Less than 48 hours after it issued a note linking employee salaries to the completion of a training module, the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry has made a modification removing that reference. This comes against the backdrop of protests by a section of employees, who highlighted that salaries cannot be withheld without a lawful reason. The training relates to iGOT (Integrated Government Online Training) for civil servants, meant to “make officials future ready”. In an office memorandum dated November 18, the ministry asked all its accounts officers to “clear the salary bills of only those officials who have been certified … regarding their training of mandatory iGOT courses”. “In other cases, where certificates are not provided, salary bills may be kept on hold till further orders,” it stated. Another office memorandum dated November 19, however, stated that paragraph 2 in the original November 18 memorandum should be read as: “A status report may be provided … in regard to completion of onboarding on the iGOT platform for all officials working in the concerned units or divisions.” After the first memorandum was issued on Monday, the Association of Akashvani and Doordarshan Engineering Employees, in a letter to Sanjay Jaju, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, wrote that earlier orders for iGOT training were not circulated to employees and a “majority of our employees are not aware of such mandatory instructions”. The employee association said, “Salary is a property within the meaning of Article 300A of the Constitution of India. Salary of an employee, therefore, cannot be withheld except for cogent reasons. Therefore, in the absence of any lawful justification, the government cannot stop your salary… We request your goodself to kindly reconsider the order… and take necessary corrective measures.” When contacted, a ministry official, who did not wish to be identified, said, “There was a miscommunication. The objective was to get an update on who are the officers who haven’t onboarded on the IGot platform. Salaries cannot be stopped like this." Doc 04008920241118174922 by Express Web on Scribd Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised the issue of iGOT training during a review meeting with secretaries last month. He had asked his ministers to ensure that all officials in their respective departments complete their training modules. On October 18, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a circular on Mandatory Training Requirement during National Learning Week. “It is hereby informed that the National Learning Week will be launched by the Honourable Prime Minister on October 19, 2024, at Dr Ambedkar International Centre at 10 am,” stated the circular. “In accordance with this initiative, all employees of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting are requested to complete a minimum of four hours of training on the iGOT Karmayogi portal during the National Learning Week.” Suggesting a dozen courses, ranging from Parliamentary Procedures to Team Building and Gender Sensitisation, the circular signed added that “completion of the required training hours during the National Learning Week, from October 19 to 25, 2024, is mandatory. Non-compliance will be viewed seriously.” Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr L Murugan directed the ministry to set up an iGOT Lab to facilitate online learning for employees of the ministry. During the meeting to review the ministry’s capacity-building calendar and onboarding status of employees on the iGOT platform, Murugan also directed that all employees be on-boarded on the platform within four days. To encourage participation, the ministry also decided to felicitate employees who complete the highest number of courses each quarter.
