Govt instruct its staff to use paper judiciously – Is it Austerity Measures or Eco-friendly measures?

MOF  has issued an office memo last week, which mandates its offices:

–         Use both sides of paper for printing/writing

–         Typing should be done in single space

–         Instead of voluminous printing…upload documents on websites etc.

Related Office Memorandum is as follows :-

No.25(6)/E.Coord-2014

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Expenditure

North Block, New Delhi, 22^nd August, 2014

Office Memorandum

Subject :- Economy in use of paper.

Ministry of Finance has been issuing instructions from time to time on expenditure management, fiscal discipline and on the need for economy and rationalisation of Government expenditure. Government is one of the major consumers of paper. Injudicious use of paper not only leads to infructuous expenditure but also impacts the environment as trees are the major source of paper pulp production. Instructions on judicious use of paper have been issued by this Department in the past and similar instructions are also contained in the Manual of Office Procedure (MOP) published by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances. With a view to further stress the importance of economy in use of paper in Government offices, following instructions are issued for strict compliance by all concerned : -

(i)Notes should be typed/written on both sides of the paper/note sheet;

(ii) Typing should be done in single space;

(iii) Policy instructions/guidelines issued through Orders, OMs, etc. may be uploaded on the official website of the Ministry/Department/Organization. Number of hard copies of such communications may be limited to the required minimum;

(iv)             Office copies should not be typed again where the draft itself is legible and does not contain many corrections.

(v)               Forms, proformas, returns etc., if any, stipulated by Ministries/ Departments/ Organizations in connection the organizational mandate may be reviewed in relation to their size and format and should be recast and simplified/shortened in keeping with the recent directives from Cabinet Secretariat. Manual submission of forms, returns, etc., wherever stipulated, either under statutory obligations or otherwise, should be discouraged. Switching over to e-forms, online submission of forms/returns, etc., may be encouraged.

1. All the Ministries/Departments, attached, subordinate offices and autonomous or statutory bodies funded by GOI may comply with the above directives. Suitable instructions on above lines may be issued by line Ministries/Departments of GOI in r/o organizations/entities or field establishments under their administrative control.
2. This has the approval of Secretary(Expenditure).

(Sudha Krishnan)

Joint Secretary to the Government of India

1. All Secretaries to the Government of India (by name)  2. All the Financial Advisers

Copy for kind information to :

1.Cabinet Secretary 2. Finance Secretary

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