This is my personal fitness guide and is not meant for pro bodybuilders or Olympic-level athletes. This is a guide for a common man by a common man. This is a collection of info I gather over a period of time to improve my fitness. I want to make this for myself for reference and for others.

This guide focuses on health, strength, endurance, flexibility, power, agility, fitness, healthy eating and injury prevention and not on how to get aesthetics like an underwear model, gulping litres of protein shakes, six-packs and how to become a douchebag. So following it provides you with a long-term result and not a quick result. The entire guide is centred around nutrition, inducement or exercise, hormones and rest or recovery. You need all four to get the desired result and stay fit.

Avoiding Injury

The first priority in any training regime is to avoid injury because the purpose of fitness is to be able to stay fit and not stay in ICU for treating an injury.

1. Before Exercise
   • Consume quick energy-release light snacks like dates and bananas and never ultra quick energy-release sugary things which will cause insulin release which can crash your energy during a workout
   • Beetroot juice is the best natural pre-workout drink as it produces nitric oxides and Vasco dilators. It boosts blood flow, insulin sensitivity, and energy in mitochondria. Nitric oxide is a Nobel prize-winning gas.
   • Bhramari Pranayama also increases nitric oxides by up to 15 times.
   • Espresso without sugar will give you added boost in your metabolic rate.
   • Do Stretching and gradually move to warm up.
2. During Exercise – Catabolic state where cell tissues are broken down
   • Poor Form will cause Injury so learn them properly before starting
   • Lack of active warm-up before a heavy workout will cause injury
   • Lack of warm-down after a heavy workout will cause injury
   • Keep yourself hydrated with homemade electrolytes else you may get cramps.
   • Don’t go for explosive training because even if your muscles can do it, your tendons will fail. This is the reason for pain in the joints
   • Incorporate a variety of exercises for each body part as variety decreases the chance of injury. Give sufficient rest for each body part to recover.
   • During exercise, the glycogen reserve would have been depleted and therefore you can consume natural sugars like warm water with honey to help you swim through the workout. This will not spike your insulin as you are already deficient in energy.
3. After Workout – Anabolic state where you actually build broken down cells during a workout
   • Immediate recovery rituals
     • Shower
       • Never rush to shower immediately after a workout but wait until sweating stops and your heartbeat comes back to normal
       • A hot water bath can increase the blood flow and can increase the inflammation in the joints, muscles …etc so prefer a cold shower. But if the workout is of low intensity then hot water can help increase recovery.
     • Ice Pack
       • A proper ice pack can enhance recovery after a workout as it reduces blood flow and hence the inflammation
       • Avoid warm pack in the injured area before 48 hrs of injury as it may increase blood flow and hence increase inflammation
     • Foam rolling the injured part will also enhance recovery
   • Nutrients
     • Replenish body immediately with water + protein + pink salt / black salt + Carbs
     • Protein can come from milk and eggs. Carbs can come from fruit and millet.
   • Sleep – You need 8-12 hours of sleep depending on the individual.
     • Sleep is better than steroids because it is the most anabolic state a body can be in.
     • If wake up energetic and alert then you are you had a good sleep.
     • If you are sleepy after you wake up then you need more sleep.
     • If you are not sleepy but just tired after waking up then you need quality sleep
       • Sleep quality can be increased by lowering the room temperature.
       • Keeping bedroom clean and non-cluttered
       • A high-quality mattress of your choice – you spend 1/3rd of your life in bed
       • Avoiding heavy meals
       • Reduce screen time
       • Melatonin is the sleeping hormone which can be recharged by removing artificial lights as much as possible and spending in sunlight as much as possible. Even diffused light through windows will work.
4. General Tips
   • Workout without complete recovery will cause injury
   • Massage will help in recovery but don’t work out for a day or two after a massage and don’t massage immediately after a workout as massage increases blood circulation and increase inflammation
   • Contrast treatment – Warm and ice treatment one after the other can also help in reducing inflammation but not everyone will respond positively
   • All the guidelines are general guidelines some may respond to a particular treatment and others don’t. So listen to your body first and then stick to a plan

Nutrition

• Hydration before, during and after the workout with a homemade electrolyte drink i.e water + lemon + honey. Beetroot juice as a pre-workout will boost performance.
• Carbs
  • Complex carbs 2 hours before a workout like millet
  • Simple carbs 40minutes before a workout like banana
  • Body stores energy as glucose in blood and glycogen in the liver and muscles which is to be recharged before and after a workout with both complex carbs
  • Complex Carb-loading with sufficient protein helps in endurance exercise
  • Carbs help increase testosterone
• Protein
  • Too much protein reduces testosterone and affects kidneys and ends as expensive urine. Don’t fall for steroid-induced affiliate marketers posing as fitness experts and selling you protein powders.
  • A moderate protein of 1 gram per kg of body weight is more than sufficient.
  • Protein from a natural source is superior to factory-made
  • Despite my suggestions, if you need protein powders for whatever reason then go for unflavoured whey isolate or unflavoured Brown-rice isolate.
• Fats
  • Healthy Fats like HDLs are the precursor to testosterone
  • So eat healthy fats like whole eggs, and milk and avoid unhealthy fats from fried foods
• Other Micro Nutrients
  • Eat natural food as much as possible.
  • Eat foods that can be eaten raw as much as possible like nuts, fruits and vegetables.
  • Eggs and Fish are also great sources of lean protein. But go for only free-range eggs and wild-caught fish. They contain Omega 3 fatty acids which are essential for your heart, eyes, and testosterone production.
  • Meat can be consumed in moderation but ensure the meat is sourced from organic, grass-fed, cage-free, antibiotic-free sources. Avoid red meat like beef if you are predisposed to colon cancer.
  • Factory-farmed animals like broiler chickens are to be avoided.
  • Prefer goat over lamb because goat meat is superior in case of nutrient profile and low in cholesterol.
  • Organ meats are a great source of most micronutrients
  • Bone broth is an excellent source of recovery food and strengthens tendons and bones.

Supplements

• Supplements are to be treated as supplements and not as meal replacements.
• Supplements are synthetic products and thus don’t absorb easily into our body
• The human body is the most sophisticated system in the world that can’t be manufactured even with any bleeding-edge technology. Thus human body feeds on the next sophisticated system in the world like plants, vegetables, fruits, honey and animal products. Even if you have all the ingredients of an Apple, even Apple can’t manufacture a real Apple
• So synthetic foods are not an ideal food for humans. Don’t feed a diesel engine with vegetable oil even if the diesel engine can run.
• Most of the multivitamins are just expensive urines due to low absorption
• Excessive protein may help build muscles quicker but will definitely affect the kidney and liver also protein powder-powered muscles don’t last for long i.e you will lose them once you stop working out or stop taking them. Thus don’t get obsessed with thumb rules like 2 grams of protein per Kg of body weight. I personally think 1 to 1.6 grams per Kg of body weight a day is more than sufficient for a healthy lifestyle. If you don’t exercise you can even consume even lower than 1gram a day per Kg of bodyweight
• Supplements are to be used only when you are deficient in certain nutrients.
• Supplements are to be supplemented only for a limited period of time till your deficiency is addressed and not through the year.
• Supplement Recommendation
  • For pre-workout
    • The best pre-workout that is as good as creatine without any side effects of creatine is any food that produces nitric oxide like beetroot juice, vegetable juices, pomegranate and citrus juices.
    • Also, do Bhramari Pranayama before a workout as it increases nitric oxide by 15 times.
    • And also load your blood with glucose from healthy carb sources like oranges and bananas.
    • Even then if you want a pre-workout recommendation, then go for creatine. Creatine does produce a quick result but only until you keep consuming them.
  • For protein
    • The best source of protein is nuts, millet, A2 Milk, fish protein, goat protein and egg protein. For supplements prefer protein isolate or brown rice isolate without any sucralose or other artificial sweeteners or flavours. There is nothing wrong with protein concentrate if you can digest lactose. Pea protein and Rice protein are also ok if you can get hold of one that is genuine.
      • For flavours – You can add your own essences like natural Vanilla, Cocoa powder or coffee powder – These are better than the synthetic version added in protein powders.
      • For sweetness, you can use cane sugar or palm sugar or stevia instead of white sugar or aspartame or sucralose. Compensate the excess calories in cane sugar with excess cardio. Sucralose may not contain any calories but are bad for your health.
  • For vitamins and minerals drink
    • Organ meat, Lemon honey water, tender Coconut, fruits, vegetables and whole free-range eggs. Yes, fruits and honey are high in calories but these are the food our human body is designed to consume. Again this is not a guide on how to attain 3% body weight or how to start a fitness channel like a steroid-induced fitness affiliate marketer on YouTube.
    • Still, if you want multivitamin tablets, then go for plant-based non-synthetic multivitamin tablets because the bioavailability of synthetic versions are close to nill, the reason why Doctors prescribe these with over a month dosage
    • Pharmaceutical-grade fish liver oil capsules like sea cod or seven seas. Don’t buy these from supplement companies even if they give triple strength for half the price.
• Steroids, GH, and synthetic testosterones are not supplements period. Just because it is produced naturally in the body doesn’t mean you can take them. Even HCL is produced in the stomach, why don’t you drink HCL as it helps in digestion?
• Creatine is a chemical even if it is found naturally in red meat. Even cyanide is present naturally in apple seeds, why don’t you buy and consume cyanide?

Isometric Training

• Muscle Contraction Exercises without the full range of motion – that is held in any position for 6 seconds like staying in pull up position or dips
• Yielding Isometric Exercises – Hold a weight until giving out
• Explosive Isometric – Push the wall suddenly or Push each other hands suddenly
• It will only strengthen you and not build muscles
• Overcoming Isometric Exercises – Moving something that doesn’t budge like pushing against the wall – to be done in only 6 seconds and max 3 sets
  • Bruce Lee uses it
  • People with superhuman strength use it
  • It enables the body to recruit more muscle fibre than other people. An average person can only recruit 20-50% of muscles
  • Use it before starting other exercises as it is very tiresome

Tendon Training

• Constantly working physically can strengthen tendons – Children don’t get tendon injuries because they constantly run here and there
• Myostatin inhibitors or deficiency will also cause tendon Injury
• High Frequency, High Volume and low weight Workout like pump workout increases blood flow to tendons
• Prefer higher volume and lighter weight program
• Rock Climbers have thicker tendons and leopards have longer tendons that give them explosive power.
• Slow eccentrics(elongation) can also help i.e lift heavy and slowly bring it down or pull up and slowly come down – Use only Lightweight
• Lift heavy partials

Calisthenics

To be Updated

Weight Training

Weight and strength training helps in building muscles, losing fat and increasing overall body strength. The result of weight training can have varied results.

• You can be fat yet strong like most strongman competitors Eddie Hall and Brain Shaw
• You can be lean and muscular without many muscles yet be strong – Many Olympic female weightlifters
• You can be hugely muscular like most pro-body builders. But their strength is not proportional to their muscle size. The training regime is to build size and not strength
• Finally, you can have a combination of all these three – Most amateurs try this and succeed as well – Many Olympic Weight Lifters, Wrestlers, Sprinters….etc

There are many ways of training when it comes to weight training. They are

• Bro Split – One Muscle group once a week – Max intensity and min frequency
• Full Body Every Day – Max frequency and min intensity
• Upper and Lower Split – Somewhere in between

Every way has its own pros and cons but a common recommendation is to try all and stick to one that suits you well.

There are also many styles in weight training based on the set goals.

• For size – Low rep high weight – 8 – 12 Rep Range
• For endurance – High Reps Low weight – 24+ Reps
• For Strength – Very low rep and Very High Weight – 6 – 8 Reps

Nevertheless, I will list the workout names below

Triceps

• Standing overhead Bar triceps extension
• Standing overhead Single and double-hand dumble tricep extension
• Pully press and Overhead
• Bench Dips
• Tricep pushups or Diamond Pushups

Biceps

• Only heavyweight will give results because of type 2 muscles in the biceps
• Chinups
• Concentration curl
• Standing Barbell Curl – front and reverse grip
• Standing Single and double dumble Curl
• Standing single and double Hammer Curl

Chest

• Flat bench press and dumble press
• Inclined bench press and inclined dumble press
• Steep inclined and dumble
• Butterfly Machine
• Fly with dumbles
• Pullover – is advanced so needs some practice

Back

• Pull-ups
• Chin-ups
• Deadlift
• Lat pull down front and back
• Seated Cable Rowing
• Bent-Over Barbell Row – hand like pull up
• Chest supported Dumbbell or Barbell row
• Bent Over Dumble rowing
• Closed-hand lat pulldown
• Scapular pull-up – back activation

Shoulders

• Barbell Overhead shoulder Press – front and back
• Dumble Overhead Should press with rotation
• Bent-Over Dumbbell Lateral Raise
• Seated Bent-Over Dumbbell Lateral Raise
• Alternating dumbbell front rise
• Seated and bent front up
• Dumbbell Lateral Raise
• Standing Barbell Shrugs

Leg – Quads and Hamstring + Calf

• Squats
• Weighted squat
• Machine front and back
• Walking lunges with weight
• Calf raises – Two legs and Individual legs

Weight Training Specific natural Supplement Stack

• Testofen® Fenugreek Extract (Trigonella foenum-graecum; 50% fenusides, 50% Saponins)
• Avena Sativa Extract (Oat Straw 100:1)
• Tongkat Ali Extract (Eurycoma Longifolia Jack 100:1)
• Maca Root (6% Extract)
• Bulgarian Pro-Tribulus™ Terrestris Extract (90% Sapongenins + 40% protodioscin)
• Stinging Nettle (95% Extract) (Urtica Dioica)
• L-Arginine
• Zinc + Copper

Disclaimer – These are based on random scientific studies conducted on a small sample size. So neither the efficacy nor safety is tested by me. So I leave it to the wisdom of the reader.

Definition of Planning

Planning is a process which involves the determination of the future course of action. It is the responsibility of the executive and it involves anticipating influencing and directing the nature and degree of change

Importance

Increases organisational ability to adapt to future changes and eventualities – the future is uncertain and organisations operate in a dynamic context. Therefore need a road map defining macro goals and strategies. Planning involves choosing among competing alternatives by looking at the long-term impact. It requires a 360* perspective and synthesis of individual and organisational goals and efforts. Leads to greater productivity. It requires monitoring, supervising, measuring and correcting.

Planning Commission

• Role of Planning Commission
  • Resources Identification
  • Prioritization
  • Plan formulation
  • Identify growth retarding factors
  • Have institutional mechanisms to achieve objectives
  • Do plan evaluation
• Changes in Planning post-LPG era
  • Centralised to decentralised planning
  • From imperative to indicative (giving promotional stimulus to stakeholders – Pvt sectors and states)
  • From national plans to sectoral/regional/holistic plans
• Criticism against PC
  • Highly centralised approach
  • Less involvement of states
  • NDC – National Development Council (PM + CM) failed to become an effective body and there was more D3 on politics rather than on development and economics (Sarkariya Commission recommended NDC into NEDC – National Economic Development Council)
  • Armchair Planning – Remote sensing
  • Less focus on PI
  • Artificial Plan and non-plan distinction – missing line of sight between PC, FC and Budgeting
  • States were critical of PC getting into the role of an allocator. Since its grants were discretionary and even discriminating
  • Outlived its utility – it was conceived in an era when the public sector dominated. Post LPG it failed to adapt and its major focus continued to be plan formulation and project evaluation

Ideally, PC should have played the following roles post-LPG

1. Investment Planning
2. Interest mitigation (between C&S, among ministries )
3. Coordination
4. Systems change role – Innovation-driven
5. Culture of productivity
6. Consultancy
7. Think Tank
8. Scenario-based planning. For e.g the 12th plan, PC had compared to a flotilla – where boats are independent but paths are interdependent and when the captain of the lead boat (centre) gives the signal to change direction, other following boats need to capture the signal and act.
9. RADAR Role
   • PC’s role needs to change from an input allocator to a strategic guide/councillor, itself observed ” Even the smaller states want PC to tell them how to spend money better and not where to spend money.
10. Strategic Role
    • Facilitate and mainstream reforms
11. Push decentralised planning and the principle of subsidiarity
12. Provide independent monitoring and evaluation of government policies, and programmes – in fact, the IEO – Independent evaluation office was started in 2014 but was discontinued after the new government came in and is expected to be replaced by DMEO – Directorate of monitoring and evaluation Organisation

Read more about NITI AAYOG

Niti Aayog or National Institution for Transforming India is the Government of India’s policy think tank established in 2015 to replace the Planning Commission. Since its inception, there are both ups and downs in its performance. 

Positive: 

1. Strengthened the spirit of ‘Cooperative Federalism’ by recognizing ‘strong states make a strong nation’ i.e. team India approach  
2. Inculcating a ‘bottom-up’ approach for the development process. 
3. Having specialists and generalists on board creates synergy.   
4. Various subgroups, task forces, expert panels and high-powered committees have been set and they have done a commendable job
   1. Bibek Debroy – revamping railways 
   2. three C.M subgroups – CSS, SBA, Skill India  
   3. Tarun Khanna of Harvard – Atal Innovation Mission and Self-Employment and Talent Utilization 

Aayog is awarded a five-star rating by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) for pioneering the changes in Government Buildings. 

Lagging areas: 

1. The Aayog lack functional autonomy and constitutional backing. 
2. Many states are still not attending Aayog’s meeting showing a lack of outreach by NITI 
3. There is a lack of competent officers and staff members leaving many posts vacant. Apart from that most officers consider NITI Aayog a punishment posting. 
4. No clear distinction between the roles of the NDC, Governing Council and Inter-State Council – which may lead to policy overlap. 

On a whole, the institute is at best a work in progress. The status and mandate of the institution are clear i.e think tank. It should have no difficulty in playing a more meaningful role in shaping the country’s future.  

Reasons for creation

• Changed Context
  • Greater people’s expectation which requires improvement in governance, and dynamic policy shifts that can seed and nurture large-scale change
• States have matured
  • Diversity has enriched the Indian experience. Pluralism has reshaped federal consensus
  • States don’t want to be a mere appendix to the centre. They want a decisive say in determining the architecture of economic growth and development.
• There can’t be a one size fits all approach. Which undermines harmony and creates needless tensions.
• It is reasonable to centralize power where central control and uniformity are not clearly essential or it is impracticable – B.R.Ambedkar
• Technology has increased access to & sharing of info
• Centralised planning has a diminished role to play. since there are market forces and global shifts.

Forces transforming India

• The services sector and Industry are operations on a global scale.
• Government is more of an enabler rather than a provider of 1st and last resort.
• The role of the government as a player in the industrial and service sector be reduced. Instead, the Government should focus on enabling legislation, Policy Formulation and regulation.
• Agriculture – Improved due to technology and farmer’s efforts
  • Therefore need to move from pure food security to a mix of agricultural production which will increase the return to farmers
• Today we reside in a global village connected by modern transport, communication, media and networked international markets and institutions. As India contributes to global happenings, it is also influenced by it. Global economics and geopolitics are getting increasingly integrated. India needs to be an active player in the debates and deliberation on the global commons esp in unchartered areas. (Human Rights, Education and Environment…etc)
• India’s middle class is unique w.r.t size, and purchasing power and it is increasing with the entry of the neo-middle class which is an important driver of growth and has enormous potential because of high education levels, mobility, and willingness to push for change in the country. Therefore this economically vibrant group needs to remain engaged and it’s potential fully realised.
• India’s pool of entrepreneurial, scientific and intellectual human capital is a source of strength waiting to be unleashed. Social capital needs to be leveraged through appropriate policy initiatives.
• NRI: Spread across more than two hundred countries. Contributes to significant, geo-economic and geopolitical strength. Future national policies must incorporate this strength to broaden their participation in new India beyond their financial support. Technology and management expertise should be tapped.
• Urbanisation is an irreversible trend. Therefore make it an integral part of development. Use it as an opportunity to use modern technology to create a wholesome and secure habitat and reap economic benefits
• Transparency – an important element of good governance. In the digital age, modern communication like social media is a powerful instrument to share and explain the thoughts and actions of the government. This trend will only increase with time. Government and governance will have to be conducted in total transparency by using technology to reduce opaqueness and thereby reduce the potential for misadventures. Technology and informational access have increased unity and diversity helping to integrate the different capabilities of regions, states and ecosystems towards an interlinked national economy.
• Our development model has to become more consensual and cooperative it must embrace the specific demands of states, regions and localities. Create a shared vision of national development based on human dignity, national self-respect and inclusive and sustainable development.

Challenges before the nation

• Need to fruitfully leverage India’s demographic dividend through education, skill development, employment, productive opportunities to work in the frontiers of science and technology, knowledge economy.
• Poverty elimination – Antyodaya – Upliftment of downtrodden. Create an environment and support system that encourages women to play their rightful role in nation-building. Address gender inequalities, create equality of opportunity, and inclusiveness, and give weaker segments like SC and ST’s the ability to influence the choices made in settling the national agenda.
• Fully integrate villages institutionally into the development process, so that we can draw on their vitality and energy.
• India has 50 million small businesses which is a major source of employment creation. Need to provide support to this sector w.r.t skill, knowledge upgrades, access to finance and relevant technology.
• Disaster Management – Responsive development implies environmentally sound development. India is one of the megadiverse countries. Our Environmental and ecological assets are eternal. It must be preserved and safeguarded. Our legacy to future generations must be sustainable progress. Each element to future generations must be sustainable progress. Each element of our environment and resources namely water, land and forest. (Jal, Jameen and Jungle). Our developmental agenda should not compromise the quality of life of the present and future generations.
• States – The role of government in achieving national objectives may change with time but it will always remain significant. The government will continue to set policies that anticipate and reflect countries’ requirements and execute them in a just manner for the benefit of citizens. The continuing integration with the world politically and economically has to be incorporated into policy formulation and government functioning.
• Effective governance in India will rest on the following pillars
  • Pro-people Agenda : That fulfills aspirations of society and individual
  • Pro-active : Anticipate and respond to needs
  • Participation : Empower women in all aspects
  • Inclusion of all groups especially weaker sections
  • Equality of opportunity for our country’s youth
  • Transparency through the use of technology to make the government visible and responsible
• Governance across public and private domains is the concern of society as a whole. Everyone has a stake in ensuring good governance, and effective delivery of services. With public services often being delivered by private entities. There is greater scope for participation in the citizenry.
• Institutional framework of government has matured and developed over the years. Specific to the planning process, there is an need to separate the distinct process of governance from the strategy of governance.

Therefore in view of these challenges there is a need for an institution to serve as a think tank – a directional and policy dynamo. These institutions has to provide relevant strategic and technical advice across policy spectrum. It should include matters of national and international importance on the economic front. It should disseminate best practices from within and outside the country. It should respond to a changing and more integrated world. It will replace centre to state one way flow of policy with genuine and continuing partnership with states. It must have a necessary resources knowledge skills and ability to act with speed. It will provide strategic policy vision for the government. Deal with contingent issues. It must remember no single model can be transplanted form outside to India. We need to find own strategy for growth. Bharatiya approach to development.

Objective of Niti Aayog

• Evolve shared vision of national development with active involvement of states especially in priority sectors.
• Foster Cooperative federalism through structured support recognizing strong states make a strong nation.
• Develop mechanism to formulate credible plans at village level and aggregate these progressively at higher levels of government
• Ensure that national security interests are incorporated in economic strategy and policy
• Pay special attention to societal sections that may be at risk of not benefiting adequately form economic progress.
• Design strategic long term policy and programme frameworks and monitor their progress efficacy. Lessons learnt through monitoring and feedback will be used for innovative improvements and mid-course corrections.
• Provide advice and encourage partnership between key stakeholders and national and international think tanks
• Create a knowledge innovation – entrepreneur support system through a collaborative community of national and international experts.
• Offer a platform for the resolution of inter-sect-oral and inter-departmental issues in order to accelerate the implementation of development.
• Maintain state-of-the-art resources centre and be a repository of research on good governance, and best practices and disseminate it to stakeholders.
• Actively monitor and evaluate Policy implementation
• Identify resources to strengthen the success and scope of delivery.
• Technology up-gradation for Policy implementation.

The central secretariat is the admin complex and nodal agency of PF comprising all ministries/departments. Works on the basis of tenure and split system. Politically it is headed by the respective minister and administratively by a secretary.

Split System

Segregation of Policy formulation or PF and Policy implementation or PI between HQ and field agencies. It is believed that PF should be separated from PI since it requires a different mindset. 2nd ARC administrative reforms commission PF requires a broader perspective conceptual understanding and domain expertise, while PI requires in-depth knowledge and managerial skills.

Advantages

• HQ can take a holistic objective perspective and make a dispassionate assessment.
• Policy uniformity and consistency
• Consider intersectoral implications
• Consult the concerned department – Finance and Law
• If the field agencies are made solely responsible for PF, it may lead to ad hocism. Create confusion when the field officer is transferred, changed or moved on
• The policy will become a weathercock while HQ can bring in greater performance

But the split system should not be looked at in an isolated manner, need to bring field perspective to HQ concerned, and give flexibility and operational autonomy to field agencies to adapt to local conditions also HQ is not expected to interfere in day-to-day operations i.e it should not do micromanagement. Along with the split system, the tenure system becomes necessary.

Tenure System

Mobility of officials between field and HQ i.e between state and centre i.e AIS after serving in the field and in state secretariat comes to the central secretariat and then either goes back to states or continues to rise up in the central secretariat. For the past few years, IAS probationers will get attached to different central ministries and departments in their initial training period so as to gain perspective and insights on policy formulation at the beginning stage itself.

Advantages

• Helps both centre and state talent sharing
• Promotes cooperative and collaborative federalism
• Generates a national outlook among public functionaries – transcends parochial boundary and contributes to national integration
• When posted to HQ, they gain knowledge of policy formulation which helps them when they go back to the state and assume greater responsibilities
• It brings field perspective ground realities to HQ which tends to suffer from a lack of time and place knowledge leading to armchair policy formation (making policies at HQ without understanding local needs and variations – one size fits all approach)
• HQ postings increase civil services morale since they carry greater perks, privileges and proximity to the political executive.

Disadvantages

• This may result in an office-dominated admin instead of an officer influencing office procedure, the converse happens procedure becomes sacrosanct and he becomes a procedure worshiper.
• Does not ensure specialisation.
• Some officials may be interested in their field stay while others may want to migrate to the centre. The tenure system does not operate strictly on a rotation basis.
• States also complain about the name of the tenure system, the centre takes away the competent and leaves the residue behind.
• Many officials become birds of passage with divided loyalties between the centre and state or no loyalties.

Structure of central secretariat

The secretariat at fort Williams, Calcutta was designed to function during the company and crown’s period for furnishing information for PF and PI and carrying out orders. Corn Wallis, Wellesley, and Curzon contributed to organising the secretariat on more scientific lines. Today secretariat is an admin complex. The nodal agency of PF comprising of all ministries and departments. Politically it is headed by the respective minister and administratively by a secretary.

Functions

• Staff role – A³
• Secretariat support for the political executive
• Make, modify or evaluate policies
• Draft rules, regulations, amendments, bills …etc
• Undertake sectoral planning, POSDCoRB, HRM
• Securing admin, and financial approvals from competent authorities
• Monitor PI by field agencies
• Do PE – policy evaluation based on feedback
• Initiate measures to develop greater competence in HQ and field
• Deliberate and undertake scrutiny in consultation with other ministries and department
• Assist minister in charge in discharging his duties w.r.t parliamentary responsibilities – Q & A reply statements, assurances, resolutions, motions…etc
• It is a think tank, organisational memory, MIS, and keeps all the surveys, reports, committee findings, investigations….etc

Strengths

• Time-tested systems evolved from company rule to crown rule to the present day.
• The rule-based procedure is driven
• Ensures stability during normal times and crises – smooth transfer of power from one elected government to another
• Committed to political neutrality prevented the politicization of government services and policies
• Wherever essential structural innovations like autonomous bodies like empowered commissions have come up
• The link between PF and PI through the tenure system

Weakness

• Structural, Operational, Personnel
• Structural
  • oversized, bloated bureaucracy, top-heavy
  • Undue emphasis on routine function leads to national priorities not getting the due attention
  • Functions which are best carried out by other agencies or can easily be outsourced or continued to be retained by the centre
  • Fragmentation of function – general trend is to divide and subdivide – Less E3, the law of diminishing marginal utility
  • The proliferation of ministries and departments with weak integration and coordination ( no convergence, duplication, or silos)
  • Extended hierarchy with too many levels causing delays and diffused accountability. Everyone’s responsibility is no one’s responsibility
• Operational
  • Many levels don’t contribute to decision-making or add value – ideally as per the manual of office procedure files are to be declared in 3 levels only (originate, initiate and decide).
  • However, the tendency is to involve everyone – No management by exception – Risk avoidance.
  • Weberian dysfunctions, goal displacement, self-aggrandisement, trained incapacity, status quo, elitist, emphasis is on consultation
  • Movement of files becomes a substitute for decision making leading to delays inefficiencies, and red-tapism(avoidable delay) except for some committees and boards, there is a lack of a culture of delegation and no principle of subsidiary. (if you can delegate you should delegate)

Management observation w.r.t bureaucracy working

• Work expands to the max time available
• Officials multiply sub-ordinates and not rivals
• Eventually, everyone rises to his maximum level of incompetence
• Officials create work for each other
• Trivial issues get sorted out – vital issues remain
• Pareto principle – 20/80 – 80% of work done by 20% of people

Personnel Weakness

• Carrier stagnation at lower levels
• No effective performance appraisal system
• Lack of leadership morale, motivation, capacity building

Solutions by ARC

• The centre should exclusively focus on defence, IR, Justice, ROL, and Human development through access to good quality education and health
• Infrastructure
• Sustainable natural resource management
• Social security
• Social Justice
• Macro-Economic Management
• Only National economic planning w.r.t other sectors centre should adopt the principle of subsidiarity

Advantages of subsidiarity – also advantage of decentralisation, LSG, PRI

• Increase E3
• SMART
• Management by exception
• Stakeholders mentality
• A better understanding of local issues – no remote sensing
• Local finality – local problems get solved at local levels
• Citizen-centric admin – Focus shifts from process to performance. Not only do things right but also do the right things.

Other Reforms

• Downsize / right size
• Redeploy, and retrain surplus staff after manpower planning
• Generalise the specialist and specialise the generalist
• Outsource non-core activities
• Use ICT – Info, Communication, tech – E-Governance and M-Governance
• Delegate, decentralise and give autonomy
• Expose personnel best management practices
• Single window clearance
• RTI and RTS

Chief Secretary – Crisis Management

• Coordination, monitoring, heads crisis management group at the state level.
• In case of man-made crises – L&O, riots, LMN – deal with them fundamentally and not just symptomatically.
• Address the root cause through development, and good governance and bring them into mainstream
• Looks at inter-state disputes and conflicts – can take a long-term and more objective view – make use of their position and being a part of AIS use tact diplomacy in resolving outstanding issues.

Single wheel does not move

– Kautilya

PMO – Prime Minister’s office was called PMS or Prime Minister’s Secretariat until an emergency. Line agencies need A3 – Aid, Advice, and Assistance of staff agencies to perform in E3 – Efficient, Economic and Effective manner. The need is imperative at the apex level of admin, In a parliamentary democracy where the PM has multiple roles and responsibilities, it is inevitable for the PM to have dedicated staff support. Therefore the need for PMS / PMO.

Roles of PMO

• Secretarial assistance to PM
• Headed by Principal Secretary to PM who is also the principal advisor to the PM
• Staff Role A3 – today there are specific domain advisors like NSA, CEA, and Scientific advisor to the PM. But still, it is Principle Secretary to PM who is the principal advisor
• Prepares PM w.r.t Parliamentary responsibilities like departments retained by PM – personnel, space and atomic energy …etc
• PMO is a residual legatee – A function which is specifically not assigned to any other agency operated out of PMO
• The PM relief fund is operated out of PMO
• Image Management – media and other management
• DMU – Delivery monitoring unit for monitoring flagship programmes. Now PRAGATI – Proactive governance and timely implementation. It is a multipurpose and multimodel platform for addressing the common man’s grievances and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing essential programmes and projects of GOI as well as projects flagged by states. It bundles the latest technologies – digital data management video conferencing and geo-spacial technology. It combines cooperative federalism since it brings the secretary of GOI and the chief secretary of state in one stage with the latest info and visuals of the ground-level situation.

Relationship between PMO and Cabinet Secretariat

• 1950’s
  • Nascent existence of PMO. No conflict between PMO and Cab.Sec
• 1960’s
  • Top-ranking Bureaucrats enter PMO for 1st time but Cab. Sec maintained its pre-eminence.
• Late 1960’s and early 1970’s
  • Increase in concentration of powers in PM. Presidentialisation of PM. COM reduced to endorsing body. Therefore PMO emerged as the most trusted agency closer to PM than any other agency. Became the sounding board, eyes and ears. Alter ego of PM.
  • Principle communicator between PM and other agencies. Former bureaucrats recalled in their autobiography that PMO teams accompanied PM on foreign tours even when the foreign minister was not present. A strong PMO supplemented the presidential style of PM’s work and became like a de facto cabinet.
• Emergency Period
  • PMO was the principal think tank, supposed to have controlled RAW and IB during this period. Major foreign policy and economic thinking came from PMO. PM was perceived to be involved in power brokering. Played a key role in the excesses committed during an internal emergency.
• Post Emergency Period
  • Nomenclature changed from PMS to PMO to reduce the institutional importance by verbally downgrading it from secretariate to office. But this was only a cosmetic and symbolic change and ultimately PMO is as powerful as PM, wants it to be or makes it to be.
• The mid to late ’80s
  • Increased size of PMO, separate Minister of State for PMO. Conceived and operated many mission-mode projects like telecom, science, tech…etc. Lateral entry of experts from other sectors to PMO (non-bureaucrats and domain experts like Nandan Nilekani)
• Late 90’s to early 2000
  • Principal Secretary to PM emerged as the chief channel of communication between the PM and other institutions
• Rainbow coalition
  • Of 24 parties increased dependency on PMO for coordination-related issues. Principal Secretary to PM entrusted with multiple responsibilities – functioned as NSA – played a crucial role in negotiating during the IC-814 hijack case.
  • The chief secretary was overshadowed by PMO even cabinet ministers met the PM through the Principal secretary. He is seen as a super advisor assisted by a group of officials seen more as a powerful line agent than a staff agent.
• Current Phase
  • Regulations amended to let PMs choose as Principal Secretary
  • PMO is playing a more hands-on role with mission mode deadlines.
  • In sync with PM’s leadership style. A sense of urgency, close monitoring, real-time tracking, and conflict resolution.
• Conflict resolution and convergence
  • Cabinet Secretariat in this phase is more of a coordinating body and has shown remarkable restraint and maturity and it is refused to be drawn into power politics over the years. Being the oldest of secretariate has sometimes been overshadowed by PMO. The youngest of the secretariate due to its proximity with PM.
  • It is a functional imperative that the PM is given dedicated and adequate staff support given his multiple responsibilities. At the same time, any secretariate requires competent and experienced diplomatic and tactful administrators. At the post of cabinet secretariat, the leadership quality of the civil servant is tested to its maximum. On the other hand post of Principal secretariat to the Prime Minister is uniquely endowed having tempting access to power, because it is closest to the PM.

Ultimately it is up to the incumbent holding the post and on the PM to keep PMO within limits. It is a staff agent and should not become a crutch. PMO is inevitable staff agent and undesirable line agent. Both chief secretary and PMO need to evolve a healthy functional relationship to exercise the responsibilities in E³ manner.

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) on the market, powering over 40% of all websites on the internet. However, as your website grows and attracts more traffic, it can start to slow down. This not only affects the user experience, but it can also negatively impact your search engine rankings.

In this article, we’ll go beyond the basic tips for improving your WordPress site’s speed and share some advanced techniques to help you take your optimization to the next level.

Before I begin I will show you the proof of the performance of my website in GTmetrix.

I achieved this performance by just blindly following this Udemy course of Mr Andrew Eaton. The course is dirt cheap as well as the instructor is better than the best when it comes to supporting, he answers all your queries within a few minutes as well as he goes beyond what he promises as a part of his course. The amount of expertise that he shares through his course is the knowledge and experience that he gathered over several decades and can’t be gathered from any degree from any college. So, consider yourself lucky if you happened to take his course.

Not only I achieved the perfect 100% but also I achieved a perfect A+ grade from ssllabs.com.

1. Move to a high-performance hosting provider

A high-performance hosting provider is a company that offers a range of hosting services, including web hosting, virtual private servers, and dedicated servers, with a focus on providing high levels of performance and reliability. These providers typically use high-end hardware and technologies to ensure that websites and applications hosted on their servers are able to handle large amounts of traffic and perform well under heavy loads. Some examples of high-performance hosting providers include Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, DigitalOcean, Vultr…etc.

Vultr provides the most value for money as well as the cheapest high-performance hosting among several hosting providers. They also provide a $100 signup credit when you signup to test their servers.

2. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A content delivery network (CDN) is a network of servers that are distributed around the globe. When a user requests your website, the CDN will serve the content from the server that is closest to their location. This can significantly reduce the load time for your website, especially for users who are far away from your server’s physical location.

Several popular CDN providers include Cloudflare, Akamai, and Amazon CloudFront. Most of these providers offer a free plan, so you can test out the service before committing to a paid plan. I used a free tier from Cloudflare to achieve the coveted perfect score of 100/100. The results can vary depending on the amount of static and dynamic content on your website. The more static content you have, the more effective CDN will be.

3. Minimize HTTP Requests

Each time a user visits your website, their browser needs to make a request to your server for every element on the page (such as images, scripts, and stylesheets). The more requests that need to be made, the longer it will take for the page to load.

To minimize the number of requests, you can:

• Merge multiple stylesheets into one
• Merge multiple scripts into one
• Use CSS sprites to combine multiple images into one
• Use lazy loading to only load images as they come into view

All these can be done using caching plugins.

4. Optimize Images

Images can take up a lot of space and can slow down your website if they are not optimized. There are several ways to optimize images, such as:

• Compressing images to reduce their file size
• Resizing images to the appropriate size
• Using the appropriate file format (such as JPEG for photographs and PNG for graphics)

You can use Photoshop or online tools like Kraken.io or TinyPNG to optimize your images. You can also use caching plugins or CDN that automatically optimizes images. At times they can cost money. I use the manual method and Cloudflare to do this job.

5. Use a Caching Plugin

Caching is the process of storing a version of your website’s pages and posts in the browser’s cache so that when a user returns to your website, their browser doesn’t need to request the content again. This can significantly reduce the load time for your website.

There are several caching plugins available for WordPress such as lightspeed cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache, and WP Rocket. These plugins will automatically create and store cached versions of your website’s pages and posts. I use LiteSpeed caching, which is free but exclusive to the LiteSpeed webserver. If you want to learn how to configure a WordPress website using the LiteSpeed server you can signup for this udemy course. I set up my website completeguide.in using this course by Mr Andre Eaton.

6. Use a Performance Optimization Plugin

Performance optimization plugins can help to improve the speed of your website by:

• Minifying your website’s code
• Combining multiple stylesheets and scripts into one
• Lazy loading of images and videos
• And more

Some popular performance optimization plugins for WordPress include Autoptimize and WP Optimize.

In conclusion, keep in mind that website speed is just one of many factors that search engines consider when determining your rankings, but it’s an important one.