F No. Computer Centre Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation New Delhi Date : 15.4.

2011

Sub : Proposal for Cadre Review of EDP Officers of Computer Centre

The Computer Centre was set up in 1967 under the Cabinet Secretariat. A cadre of Electronic Data Processing professionals was created to run the Centre. The Centre is manned by qualified professionals in the discipline of Electronic Data Processing (EDP) and Information Technology. Their job involves data processing, data dissemination, computing, system analysis & design, programming, software training etc. 1. The Centre is headed by Deputy Director General (SAG level post) which belongs to ISS Cadre. The highest EDP post available to the Computer Centre officers is the single post of Selection Grade (SG) i.e. Director in the Pay Band 4 (37400 - 67000 + 8700). The remaining posts are in Pay Band 2 and 3. In the present structure, EDP officers have been facing acute stagnation as there are hardly any promotional avenues for them. EDP Officers at the JTS level are recruited through Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and through promotion of persons holding Data Processing Assistant Grade B post. Presently direct recruitment is only at the JTS level officer. The Computer Centre has been assigned several important projects by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. This includes the setting up of the National Data Warehouse of Official Statistics (NDWOS) using advanced warehousing software. The Centre is in-charge of processing of the price data and computing the new series of national and state level price indices for the rural and urban sectors. The development of the National Data Bank for socio-religious categories as recommended by the Sachar Committee has also been assigned to the Centre. The Centre is in-charge of development and maintenance of the official website of the Ministry. The dissemination of the unit level data of NSS, ASI and EC is the responsibility of the Centre. Other important projects taken up by the Computer Centre include the, IT audit, setting up of video conferencing facilities, development of intranet facilities, helping other Divisions bring out e-publications, training on micro data use etc. No Cadre Review/Restructuring has been done since the constitution of the cadre in 1967. In the absence of timely review of the cadre the officers have to wait for more than 14-16 years for getting their promotion from one grade to the next. The need for conducting periodic cadre review of all cadres has been emphasized time and again in the Government guidelines. A study conducted by Officer Association of EDP Group-A Officers of the Computer Centre, New Delhi gives the following gloomy picture of promotion prospects for EDP officers: Table 1: Years of Service for Different Promotion in the Present Scenario
Promotion to level 87 Assistant Director Deputy Director Joint Director Director 14 9 88 11 8 4 89 90 91 92 14 4 Year of Joining 93 13 4 94 14 9 9 7 95 96 14 97 98 99 00 10 01 6 4 02 9

2.

3.

4.

5.

It may be seen from the table above that the officers who have joined the service in the year 1987 have got their first promotion to Deputy Director after 14 years of service in Group A. Today, even after completion of 23 years of service in Group A, they are still Deputy Director and the last person of this batch is expected to get the next promotion after 23 years of total service. If the present scenario continues, the plight of other junior batches would be even worse. Batches who joined in 1992 and 1993 would be getting their 2nd promotion to Joint Director after 18 and 17 years of service in Group A. The restructuring of the cadre is now proposed to bring in a rational structure that removes the present stagnation and bring in motivation to the Officers and is attractive to new recruits. Considering the present IT environment, the proposal also takes in to account the reduced need for data input functions and the increased need for hardcore IT professionals

6.

at higher levels. 7. The present sanctioned strength of EDP staff in Computer Centre is 96, which include 38 Group A Officers and 58 Non-Gazetted EDP staff excluding secretariat staff. Of them, 14 posts of Data Entry Operators are being proposed to be abolished. This downsizing will help achieve saving on account of the creation of 17 additional posts. While calculating savings, it has also noticed that incumbents of the proposed posts are already drawing higher pay scale through financial up gradations under ACP/MACP Schemes. In order to effectively implement the National Data Warehouse which involves high level consultation with the official statistical agencies a few senior level ISS posts have been proposed. This will also help to integrate statistical and IT functions better The present structure and the proposed structure are given below.

8.

Category

Existing Strength

Proposed strength

( 1) Special Director General# 67000-(AI@3%-79000) Additional Director General 67000-(AI@3%-79000) Dy. Director General 37400-67000 +10000 Director 37400-67000 + 8700 Joint Director 37400-67000 + 7600 Dy. Director 37400-67000 + 6600 Assistant Director 37400-67000 + 5400 Data Processing Assistant Grade "B" 9300-34800+4600 Data Processing Assistant Grade "A" 9300-34800+4200 DEO Grade 'E' 9300-34800+4200 DEO Grade 'D' 9300-34800+4200 DEO Grade 'C' 9300-34800+4200 DEO Grade 'B' 9300-34800+2800 DEO Grade 'A' 9300-34800+2400 Total

(2)

1*

2*

4*

10

12

16

20

22

13

12

20

20

96

115

* One post each will be from the cadre of ISS # The Special Director General and ADG(s) will report to DG, CSO

Financial Implications of the Proposal a. The total financial implication in respect of proposed additional posts works out to ` 67,23,600 per annum (excluding 2 posts of ISS) at the present pay scales. It is expected that this would benefit about 61 officers, stagnating at various levels of the service. b. It is pertinent to mention here that such type of personal upgradation/promotions have recently been given to the officers of Central Secretariat Services (CSS) from the level of Desk Officers/ Section Officers/ Under Secretaries to that of Under Secretaries/ Deputy Secretaries. Compared to the cost involved in implementing this proposal of the Computer Centre, the goodwill/ encouragement/ motivation gained by the EDP officers of the Centre who form the backbone of the Indian Statistical System would prove to be valuable for improving the statistical system. In view of the prevailing poor promotional avenues of the EDP officers of the Computer Centre officers and negligible financial implications, the above proposal for providing immediate relief to the stagnating EDP officers at the junior and middle levels may kindly be approved.

c.

d.