A parliamentary committee has conveyed to the government its unhappiness over the huge gap between the sanctioned and actual strength of the External Affairs Ministry, leading to vacant posts in vital departments.

In its 21^st report tabled in the two Houses, the committee on demand for grants of the External Affairs Ministry noted that the sanctioned strength of the ministry was 8,208, while the working strength was 7,012. Over the years, the ministry has provided the same justification that the gap was due to delay in recruitment which was beyond its control, it observed.

The panel, led by Congress MP and former Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, noted that to tide over this manpower crunch, various steps such as induction of officers from other ministries, engagement of consultants etc have been taken. But these steps were inadequate and half-hearted.

It strongly recommended that the ministry impresses upon the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to enhance the direct recruitment process to fill up the vacant positions in the ministry so that it was appropriately staffed.

The committee also recommended that the ministry continue inducting expertise from other ministries, academia, think tanks and the private sector, as needed to ensure the quality of manpower was also augmented simultaneously.

On the opening of new Indian missions abroad, the committee noted that the ministry has enlisted five parameters for deciding the issue: assessment of India’s geo-political priorities; intensity of bilateral engagement; welfare of Indian diaspora; commercial, developmental and cultural interest; and reciprocal arrangement with the country concerned.

With a view to expanding India’s global footprint, the ministry told the committee that it was in the process of consultation with the government departments concerned for opening new missions in different regions of the world, beginning with Africa.

With regard to the opening of missions in Latin America or the Baltic States, the ministry informed that it would be the next step on its priority list but it was difficult to persuade the Ministry of Finance to create posts to run the missions.

The committee, therefore, desired that the ministry should chalk out a road-map along with timelines for the opening of new missions/posts and inform the panel about the same. While determining the location of new missions, the ministry should strike a balance between the demand and the extent of the country’s presence in India.

So far, as the issue of creation of human resource was concerned, the committee desired that the ministry ought to take up the matter at the highest level to persuade the Ministry of Finance in this matter.

The committee said it has been continuously reminding the missions for improvement in monitoring of performance and evaluation of existing missions/posts. In this regard, the Foreign Secretary, in his candid submission, apprised that the ministry has introduced an online monitoring system on a weekly and monthly basis.  However, it needed further improvement.