Editorial
Foreign trips by govt functionaries
Ensure implementation of the directives
THE government appears to be riled by the frequency of foreign trips undertaken by ministers, state ministers, secretaries and acting secretaries that are slowing down work at the ministries.
Taking note of how the principles of selectivity, prioritisation and relevance are being made light of in going on such jaunts, the principal secretary to the Prime Minister has alerted top government functionaries to the need for keeping to such principles. His initiative couldn't have come a day later.
He has rightly drawn the attention of all concerned to a tendency that is becoming something of a past-time and needs to be applied a brake on for the sake of efficient governance. That in our centralised dispensation, their intermittent absence from their posts carrying policy, decision-making and implementation-related responsibilities will create backlog need not be laboured too much. That's why for the sake of maintaining a grip of their work and in order not to slacken their supervisory roles, the top functionaries should be selective about going on overseas tours.
Of course, there are representational, professional and forward-looking aspects to overseas engagements, but for the senior bureaucrats to go abroad in the name of seminars and symposiums is something patently incongruous. These opportunities should appropriately go to the junior or mid-level officials who would gain by such exposure.
One simple criterion that the seniors must apply is whether the offer of a foreign trip, if accepted, would be a value addition enhancing his/her expertise in a particular field. Overseas tours are meant to be work-related and by no means are these to be looked upon as pleasure trips. These must be respectful of financial discipline and must be result-oriented.
We can see that the government from time to time issue circulars exhorting upon the top functionaries to avoid trips that would impede their official functions. It is time that a set of rules is formulated about foreign trips, classifying them in order of importance and that some oversight is also exercised in the matter of application of such rules.
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