In a path-breaking move, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has approved a system of evaluation of the performance of various ministries for preparing ‘Results Framework Documents’ (RFDs) in an effort to monitor and improve their functioning. A series of six workshops on RFDs for a clutch of ministries is being organised, and the first such two-day session on Agriculture and Rural Development is to be inaugurated by Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar on Tuesday. Top officials from the ministries and other departments will be attending the brain-storming session.
The other workshops, being organised till the third week of November, are to cover major segments such as human resource development, health, power, petroleum and energy, trade, industry and services, infrastructure and the social sector. “These Results Framework Documents, which are to be annual performance management tools, would set out the near term objectives of the departments, actions the departments would take to achieve these objectives, and a system for monitoring the department’s progress through success indicators,” a PMO statement said here on Monday. As per the evaluation programme approved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ministries are to submit their reports to the Cabinet Secretary by the end of this month. Subsequently, following a mid-term review of the ministries, an ad hoc task force comprising leading experts will be constituted by the Cabinet Secretary to review the performance.
PM’s approval
“The Prime Minister has approved the preparation of Results Framework Documents for all departments of the Government of India, as part of the comprehensive Performance Monitoring & Evaluation System (PMES). This path-breaking move would set the tone for substantially improving the functioning of Government departments,” the statement said.
To start with, 59 departments would be preparing RFDs in the first phase of the rollout of the PMES, and this would be extended subsequently in phases to cover all other Central departments. As part of its efforts to ensure fast-track implementation of the various flagship programmes, the government in July set up a mechanism in the PMO to monitor them and ensure transparency in their functioning.
