National Productivity and Competitiveness Council

The Key concept on which the NPCC has built up its strategy is civic responsibility. It is considered as the engine of productivity to attain broader socio-economic development. If each citizen is made aware of his/her responsibility from an early age and internalizes the spirit of civism, these qualities would be reflected in all spheres of all life, at home, at school as well as in the workplace.

The Civic Action Team(CAT) is one productivity tool proposed by the NPCC for reducing and eliminating MUDA- all non-value adding activities or obstacles to the smooth flow of any activity. A CAT groups 3 to 15 persons, who voluntarily meet at least once a week for about an hour, to identify, analyse and solve their problems or MUDA. This tool for empowerment is an innovative adaptation of the technique of Quality Circles (QC) and may be used at the level of the family, the school, and the workplace. It has also been extended at community level through the following ministries: the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Social Security, National Solidarity and Senior Citizens Welfare and Reform Institutions, and the Ministry of Women's Rights, Child Development, Family Welfare and Consumer Protection.

The NPCC has been working with schools since its inception in 2000. The first training sessions were conducted by Mrs Sudha Arun Mujumdhar from the QC forum India and a pioneer in adapting quality circles in the home.