequate budget provision, the upkeep of
most of the archaeological sites and monuments has remained less than
satisfactory. The tourist facilities are also inadequate at most centres. This has
adverse consequences for the upkeep of monuments and it has also kept cultural
tourism undeveloped.

It is understood that Finance Ministry has recently

approved that ASI can retain 50% additional income for being spent on better
upkeep of the monuments and betterment of tourist facilities. This is a welcome
initiative.
2.

The Centre for Cultural Resources and Training could be wound up, as

the objectives for which this Centre was set up can be adequately addressed by
the educational system.
3.

The case for continuance of the National Council of Science Museum in

the Department of Culture is rather weak. However, as the Council has helped
create a large number of institutions and centres, some of a good standard, it
can be continued. The Council should focus on state level and national level
activities and not set up any more district level centres. It is also recommended
that the Council should transfer to states such centres and institutions which are
not of national significance. By way of encouragement, the States could be
provided with funds, on a decreasing scale, for the first few years for the
management of the centres that they take over.
4.

As regards observance of centenaries and anniversaries of important

national personalities and events, it is recommended that government should

confine itself to directly organising only such events which have truly large
national significance like commemoration of Republic Day, Independence Day,

Anniversaries of people like Mahatma Gandhi etc.

Other centenaries and

anniversaries, while undoubtedly desirable, should be left to be organised by the

interested groups in the society, and government could extend financial support
for such purposes.

1.

Introduction

1.1

The Department of Culture came into existence as a separate department

in 1985. Before that it was a part of the Ministry of Education. The objective of
the department is to preserve, promote and disseminate all forms of art and
culture. The Department of Culture has a fairly large number of autonomous
institutions as at Annex I. It has two attached offices viz. Archaeological Survey
of India and National Archives of India and six subordinate offices of which
Anthropological Survey of India and National Museum are the most prominent.
The responsibility for Archaeology flows from entries 62, 67 and 68 in the Union
List which specifically mention Indian Museum, Anthropological Survey and
historical monuments as Central responsibility.

In addition to managing and

supporting these institutions, the Department of Culture also implements a

number of schemes involving salary and production grants, scholarships, grants
for performing arts etc., Anniversary celebrations of important personalities is
on 7

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and on the site in individual monuments.

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The ASI controls 3606 centrally

protected monuments where it is responsible not only for refurbishing and

maintaining these monuments but also for providing basic facilities for people
visiting these monuments.

There are 14 world heritage sites among these

monuments. While most of the branches of ASI deal with various specialized
matters and are fully justified, the same is not true of some of its activities. One
such example is the Horticulture Branch. A specialized agency like ASI with
specialization in a totally different area should not be distracted with day to day
work in areas like horticulture. Horticultural development and maintenance within
the parameters laid down by ASI should be, as a matter of policy entrusted to
suitable private organisations on a contract basis having capability in this
direction. Similarly, much of the Watch and Ward and Cleanliness staff with the
ASI at monument sites is unwarranted and these items of work could be given
out locally on a contract basis to agencies having capability in this regard.
Separate staff now sanctioned and in position in ASI for executing these tasks
could therefore be disbanded.
2.2

The Plan provision for ASI is Rs.51.25 crore while Non-Plan provision is

Rs.95 crore. An important issue requiring consideration in regard to ASI is the

entry fee charged from the visitors. The ASI has increased the entry fee in the
year 2001 from Rs.5 to Rs.10 for the world heritage sites and from Rs.2 to Rs.5
in 109 other monuments. Foreign tourists are charged US$ 10 per person for
world heritage sites and US $ 5 per person for other monuments. This yields an
income of about Rs.75 crore during the year.

While it is common knowledge

that tourist facilities are inadequate at most places, the fact remains that, that no
part of the income from entry fees, can be directly applied for upgrading tourist
facilities and for better upkeep of the monuments. At the same time the process

of obtaining funds for such purposes from the budget often entails delays. It is
understood that recently a decision has been taken that ASI, could retain 50% of
the collections in excess of a baseline figure, for being spent on upkeep of
monuments and improving tourist facilities.

This is a welcome decision and

should go a long way towards attracting more tourists to these places. Based on
the experience gained, an arrangement by which ASI could retain upto 75% of
the excess collections, for being spent on such purposes, could be considered.

3.

Centre for Cultural Resources and Training

3.1

The Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) was set up in

1979 as an autonomous organisation. It has two regional centres at Udaipur and

Hyderabad. Its main objective is to revitalize the education system by creating
an understanding and awareness among the students about Indian culture and
linking such knowledge with education. As this objective can be adequately
addressed by the educational set up there is no justification for this organisation
to be continued. This may therefore be wound up.

4.

National Council of Science Museums

4.1

The National Council of Science Museums (NSCM) is an autonomous

organisation under the Department of Culture. Over the years the NSCM has
assumed responsibility for managing a large number of institutions as in Annex II.
The activities of NSCM include, inter alia
a.

popularising science and technology by organising exhibitions,

seminars, popular lectures etc;

b.

inculcating scientific temper;

c.

supplementing science education imparted in schools and colleges;

d.

organising training programme for science teachers and young

entrepreneurs; and

e.

rendering assistance to universities and other institutions in

organising science museums to design, develop and fabricate
science museum exhibitions.

4.2

The science museums have a rather tenuous linkage with culture. Even

so, having set up a series of district, state and national level institutions over the
years, some of which are undoubtedly of a very good standard, the whole set up
cannot be easily dismantled. The National Council should focus mainly at the
state level and national level and should not fritter away its attention and
resources by setting up district level centres or institutions. The Department
should also consider transferring such of the centres and institutions, which are

not of national significance to the concerned State Governments. By way of

incentive, grants could be given, on a sliding scale to the States for the
management of the taken over centres in the first few years.

5.

Lalit Kala Academy, Sangeet Natak Academy and Sahitya

Academy

5.1

The above mentioned three academies are premier institutions in their

respective areas. The functioning of these academies has, however, been a

matter of some controversy from time to time. These are not now the vibrant
institutions which these were supposed to be initially. However, much of the
problems can be traced to their constitutionand the provisions of the legislation
under which these have been set up. It is understood that the Department of
Culture is seized of the issues involved. It is necessary that action for correcting
the defects noticed should be completed in a time bound manner.

6.

Anthropological Survey of India

6.1

Anthropological Survey of India is a research and study organisation. It

was set up in 1945 and it has grown into a large organisation.

Normally,

anthropological studies should be the responsibility of the departments of

anthropology in the universities. There are quite a few in the country. Most other
countries in the world do not have an organisation similar to Anthropological
Survey of India, presumably for this very reason. They rightly depend on the
university system to adequately look after research and studies. However, in
India many of the university departments are not very active and effective in
carrying out research and studies of good standard. The Anthropological Survey
would therefore need to be maintained in view of the need for extensive research
and studies considering large ethnic and anthropological diversity obtaining in the
country.

10

7.

Observation of Centenaries and anniversaries of important

national personalities and events

7.1

This is a major area activity of the Department of Culture. Of the total staff

strength of 349

in the department, as many as 32, headed by Additional

Secretary are deployed on this work. This activity has acquired considerable
momentum with the celebration of Jawahar Lal Nehru Centenary Golden Jubilee
of Indias Independence and Golden Jubilee of Indian Republic. However, such
celebrations acquire momentum and generate demands for celebrations in
regard to other events and personalities, which have a sensitivity of their own
and are therefore difficult to deny. The situation has inevitably evolved into one
in which some celebrations get scheduled almost every year. This tends to dilute
the importance of such celebrations and progressively leads to less and less
public attention and participation. Moreover, governments initiative in organising
such celebrations may not serve the important objective of enthusing people to
participate in such events. When Government of India funds the celebrations
and also takes responsibility for their organisation, it becomes more a series of
official functions in which there is not sufficient public participation. It is therefore
recommended that except for very few select events like celebrations relating to
independence day, Republic Day and anniversaries of personalities like
Mahatma Gandhi, government should consider leaving the responsibility for
organising and conducting other celebrations to organising committees to be
constituted by the different sections of the society. It would be quite appropriate
for the Government of India to assist such celebrations by extending necessary
financial support. Such a policy would facilitate greater public participation in
organising such celebrations.

8.

Implication for staff strength

8.1

Existing staff in the Department is shown in a tabular form in Annex-III.

8.2

With the suggestions for the winding up of Centre for Cultural Resources

and Training, a transfer of some of the museums set up by NCSM to the States,
11

and restricting direct organising of centenary/anniversary celebrations to only to a

few National events and National figures, there will be substantial reduction in the
workload in the Department. As such the post of Additional Secretary as also
two posts of Director/Deputy Secretary of the total of 9, and three posts of Under
Secretaries out of a total of 10, could be abolished along with the related support
staff.

12

Annex-I
List of attached offices and autonomous institutions
under the Department of Culture
Attached Offices
i
Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi
ii
National Archives of India, New Delhi
Subordinate Offices
i.
Anthropological Survey of India, Calcutta
ii
National Museum, New Delhi
iii
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
iv
National Library, Calcutta
v
Central Reference Library, Calcutta
vi
National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property,
Lucknow
Autonomous Organisations
i
Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Bhopal
ii
National Council of Science Museums, Kolkatta
iii
Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi
iv
Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi
v
Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi
vi
Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
vii
National School of Drama, New Delhi
viii
Centre for Cultural resources and Training, New Delhi
ix
Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, New Delhi
x
Allahabad Museum, Allahabad
xi
Delhi Public Library
xii
Raja Rammohan Roy Library Foundation, Kolkata
xiii
Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, Leh
xiv
Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, Varanasi
xv
Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta
xvi
Indian Museum, Calcutta
xvii Asiatic Society, Calcutta
xviii Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad
xix
Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library, Patna
xx
Rampur Raza Library, Rampur
xxi
Thanjavur Maharaja Serfojis Sarasvati Mahal Library, Thanjavur
xxii Kalashetra Foundation, Chennai
xxiii National Museum Institute of History of Art Conservation & Museology,
New Delhi
xxiv Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, Nalanda, Bihar
xxv Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta
xxvi Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi

13

Annex-II
List of institutions managed and supported by
National Council of Science Museums

Birla Industrial & technological Museum (BITM), Kolkata

Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum (VITM), Bangalore
Nehru Science Centre (NSC), Mumbai
National Science Centre (NSC), Delhi
Central Research & Training Laboratory (CRTL), Kolkata
Science City, Kolkata
Shrikrishna Science Centre, Patna
Regional Science Centre, Lucknow
Regional Science Centre, Bhubaneswar
Raman Science Centre, Nagpur
Raman Planetarium, Nagpur
Regional Science Centre, Guwahati
Regional Science Centre, Bhopal
Regional Science Centre, Tirupati
Regional Science Centre, Calicut
Calicut Planetarium, Calicut
District Science Centre, Dharampur
District Science Centre, Gulbarga
District Science Centre, Tirunelveli
Bardhaman Science Centre, Dhenkanal
Digha Science Centre & National Science Camp, Digha
North Bengal Science Centre, Siliguri
Kapilas Science Park, Kapilas
Science Activity Centre, Gwalior
Science Activity Centre, Sirsa
Kurukshetra Panorama & Science Centre, Kurukshetra
Goa Science Centre, Panaji

14

Annex-III
Staff Strength
Department of Culture
S.No

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.

19.

Scale of Pay in full

Secretary
Rs.26000/- (fixed)
Joint Secretary
Rs.18400-500-22400
Director
Rs.14300-400-18300
Deputy Secretary
Rs.12000-375-16500
D.S.(in-situ)
Rs.12000-375-16500
Under Secretary
Rs.10000-325-15200
Deputy Director
Rs.10000-325-15000
L.I.O.
Rs.10000-325-15200
Director
Rs.14300-400-18300
Additional Secretary
Rs.22400-525-24500
Deputy Secretary
Rs.12000-375-16500
Under Secretary
Rs.10000-325-15200
Section Officer
Rs.6500-200-10500
Desk Officers
Rs.6500-00-10500
In-situ US
Rs.10000-325-15200
Assistant Director
Rs.6500-200-10500
Research Officer
Rs.8000-275-13500
Assistant
Rs.5500-175-9000
Stenographer
(Rs.6500-200-10500

Group of Post

Total No.

No.of emp.

ABCD unclassified

of Posts

In position

1B
B

13(11+2)
(Situ us)
6(1+5)

6(1+5)

39

37

B
B

2
4

15

20.

21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.

10000-325-15200)ACP
Stenographer
Rs.5500-175-9000
Rs.6500-200-10,500
Stat.Investigator Gr.I
Rs.6500-200-10500
Research Assistant
Rs.5500-175-9000
Sr. Hindi Translator
Rs.5500-175-9000
ALIO(Lang.&Genl.)
Rs.6500-200-10500
Stenographer
Rs.5500-175-9000
Stenographer
Rs.4000-100-6000
Stat. Invest. Gr.Ii
Rs.5000-150-8000
Jr. Hindi Translator
Rs.5000-150-8000
UDC/Caretaker
Rs.4000-100-6000
LDC (Rs.3050-753950-80-4590)
Driver Gr.I
Rs.4500-125-7000
Driver Gr.II
Rs.4000-100-6000
Driver(ordinaryGr.)Rs.
3050-75-4050-80-4590
Coupen Clerk
Rs.3200-85-4900
Daftry/Peon/Farash/
Chowkidar, Jamadar
Sweeper, etc.
Rs.3050-75-3950-804590
Rs.2550-55-2660-603200
Rs.2610-60-3150-653540
Rs.2650-65-3300-704000

11

9
2

18

16

46

39

42

38

75

69

16

Department of Culture
SN

Scale of Pay in full

36.

SLA
Rs.2650-65-3300-70-4000
MINISTERS STAFF ON
CO-TERMINUS BASIS
1. Private Secretary
Rs.12000-375-16500

37.

Group of Post
ABCD
unclassified
D

Total No. No.of emp.

of Posts in position
4

1. Addl. Private Secretary

Rs.10000-325-15200
Rs.5500-175-9000

A
B

2
1
1

2. Asstt. Private Secretary

Rs.6500-200-10500

3. Second P.A.
Rs.4000-100-6000
Rs.5500-175-9000

2
1
1

4. Language P.A.
Rs.4000-100-6000

5. L.D.C.
Rs.3050-75-3950-80-4590

6. Driver
Rs.4000-100-600

8. Peon

17

PART VII

RATIONALISATION
OF THE
FUNCTIONS, ACTIVITIES AND
STRUCTURE OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Rationalisation of the Functions, Activities and

Structure of the
Department of Commerce
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ 1
1. The Background ............................................................................................................ 4
2. Organisational Structure .............................................................................................. 8
3. Organisation Wise Analysis .......................................................................................... 8
a.
Department of Commerce .......................................................................................8
b.
Directorate General of Foreign Trade, New Delhi ...................................................9
c.
Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics Kolkata................. 10
d.
Custodian of Enemy Property ............................................................................... 11
e.
Export processing/Special Economic Zones.......................................................... 11
f.
Commodity Boards............................................................................................... 12
g.
Autonomous Organisations ................................................................................... 14
i.
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi ............................................... 14
ii. Export Inspection Council, New Delhi ......................................................... 14
iii. Indian Institute of Packaging, Mumbai ......................................................... 15
iv. Marine Products Export Development Authority, Cochin ............................. 16
v. Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority,
New Delhi.................................................................................................... 16
vi. Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation, New Delhi.............................. 16
vii. Indian Council of Arbitration, New Delhi..................................................... 17
viii. Indian Diamond Institute, Surat.................................................................... 17
ix. Export Promotion Councils .......................................................................... 17
h.
Public Sector Undertakings................................................................................... 18
i.
India Trade Promotion Organisation............................................................. 18
ii. State Trading Corporation of India Ltd......................................................... 18
iii. Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation of India Ltd................................. 18
iv. Projects and Equipment Corporation of India Ltd. ....................................... 19
v. Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd........................................ 19
4. Analysis & recommendations ..................................................................................... 20
a.
Directorate General of Foreign Trade.................................................................... 20
b.
Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence ................................................... 21
c.
Custodian of Enemy Property, Mumbai and branch office at Kolkata.................... 23
d.
Export Processing / Special Economic Zones........................................................ 23
e.
Commodity Boards............................................................................................... 23
f.
Autonomous Organisations ................................................................................... 26
i.
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade .................................................................. 26
ii. Export Inspection Council, New Delhi ......................................................... 26
iii. Indian Institute of Packaging, Mumbai and Indian Council of Arbitration,
New Delhi.................................................................................................... 27
iv. Marine Products and Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export
Development Authorities ............................................................................. 27
v. Federation of Indian Export Organization..................................................... 27

g.

vi. Indian Diamond Institute.............................................................................. 27

vii. Export Promotion Councils .......................................................................... 28
Department of Commerce ..................................................................................... 28

ANNEX-I ................................ ................................ ................................ .................. 32

ANNEX-II ................................ ................................ ................................ ................. 36
ANNEX-III ................................ ................................ ................................ ................ 39
ANNEX-IV ................................ ................................ ................................ ................ 40

ii

Executive Summary
1.

With the withering away of the regulatory functions which was the main

activity in the earlier years and with the present support functions, like advance
licence scheme etc. being computer based, the staff strength of DGFT would
admit of drastic downsizing. The SIU should be required to quickly redetermine
the staff strengths of DGFT within the next two months based on a sample study.
(4.2)
2.

Entrustment of this scheme, which is now akin to the duty drawback

scheme, to the customs department, would lead to considerable reduction in

transaction time and costs for the exporters. It should therefore be examined,
say two years down the line, whether this task should not be vested in the
customs department (4.3)
3.

The staff strength of the DGCIS would need to be re-fixed with reference

to change in the mode of availability of input data as well as in the procedure for
data entry and analysis. (4.6)
4.

The various items of work of the Custodian of Enemy Property should be

completed in a time bound manner, say within two years.

The organisation

should then be wound up and such items of work that remain entrusted to the
Ministry of Home Affairs. (4.7)
5.

As in the FEPZ at Calcutta, the support staff strength at the other export

processing centres zones needs to be downsized by farming out such work.

(4.8)
6.

The suggestions contained in the report on Commodity Boards submitted

by Shri P.P. Prabhu for broad basing of the boards, with reduced government
representation, making export promotion and research, the main focus of
activities, closure of the foreign offices of the Tea Board, privatisation of coffee
houses and downsizing of the staff strength in the Tea Board, Coffee Board and
Rubber Board, should be implemented speedily. In addition the government
should delegate full administrative and financial powers to these boards, if

necessary by amending the relevant Acts so that the boards are made really
autonomous in their functioning and the practice of a government official
functioning as the chairman of these boards can be discontinued. (4.12)
7.

IIFT should take steps for increasing internal cash generation to a point

where it should not be dependent upon government for its day-to-day

expenditure. Once this objective is achieved, the institute could be freed from
government control altogether and the practice of a government official being
appointed as the Chief Executive should be dispensed with.
8.

(4.13)

Export certification should be demand driven. Certification should be

prescribed mandatory only in those items in which it is anticipated that in the

absence of such certification there could be export of sub standard products by
some exporters affecting the entire export effort in those areas. More Agencies
with necessary infrastructure could be licensed to take up such export
certification work and Export Inspection Councils work should be demand driven
in a competitive environment. The IWSU recommendation for downsizing the
staff strength in the Calcutta office should be implemented straightaway even as
a review of the staff strength is undertaken at the other centres where there is a
mismatch between the staff strength and workload. (4.14)
9.

The nature and range of activities of the Council of Arbitration, Indian

Institute of Packaging and FIEO are such that it is not necessary for government
to participate in the management or control of these organisations.

The

Department could extend financial support to these organisation for specific

projects. (4.15, 4.17)
10.

The recommendations made earlier for the Commodity Boards will apply

equally to MPEDA and APEDA also. (4.16)

11.

The governments role as well as control over the Indian Diamond Institute

should be phased out over the next two years. (4.18)

12.

In the Department, the post of Special Secretary should be down graded

to that of an Additional Secretary, thus enabling the Secretary to be directly

responsible for the efficient functioning of all aspects of the work in the
department. (4.20)

13.

The department would need to be strengthened at the senior levels to

effectively handle the intricate, emerging issues in the areas of WTO and
multilateral matters, Trade Policy and Anti Dumping. (4.21, 4.23)
14.

A Think Tank with a panel of experts in the field should be promoted,

using the facilities at the IIFT, to provide pro-active advise in WTO matters not
only to the Department of Commerce but to other users like Department of
Industrial Policy and Promotion and Ministry of Agriculture, etc. (4.21)
15.

The working of the Economic Division would need to be fully integrated

with that of the Trade Policy Division. (4.22)

16.

As far as work relating to Commodity Boards is concerned, it will be

necessary to retain in the Department only the minimum complement staff for
putting through the increased delegation of powers, amendments to/repealing of
concerned Acts etc. All other posts sanctioned for this purpose in the Ministry
should be abolished forthwith. (4.24)
17.

The present arrangement of having commercial offices abroad would need

to be reviewed so as to keep the number of such offices to the minimum. (4.25)

18.

The staff requirements in the Ministry would need to be re-assessed and

downsized

in

line

with

the

suggestions

for

increased

delegation

of

powers/streamlining recommended earlier for the various organisations under the

control of this department.

Pending this detailed review one post of Joint

Secretary along with the support staff could be declared surplus straightaway.
(4.27)
19.

The Department of Commerce should implement fully the various

economy instructions, particularly those relating to downsizing of staff strength

issued by the Ministry of Finance from time to time, starting with the 10% cut in
staff strength imposed in 1992. (4.27)

Rationalisation of the Functions, Activities and Structure

of the
Department of Commerce
1.

The Background

1.1

Ever since, Commerce as a subject was allotted to a separate

Department (Department of Commerce) in 1921, there have been frequent

changes in the nomenclature of the Ministry/Department. Annex-I traces the
history from 1921 till date.

The present set up (Ministry of Commerce and

Industry) came into being on 13th October 1999.

1.2

In the earlier decades, India external trade policy was dictated by three

major considerations (i) a totally inward looking industry and trade policy (ii) an
acute foreign exchange scarcity and (iii) a foreign policy that leaned more
towards NAM and the USSR block.

The industrial policy aimed at import

substitution and industrialisation was considered a major instrument for

development of backward areas as well as promotion of employment
opportunities. The industries were at one end highly regulated with the extensive
controls on production, pricing and distribution while at the other, the licence raj,
quantitative restrictions on a large number of imports and very high tariff regime
provided the existing units considerable protection. The (resultant) poor quality
and high prices of the output, as well as considerations of maintaining domestic
price inhibited the export efforts. These factors combinedwith the foreign policy
dictates led to the development, in a big way of bilateral trade relations
particularly rupee trade with the erstwhile USSR block.
1.3

Thus the complex rationing system for imports not only of finished goods

but of intermediate and as well capital goods and an equally complex system of
regulations, centralised trading through Government and Government sponsored
agencies as well as financial incentives for export promotion and strong bilateral
trade promotion became the cornerstones of the countrys trade policy.
1.4

Though there had been some efforts earlier at liberalising trade policy

for a brief period from June 1966 to March 1968 following the devaluation of

rupee and again in April 1975 a major and sustained thrust came in only with
launching of the economic reforms in July 1991. The quantitative restrictions
have been gradually reduced and almost done away now, with the number under
QRs coming down from 4041 in pre July 1991 to only 538 now.

This

development has been in response not only to the WTO commitments but also
reflects the opening up of the economy domestically as well as the evolvement of
bilateral relations in the region with 1429 QRs being unilaterally removed on
imports from SAARC countries with effect from 1.8.1998. In the case of SAARC
countries, there are currently no QRs, barring the security exceptions.
1.5

The reforms on the tariff side have been no less impressive. Over this ten

year period not only have the peak rates come down from 355% in 1991 to less
than 50% now, but more importantly the average weighted tariff which was 87%
in 1991 has come down to less than 30% now. As far as the financial incentives
for export promotion is concerned, both the Cash Compensatory Scheme and
the Money Replenishment licences, which were the major elements, were done
away within July 1992 when the partially traded exim scrips scheme was
introduced (July 1991 to February 1992).

This in turn was replaced by a

liberalised Exchange Rate Management Scheme (partial current account

convertibility), which prevailed from March 1992 to February 1993 when that in
turn was replaced by the modified LERMS (full convertibility on current account)
from March 1993. In each stage there were also depreciation in the value of the
rupee by 23% in July 1991, by 28% in March 1992 and 11% in February 1993.
Since then with the rupee value being allowed to be determined by market
conditions, with the occasional Reserve Bank intervention to contain volatility, the
rupee has depreciated to about 47 to one US $ compared to less than Rs.20
before July 1991. The outgo in the form of various duty drawbacks schemes
taken together with the concessions/exemptions in corporate tax on profits
earned on exports have grown steadily topping Rs.30,000 crore at present.
1.6

These changes are also reflected in the Export-Import data for this period.

In the first two decades there was not much growth in total exports. There has
however been a steady income from the early seventies, with growth rate being

around 20% in several years including in the year 2000-2001, though with mini
collapses for short periods on three occasions. The graph below (Figure 1) vividly
brings out
Figure 1

50000
45000
40000
35000
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
19
50
-5
1
19
53
-5
4
19
56
-5
7
19
59
-6
0
19
62
-6
3
19
65
-6
6
19
68
-6
9
19
71
-7
2
19
74
-7
5
19
77
-7
8
19
80
-8
1
19
83
-8
4
19
86
-8
7
19
89
-9
0
19
92
-9
3
19
95
-9
6
19
98
-9
9

In US $

Export Trends

Years

the trends in export growth over the last five decades a virtually flat line in the
first twenty years, and a sharp increase in the last fifteen years. The composition
of exports also underwent a major change during this period, with agriculture and
allied products going down from 44% in 1960 to less than 9% in 2000-01, while
manufacturing sector has registered an impressive increase from 45% in 1960 to
75% now. Areas like gem and jewellery, ready made garments, engineering,
chemicals and allied products where there was very little exports in the pre-60s
have all gone up sharply to 17%, 12%, 13% and 14% now respectively. These
trends are vividly captured in the second graph below (Figure 2), which shows
the trend in exports as a percentage of the GDP. After a steady fall from a high
of 6.78% in 1953, it went down to 2.93% in 1967, and then registered a steady
increase from 1985 to nearly 8.50% now with a small hiccup between 1995 and
1998.

In imports, the share of capital goods as well as cereal and cereal

products has gone down from 32% and 16% in 1960 about 10% and 1%
respectively now while that of petroleum and lubricants has gone up sharply from
6% in 1960 to around 25% now.

As regards the direction of exports, the

percentage share of exports to Eastern Europe, which had registered a sharp

increase from 7% in 1960-61 to 22% in 1980-81, has gone down to 3% now.
While the percentage of exports to OECD have come down somewhat, that of
USA and especially the developing countries, including OPEC, has gone up
considerably.
Figure 2
Exports as % of GDP
9.00
8.33
8.00
7.95

7.00

6.78

6.00
5.00
4.00
3.00

2.93

1998-99

1996-97

1994-95

1992-93

1990-91

1988-89

1986-87

1984-85

1982-83

1980-81

1978-79

1976-77

1974-75

1972-73

1970-71

1968-69

1966-67

1964-65

1962-63

1960-61

1958-59

1956-57

1954-55

1952-53

1950-51

2.00

Year

1.7

In the last ten years there has been a major transformation in the role of

the Department of Commerce. Earlier the emphasis was more on control of

imports and exports, as well as on commodity and bilateral/regional trade. Today
the emphasis is more on WTO and multi-lateral trade issues, a trade policy that
seeks to maximise exports within the framework of domestic and bilateral trade
requirements on the one hand and multi-lateral commitments on the other,
protecting domestic interests through vibrant anti dumping measures and in
general playing a supportive role to exporters.

2.

Organisational Structure

2.1

The sea change in the trade scenario and the liberalisation measures

introduced in the last ten years has not however resulted in significant changes in
the organisational structure of the Department of Commerce, except for a change
in the nomenclature as well as role of the erstwhile office of the Chief Controller
of Imports and Exports, addition of a new office for dealing with Anti Dumping
measures and some downsizing of staff strength particularly in the Directorate
General of Foreign Trade through the twin measures of non filling up of vacant
posts and transfer of some posts to the main ministry. The functions allotted to
this Department are set out in Annex-II.
2.2

The Department of Commerce has one attached office (the Directorate

General of Foreign trade), nine subordinate offices (Office of the Custodian of

Enemy Property, Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics
and the seven Special Economic/Export Processing Zones), five Commodity
Boards set up under Acts of Parliament, eight autonomous organisations, and
ten Export Promotion Councils, which are also treated as autonomous
organisations). There are also five public sector undertakings.

These

organisations have total staff strength of about 6600.

2.3

A review of the present functions and activities of these organisations is

set out in the next section.

3.

Organisation Wise Analysis

a. Department of Commerce

3.1

The work in the department, with a Secretary, a Special Secretary and

three Additional Secretaries at the top and a staff strength of 617, is organised in
eight divisions:1.

Administration and General Division

2.

Financial Division

3.2

3.

Economic Division

4.

Trade Policy Division

5.

Foreign Trade Territorial Division

6.

Export Products Division

7.

Export Industries Division

8.

Export Services Division

A copy of the organisation chart, which also indicates the work handled by

each senior level functionary, is at Annex-III.

3.3

The Directorate General of Anti Dumping functions as an integral part of

the Department with an Additional Secretary, who looks after Plantationsalso

doubling up as the Director General of this division. Anti dumping rules were
framed in 1985 and an Additional Secretary in the Ministry was notified as the
designated authority. The first investigation was filed in 1992. It was in 1995 that
a separate anti dumping division was formed.

This was converted into the

Directorate General of Anti Dumping and Allied Duties in April 1998.

This

Directorate exercises quasi-judicial functions, which are appealable to the

Customs, Excise and Gold Appellate Tribunal. Appeals lie to the Supreme Court
against the decisions of CEGAT. The Directorate General is supported by 12
officers in the rank of Joint Director / Director / Deputy Secretary / Deputy
Director and about 30 other supporting officers and staff.
b.
3.4

Directorate General of Foreign Trade, New Delhi

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is an attached office of

the department and is responsible for execution of the Exim Policy announced by
the Government of India from time to time to promote exports. It is headed by an
Additional Secretary level officer and has sanctioned staff strength of 2469 (as on
1.4.2001) spread over the head office at New Delhi and 31 regional offices.
Before the commencement of the liberalisation process the major function of this
organisation was control of imports and exports and issue of licenses. In fact, it
was then called the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports and was
administering the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, 1947. With the onset of
liberalisation this Act was replaced by the Foreign Trade Department and
9

Regulation (FTDR) Act, 1992 and the title of the organisation was also changed
to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.
3.5

With the withdrawal of restrictions on imports and liberalisation of import-

export trade, the control functions of this organisation have drastically come
down and the focus has shifted to implementing a large number of promotional
schemes like Export Promotion, Capital Goods Scheme (EPCG), Advance
Licensing (Duty Exemption) Scheme, Duty Exemption Pass Book Scheme
(DEPB), Duty Free Replenishment Scheme (DFRC), Diamond Import Licenses
(DII), Replenishment Licenses for Diamonds (RLD) etc. The coverage of the
Advance Licensing Scheme has increased enormously during this period. In
2000-2001 over 1,50,000 advance licenses involving an amount of Rs.66,000
crore were issued.
3.6

The Computerisation of the licensing system has almost been completed

in this Directorate. The field offices are increasingly functioning more as centres
for facilitation and assistance to exporters.
c.

3.7

Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics

Kolkata

Set up in 1862, the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and

Statistics (DGCIS) is responsible for collection, compilation and dissemination of

trade statistics and various commercial information. It brings out a number of
important publications like Indian Trade Journal (weekly), Foreign Trade
Statistics of India (monthly) etc.

The Daily Trade Returns (DTRs) form the

source document for the generation of these statistics.

The major Custom

Houses, which account for 85% of the total volume, prepare the DTRs on
magnetic media and send these to DGCIS on a weekly basis through special
courier/e-mail.

The balance of 15% of the data (from land custom stations,

inland container depots, medium and minor sea and airport customs units etc.)
are received from these centres in the form of manual DTRs.

Hitherto, the

provisional data by major groups/centres and Ports was brought out within 7 to 8
weeks from the close of the reference month, while detailed statistics at 8 digit
level of ITC took much longer - 10 to 12 months. With the steps already being

10

taken to upgrade the hardware and improve the software, it is expected that
before the end of this year the time lag for the 8 digit level results would be
reduced to about 8 weeks only. DGCIS has sanctioned staff strength of 511, of
whom nearly 450 are in position.

d.
3.8

Custodian of Enemy Property

This office is located, with headquarters at Mumbai and a branch office at

Kolkata. It has total staff strength of 28. It manages the enemy properties,
arising out of the Indo-Pak conflicts of 1965 and 1971, in accordance with the
provisions of the Enemy Property Act, 1968, as amended in 1977.
properties were valued at Rs.29.40 crore in 1971.

These

The custodian is also

entrusted with the work of settlement of ex-gratia payments to Indian

Nationals/Companies whose properties were seized by Pakistan during the 1965
conflict.
3.9

The work relating to the promotion and maintenance of the enemy

property is being done through the revenue departments in different states. The
enemy property is of different kinds fixed assets like land and buildings, shares,
bank balances etc.
e.
3.10

Export processing/Special Economic Zones

There are seven Export Processing Zones/Special Economic Zones set

up under the auspices of the department of commerce as under:

(a)

Kandla Special Economic Zone, Gandhidham

(b)

Santacruz Special Economic Zone, Mumbai

(c)

Falta Export Processing Zone, Kolkata

(d)

Cochin Special Economic Zone, Cochin

(e)

Madras Export Processing Zone, Chennai

(f)

Noida Export Processing Zone, NOIDA

(g)

Visakhapatnam Export Processing Zone, Visakhapatnam

The development commissioners appointed by the government are responsible

for the development and management of the Zones. Since the units located in

11

the zones and the export oriented units located outside the zones also, are
entitled to duty free access to raw materials and capital goods against export
commitments, the export performance of the units and the fulfilment of export
obligations are required to be monitored. The EPZs have since developed, and
are successfully implementing an on-line monitoring system.
3.11

The EPZs are fully protected industrial estates and in some EPZs some

of the housekeeping functions are performed by in-house staff .The security in

all cases is with C.I.S.F. The large variations in the number of officers and the
supporting staff 134 in Kandla Special Economic Zone, Kachchh and 39 in Falta
Export Processing Zone in Kolkata is not only because of the number of units
inside the zones and the number of E.O.U. units, but also because of the extent
of services contracted out. Some of the EPZs were set up long back, while
some are new, Vizag being the latest. EPZs are also permitted to be set up in
the private sector.
f.
3.12

There are five Commodity Boards:

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)

3.13

Commodity Boards

Tea Board
Coffee Board
Rubber Board
Spices Board
Tobacco Board

Each of these organisations has been set up under an Act of Parliament

and each of these sectors contributes significantly (except for the Rubber Board)
to the countrys foreign exchange earnings. The functions of the organisations
cover a wide variety of areas development, research, extension, extending the
loans and subsidies, marketing etc. though the importance given to these
areas varies from board to board.

Thus, while the Coffee Board is actively

involved in research, development, extension, processing and marketing, the

focus of Rubber Board functions is more on the first four items only. The Tea
Board because of historical reasons is not involved in direct marketing. The
Tobacco Board focuses on auctioning and has the added responsibility of

12

controlling cultivation i.e. deciding who will cultivate and what extent under the
Act.

The Tea Board has five offices abroad. In Rubber exports are marginal,

India being a net importer of Rubber. In the production of most commodities

covered by these Boards, there has been a good increase in productivity over the
years, and the responsiveness to the growers and greater accountability are
perceived as the benefits from these Boards. In all cases a cess is levied the
proceeds of which flow directly to the government exchequer. Except for the
Tobacco Board, the other Boards are dependent, again to varying degrees, on
plan and non-plan budgetary support from the Commerce Ministry. All have
broad based Boards with representations for various interests like growers
including small growers process in the manufacture, labour interests, trade,
consumers (in the case of Tea and Coffee Boards), exports, representatives of
technical bodies being etc.
3.14

Board

The following table gives a broad picture for all these organisations:

Set up in
the
Year

Exports of
the sector
in
20002001
Rs. In Cr.

Expenditure in
2001-2002
as allocated by the
Board

Staff
Strength
As on
31st Dec
2000

Plan
Capital

Non-Plan
Revenue

Total

Budget Support from

Government in 2001-2002

Plan
Capital

Non-Plan
Revenue

Cess amount
expected
in BE 2001-2002
(Rs. in crore

Total

Tea Board

1953

1976

739 46.56

24.62

71.18

35.00

14.70

49.70

37.00

Coffee Board

1942

1189

1064 33.00

17.00

50.00

27.80

11.50

39.30

13.00

Rubber Board

1947

37

2316 72.80

10.66

83.46

53.42

9.50

62.92

80.00

Spices Board

1986

1623

628 N.A.

N.A..

N.A.

15.34

2.80

18.14

10.00

Tobacco Board

1976

871

754 N.A.

N.A.

N.A.

---

---

---

4.00

N.A. Not available

13

g.

Autonomous Organisations

i.

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi

3.15

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi, set up in 1964, as a

society under the Societies Registration Act is engaged in training of personnel in

international business and the search in problems of foreign trade etc. for the
MOC, besides organizing market research, area surveys, commodity surveys,
dissemination of information arising from its activities. The courses offered by it
include Masters Programme in International Business, Executive Masters in
International Trade, certificate courses in Export Marketing, International Trade
Logistics and International Business Language and several management
development programmes as well as sponsored programmes.

IIFT also

undertakes a large number of research activities in different areas. The Institute

has achieved considerable success in placement of its students who have
completed the MPIB courses.
3.16

The Institute had introduced VRS during 1998. 45 employees (25% of the

total strength) had opted for VRS. Recently it has been decided to reduce the
total strength further from 147 to 85 employees by not filling up vacancies when
the existing employees on the administration side in Group B, C and D retire.
During the year ended 31st March 2000 it had a total expenditure of over nearly
Rs.9 crore of which the Government grant was over Rs. 3 crore. The receipts
generated in the various training, marketing and other programmes was nearly
Rs.3 crore. One of the important areas of research work is WTO related issues.
Government has provided a funding of Rs.50 lakhs to facilitate setting up of a
think tank in this area.

ii.

Export Inspection Council, New Delhi

3.17

The Export Inspection Council of India (EIC) was set up as a statutory

body under the Export (Quality Control & Inspection) Act, 1963, to ensure sound
development of export trade through quality control and inspection. Its main
functions were to notify commodities for pre-shipment inspection, establish

14

quality standards for such commodities and prescribe type of quality control /
inspection. Nearly 1000 commodities were notified under the Act for compulsory
pre-shipment inspection.

EIC has five Export Inspection agencies at Delhi,

Chennai, Kochi, Kolkota and Mumbai, and a network of 45 sub offices. With the
procedure for compulsory pre-shipment inspection being simplified in 1991,
waiving it altogether for specified categories of exporters like star trading houses,
EOUs/units located in EPZs, and exporters producing letter from overseas
buyers that official inspection was not required, export certification became
largely voluntary. In view of reduced workload, the employees of EIC/EIAs were
offered VRS in mid-1994. This was availed off by nearly 900 employees bringing
down the manpower strength to nearly 1000.
3.18

With the establishment of WTO and signing of the non-tariff agreements,

especially the SPS Agreement, export certification acquiring increased

importance.

The focus of EICs activities today is on food certification and

securing recognition for it from importing countries through equivalence

agreements with a view to eliminate duplicate inspections at ports of arrivals.
Export certification has been made mandatory by the government for products
like marine products, milk products, meat products and egg products.

EIC has

already been recognized by the European Commission for marine products, egg
products and basmati rice, and US Food and Drug Administration for black
pepper. In the year 2000-2001(upto 30.9.2000) EIC earned about Rs.0.23 crore
by way of certification charges. Thus the value of goods certified for exports
works out to around Rs.2,170.37 crore. The recurring expenditure on the five
agencies and field offices was more or less fully covered by the revenue earned.
The Governments non-plan grant of Rs.2 crore in the current year is largely for
meeting the expenditure on the headquarter established, while the plan grant of
Rs.3.5 crore is for computerisation and upgradation of laboratories.

iii.

Indian Institute of Packaging, Mumbai

3.19

The Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), Mumbai is registered under the

Societies Registration Act. It aims to undertake research of raw materials for the
15

packaging industry, to organise training programmes on packaging technology,

to stimulate consciousness of the need for good packaging etc. A sum of Rs.2
crore is provided in the current years budget by way of plan support to IIP.
iv.

Marine Products Export Development Authority, Cochin

3.20

The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Cochin

was established in 1972 by an Act of Parliament. The staff strength of MPEDA in

1992 was 473. It was reduced to 440 in 1996 and reduced to 428 in 1999.
Against 428 posts 28 posts are vacant as on 31.3.2000. In the year 2000-2001,
MPEDA helped channelise Rs.6444 crore of export.
3.21

The non-plan expenditure for the year 1997-98 and 1999-2000 is Rs.4.01

crore and Rs.4.56 crore, respectively. The anticipated expenditure for the year
1999-2000 and 2000-01 is Rs.4.80 crore and Rs.5.86 crore respectively.
v.

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority,

New Delhi

3.22

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development

Authority is constituted under the APEDA Act 1985.

3.23

There are 106 Officers including 22 Group A and 13 Group B. One post

each of group B and Group C is vacant. The non-plan expenditure in the year
2000-2001 Rs. 3.62 crore. Exports worth Rs. 9000 crore were put through in this
sector in the year 2000-2001.
vi.

Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation, New Delhi

3.24

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), New Delhi is an

apex body of various export promotion organizations and institutions. It also

functions as a primary servicing agency to provide integrated assistance to
Government recognized Export Houses/Trading houses and as a Central
Coordinating Agency in respect of export promotional efforts in the field of
consultancy services in the country.

It was provided with a non-plan budget

support of Rs.1 crore in the year 2000-2001.

16

vii.

Indian Council of Arbitration, New Delhi

3.25

This Council, set up under the Societies Registration Act, promotes

arbitration as a means of setting commercial disputes and popularises the

concepts of arbitration among the traders, particularly those engaged in
international trade. The Council a non-profit service organization is a grantee
institution of the MOC. ICA received a non-plan budget support of Rs.0.20 crore
in 2000-2001.
viii.

Indian Diamond Institute, Surat

3.26

The Indian Diamond Institute (IDI), Surat is a society set up under the

Societies Registration Act in 1978 with the objective of strengthening and

improving the availability of trained manpower for the gems & jewellery industry
by conducting various Diploma/Post Graduate Diploma level courses in this field.
Besides conducting training, its Gem. Jesting Laboratory (IDI-GTL) also certifies
Coloured Stones & Diamond authenticating their colour, purity, cut, shape &
weight. It also enjoys international status under the Allied Teaching Centre of the
Gemmological Association and Gem Testing Laboratory, London. IDI has been
recently given clearance for the setting up a Jewellery Training Centre in its
campus at a cost of Rs.4.8 crore, to be borne equally by the Government of India
and the State Government of Gujarat.

ix.

Export Promotion Councils

3.27

There are 10 Export Promotion Councils under the administrative control

of Department of Commerce. These are:

(1)

Engineering Export Promotion Council, Kolkata

(2)

Overseas Construction Council of India, New Delhi

(3)

Basic

Chemicals,

Pharmaceuticals

and

Cosmetics

Export

Promotion Council, Mumbai

(4)

Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, Mumbai

(5)

Plastics Export Promotion Council, Mumbai

17

3.28

(6)

Sport Goods Export Promotion Council, New Delhi

(7)

Shellac Export Promotion Council, Kolkata

(8)

Chemicals & Allied Products Export Promotion Council, Kolkata

(9)

Cashew Export Promotion Council, Cochin

(10)

Council for Leather Export Promotion Council, Chennai

These organisations have been set up as non-profit organisations under

the Companies Act/Societies Registration Act. These are all managed by the
industries in the respective groups and government does not exercise any direct
control. While in the earlier years, a part of the recurring expenditure was met
through government grants, at present the Department of Commerce makes
available market development assistance only (except in one case) and that for
specific projects.
h.

Public Sector Undertakings

i.

India Trade Promotion Organisation

3.29

The India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) set up under section 25 of

the Companies Act 1956 has a key role to play in the promotion of trade by interalia organizing fairs and exhibitions in India and abroad.

Information

dissemination, through buyer-sellers meets, exchange of business delegations,

product development programmes etc. is one of the core functions of ITPO.
ii.

State Trading Corporation of India Ltd.

3.30

The State Trading Corporation of India (STC) was incorporated on 18th

May 1956 as Government Company under the Companies Act, 1956. STC is
engaged in export, import and domestic sales of large number of commodities.
iii.

Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation of India Ltd.

3.31

The Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation of India Limited (MMTC)

was incorporated in 1963 after bifurcation of State Trading Corporation of India.

18

The main objective of the corporation is to emerge as a leading International

Trading House operating in the competitive global trading environment. The
Corporation exports minerals and other non-canalised items and also imports
commodities like metals fertilizers industrial raw materials etc. that the
Government has entrusted from time to time. Over the years with the expansion
and diversification of its trade, MMTC has grown into Indias premier company in
the field of International Trade.
iv.

Projects and Equipment Corporation of India Ltd.

3.32

The Projects and Equipment Corporation of India Ltd. (PEC) was

incorporated on 21st April 1971 as a Government Company under the Companies

Act, 1956. The Head Office of the Corporation is located at New Delhi. It has
three Branch Offices in India at Mumbai, Calcutta and Bangalore and two site
offices in Libya and Vietnam.

The overseas offices of the State Trading

Corporation also serve the PEC in its overseas operation.

v.

Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd.

3.33

The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd. (ECGC) was set up

by the Government of India in 1957 to support and strengthen the export

promotion efforts of the country. Due to risks and uncertainties in international
trade, export credit insurance provided by the Corporation plays a pivotal role in
promoting Indias export trade.

The Corporation protects exporters from the

consequences of the payment risks arising out of insolvency and default of the
foreign buyer. It also covers political risks arising out of war, imposition of new
import control orders or exchange control orders by the foreign countries and
delays in externalisation of funds to India.

The protection enables Indian

exporters to expand their overseas business without fear of loss. Besides this,
the Corporation also gives various types of guarantees for finance given by
banks to exporters, thereby providing protection to the banks against risks of loss
inherent in granting various types of credit facilities to exporters. The resultant

19

timely and adequate credit facilities at pre-shipment and post-shipment stages

facilitate the exporter to maximize their exports.

4.

Analysis & recommendations

a.

Directorate General of Foreign Trade

4.1

With the onset of reforms and the shift away from intensive control of

imports and exports, the workload of the DGFT has come down drastically. In
the normal course this vast organisation with over 2500 staff strength should
have been either drastically pruned or in the alternative wound up altogether and
a new small organisation set up to take up the more supportive role now
envisaged for it by the Department of Commerce. However, except for some
reduction in staff strength nothing much has changed.

The DGFT is a good

example of the popular perception that in government while controls may wither
away, the controllers would continue, though under a different garb.
4.2

Of the supportive functions now entrusted to the DGFT, the single largest

item is the advance-licensing scheme. While the task of determining the input
and output norm is handled by the head office, the issue of advance licenses is
the main item of work in the 31 field offices. With computerisation, the workload
in the processing of these applications has come down drastically. It is therefore
necessary to refix the staff strength of each of these offices taking into account,
on the one hand, the drastic reduction in the control functions and the
computerised work procedures now in force for the advance licensing scheme on
the other.

The Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad has been

entrusted with the task of reassessing the staff strength of these offices. Such
studies may however usually take a long time to complete. Considering that
possibly no more than one fourth or one third of the staff strength may actually be
required, given the aspects mentioned earlier, it is recommended that even as
the Administrative Staff College of India is requested to expedite the completion
of the task assigned to it, the SIU should be concurrently required to reassess
the staff strength within the next two months based on a sample study of the
functioning of two or three of the field offices.

20

4.3

With the phasing out of quantitative restrictions, this scheme is now no

different from duty draw back schemes, with the duty on export related imports
being altogether exempted even at the first instance. Thus, while the office of the
DGFT provides the first interface to the exporters in their quest for getting
advance licenses, after they get the advance licenses and the import-export pass
books, they are required to register with the concerned Custom Offices along
with bonds and bank guarantees where necessary. Thereafter, at every stage of
the import stream as well as the export stream, they deal only with the Customs
Department. Once the export obligations are fulfilled by the exporters they go
back to the DGTD for obtaining the export obligation discharge certificate. Later
with this certificate they approach the customs authorities for the redemption of
bonds/bank guarantees. Such follow up action as may become necessary in the
event of any malpractices or shortcomings is taken only by the Customs
Department. Thus in Advance Licensing cases, the exporter has to deal more
with the Customs Department than with the DGTD.

Vesting of the entire

operational work, including the initial issue of licence with the Customs
Department would thus lead to reduced transaction time and cost for the
exporters.

In particular when the process of introducing Electronic Data

Interchange System and Electronic Declaration of Imports and Exports at all the
portsis completed by the Customs Department, the saving in transaction time
for the exporter will be considerable.

It will therefore be necessary for the

government to examine, say two years down the line, whether the task of grant of
advance licenses should not be vested in the Customs Department.

The

responsibility for fixing the input-output norms in consultation with the other
Ministries as also the policy issues could however continue to remain with the
Department of Commerce.

b.

Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence

4.4

At

present

the

Centre

for

Monitoring

Indian

Economy

(CMIE)

headquartered at Mumbai and with an office at New Delhi, is also bringing out
comprehensive data on the trade statistics with a much shorter time lag than the
21

DGCIS. More importantly the CMIE data also captures items like income earned
in foreign exchange by way of dividend, royalty, consultancy fees etc and thus
project a more complete picture of the export statistics than the DGCIS reviews.
4.5

But then the CMIE analysis is based essentially on DGCIS data. Thus the

DGCIS data would continue to be the basis on which the trade statistics will have
to be compiled. The major problem however has been the inordinate time lag in
DGCIS bringing out the 8 digit level results. With the efforts already taken to
streamline the procedures it is expected that before the end of this year the time
lag would be brought down to about 8 weeks only. This should remove a major
drawback in the DGCIS data.
4.6

The DGCIS staff strength had earlier been determined with reference to

the manner in which the data was received from Custom Houses and the work
involved is cleaning, compilation and analysis of the data adopting the
procedures in vogue and facilities available then in DGCIS. As indicated earlier
already 85% of the data now received from the Custom Houses is on magnetic
media thus reducing considerably the workload in cleaning up as well as
compilation of these data. This itself would call for a considerable reduction in
the support staff levels (423 at group B, C &D) in DGCIS. Further the Customs
Department has launched a massive computerisation drive and it is expected
that the present practice of export-import data being entered into tapes would
undergo a major change when the export shipping bills are being generated
electronically. This process when completed would virtually eliminate the need
for verification and also reduce the compilation workload in DGCIS. The small
Custom Houses, which now send the data on manual DTRs, would also be
shifting to the magnetic media in the coming years. When these changes are put
through by the Customs Department, the staff strength requirement of DGCIS
would come down further. It is ascertained that IIM, Kolkata has been entrusted
with the task of reassessing the staff strength requirement of the DGCIS. They
should be specifically required to take into account the improvements in the
quality and type of data availability that has already taken place as also the
further improvements expected in the coming years and give the report

22

expeditiously so that it can be put into effect from 1.4.2002. In case the IIM study
is expected to take an year or more to be completed, the SIU could be requested
to take up this assessment on a priority basis.
c.

Custodian of Enemy Property, Mumbai and branch office at Kolkata

4.7

It would be necessary to determine as to which of the assets are still

required to be maintained in their present form and identify those, which could be
disposed off, and the proceeds kept in a special account. There is not much
merit in continuing to preserve and manage all these properties indefinitely.
Likewise it would also be necessary to examine the claims for ex-gratia
payments by Indian nationals/companies whose properties were seized by
Pakistan in the 1965 conflict and settle these one way or other quickly. All these
aspects of work should be completed in a time bound manner say within two
years so that the organisation can be wound up and such items of work that
remain entrusted to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

d.

Export Processing / Special Economic Zones

4.8

As pointed out earlier, the support staff strength has been kept low in

FEPZ, Kolkata through outsourcing of some services.

The feasibility of

introducing similar arrangements should be explored in the other EP/SE Zones

so that the staff strength is kept down to the minimum. This will facilitate greater
attention to the problems and issues relating to the zones limiting the time and
effort to be allocated for staff managing issues to the minimum.
4.9

The Special Economic Zones, though approved, are yet to take off. As

these will be set up and maintained in the private sector, only monitoring will be
the responsibility of the government. Hence there may not be any need for
additional staff.

e.

Commodity Boards

4.10

The functioning of the Commodity Boards has been examined recently by

Shri P.P.Prabhu, former Secretary (Commerce) at the instance of the

23

Department of Commerce. The report presented to the Department in May 2001

covers an extensive ground the organisation structure and functions and
activities

of

these

boards and contains a large number of specific

recommendations. These recommendations inter-alia stress the need for broad

basing of these Boards, while at the same time reducing government
representation, giving these Boards greater financial, administrative and
management responsibility, making export promotion and research the main
focus of activities etc.
4.11

Shri Prabhu has suggested closure of the five foreign offices of the Tea

Board leading to an annual saving of about Rs.5 crore and also a drastic
downsizing of the staff strength in the Tea Board, Coffee Board and Rubber
Board. In the case of the Tea Board a 25% reduction of the staff strength is
visualised. Closure of the offices at Chennai, and Cochin, withdrawaI of all
compulsory registration and licensing, and privatisation of the tea houses, except
in the head office and in Parliament House have been recommended. In the case
of the Coffee Board, the proposals envisage inter-alia, privatisation of the Coffee
houses and downsizing in non-technical cadres and in extension work and
administration. The measures are expected to lead to a reduction of nearly 330
out of the present staff strength of over 1100. In the case of the Rubber Board,
the report places the surplus in the production department at over one third
(about 450), while abolition of licensing work and phasing out of subsidies is
expected to lead to a reduction of over 230. Reduction in administrative, finance
and support staff on the research side has also been recommended. Possibly in
the final analysis no more than 60% of the present strength of 2274 would be
required. The report has pointed out that in spite of this surplus position, the
Board has been recruiting staff every year, with the result in the last 10 years the
staff strength has gone up by 60% in Group A, 35% in Group B and 50% in
Group D! Clearly there is a case for issuing directions to all the Boards to stop
recruitment at all levels forthwith, pending refixation of the staff strength based on
the recommendations given by Shri P.P.Prabhu. For facility of easy reference
the summary of recommendations contained in that report is given at Annex-IV.

24

4.12

The Expenditure Reforms Commission recommends that the suggestions

for restructuring of the Boards, with reduced government representation, making

export promotion and research the main focus of activities, closure of Tea
Boards foreign offices, privatisation of the coffee houses, and downsizing of the
staff strength in the Tea Board, Coffee Board and Rubber Board should be
implemented straightaway. Having said this, the Expenditure Reforms
Commission would also underline the need for carrying the thrust of these
recommendations forward. To be specific, these boards should be enabled to
become independent of government control and government procedures and
function more on the lines of the export promotion councils, except for the
addition of developmental role, which will be focussed on research rather than
field level support activities.

Action should be initiated straightaway in the

Department of Commerce for reducing the financial, administrative and

management control over these Boards. This process may also require either
repeal of or effecting major amendments in the Acts under which these Boards
have been set up. This aspect would therefore need to be taken up on an urgent
basis. All this should be put through expeditiously, and the practice of an officer
of the Department functioning as the Chairman of the Board should be dispensed
with. Once foreign offices are closed and the organisations downsized on the
lines suggested by Shri P.P.Prabhu there should be a fresh evaluation of the
funds required for meeting the annual recurring expenditure of each of these
Boards. These Boards should be required within a specific time frame 2 years
and no more to meet all their recurring and non-recurring expenditure from the
funds released out of the cess amounts collected by government and through
internal cash generation and there should be no further demand on government
budgetary support. The Boards should be given full functional autonomy, subject
only to broad guidelines on the range of functions to be undertaken and
restrictions on the disposal of assets and creation of new posts and making any
commitments of a medium or long term nature.

25

f.

Autonomous Organisations

i.

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade

4.13

IIFT should be encouraged to become a premier institute in training as

well as the research in trade and related matters. It has a potential for increasing
its internal cash generation to a point where it should not be dependent upon
Government for its day-to-day expenditure requirements.

A time bound

programme should be drawn up for achieving this objective, say in 2 to 3 years.

When this is achieved, the Institution could be freed from Government controls
altogether. It can then become a governing body managed organisation. The
practice of a government official functioning as the Chief Executive could be
dispensed with.
ii.

Export Inspection Council, New Delhi

4.14

While in some cases export of substandard goods by some unscrupulous

exporters has adversely affected the entire exports in these sectors, the fact
remains that the export certification should be largely demand driven. It will
therefore be necessary for the Ministry to review the list of items for which the
export certification is prescribed mandatory and restrict it to only those areas,
when non-insistence of certification could jeopardise the entire export efforts in
that area. In all other cases export certification should be demand driven. Apart
from the Export Inspection Council, other organisations, including agencies like
MPEDA etc. could also be authorised to provide such certification if they have
the necessary facilities. Such competition could lead to improvement in quality
of, and reduction of charges for, the certification work. The workload of the
Export Inspection Council will then be largely demand driven and in a competitive
environment and this could well call for a redetermination of the staff strength in
its various offices, in line with the actual work load. Pending such a review in all
field offices of EIC, action should be taken straightaway to implement the IWSU
report which had, after examining the staff strength of the Kolkata office,
recommended that 183 of the employees deployed on the jute scheme out of the
total strength of 277 be declared surplus.
26

iii.

Indian Institute of Packaging, Mumbai and Indian Council of Arbitration,

New Delhi

4.15

The nature and range of activities of both organisations are such that it is

not essential for government to participate in, or control these organisations. The
governing body of both organisations could be suitably recast to provide for
management responsibility to vest totally in the various concerned interests and
government could withdraw from both organisations. Governments budgetary
support for the Indian Council of Arbitration should be phased out over the next
two years. For both these organisations, government could extend assistance,
on a case-by-case basis, for specific projects, as is now being done for the Indian
Institute of Packaging.
iv.

Marine Products and Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export

Development Authorities

4.16

The recommendations earlier made in respect of the Commodity Boards

would apply equally to these two organisations also.

v.

Federation of Indian Export Organization

4.17

Though visualised as an apex body for various export promotion

organisations, FIEO today functions primarily as a servicing agency and some of

the funds of the Government meant for rendering assistance to exporters are
routed through FIEO. As in the case of export promotion councils, there is no
need for government to participate in or control this organisation. Government
Budget support should be limited to providing market development assistance for
specific projects.
vi.

Indian Diamond Institute

4.18

This Institute has the potential for being developed, as a premier Institute

for meeting the training and research needs of the gem and jewellery industry.
Towards this end governments role in, and control over this institute should be
27

phased out in the coming two years. The Institute should be allowed to adopt
such procedures financial administration and management as are best suited
to its requirements and the gem and jewellery industry should have a greater role
in the Institutes management.
vii.

Export Promotion Councils

4.19

The present arrangement whereby export promotion councils are run by

the industries in the respective group and government giving market

development assistance for specific activities as and when they consider it
necessary can be continued. The government does not exercise any control
over these organisations and this arrangement should continue.
g.

Department of Commerce

4.20

Department of Commerce is manned at the top by a Secretary and a

Special Secretary.

Special Secretary deals with WTO matters, trade policy

issues and also foreign trade matters relating to Europe. While it can be argued
that WTO matters could be considered on a stand-alone footing, in the general
scheme of things, for several years to come, WTO and trade policy issues and
trade promotion and bilateral trade matters would have to be looked at in an
integrated manner. For this, the Secretary of this Department should be directly
responsible for the efficient functioning of both areas of work.

The present

arrangement whereby an equivalent level officer, though designated as Special

Secretary, looks after WTO and Trade Policy divisions undermines this unified
approach. The post of Special Secretary should therefore be downgraded to that
of an Additional Secretary so that the Secretary is fully accountable for all
functions of this Department.
4.21

As pointed out at the end of section I, WTO and multilateral issues, an

integrated trade policy that seeks to optimise the export efforts, and protection of
domestic industry from dumping have now emerged as the more important
functions of the department. The department would need to be strengthened at
the senior levels to handle these tasks efficiently.

As far as WTO and

28

multilateral issues are concerned, the Department of Commerce should also

have the capability to give sound and timely advice to other departments like
Agriculture, Industrial Policy & Promotion etc. Given the procedural bottlenecks
in quickly assembling a highly qualified professional team of in houseexperts for
this purpose, one option would be to explore the feasibility of having a think tank
of eminent experts. This think tank need have just one full time senior level
professional, appointed on a contract basis, to function as the coordinator. There
could be a large panel of experts, who could take part in the deliberations and
consultations of the think tank, for short periods, depending upon their
convenience. This think tank could be located in the IIFT campus so that it has
access to the facilities there, including the library. At the same time it has to be a
separate entity with a management council on which could be represented the
Departments of Commerce, Industrial Policy and Promotion and Agriculture etc.
The expenditure on the think tank could be shared by the different user
departments.
4.22

The functioning of the Economic Division would need to be fully integrated

with the Trade Policy Division so as to give the Trade Policy Division an added
edge. Its links with the commodity and technical divisions would need to be put
on a firm footing.
4.23

The Office of the Directorate General of Anti Dumping is of comparatively

recent origin and the organisational set up and procedures are yet to be fully
evolved. With the removal of most of the quantitative restrictions w.e.f. 1.4.2001
it is only now that the capabilities of the organisation and in fact the government
itself, to respond quickly to the challenges will be fully tested. As the number of
cases to be dealt with increases the technical capabilities of this organisation for
timely examination of the cases coming before it would have to be strengthened.
After a clear idea on the demands on this organisation and on the Directorate
General of Safeguards under the Department of Revenue emerges, the question
whether these functions could be combined along with the task of tariff revision
and be entrusted to an independent statutory commission could be examined.

29

4.24

As far as work relating to Commodity Boards is concerned, it would be

necessary to retain in the Department, only a minimum complement of staff

necessary

for

putting

through

the

intended

amendments/repealing of the concerned Acts etc.

delegation

of

powers,

All other positions, now

sanctioned exclusively for dealing with Commodity Boards should be abolished

forthwith.
4.25

There are 66 trade missions abroad under the Department of Commerce

to attend to trade enquiries and also assist in settling trade disputes and in
organising exhibitions, fairs etc.

An expenditure of nearly Rs.60 crore was

incurred on these missions last year. Out of the 171 officials deployed in these
missions only 12 were officials of the Ministry of Commerce. In the review of the
functions, activities and structures of the Ministry of External Affairs, it has been
suggested that the need for offices abroad of all Ministries/Departments other
than MEA should be examined afresh and wherever considered feasible the
activities of these other Ministries should be undertaken by MEAs offices abroad
within the budget and staff allocated to them. In is only in those cases where full
justification is advanced for other Ministries to have their own offices abroad
should they be allowed to post their own officials in such offices. In such cases
the expenditure on establishment of such offices would naturally be reflected in
the budget of that Ministry/Department. The same procedure should be followed
in respect of 60 odd trade missions abroad of the Department of Commerce.
The trade missions abroad should be equipped to handle all enquiries from not
only the organisations under the Department of Commerce, but from private
sector parties as well, thus obviating the need for establishment of separate
offices by these other organisations.
4.26

While the functions and activities of the five public sector undertakings are

not examined in this report, three issues of a general nature merit mention. First,
in line with the decision already in place to privatise the State Trading
Corporation and the Mines & Minerals Trading Corporation, there is a case for
privatising the Project and Equipment Corporation also, while the Spices Trading
Corporation could be made autonomous on the lines suggested for the

30

Commodity Boards.

The ECGC ownership and management would also need

to be broad based bringing about governments role considerably. Following

these changes, the staff specifically sanctioned in the Department for overseeing
these undertakings would need to be correspondingly downsized. Second as
highlighted earlier the Federation of Indian Export Organisation has not been
able to function as the apex body for various export promotion organisations.
The feasibility of ITPO playing this apex role in a complimentary and supportive
manner, rather than in a control mode, should be explored. Thirdly while some
overlap, between ITPO and IIFT in undertaking research studies is unavoidable,
and in fact may even be desirable, there needs to be a mechanism for
coordinating the research activities of both these organisations.
4.27

Except in the case of DGFT where the administration of a large number of

personnel is involved, the other functions of the department of Commerce are

such as could be handled by an officer oriented system supported by the Desk
Officer system.

The officers/support staff requirements should therefore be

redetermined division by division and the new arrangements put in position in a

phased manner within the next one year. Likewise the implementation of the
suggestions for giving full autonomy to the Commodity Boards and Autonomous
Organisations should also lead to reduced staff requirements in the Department
over the next two to three years. In any case, even the suggestions, which could
be implemented straightaway, would call for one post of Joint Secretary, along
with the support staff being declared surplus immediately. Moreover in 1992 it
was mandated that, of the sanctioned staff strength in 1992, 10% should be
reduced. It is seen that in the department proper, as against a total staff strength
of 671 only 32 posts have been reduced, while of the 1560 posts in the
subordinate offices only 67 have been reduced so far. The department should
take action for completing action on these economy instructions within the next
three months.

31

Annex-I
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
1.

A separate Department of Commerce was first created in the Government

of India in 1921. Earlier, the subjects under the Department were dealt with by
the Department of Commerce and Industry (set up in 1905). In 1937, when the
Department of Commerce and Industries and Labour was bifurcated into the
Department of Communications and the Department of Labour, the Department
of Commerce also took over certain subjects pertaining to Industries. These
subjects were, however, transferred in 1943 to the newly created Department of
Industries and Civil Supplies.
2.

After independence, the Department of Commerce was re-designated as

the Ministry of Commerce and was placed along with the Ministry of Industries
and Supplies under the charge of a Cabinet Minister. The two Ministries were
amalgamated in February 1951 to form the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
This arrangement continued for about five years when in September, 1956, the
Ministry of Commerce and Industry was split into two separate Ministries, viz. the
Ministry of Commerce and Consumer Industries and the Ministry of Heavy
Industries.

The two Ministries were again merged in April 1957 to form the

Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The new Ministry also took over the work
connected with most of the public undertakings previously dealt with in the
Ministry of Production, which was abolished in 1957. In 1958, the Department of
Company Law Administration was transferred from the Ministry of Finance to the
Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which was subsequently reorganised, into
three Departments, viz. Industry, Commerce and Company Law Administration.
3.

In April 1962 the subject Heavy Industries was taken away from the

Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry was reconstituted into the
following three Departments:
I. Department of International Trade;
II. Department of Industry; and
III. Department of Company Law Administration

32

4.

In July 1963, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry was bifurcated into

the Ministry of International Trade and the Ministry of International Trade and the
Ministry of Industry (Department of Industry and Department of Company Law
Administration). The Ministry of International Trade took over all subjects under
the Department of International Trade.

In June 1964, the Ministry was

redesignated as Ministry of Commerce.

5.

In February, 1969, the Ministrys designation was changed as Ministry of

Foreign Trade and Supplywith two Departments, namely;

6.

(a)

Department of Foreign Trade; and

(b)

Department of Supply

In November 1969, the Department of Supply was separated and the

Department of Foreign Trade was redesignated as Ministry of Foreign Trade.

7.

In February 1973, the Ministry was again redesignated as Ministry of

Commerce and the Department of Internal Trade added to it. The Ministry had
two Departments under its control at that time, namely:
i. Department of Foreign Trade;
ii. Department of Internal Trade
8.

In January, 1974, the Department of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of

Commerce was bifurcated into two separate Department, namely(c)

Department of Foreign Trade; and

(d)

Department of Export Production

The third Department viz., the Department of Internal Trade remained

unchanged.
9.

In October, 1974, the Department of Internal Trade was transferred to the

charge of reorganised Ministry of Industry and Civil Supplies, leading to

restructuring of the Ministry with two Departments;
i. Department of Foreign Trade; and
ii. Department of Export Production.
10.

In March 1976, this Ministry was further reorganised and one more

Department, namely, the Department of Textiles was added to the charge of this

33

Ministry. In June 1977, this Ministry was restructured as a single organisational

entity as Ministry of Commerce with a Department of Textiles within the Ministry.
11.

In November 1977, all functions, being dealt with in the Department of

Textiles were transferred to the charge of Ministry of Industry (Department of

Industrial Development) and from out of textile items only the export activities in
respect of textiles; jute, handicrafts, etc. remained under the charge of this
Ministry.
12.

In February, 1978 this Ministry was reorganised with the nomenclature

Ministry of Commerce, Civil Supplies and Cooperation consisting of the

following two Departments:

13.

ii.

Department of Commerce; and

iii.

Department of Civil Supplies & Cooperation

The work relating to the Textile Industry, with the exception of exports,

continued to remain under the charge of the Department of Industrial

Development till a full fledged Department of Textiles was revived in April. 1980
in the Ministry of Commerce. In April, 1980, the work relating to the development
of textile industry was retransferred from the Ministry of Industry to the newly
created Department of Textiles in the Ministry of Commerce and the
organisational structure of this Ministry at that time consisted of the following
three departments:

14.

i.

Department of Commerce;

ii.

Department of Civil Supplies; and

iv.

Department of Textiles

In July, 1980, the erstwhile Ministry of Commerce and Civil Supplies was

further restructured organisationally with the nomenclature of Ministry of

Commerce consisting of the following two Departments:

15.

i.

Department of Commerce; and

ii.

Department of Textiles.

In January 1985, the Department of Supply was also brought under this

Ministry.

The Ministry of Commerce then comprised of the following three

Departments:

34

16.

Department of Commerce;

ii.

Department of Textiles; and

iii.

Department of Supply.

In November 1985, an independent Ministry of Commerce with the

following two Departments was constituted.

17.

i.

Department of Commerce; and

ii.

Department of Supply.

In October, 1999, the Ministry was merged with the Ministry of Industry

and renamed as the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, consisting of four

departments:

18.

i.

Department of Commerce

ii.

Department of Industrial Development

iii.

Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion and

iv.

Department of Supply

In April 2000, the Department of Industrial Development was merged with

the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, reducing the number of

departments in the Ministry to three.
19.

Further, in August 2000, the number of departments was pruned to two

with the abolition of the Department of Supply.

35

Annex-II
LIST OF SUBJECTS UNDER THE CONTROL OF
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE
ALLOCATION OF BUSINESS RULES, 1961

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (VANIJYA VIBHAG)

1.

GENERAL INTERNATIONAL TRADE POLICY

1.

International Commercial Policy.

2.

International Agencies connected with commercial policy (e.g. UNCTAD,

ESCAP, ECA, ECLA, EEC, EFTA, GATT, WTO and related bodies, ITCB).

3.

International Commodity Agreements other than agreements relating to

Wheat.

4.

All matters relating to international trade policy including tariff and nontariff barriers; preferential trading arrangements; regional trade blocs and
economic groupings.

5.

All matters relating to anti-dumping investigations and duties faced by the

Indian exporters abroad and all work relating to the Designated Authority
under the Anti-Dumping provisions of the Customs Tariff Act.

II.

FOREIGN TRADE

6.

All matters relating to foreign trade including monitoring of trade

performance, trade negotiations and agreements (including all matters
and agreements under General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/WTO,
Commonwealth Tariff Preferences and other preferential trading
arrangements viz. Bangkok Agreement, SAPTA, GSTP etc.), trade
missions and delegations, trade cooperation and promotion and protection
of interests of Indian traders abroad.

7.

Import and Export Trade Policy and Control excluding the matters relating
to:
(i)

Import of feature films;

(ii)

Export of Indian films both feature length and shorts; and

(iii)

Import and distribution of cine-film (unexposed) and other goods

required by the film industry.
36

8.

Directorate General of Foreign Trade

III.

STATE TRADING

9.

Policies of State Trading and performance of organisations established for

the purpose, including:
(i)

State Trading Corporation and its subsidiaries excluding

Handicrafts and Handlooms Export Corporation and Central
Cottage Industries Corporation.

(ii)

MMTC Limited and its subsidiaries.

IV.

TRADING WITH THE ENEMY: ENEMY PROPERTY

10.

Trading with the enemy; enemy firms and enemy property reparations
(other than German industrial equipment); Controller of Enemy Trading;
Controller of Enemy firms; Custodian of Enemy Property for India.

11.

International Customs Tariff Bureau including residuary work relating to

Tariff Commission.

12.

Development and expansion of export production in relation to all

commodities, products, manufacturers and semi-manufacturers, and
projects including the following:

13.

(a)

Agricultural produce within the meaning of the Agricultural produce

(Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 (1 of 1937);

(b)

Marine products;

(c)

Industrial products (engineering goods, chemicals, plastics, leather

products etc.);

(d)

Fuels, minerals and mineral products;

(e)

Specific export oriented products (including plantation crops etc.

but excluding jute products and handicrafts which are directly under
the charge of this Department);

(f)

Consultancy, civil construction and turnkey projects.

All organisations and institutions connected with the provision of services

relating to the export effort including:
(a)

Export Credit and Guarantee Corporation.

37

(b)

Export Inspection Council

(c)

Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics

(d)

India Trade Promotion Organisation

(e)

Free Trade Zones

(f)

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade

14.

Projects and programmes for stimulating and assisting the export efforts.

15.

Production, distribution (for domestic consumption and exports) and

development of Plantation crops such as tea, coffee, rubber and
cardamom.

16.

Processing and distribution for domestic consumption and exports of

Instant tea and Instant coffee.

17.

(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)

Tea Board
Coffee Board
Rubber Board
Spices Board
Tobacco Board

38

Annex-III
ORGANISATION CHART OF DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
MINISTER FOR COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
COMMERCE SECRETARY
SPECIAL SECRETARY (NM) WTO, Trade Policy Issues, FT (Europe)
AS

AS & FA

Plantations
Anti-Dumping

AS
Infrastructure
Centre State Interface on exports including States Cell;
Science & Technology Coordination;
Foreign Trade (State Trading) & Foreign Trade (M&O);
Appellate Committee on Enforcement cases;
FIPB (EP) EP(OP); EOU/EPZ; ESCAP, FT(SEA)

Finance
IWSU / O & M / CM & T
EAC / MDA
India Brand Equity Fund
Trade Fund

JS

JS

JS

EP (Engg.)
Trade
Promotion
RMTR
FT(CIS&B)
E & MDA
IBEF
Estt. & Genl.
Admn.
Cash &
Protocol

TPD
EP
(G& J)

Presently
handled
by JS

EP (Agri)
Biotechnology
Anti-Dumping
FT (NEA)

JS

Dir

Dir

TPD

EP(OP)
FT (Coord)
TF
EP(E&CS)

Dir

EP
(Engg.)
FT
(CIS&B)

TP
MDA
EAC

Dir

Dir

Dir

Hindi

Infra.
States
Cell.
North
East Cell

Dir

EDI

JS

FT(Coord)
FT (SA/SAARC) &
SAPTA
FT (AF)
EP (Electronics &
Computer
Software), Projects
& Services
Exports, Trade
Finance Parliament
Vigilance

FT(AM/LAC)
EP (LSG)
EOU/FOI/EPZ
Export Prom
Board & Export
Prom.Coordn.
Hindi.
States Cell
North-East
Cell
Infrastructure
TA/TC

FT(WANA)
EP (MP)
EI & EP
Pub.
Grievance
(Staff)
EP(CAP)
Chairman (EIC)
Vigilance
(JS(EKBB)
Relieved on 31.5.01

Dir

JS

Dir

TPD

Finance
IWSU
O&M
CM&T

EA

TPD
EP(Tex)

Dir

Dir

AntiDump.
EP
(Agri.)

PS to M
(C & I)

Adviser

Export Plg.
Export
Policy

Dir

Economic
Division

AEA

AEC

Relieved on
22/05/01
(FN)

Eco.
Divn.

Anti
Dump.

DS

DS

DS

DS
DS

DS

DS

DS

DS

DS

DS
(ACK)

DS

DS

DS

DS

DS

DS

DS

TPD

Plantation

ESCAP
FT(SEA)

TPD

EI &
EP

FT
(NAFTA)
EP (G&J)
TA/TC

Anti
Dump

EPZ
EOU
FOI
EP

TPD

Retired
On
30.6.01

FT(ST)
FT
(M & O)

FT
(SA)

EP
(CAP)

FT
(LAC)

General
Cash-I
& II
Protocol
R&I

FT
(AF)
Parl.

FT(WANA)
EP (MP)
Vigilance
Public Griev.
(Staff)
E-I, II, III

SPL.OFF
(GATT)

JDG
JDG
JD

JD

Dir

US

US
US
US

US

US

US

US
US

US

US

TPD

Anti
Dumping

RMTR

Anti
Dumping

E-I,
E-II,
E-III

Finance

Plant
B&C

PlantA

EOU
FOI

FT(WE)

FT
(WANA)

EPZ

US

EP
EAC
MDA

US

Cash-I
Cash-II, DDO, R & I
Record Cell

US
DO

US

US

US

US
US
US

US

US

US

US
US

US

US

US

FT(EA)

FT(NEA)

EP(E&CSW)

FT
(Europe)

FT
(Coord)
App.
Com.

EP(MP)

RMTR

TPD

Eco.Divn.

TPD

IWSU
O&M
CM&T

FT (WANA)

US, US, US, DO,

DO, SO

EP (Agri.)

Vigilance TP

DD, AD

Anti Dumping

US

US

TPD

39

Annex-IV
A Study of the Functioning of the Commodity Boards
BY SHRI P.P. PRABHU
Executive Summary
Plantation Commodities constitute an important segment of Indias
agricultural economy. Apart from meeting the domestic requirements, the
plantation commodities, the marine products and the agricultural and processed
food products contribute significantly to the countrys foreign exchange earnings.
2.
The statutory Commodity Boards formed to look after the development of
the plantation commodities, and the Marine Products Export Development
Authority and the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development
Authority have played a significant role in the growth and development of their
respective sectors.
CHAPTER II
3.
Over a million growers are engaged in the cultivation of plantation
commodities. In addition, the plantation sector alone provides direct employment
to nearly two million. The sector also earns substantial foreign exchange for the
country (2.8-9).
4.
The growth of production in the last three decades (100% increase in the
case of tea to six times increase in the case of natural rubber) as well as the
comparatively satisfactory achievement in productivity levels speak for the
performance of the Boards (2.11-13)
5.
The expenditure on the bureaucracy of the Boards has not been high.
The resources requirements have also been mostly generated from the industry
itself by way of cess. (2.14-15)
6.
The Boards have been able to develop a sense of belonging and establish
credibility with the growers.
The Boards have thus demonstrated their
accountability to the growers and so the grower community want the commodity
Boards to continue (2.17-20)
7.
Government of India have been allocating sufficient funds to the Boards,
much more than the cess amounts collected from the respective sectors. (2.2122)
8.
The suggestion to form a combined plantation Board as a measure of
economy is neither practical nor a sound proposal. (2.23-25).
- xi 40

9.
The membership of the Boards can be rationalised and the strength
reduced. (2.26-27).
10.
Though Tea, Coffee and Natural Rubber Boards have to be basically
grower oriented, it would be advantageous to have representation for all interests
and stakeholders in the Boards. (2.29)
11.
The present practice of election to represent large grower representatives
in the Rubber Board can be modified. (2.30)
12.
Effective representation has to be given to small growers in the Boards
and hence 50% of the small grower nominees may be selected from among
those growers owning less than 4 hectares. (2.31-32)
13.
The Boards may form three Board Committees research, executive and
development committees; the Boards with prime mandate of export promotion,
may also form an export promotion committee (2.33)
14.
The financial powers of the Boards be enhanced to rupees one crore,
subject to some restrictions. (2.35-36)
15.
The organisation of the Boards, as have evolved over the years would
need to undergo changes gradually but surely, if the plantation sector has to
effectively meet the emerging challenges and demands. (2.37-39)
16.
The responsibility for research in respect of all spices except for
cardamom is with ICAR. Either the responsibility for major spices should be
transferred to the Spices Board practical difficulties. A possible solution could be
to place the operational control over the spices research stations with the Spices
Board with the scientists/staff continuing to be part of ICAR and continuing to
enjoy the privileges. (2.45-49)
17.
Annual evaluation of the research programmes as well as periodical
evaluation once in 7,8 years by a technical and scientific team to evaluate the
performance of research work and programmes and recommend the future
course and direction of research is desirable. (2.50-53)
18.
The Boards may have to concentrate on research, as very little work is
being carried out outside the Boardsresearch stations. The Boards may also
explore the possibilities of entrusting some research work to universities. (2.5457)

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19.
Development activity has to continue as an important function of the
Boards. The loan and subsidy schemes may have played an important role in
the development of the industry but may have to be phased out. Subsidy needs
to be confined primarily to quality improvement programmes. (2.58-65)
20.
The extension service has also been an important activity, but most of the
services, from supply of planting materials to farm advisory services, soil testing
to processing techniques are being increasingly provided by the private sector;
hence the Boards may gradually withdraw from these activities. (2.66-68).
21.
The Boards may take recourse to growers participatory workshops for
dissemination of advice and information. (2.69)
22.
The logical further step and progress will be in the direction of harnessing
the communication and computing technologies for providing better extension
services. Establishment of internet kiosks in production centres and converting
field offices into virtual extension offices will go a long way in making available
the best of extension services to growers. (2.70)
23.
There is no justification to continue the Boards foreign offices. The need
for the offices arises because of the dissatisfaction with the performance of our
commercial missions that they have not been rendering the needed services to
exporters and to the industry, as expected of them. UPASI has brought to notice
a recent instance of indifference by our commercial missions (2.72-75)
24.
One possible solution could be to place the commercial missions in
important countries under the joint control of the Ministry of External Affairs and
the Ministry of Commerce. The officers for manning the commercial posts in the
missions may be jointly selected out of qualified professionals and held
accountable. (2.77)
25.
There is little justification to continue domestic promotion outlets, which
can be progressively privatised. (2.78)
26.
The Boards are not equipped to undertake and may desist from, market
intervention operations. The minimum and maximum prices are difficult to
implement. (2.79)
27.
Processing, post harvest management and quality assurance are the
areas deserving more attention from the Boards. (2.80)

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28.
All the control provisions in the various statutes regarding planting,
movement, marketing, etc. need to be given up. Experience with the regulations
regarding registration of growers has shown that it cannot be enforced.
Periodical census may be a better option. (2.82-88)
29.
Registration of exporters and export permit system may also be
discontinued once the DGCI&S and customs complete the computerisation of
their operations. (2.89-94)
30.
Quality certification will become necessary in the future. The Boards may
accredit private labs on the basis of transparent criteria for this purpose.
31.
Schemes for popularisation of cultivation and marketing of organic
products may be evolved (2.96)
32.
Most of the Boards have excess manpower. Rubber Board, which has the
largest surplus, has been creating posts and recruiting additional staff during the
last few years. VRS facility when announced by the Government can be
extended to the surplus staff. (2.98-100)
33.
Most of the Boards bring out useful publications but delay robs them of
their utility. There is also scope for improvement in the contents (2.101 to 106)
34.
The Boards have achieved little progress in computerisation and the
objectives of achieving efficiency and reducing delay are yet to be achieved.
(2.107-115)
35.
The web sites of the Boards require to be vastly improved. The Boards
have to pay attention to periodical updating also. (2.116-119)
36.
There is great potential for the development of plantation commodities in
the North Eastern States. The Boards have done commendable work in this
regard and are implementing a number of schemes in North East. A well
planned programme of development of plantations including the creation of
processing and marketing facilities and an effective strategy of implementation
will go a long way in making the programme a success. The development of
plantations will ensure employment for thousands and steady incomes and help
make some parts of North East as well developed as Coorg or Kottayam (2.120153)

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CHAPTER III
I. TEA BOARD
37.
The strength of membership of the Tea Board may be reduced to 25.
(3.1.10)
38.
The present system of industry-managed research, with grants from the
Board, may continue. The Darjeeling research station may be strengthened for
specialised application research relevant to Darjeeling tea. (3.15-23)
39.
The orientation of the development activity may be shifted towards the
small grower. (3.1.24)
40.

Teahouses may be progressively privatised. (3.1.25)

41.
The overseas offices of the Board are an unnecessary luxury and the
performance does not justify their continuation. (3.1.26-33)
42.
Licencing of planting, registration requirements etc may be discontinued.
(3.1.35-41)
43.
The provision in the Marketing Control Order 1984, which gives authority
to the Board to prescribe a minimum percentage of production to be compulsorily
sold through auction, may be withdrawn. (3.1.43-53)
44.

The auction rules and procedures require to be streamlined. (3.1.54-58)

45.
The Tea Warehouse Licensing Order 1989 may not be enforced; the
licenses issued to auctioneers may prescribe the specifications for warehouses
attached to auction halls. (3.1.59-60)
46.
62)

There is no need for any control over distribution or exports of tea. (3.1.61-

47.
The scope of the Tea Waste Control Order 99 may be restricted only to
tea waste moving out of factories for sale. ( 3.1.63-66)
48.
The powers of management or control of tea undertakings or tea units
may not be acted upon. (3.1.67-69)
49.
The Board is operating a number of schemes; some of them may be
phased out; some of the schemes may be reformulated. (3.1.70-72)
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50.
Tea Board has excess staff; with the withdrawal of licensing work and
some of the schemes being phased out, there will be surplus staff in licensing,
marketing and development departments-a little over 150 in all. Three offices can
be closed. (3.1.73-74)
51.
To improve the quality of service, the Board must concentrate on
research, productivity improvement, training of labour, improvement of co-op and
Bought Leaf factories and training of small growers. The improvement of auction
system, assistance for the setting up of quality labs for independent testing,
implementation of a price and market information system, improving the content
and quality of web pages are other areas for action. (3.1.75-80)
II. COFFEE BOARD
52.

The strength of the Coffee Board can be reduced to 24. (3.2. 9)

53.
The pool marketing system was the most important activity of the Board till
it was disbanded. Now research will have to continue as the most important
activity. The extension service will continue to be important. (3.2.12-14)
54.
The development schemes have been taking much of the attention and
time of the extension personnel. (3.2-20)
55.
Some of the tasks such as supply of planting materials etc., can be given
up gradually; participatory workshops with farmers groups may be increasingly
resorted to. (3.2.22)
56.
Market development will be hereafter a knowledge based activity and the
Board may have to outsource some of these tasks. ( 3.2.24-25)
57.
The export permit system may be discontinued once the Board is able to
obtain the required information from the customs. (3.2.26-27)
58.
The domestic promotion outlets may be gradually privatised to cut down
the losses. (3.2.28-29)
59.
Processing and quality upgradation require greater attention. The logo
scheme may be used to encourage quality. Private laboratories may be
encouraged. (3.2.30-33)
60.
The Board may evolve a scheme to document cup quality to enable
aggregation of same cup quality coffees, which will facilitate the aggregation of
minimum quantities for export. (3.2.34)
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61.
The Board is operating only one scheme in the area of production. Ie.,
water augmentation which is essential and may continue. In the area of market
promotion some of the schemes may be phased out. (3.2.36-40)
62.
The Board has around 200 excess non-technical staff in administration
and extension departments; with the discontinuation of some development
schemes, a third of the extension staff also will be surplus. (3.2.41-43)
63.
The research department has performed fairly well and has many
achievements to its credit but far short of potential. The evaluation of research
activity and programmes by an independent technical committee in 1996 has
brought out the deficiencies and weak points. The Board has to devote much
more attention to research; the strengthening of scientific staff, improvement of
physical infrastructure, ensuring better motivation is some of the important areas
requiring attention. Funds allocation may also be stepped up. (3.2.44-57)
64.
The service most expected of the Board is in terms of high yielding
varieties and improved pest control measures. Better extension service,
improved and useful web page, more information cells are the other areas to
which the Board needs to pay attention. (3.2.61-69)

III. RUBBER BOARD

65.
Rubber production has grown spectacularly in the last two decades as
also productivity. Government have extended full protection to the industry and
ensured that domestic prices renamed at higher levels than international prices.
(3.3.5-8)
66.
The constitution of the Board may be recast. The election procedure for
selection of large growers may be given up. (3.3.12)
67.
Among the activities research and production need to be given the highest
importance. (3.3.15-16)
68.
The production department has established a vast and many tier field set
up. Increasing recourse to participatory approach especially with the help of
Rubber Producers Societies will help to render better service to growers.
(3.3.17-19)
69.
The department also undertakes many subsidiary activities. While perhaps
the activity of bio gas plants may continue, the rest of the activities may be
handed over to specialised organisations meant for them. Nurseries also need to
be run on cost recovery basis. (3.3.20-24)
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70.
The registration of large estates and collecting production data only from
them serves no purpose-can be discontinued. (3.3.27)
71.
Licenses are prescribed for the dealers, processors and manufacturers
and monthly and annual returns--over 2 lakhs in all--are processed every year
only to enable the assessment of consumption of rubber and levy the cess. This
is avoidable work involves cost to all. The whole system can be given up and the
cess amount collected along with central excise. If this is not acceptable, then
registration may continue only for the manufacturers and half yearly returns only
may be prescribed. (3.3.28-33)
72.
As part of the processing and product development activity, a number of
commercial activities have been started; substantial capital expenditure has been
incurred. Most of them could have been encouraged in the private sector. Most
of the units may be gradually privatised. (3.3.35-40)
73.
The work of the training and consultancy division is important but the
consultancy division should progressively become self-supporting. (3.3.42-43)
74.
The Board operates many schemes, some of them have been continuing
for decades. Some of the schemes need to be phased out, excepting quality
improvement schemes, tappers training etc.
(3.3.44-51
75.
The Rubber Board has huge surplus staff; there have been avoidable
recruitment. The establishment expenditure has gone upto over Rs.25 crore
annually; substantial reduction is called for. (3.3.54-56)
76.
The performance of the research institute has been very satisfactory. The
productivity improvement has been commendable. Most of the research
schemes may continue. The major area of concern is the high dependence on
a single variety. (3.3.57-62)
77.
Some of the regional stations can be converted into demonstration farms.
(3.3.65)
78.
The Board has instituted an effective system of annual evaluation of its
performance.
The Board may subject its research programmes to an
independent scrutiny once in 7, 8 years to assess the progress of research
efforts and set the direction for future research. (3.3.66-69)
79.
The Rubber Board may encourage private service providers and
increasingly adopt participating approach in extension. The Board has to
become a facilitator and become a knowledge centre. (3.3.70-75)
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IV. SPICES BOARD

80.
The export of spices has shown excellent progress but with pepper prices
coming down, there will be a set back. Notwithstanding our 40% share in world
exports, there is considerable need to step up production to meet the growing
domestic needs and to maintain our share in the world market. (3.4.3-4)
81.

The strength of the Board can be reduced to 20. ( 3.4.10)

82.
The contentious issue of status of cardamom research and development
activity has to be settled once for all. The cardamom growers are opposed to the
transfer to ICAR, though it is a more logical option; hence the only option feasible
appears to be to continue the status quo and strengthen the research activity.
(3.4.15-21)
83.
The number of offices for the development activities can be reduced.
(3.4.23)
84.
Post harvest development activity demands more attention and resources.
Quality improvement including training and encouragement for the establishment
of private laboratories needs to be followed up. (3.4.24-27)
85.
Cardamom marketing is well organised; though there is no compulsion to
sell through auctions, nearly 2/3rds of produce is bought to auction. (3.4.29)
86.
Export promotion is the major function of the Board but the Board may
withdraw from some market activities. The system of registration of exporters
may also be withdrawn once the customs and DGFT streamline their procedures.
(3.4.31-33)
87.
Some of the schemes of the Board may continue, but individual exporter
oriented export promotion schemes may be phased out; anyway the incidence of
subsidy is too insignificant to make any impact. (3.4.34-38)
88.
There is scope for some reduction in the strength of non-technical
manpower. (3.4.39-40)
89.
The performance of research station is not upto expectations though some
promising clones are under trials. Lack of irrigation and inadequate attention to
farm practices by small growers are the major reasons for low average
productivity levels. (3.4.42-45)

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90.
The Board has to concentrate on research work closely with ICAR/state
governments in the matter of widespread adoption of post harvest practices and
control of pesticide usage, and ensure that exports meet international standards.
Quality certification has to be popularised as also a virtual spices bazaar. (
3.4.49-57)
V. MARINE PRODUCTS EXPORT DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
91.

The strength of the Board can be rationalised to 20. (3.5.10)

92.
Among the major activities, the promotion of capture fisheries has to
continue as also the promotion of aquaculture, though the Ministry of Agriculture
and the state governments should have taken over the responsibility for
aquaculture development. The modernisation of processing is another key
activity, which has to continue to receive attention. (3.5.13)
93.
MPEDA maintains two foreign trade promotion offices and their
continuation is being justified on the ground that they render high quality service
to the industry and not only merely to individual exporters. The industry also
feels that our commercial missions will not be able to render the required
services. (3.5.14-16)
94.
The registration and licensing activities can be streamlined and in course
of time, accredited private agencies may be encouraged to perform inspection
functions. (3.5.18-19)
95.
Most of the schemes of MPEDA may continue though some may have to
be transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture/state agriculture departments.
(3.5.21-40)
96.
There is only marginal surplus in the staff strength in one or two
departments. (3.5.41-42)
97.
To improve the quality of service, the trade information service has to be
improved; assistance needs to be given to shrimp farmers in the control of viral
attack; dissemination of developments including rules and regulations regarding
aquaculture farming has to be organised. (3.5.43 46)
VI.

AGRICULTURAL AND PROCESSED FOOD PRODUCTS EXPORT

DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

98.

The strength of the Board can be reduced to 23. (3.6-7)

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99.
The mandate of APEDA is wide and apparently overlaps that of MFPI and
the Department of Agriculture but in practice APEDA has been confining its
activities to only those aspects relevant for exports (3.6.10-11)
100. The major activities of APEDA post harvest management infrastructural upgradation, quality improvement and market intelligence-- have to
continue. (3.6-12)
101. Most of the schemes of APEDA are relevant for exports. Some of the
schemes may though desirable may be phased out, as they are not related to
exports. A programme to build capacity for risk analysis may be necessary.
(3.6.13-34)
102. The airfreight scheme needs to be critically reviewed and discontinued in
respect of those products with limited potential. (3.6.36-38)
103. APEDA may establish standards for all scheduled products and work
towards harmonisation of standards with international standards. (3.6.39-40)
104. APEDA may encourage quality and testing labs in the private sector.
(3.6.41)
105. Special schemes to encourage the cultivation of organic products and
fresh fruits and vegetables may be worthwhile. (3.6.42-44)
106. APEDA has so surplus staff. It may be permitted to engage experts and
consultants for specialised work and to carry out projects rather than recruiting
personnel on a permanent basis. (3.6.45-46)
107. APEDAs major responsibility will have to be in the areas of dissemination
of appropriate post harvest management techniques, quality standards etc. The
virtual trade fair of APEDA has to be made a success. The web site needs to be
made more comprehensive. (3.6.47-54)
CHAPTER IV
108. A change in the mandate and functions of the Boards may be necessary
in the light of the liberalisation policy initiatives of the Government and the
developments in the commodity sector and in the economy.

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The Boards have to move away from controls to complete deregulation: the
emphasis has to shift from mere development and production, to
competitiveness. The incentive based approach should give way to capacity
building, information and education. The Boards would need to withdraw from
many activities and rather than being providers of services become facilitators.
Most important, the Boards should cease to be mere bureaucratic organisations
and become knowledge centres.
PART II
109. Plantation commodities are important for many developing countries either
because of their contribution to GDP or trade or employment. But the commodity
producing countries have suffered adverse terms of trade for two decades now.
110. Prices of commodities especially of coffee etc have been subject to violent
fluctuations. In the past stabilisation of prices was achieved through International
Commodity Agreements. The International Coffee Agreement restricted supplies
through quotas and the International Natural Rubber Agreement regulated the
availability through Buffer Stock Operations. However, the possibility of such
arrangements hereafter is remote.
111. Commodity Boards if statutorily authorised, could regulate production and
supplies and through a combination of deficiency payments and retention of a
portion of the prices when the market prices are satisfactory can attempt to
stabilise prices and incomes. But with the global integration of the economies
the scope for such intervention is limited.
112. Price volatility is a serious problem afflicting the growers in the developing
countries only as the farmers in the developed world are fully protected with
subsidies and direct income payments.
113. There have been few worthwhile international attempts to help the
developing countries to cope with the problems of price volatility. The World
Bank had convened an International Task Force on Commodity Risk
Management in the Developing Countries. The ITFs recommendation is for the
creation of an International Intermediation, which will bridge the gap between the
providers of the risk management instruments and the entities in the developing
countries.
114. The proposal is for a price insurance scheme under which a guaranteed
price based on the quotations of futures exchanges can be ensured against
payment of premium. While such an arrangement will no doubt eliminate the
uncertainty, the proposal would still fall short of growersexpectations.
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115. Growers can be protected from the risks of price volatility either through
regulation of production or supplies. Both are not practical. Export tax coupled
with deficiency payment is one possible method of stabilisation of prices and
indirectly of incomes of growers; but it is an imperfect system and may be
possible only in the case of a predominantly export commodity like coffee.
Straight subsidy payment to compensate the growers when prices fall to a low
level may be one option but can be resorted to only in exceptional cases in view
of the financial implications.
116. A price insurance scheme, which will guarantee deficiency payments to
growers if there were to be a fall in prices below a threshold level, may be
acceptable to the growers. The price threshold has to be attractive and the
scheme has to be simple. Such a scheme may be feasible for commodities
subject to large-scale fluctuations in prices like coffee, cardamom even cotton or
chilli.
117. There will be some practical difficulties and some details may have to be
worked out but for some commodities a self-sustaining insurance scheme can be
envisaged.
118. A Price Stabilisation Fund for commodities may be created to help the
growers. But it has to be commodity specific as otherwise there may be
resistance from the growers. The Fund can be built up through transfer of a
portion of cess amount and any export tax proceeds and such other amounts
generated from the industry.
119. Direct payments to growers from the Fund when the prices fall below a
minimum level or collection of a cess amount from the growers when the prices
go above a threshold level to augment the Fund may not be a practical
proposition. But the Fund may be useful when in exceptional cases direct
payments may have to be paid. Such a Fund may be helpful in many ways for
making part payment of premium for the proposed price insurance scheme.
120. The scheme may be workable only for some commodities. The suggestion
can be tried out for one or two commodities and on the basis of experience
refined and expanded to benefit the growers of many commodities.
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