By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday emphasized the need to refine and streamline the implementation and delivery system for effective response to the needs of common people.Presiding over the 66th Annual Meeting of General Body of Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) through video conferencing, the Vice President called for a change in the delivery of services, delivery of justice and the way governance structures respond to the needs of common people. “This is the change India is looking for today”, he said.
Union Minister of State (I/C) of PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, DoNER, Space and Atomic Energy, Dr. Jitendra Singh, Chairman IIPA, Shekhar Dutt, Director, Surendra Nath Tripathi and other dignitaries attended the virtual meeting.
Naidu observed that the government has been making policies and designing programmes to improve the quality of life of people and fast track India’s development. However the effective implementation of these policies and programmes by administrative leaders and professionals is critical, he pointed out.He said that the practitioners of public administration and public policy analysts have an important role to play in this by sharing insights for effective implementation on the ground.
Observing that the country was facing many challenges in areas such as health and climate change, the Vice President stressed that the requisite pool of talented professionals was available too. “What is required is the proper guidance”, he added and said the Prime Minister is was trying to bring in maximum reforms in line with his three-word mantra of ‘Reform, Perform & Transform’.
He reminded the civil servants that they have to work together and understand the intention behind enabling legislations and schemes such as Jan-Dhan, Swachh Bharat Mission and BetiBachao-BetiPadhao. Naidu also asked IIPA to make a compilation of good practices to enable administrators to learn from them.He also highlighted the need to ensure online delivery of government servicesfor bringing transparency in the system.
The Vice President said that good governance must percolate down to the lowest level. It should become a way of life for the institutions we have established for our country’s governance, he added.Referring to Covid-19 pandemic, the Vice President said that India is fighting it with strategic alertness and prompt appropriate action and the international agencies like the United Nations and the World Health Organization have appreciated India’s response to the pandemic.
He added that India is turning this disruptive moment into a creative opportunity by upgrading public health infrastructure, stepping up production of medical equipment, essential drugs and focusing on self-reliance to boost local industries.
Expressing gratitude to innumerable civil servants, medical professionals, security personnel and the teaching faculty, the Vice President said that they are all translating the progressive legislations enacted by the government and parliament into visible outcomes touching the lives of people.
He opined that IIPA as the premier institution of public administration must play a pivotal role in bringing about this change.He expressed happiness that IIPA has continued its activities and conducted training programs during the pandemic by creating digital infrastructure. He also appreciated the new website launched by IIPA.
On this occasion, Naidu also unveiled the statue of former Deputy Prime Minister, Shri Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at IIPA Library.Congratulating the Director and staff for this, he said the statue should serve as an inspiration to all of us working for improving India’s governance.
“Sardar Patel was a real karmayogi, a quintessential visionary administrator, one who had dreamt of a united India and worked tirelessly to achieve this dream” the Vice President said.Terming Sardar Patel’s life as a timeless lesson for all those in public service, he said it is an example of selfless dedication to national unity and integrity, to good governance and public welfare.
Naidu exhorted the civil servants to be motivated by the life and ideals of Sardar Patel. He asked them to read all the speeches of the Sardar Patel and imbibe qualities from the great man to take the country forward.Quoting the last Independence Day message of Sardar Patel in 1950, the Vice President said it underlined the importance of remaining grateful to the sacrifices made by our leaders, maintaining unity, discipline and learning from past experience, among others.
Calling the new programme– “Mission Karmayogi” as the largest Civil Services Reform to improve delivery of services, Shri Naidu expressed happiness that IIPA is offering digitally-enabled capacity building programmes to the civil servants under this initiative.
Calling for social cohesiveness and peace in the society, the Vice President criticised certain forces for trying to use caste, creed, region and religion to further their interests.
The Vice President also expressed his satisfaction that the financial condition of IIPA has improved in the last five years and that the institute was reducing its expenditure without compromising on the quality.
Taking note of the steps initiated by the Executive Council of IIPA to re-position it in the light of current and emerging challenges, Shri Naidu said “We have to come up with sound strategy for institutional reforms and make IIPA a fit organization to catalyze the new wave of governance reforms in the country”, he emphasised.
Praising IIPA for its strong network of institutions at the State and local levels, the Vice President suggested strengthening the network further. “The State Governments must be brought on board and be active participants, as also the local bodies in cities and rural areas”, he said.
“I wish to see IIPA set new ambitious goals in the next few months, benchmarking itself against the best institutions with similar mandate around the globe”, he added.
He welcomed Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, who took over as the Chairman of the Executive Council of IIPA recently and hoped that his experience and capability will further enhance the stature of IIPA. The Vice President also congratulated Dr. Singh for taking the important decision of opening up of Life-Membership of IIPA. This would enable experienced Civil Servants and Academicians to join IIPA as members and the strength and capability of IIPA will increase substantially, he added.
The Vice President also paid tributes to the former Chairman of IIPA, Shri T. N. Chaturvedi who passed away in January this year. Shri Chaturvedi, an IAS officer of 1950 batch, had held several important positions including CAG of India, twice Rajya Sabha MP and Governor of Karnataka and Kerala.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that in the last 5 to 6 years, a series of reforms were undertaken by the government. Referring to some out of box decisions taken during past few years, he mentioned the decision to do away with the time old practice of getting documents attested by a gazetted officer and replacing the same with self-attestation, doing away with interviews for lower rung selections for group B and C.
