[Yojana December Summary] Capacity Building of PSUs – Explained, pointwise

Introduction

Capacity Building of PSUs (‘Public Sector Undertaking’) is an area that is gaining importance, particularly due to rapid advancements in technology and ‘other’ operational methodologies.

The net profit of CPSUs was 93,294 crore rupees in 2019-2020. They also make a substantial contribution to the growth of the Indian Economy and critical infrastructure. So the capacity building of PSUs will have immense economical and social benefits.

About CPSUs

There are 256 operational Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) in the country, employing around 10 lakh people. Out of these CPSUs, 96 have been conferred the Ratna status (10 – Maharatna companies, 14 – Navaratnas, and 72 -Miniratnas).

Why capacity building of PSUs is required?

Training and Capacity Building of PSUs is an area where a large amount of resources in terms of financial outlays, manpower, material, socio-economic growth and other infrastructure is used.

PSUs are expected to perform on a competitive basis with prudent management, quality decision-making while ensuring accountability, efficiency, and transparency, so they require world-class training inputs.

What steps the government has taken towards the capacity building of PSUs?

National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB): Recently, the Cabinet has approved the Mission Karmayogi – NPCSCB by setting up an Integrated Government Online Training (iGOT) portal. The programme is implemented by the Department of Personnel and Training.

The programme aims to develop an integrated training infrastructure across services. Its core guiding principle is to “create an ecosystem of shared training infrastructure including that of learning materials, institutions and personnel.

The premier training institutes such as the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, SVP National Police Academy, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, etc, have co-opted to synergies their resources for this mission.

iGOT Karmayogi: The Karmayogi mission will be delivered by Integrated Government Online Training-iGOT Karmayogi Platform. It will act as a launchpad for NPCSCB to enable a comprehensive reform of the capacity building apparatus at the individual, institutional and process levels.

Individual programmes: The premier training institutes of most of the bigger PSUs are equipped with the latest training infrastructure as well as human resources to cater to their needs. Each of them has certain flagship programmes and certain ‘core competency’ or specialised areas.

For example, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited’s (ONGC) core competency lies in Drilling Technology, Geo- Data Processing, Reservoir Studies, Oil Field Equipment, etc.

Some PSUs design customised courses for executives of other PSUs and even for foreign nationals.

What are the benefits of capacity building of PSUs?

Capacity building will foster PSUs with a culture of efficiency, competitiveness, integrity, and probity that will curb administrative malpractices.

Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) are agents of socio-economic growth and change, creators of formal and informal economic opportunities, providing social benefits through CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities. So, capacity building of PSUs will help them to accelerate socio-economic growth.

Capacity building will help in developing a sense of responsivity towards nation-building.

What are the challenges faced in the capacity building of PSUs?

There is no institutionalised mechanism as of now for collaboration and resource sharing. So there is an issue of duplication and mismanagement of resources of PSUs.

Training modules are not holistic ones: At present, the majority of capacity building programs of PSUs focus training on core competence. They neglect training in other areas such as training in Ethics and Moral Values, vigilance, leadership, etc.

What reforms are necessary for the capacity building of PSUs?

Collaborate between training facilities of various PSUs: This will create cross-synergisation and a vibrant pool of common resources for PSUs. Further, this would also be in line with the NPCSCB.

Identify common training areas: So that executives of one PSU could benefit from training/other inputs from another PSU’s training institute. For the best optimisation of resources, this could be extended to training institutes across various sectors.

Further, Orientation visits/training of employees of the user PSUs to the Manufacturing PSUs could be arranged. For example, employees of user PSUs can visit Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited(BHEL) to familiarise the manufacturing process, size, scope, and other details of the equipment.

Institutionalise Resource sharing and create Thematic Clusters: Institutes
offering similar core competencies in the same specialised field could be brought together to share R&D, experts/faculty, infrastructure and Training techniques. They can also impart domain-specific training. Different institutes could be identified to enhance a ‘specific’ competency.

Create Centres of Excellence: Two or more training institutes when collaborated could be designated as ‘Centres of Excellence’ (CoEs). Further, core competencies of all the training facilities of the PSUs could be mapped first and then modalities can be developed for strengthening it.

Create Geographical Clusters: A separate geographical cluster can be identified in a single location, consisting of several training institutes from separate fields.

Create holistic uniform modules and standardise the training: Common programmes could be designed for personnel of different PSUs. Such training modules should consist not only in core competence but also in Management, Preventive Vigilance, Leadership, Ethics and Moral Values, understanding India’s socio and economic milieu etc.

Overall capacity building of PSUs will optimise resource utilisation and have threefold benefits of avoiding duplication of process, standardising training, and creating specialisation.