India

Cabinet Secretary Unveils 12 Bureaucratic Archetypes in Performance Review

By Dipak K Dash

At a performance review meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday, Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan presented a humorous yet pointed classification of 12 types of secretaries. The presentation, which included cartoons by TOI’s R K Laxman, described officers who ask women colleagues to come too close to show a document, those who throw files and speak rudely, and those who call staff on Saturdays but arrive late themselves. Other categories included officers who schedule meetings after 7 pm, sit on files, or send ministers decisions they could make themselves.

Somanathan also shared a quantitative assessment of secretaries from various government departments, ranking them on performance parameters. He emphasized the need for faster inter‑ministerial consultations, urging the finance and commerce ministries to send their views promptly to avoid delays.

The cabinet secretary highlighted that performance scores often cluster near 10 on a 1‑to‑10 scale, making it difficult to distinguish top performers from those who are merely satisfactory.

During the meeting, the Department of Food and Public Distribution noted that about 100,000 railway employees hold ration cards that allow them to receive free foodgrain under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. Somanathan called this a disciplinary issue and directed Railway Board Chairman Satish Kumar to ensure the employees surrender their ration cards.

The cabinet secretary also informed officials about the Centre’s plan to launch Deregulation 3.0 in January, aimed at cutting red tape, simplifying compliance, and improving the ease of doing business.

Earlier, the food department had written to the cabinet secretary about ration cards being used to establish family identity under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, even though they are not a formal eligibility requirement.