PM MAY IMPLEMENT PERFORMANCE BASED INCENTIVES

Following its mantra of maximum governance and minimum government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may implement performance-based incentives schemes for central government employees. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) is slated to give a detailed presentation on Performance-Related Incentive Scheme (PRIS), which was recommended by Sixth Pay Commission and accepted by the UPA government, to the Prime Minister soon, officials said. PRIS could not be implemented by the UPA government which had given its "in-principle" approval. DoPT is likely to outline the salient features of the scheme aimed at improving governance in its presentation to Modi. "The detailed guidelines will be put in place after Prime Minister gives his go-ahead to it," a senior DoPT official said. As per the draft guidelines framed during UPA's tenure, performance-related incentive will be payable taking into account the performance of the organisation and employees during the period under consideration. There are about 50 lakh central government employees. "PRIS may prove to be a big game changer for improving governance and delivering maximum output. The Prime Minister may incorporate some new features," the official said. The Prime Minister has already asked his Cabinet colleagues to set a 100-day agenda with focus on efficient governance, delivery and implementation of programmes.

A Performance-Related Incentive (PRI) is defined as variable part of pay which is awarded each year (or on any other periodic basis) depending on performance. PRI schemes are applied at the individual employee level and at the team or group level. PRI will be in addition to automatic pay increases, grade promotion or service-based increments, various types of allowances which are attached to certain posts or certain working conditions, like overtime allowances and allowances for working in particular geographical areas, according to the UPA government's preliminary draft of PRIS. The nodal department for PRIS shall be Department of Expenditure under Ministry of Finance, it said. Under the scheme, departments become eligible for it only after preparing Results Framework Documents (RFDs) for two years, the draft guidelines said. An RFD provides a summary of the most important results that a department or ministry expects to achieve during the financial year. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had approved the outline of a Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System (PMES) for government departments in September 2009. Under PMES, each department is required to prepare an RFD. The government has already put in place guidelines for RFDs for 2014-15.