Government implements Project ‘SPARROW-CBIC’ for online writing of APAR

Government of India has now implemented Project ‘SPARROW-CBIC’ for online writing of Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR) in SPARROW, for over 46,000 Group ‘B’ and Group ‘C’ Officers of Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) working in its various formations all across India. The term SPARROW stands for ‘Smart Performance Appraisal Report Recording Online Window’.

Key Features

• Background: Online writing of Annual Performance Appraisal Report’s (APAR) in SPARROW for IRS (C&CE) Officers has already been implemented in year 2016-17. The Indian Revenue Service C&CE handles set of indirect taxes namely Service Tax, Central Excise, Customs etc.
• Implemented By: The Directorate General of Human Resource Development (DGHRD), the Human resources Management (HRM) arm of Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) of Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance (MoF) is the implementing agency. It is being implemented in more than 400 formations of CBIC throughout India.
• About SPARROW-CBIC: It is a project for online writing of Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR) for Officers of CBIC. It is one of its kind project in terms of number and scale of employees covered as far as Central Government Departments are concerned. It seeks to bring a complete change in APAR management of large number of Group ‘B’ & Group ‘C’ Officers and Staff of CBIC. This would in turn lead to better Human resources
• Significance: Project leverages modern technology for enhancing morale and overall efficiency of everyone working in Central GST and Customs formations of CBIC. It serves as an important milestone in journey towards digitisation and paper less working.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2019