PIB Summary- 3rd May, 2023 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

About Mission Karmayogi

Why in News?
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology said that “Mission Karmayogi”, launched by Prime Minister, had institutionalised the process of capacity building, particularly for the benefit of civil servants, with the aim to shape the Century India of 2047.

About Mission Karmayogi – National Program for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB)

• The NPCSCB will use scale & state of the art infrastructure to augment the capacity of Civil Servants to improve the Human Resource management practices in the Government.
• Mission Karmayogi aims to prepare the Indian Civil Servant for the future by making him more creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling, transparent and technology-enabled.
• A Public Human Resources Council comprising of select Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, eminent public HR practitioners, thinkers, global thought leaders and Public Service functionaries under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Prime Minister will serve as the apex body for providing strategic direction to the task of Civil Services Reform and capacity building.

The Framework of NPCSCB

• Prime Minister’s Public Human Resources (HR) Council
• Capacity Building Commission
• Special Purpose Vehicle for owning and operating the digital assets and the technological platform for online training
• Coordination Unit headed by the Cabinet Secretary

Salient Features

• NPCSCB has been carefully designed to lay the foundations for capacity building for Civil Servants so that they remain entrenched in Indian Culture and sensibilities and remain connected, with their roots, while they learn from the best institutions and practices across the world.
• The Programme will be delivered by setting up an Integrated Government Online Training – iGOT Karmayogi Platform.
• It is also proposed to set up a Capacity Building Commission, with a view to ensure a uniform approach in managing and regulating the capacity building ecosystem on collaborative and co-sharing basis.

Core Guiding Principles

• Supporting Transition from ‘Rules based’ to ‘Roles based’ HR Management.
• To calibrate all Civil Service positions to a Framework of Roles, Activities and Competencies (FRACs).
• To emphasize on ‘on-site learning’ to complement the ‘off-site’ learning.
• To create an ecosystem of shared training infrastructure including that of learning materials, institutions and personnel.

iGOT – Karmayogi

• iGOT-Karmayogi platform brings the scale and state-of-the-art infrastructure to augment the capacities of over two crore officials in India.
• The platform is expected to evolve into a vibrant and world-class market place for content where carefully curated and vetted digital e-learning material will be made available.
• Besides capacity building, service matters like confirmation after probation period, deployment, work assignment and notification of vacancies etc., would eventually be integrated with the proposed competency framework.

About FASTag System

Why in News?
The implementation of the FASTag system for toll collection in India has been a resounding success, with a consistent growth trajectory.

About FASTag

• FASTag is an electronic toll collection system in India, operated by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
• It employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments directly from the prepaid or savings account linked to it or directly toll owner.
• As per NHAI, FASTag has unlimited validity. 7.5% cashback offers were also provided to promote the use of FASTag.
• Dedicated Lanes at some Toll plazas have been built for FASTag.

Advantages of Using FASTag

• Digital transaction makes it easier to collect toll fees.
• Congestion in Toll plazas will reduce.
• Non-stop movement at the highways will reduce Fuel consumption and even pollution.
• The Effort in Managing toll gates is reduced as the system is more automated.
• There will also be reduced paper wastage (in the form of tokens/receipts)
• This will be a unifying system as FASTags are not specific to the state or region and work all over India.

Problems with FASTag

• Technical issues and glitches are possible which makes the system susceptible to false charges or other such issues.
• All the toll booths are yet to be made FASTag compatible and this has not necessarily reduced the congestion issue yet.
• The RFID technology is not failproof and can be misused by duplication or other “hacks”.
• The FASTags sold by banks have to be recharged from the same bank, as they are not Bank Neutral (unless you buy it directly from NHAI).

About RFID Technology

• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) uses radio waves to communicate between two objects: a reader and a tag. RFID communication is the same as two-way radio communication in the sense that information is transmitted or received via a radio wave at a specific frequency.
• Passive tags collect energy from a nearby RFID reader’s interrogating radio waves. Active tags have a local power source such as a battery and may operate at hundreds of meters from the RFID reader.

RFID applications apart from usage in Toll collection

• Self-checkins at Libraries / rental services as well as retail premises.
• Livestock Management and pet identification.
• Building Security – secure access controls, documentation and passports.
• Airports – for baggage tracking and tracing/locating.
• SMART home controls – systems to manage home/business energy consumption/production.
• Seismic Sensing – such as locating gas lines and temperature sensing (geophysical).
• Environmental – Energy, Ozone & Pollution measuring equipment.