Centre to borrow Gujarat government’s scheme to help officials find “internal happiness”

ARE you a government employee looking for “internal happiness” and “sense of achievement”? Then, you may be a part of a new government programme, being designed on the line of Gujarat government’s Swantah Sukhaya under which a platform is given to government officials to design and implement projects or schemes of their choice on voluntary basis. An office memorandum dated November 1, says it would give officials a…
"sense of self-satisfaction” and “achievement”. “Rules permit a government servant to take up honorary work of social or charitable nature etc.”, the OM clarified. Swantah Sukhaya is a Sanskrit word where Swantah means oneself and Sukhaya means happiness.
The Centre has now been looking for a new name for the scheme, and also its exact methodology that is being planned for the Central government officials. The initiative, according to a draft  guideline, will give “autonomy to the employees, to make use of their initiative, enthusiasm, energy and innovation as well as their knowledge”.
The department of administrative reforms and public grievances will be the nodal agency implementing this scheme. According to draft guidelines, a government official wishing to get engaged in such a scheme, does not even need to take prior permission from the government. Only thing, the officer has to keep in mind is that he is not doing any work “at the cost of his routine and mandated job”.
The officer does not need to restrict himself to the areas related his department. The indicative areas in which the officer can engage himself are nutrition, education, literacy, irrigation, agriculture, economic development, income generation, tourism, health and hygiene, pollution control, environment, capacity building etc.