Chairman of Goa Public Service Commission, JOSE MANUEL NORONHA, in an exclusive interview with The Navhind Times, speaks to RAMNATH N PAI RAIKAR as regards the activities of the GPSC – the service handling body for the state civil service, the new premises of the Commission and its future plans among other things
Q: With the ban on recruitment of government employees lifted, do you see the Goa Public Service Commission going back to busier days?
The Goa Public Service Commission, in addition to the recruitment of persons for Group A and Group B Gazetted posts, is also doing other activities like confirmation in services of government employees, lifting the probation of government employees, handling issues like disciplinary proceedings against the government employees that it has to concur with, framing various recruitment rules that are required for various gazetted positions in the government and so on. So the level of activities here is always maintained.
Q: The premises of the Goa Public Service Commission have recently received a facelift. Are there any plans in the pipeline for the Commission?
Our new premises form a very modern, up-to-date facility. We have got closed-circuit television running across the offices. The next step is to make this office paperless. In fact, we have made applications coming to us paperless, but we want to make the movement of files also paperless. We are already in discussion with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and are trying to get in software to help our office internally operate on almost an e-governance mode. But this is just a proposal and we want to move it to the government. The new corporate-like layout of the office will make those coming here for interviews understand that the government is now getting more professional outlook.
Q: Why is the government repeatedly compelled to give extensions to its retiring senior officials, or at least sign them on contract basis, instead of fresh recruitments for the posts getting vacant by way of retirement?
Actually, such things happen in rarest of rare cases. This is not a general phenomenon. In the event that there is somebody below, who is not very capable of holding the charge, or sometime it’s happening that there are certain projects in the pipeline which need specific people to handle them, the government just extends the service of such people for a specific period so as to maintain the continuity. Otherwise there is always fresh blood coming in the government service. People with newer qualifications are also coming in. More professionals are now entering into the (government) field. So I think there is more scope for the new people to enter the government service. The only disparity is the retirement age of the government employees, which in different categories, is diverse. The government officials generally retire at 60, the government professors or those in higher teaching fields retire at 62, and now the government has hiked the retirement age of doctors to 65.
Q: Do you see a situation wherein less and less candidates are coming forward to answer the Goa Civil Service examinations?
No, I don’t see less and less candidates coming in. However, I see somehow the quality of education is not keeping up with the standards that are required. We need to have people, who are understanding, those who understand that if they have to get into civil service they need to have a wide spectrum of knowledge, right from law to good governance to procedures followed by the government to good practices that are being followed to ethical ways of doing work, all of which are really essential. So when we set papers to shortlist such candidates, we take into consideration all these issues. And this time, we have deliberately put in two new topics; one is on innovation because that is the new mantra of the government, while the other is the environment as protection of environment is very much essential. Therefore, these are the two areas in which the candidates have to prepare themselves before answering the Goa civil service exams, by understanding their nuances.
Q: Has the GPSC updated the syllabus for its civil service examination?
Yes, we have updated the curriculum by adding the abovementioned topics in it. Basically our syllabus is not as detailed as one would expect, so that the types of questions could vary across the spectrum of the topic. Like for example, when you say environment, it could cover air and water pollution activity, it could follow forest protection, it could deal with hazardous waste or municipal solid waste or bio-medical waste or e-waste, so that the questions which can be asked are varied, and the candidates answering the exam really has an in-depth knowledge of the topics.
Q: In your tenure, the Goa Public Service Commission, first time has introduced online filing of the forms, online tests and negative marking. However, it was seen that recently only seven out of 1,866 candidates appearing for the junior scale officers’ post cleared this Computer Based Recruitment Test (CBRT)…
Let me tell you that this examination was objective in nature. There were multiple choices and the candidates had to select one answer. The reason why we introduced negative marking was that the candidate doesn’t take a chance; if he doesn’t know, it is better that he doesn’t answer. This is also a trait that the candidates will have; rather than just telling you something wrong, they will say I don’t know. It will also come in handy, while taking decisions, if they are selected. And then the candidates may attempt the questions without knowing the answer, and may get marks also. So the negative marking has its advantage. Another thing is we have also ensured that our boundaries are very tight, like the candidates having to score at least 65 per cent to qualify; we giving half-a-negative mark if the answer is wrong; and we posing to them ninety questions to be answered in 100 minutes. It’s because of these difficult criteria that not many candidates were able to clear the exam. The people, who have cleared the exam, will now have to face the interview, provided they have secured a minimum of 65 per cent marks.
Q: Last year, the government had notified the Goa Civil Service Rules, 2016, with the addition of a new grade namely Senior Administrative Grade, which raised the grades under these rules to five. Is this move beneficial in any way for the recruitment?
I don’t think it will benefit in that way. However, it will help in the career advancement of the officers already in service. It will give them a better opportunity at least to rise up to one level higher, especially if they don’t have any other avenues for promotion. So in that way, it is non-functional and more towards financial benefit to the employees.
Q: The state government has been mulling for long to have its own Goa Cadre…
There are always advantages and disadvantages of this system; advantages namely our own local people, with knowledge of local language and understanding of the history as well as geography of Goa in detail, would be available to the government. On the other hand, when it comes to a joint cadre, the government has got a vast number of people from which it can make a selection. The joint cadre gives the government a wider choice of people, with varied backgrounds and varied interests, which are important for the particular posts.