By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed Civil Servants on the occasion of 16th Civil Services Day, 2023 at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi Friday. The Prime Minister also conferred the Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration to 16 awardees.
Union Minister of State for Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, Shri P K Mishra, Cabinet Secretary, Shri Rajiv Gauba and Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, Shri V Srinivas were present on the occasion.
He gave examples of results from policies of previous governments and mentioned that there were more than 4 crore fake gas connections, more than 4 crore fake ration cards, and support was provided to 1 crore fictitious women and children by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, fake scholarships were offered to approximately 30 lakh youths by Ministry of Minority Welfare, and lakhs of fake accounts were created under MGNREGA to transfer the benefits of workers who never existed.
“Earlier, the thinking was that the government will do everything, now the thinking is that the government will work for everyone”, said the Prime Minister highlighting the efficient use of time and resources to serve everyone. “Motto of the government is ‘Nation First-Citizen First’, today’s government’s priority is prioritizing the deprived”, the Prime Minister remarked, informing that the government is going up to Aspirational Districts and up to Aspirational blocks. He said today’s government is treating border villages as the first villages rather than the last villages. He said that for 100 percent saturation, we will need even more hard work and innovative solutions. He gave the example of departments asking for NoCs and information that is available somewhere in the system. He said for ease of living and ease of doing business we will have to find solutions for these.
The Prime Minister referred to the District Visions@100 that are under preparation and said that such visions should be prepared up to Panchayat Level. What sectors should be focussed in the Panchayats, blocks, district and the state, changes for attracting investment and identification of products that can be taken up for exports, a clear vision for all this should be developed, he said. He emphasized linking the chain of MSME and Self-Help Groups to promote local products and said “It is very important for all of you to encourage local talent, promote local entrepreneurship and start-up culture.”
Underlining that he has been the head of the government for more than 20 years now, the Prime Minister expressed delight at getting the opportunity to work with civil servants. He emphasized capacity building and expressed happiness that ‘Mission Karmayogi’ has become a huge campaign among all civil servants. He underlined that the Capacity Building Commission is taking this campaign forward with full force and said, “The aim of Mission Karmayogi is to utilize the full potential of civil servants.” Highlighting the iGOT platform that has been created to ensure the availability of quality training material everywhere, the Prime Minister stressed that training and learning should not remain a formality for a few months. “Now, all the recruits are also being trained on iGOT platform with the orientation module of ‘Karmayogi Prarambh’”, Shri Modi added.
Highlighting the government’s initiative to do away with the protocol of hierarchy, the Prime Minister said that he constantly meets the secretaries, assistant secretaries, and trainee officers. He also gave the example of brainstorming camps to increase everyone’s participation within the department for new ideas. He also stated that the issue of officers getting work experience in the Central Government on deputation only after living in the states for the first years has been addressed by filling the gap through the assistant secretary programme where young IAS officers now get a chance to work in the Central Government at the very beginning of their career.
The Prime Minister said that 25 years of Amrit journey is considered a time of duty (Kartavya Kaal). “The century of independence will be the golden century of the country when we will give first priority to our duties. Duty is not an option for us but a resolution”, the Prime Minister stressed. “This is the time of rapid change. Your role will also be determined not by your rights, but by your duties and their performance. The power of the citizens of the country has increased in the new India, the power of India has increased. You have got an opportunity to play an important role in this new emerging India.”, he added.
