Context

The government had appointed outgoing Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba as Cabinet Secretary for tenure of two years.

About

Cabinet Secretariat

• Article 352 defines the term “cabinet” as the Council consisting of the Prime Minister and other Ministers of Cabinet rank under Article 75.
• Cabinet Secretariat is the office which provides secretarial assistance to the Cabinet.
• It functions directly under the Prime Minister.
• The administrative head of the Secretariat is the Cabinet Secretary who is also the ex-officio Chairman of the Civil Services Board.
• The Cabinet Secretariat is responsible for the administration of:
  • The Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961
  • Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961
• The Secretariat assists in decision-making in Government by ensuring Inter-Ministerial coordination, ironing out differences amongst Ministries/Departments and evolving consensus through the instrumentality of the standing/adhoc Committees of Secretaries.
• The secretarial assistance, provided by Cabinet Secretariat to the Cabinet and Cabinet committees, includes:
  • Convening of the meetings of the Cabinet & its Committees on the orders of the Prime Minister.
  • Preparation and circulation of the agenda.
  • Circulation of papers related to the cases on the agenda.
  • Preparation of record of discussions.
  • Circulation of the record of discussions after obtaining the approval of the Prime Minister.
  • Monitoring implementation of decisions taken by the Cabinet and its Committees.
• Office of Principal Scientific Adviser has been placed administratively under the Cabinet Secretariat in August, 2018.
• Appointment – All senior level appointments (including Cabinet Secretary) are done with the approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
• Tenure - While the position is for two years, under the present rules of service, there is an enabling provision of an extension, granting four years of tenure.

Initiatives

e-SamikSha

• e-SamikSha is a new digital monitor for bureaucracy to rein in slackers.
• Developed by the cabinet secretariat with technical support from the National Informatics Centre (NIC), e-SamikSha - the second 'S' in uppercase is how it's officially written - has been operational for just over a month and has changed babus' working style.
• This system will allow the prime minister to intervene digitally and ask the officer concerned to explain the delay or expedite decision-makingprojects and action points are already being digitally monitored through e-SamikSha.
• Every task is assigned four status descriptors - Not Started, Under Implementation, Implemented and No Further Action Required.
• The PM navigates through e-SamikSha via a digital dashboard that has customised drop-down windows.