The Government’s Top 5 Departments By Salary Spend
Central Government salaries have been rising steadily over the last five years, from Rs 39,239 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 87,338 crore in 2009-10.
Who are the biggest of the lot within this? IndiaSpend’s Sourjya Bhowmick builds a list of the Top 5 departments by wages. Interestingly, the Ministry of Finance is at Number 4 while the Indian Audit & Accounts Service is at Number 6.
The fiscal year 2009-10, which followed the implementation of the Pay Commission saw a total salary bill of Rs 87,338 crore ( Pay + Dearness Allowance+ House Rent Allowance+ CCA+OTA+TPT) and Rs 1,301 crore ( Travel+ Bonus+ Honorarium). Thus, Rs 88,639 crore was the total expenditure for all the Central Government employees. Moreover there existed huge gaps when it comes to the total sanctioned posts and the total number that is in position.
Let’s see a snapshot over a period of five years;
Salaries & Positions Over 5 Years
| Year | Total Sanctioned Posts | Total Number In Position | Salary (Rs Crore) |
| 2005-06 | 35,26,769 | 31,09,274 | 39,757 |
| 2006-07 | 35,46,537 | 31,09,274 | 42,219 |
| 2007-08 | 35,62,188 | 31,16,832 | 45,409 |
| 2008-09 | 35,64,283 | 31,07,343 | 66,506 |
| 2009-10 | 36,02,295 | 30,68,359 | 88,639 |
Total Vacancy: 533,936
The total expenditure for 30,68,359 employees is Rs 88,639 crore. And there is a vacancy of 533,936 positions. The sanctioned posts in all Central Ministries have been rising over the years. But there is no huge increase. The shortfall, on the other hand shows that the vacancy is not fulfilled. For that matter in the year 2006-07, the total numbers in position remained same though the sanctioned posts increased by 20,000.
Top Spenders
Let’s take a tour of the Ministries in the year 2009-10 and see who takes the major amount of money as salary, biggest vacancies and largest manpower.
Railways
One reason for the Railways’ poor safety record is said to be the shortfall in staff. Since 2002-03 to the year 2009-10, a whopping 65,478 people have been killed. This number includes Railways employees as well. Though it is very difficult to judge how many of them were the victims of the shortfall in railways personnel (unmanned railway crossings etc) but it is safe to assume a large number.
The table below gives you an idea about the vacancy in the railways and the amount of money that gets pumped as pays and allowances;
| Year | Number of Sanctioned Posts | Numbers in position | Salary (Rs Crore) |
| 2009-10 | 15,76,788 | 13,61,519 | 35,207 |
A total of 215,269 vacancies existed in the Railways in the year 2009-10. It is doubtful whether the total shortfall has been managed to some extent.
Home Affairs
The second in the list of top 5 is the Ministry of Home Affairs assigned to maintain the internal security of the country.
| Year | Number of Sanctioned Posts | Number in Position | Salary (Rs Crore) |
| 2009-10 | 8,60,062 | 7,55,349 | 16,946 |
The vacancy stood at 104,713.
Defence (Civilian)
Ex Army Chief of Staff General V K Singh had reportedly written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alleging that “tanks’ have run out of ammunition, air defences were obsolete and infantry is short of critical weapons.” Incidentally, this is not the only problem plaguing the armed forces. Defence Ministry ranks third when it comes to vacancies.
| Year | Number of Sanctioned Posts | Number in Position | Salary (Rs Crore) |
| 2009-10 | 478,648 | 364,718 | 12,487 |
Vacancy stands at 113,930.
India Post
Next in list is the Department of Posts. Its salary bill is Rs 7,208 crore (including Grameen Dak Sewak). Incidentally, there was no vacancy is this Department. The sanctioned position was 206,334 and the equal number was in position. However, this number excludes Grameen Dak Sewak and the numbers are provisional.
Finance
Next in line is the Finance Ministry.
| Year | Number of Sanctioned Posts | Number in Position | Salary (Rs Crore) |
| 2009-10 | 138,677 | 107,009 | 4,461 |
Vacancy: 31,688
Indian Audit and Accounts
The Indian Audit and Accounts which is a department under the Ministry of Finance also makes it to the list.
| Year | Number of Sanctioned Posts | Number in Position | Salary (Rs Crore) |
| 2009-10 | 67,758 | 44,659 | 2,102 |
Vacancy: 23,099
These are the top five Ministries and Departments which require the largest manpower, has the highest expenditure as Pays and Allowances and the most vacancies
Ministries With Least Expenditure
The Ministries with the least expenditure on pays and allowances include;
- Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation- Rs 224 crore
- Ministry of Culture- Rs 245 crore
- Ministry of Earth Sciences- Rs 255 crore
- Ministry of Commerce- Rs 274 crore
- Ministry of Labour and Employment- Rs 292 crore
While there is often a feeling that Government is too big and unwieldy, it’s also been argued that if you take away support staff and lower rungs, in many cases, Government departments are actually undermanned. Perhaps that explains the large number of vacancies.
Glossary:
CCA: City Compensatory Allowance
OTA: Overtime Allowance
TPT: Transport Allowance
All Data taken Ministry of Finance, Pay and Research Unit
