79. I intend to carry forward the process of bringing about structural changes in the composition of Central Government expenditure and effect economy in non-plan revenue expenditure with greater vigour while improving the quality of plan expenditure. For this, I propose to take the following initiatives:

l User charges for services provided by government and its agencies will be revised keeping in view the increased cost of these services. A portion of this increase will be provided to enhance the maintenance and quality of these services.

l Similarly, postal rates will be revised moderately to contain the rising postal deficit.

l All requirements of recruitment will be scrutinized to ensure that fresh recruitment is limited to 1 per cent of total civilian staff strength. As about 3 per cent of staff retire every year, this will reduce the manpower by 2 per cent per annum, achieving a reduction of10 per cent in five years as announced by the Prime Minister.

l The Surplus Pool under the Department of Personnel will be streamlined and equipped to redeploy and retrain surplus staff. Employees in the Surplus Pool will also be offered an attractive VRS package.

l Standard licence fee (rent) on government accommodation will be enhanced by 50 per cent for Group A, 25 per cent for Group B and 15 per cent for other categories of staff with effect from April 1, 2001.

l Facility of LTC to Central Government employees will be suspended for 2 years for the remaining part of the four-year block period except for employees who are entitled to last LTC before retirement.

l Use of Information Technology in government activities with large public interface will be maximized to promote efficiency. For this purpose, operations like GPF, pension, pay and accounts offices, passports, income tax, customs, central excise, will be fully computerized by March 31, 2002. Public sector banks and insurance companies are also being asked to complete computerization of their operations within this period.