Bureaucrats who feel heat of the anti-corruption wave sweeping the country were in for a surprise to be told that who knows better than them to curb red-tape that inevitably leads to corruption.

They got a communication from the cabinet secretariat last week to advise how to fight corruption and give ideas that help promote "transparency and good governance." It asked all ministries to take “urgent steps” to improve the government’s image.

The letter went out to all ministries after a meeting of the committee of secretaries (CoS) on ‘government’s agenda on good governance and anti-corruption’ directed all ministries to take “urgent steps” to improve the government’s image. Cabinet secretary Ajit Kumar Seth and the prime minister’s principal secretary Pulok Chatterjee attended the October 12 meeting.

“A few important initiatives may be identified, with the approval of the minister-in-charge, which promote transparency and good governance, especially with regard to the government- citizen interface,” says the letter, referring to the CoS decisions. It asks all ministries to forward a short brief on the “identified issues” should be forwarded to the cabinet secretariat at the earliest.

“The short write-up or brief may include, apart from details of the proposed initiative, the present status thereof, strategic importance of the initiative vis-a-vis the objectives of the ministry or department, critical indicators of performance, and the timelines proposed for its implementation,” as also a format to monitor these timelines, says the letter.

The cabinet secretariat will compile the suggestions and then the CoS would give a briefing about them to a group of ministers ( GoM) headed by Pranab Mukherjee on anti-corruption measures. The CoS holds weekly meetings to track the government’s measures to improve “transparency” in governance.