SPEECH OF MOS(PP) FOR THE CIVIL SERVICE DAY ON 21^ST APRIL 2008.

Hon’ble Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singhji, Cabinet Secretary, Members of the Civil Services, Ladies and Gentlemen.

        It gives me immense pleasure to be a part of the Third Civil Service Day Celebrations.  Let me take this opportunity to express my deep felt gratitude to the Prime Minister  whose presence amongst us today has affirmed his utmost commitment towards the goal of providing `good governance’.  The effort of the UPA Government has always been to provide the people of the country, a transparent accountable & responsive government and under the able leadership of our Hon’ble Prime Minister we have laid the foundation of “change” in the processes of governance to meet the growing aspiration of the people of India.

        Our country is large and diverse and has a vibrant functioning democracy. In the last decade we have witnessed tremendous development in the field of communication and information technology. As a result, even people staying in the remotest corner of the country are aware of their rights and are building pressure on the system to deliver. The common man looks up to the government to provide opportunities for employment, facilities for health care and education, robust infrastructure, like roads, electricity, telecommunication and good law & order conditions.

         The Civil Service, which is the backbone of the governance structure, delivers these services to the “common man”.  The Civil Servants belonging to the various services like IAS, IPS, Revenue, Forest, Railways, Medical, Engineering, Audit & Accounts Services are the face of the Government.  The government can make good policies but it is through the civil services that the policies of the government are implemented. The Planning Commission has in its Xth Plan report stated that “past experience in the country has shown that the availability of resources is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for tackling poverty…the determining factor is absence of an efficient delivery system to optimally utilize the available resources.

        The Ministry of Personnel has taken several steps towards improving the delivery system and gearing the Civil Service to meet the challenges of administration. The Right to Information Act was enacted by the UPA Government to empower the citizen with information which had till now been the sole preserve of the government officials. The RTI has given a tool in the hands of the ordinary citizen to demand transparency in government process. The Ministry is taking steps to conduct an impact study on the working of the RTI Act for its evaluation. The outcomes of the study will be used to make the RTI Act more effective and to gear the administration to become more citizen-centric.

        The Government has set up an Administrative Reforms Commission to give its recommendation on several issues pertaining to improving administration. The ARC has already come out with seven reports on wide ranging issues like, Right to Information, Unlocking Human Capital, Crisis Management, Ethics in Governance, Local Governance and Public Order.

        The Ministry has also taken up several projects to simplify the procedures for improving the service delivery mechanism. The National e-Governance plan aims to introduce a paper less office that will improve the time taken for decision making and also bring about transparency and easy retrieval of information. The Centralized Public Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) has now been introduced in all Ministries/Departments to ensure timely redress of grievance of citizens and its effective monitoring. Under the Sevottam project, 10 Ministries/Departments are being supported to provide the best quality service to the citizens. For the welfare of the pensioners, several landmark steps have been taken to reach out to them, through their associations and providing direct intervention to meet their needs. Several studies have been conducted on the ‘best practices’ in administration in order to disseminate them to the field formation, so that these best practices can be replicated.  A new system of performance appraisal for officers has been put in place to provide a more objective assessment of the civil servants with an emphasis on professionalism. Several initiatives on training the civil servants to equip them with the required skills to perform the onerous and multifarious responsibility have been undertaken. These include leadership courses for senior Civil Servants, mandatory mid career training for middle level officers and customized training for central secretariat staff. The programme has been further extended right up to the last level of administration in collaboration with state government and their training institutes under the Capacity Building Programme for Poverty Reduction. All the services are being encouraged to conduct capacity building exercises within their organizations. The placement policy has been streamlined in order to identify and select the right person for the right job and also to ensure proper career planning and human resource management. The steps taken in these directions will definitely bring about the ‘change’ required in the administration. However, these efforts can be successful if only each and every member of the civil services has a positive approach. 

        Today, I am also happy that a number of initiatives from different parts of the country are being awarded for excellence in Public Administration by the honourable Prime Minister. It is heartening to know that so many initiatives have been taken up to improve the lives of people. We hope that these positive outcomes will have a multiplier effect and will create future leaders in the Civil Services. The awards also show that there are common trends in programmes which are successful. These mainly relate to simplification of procedures, creating public private partnership, use of modern technology to introduce systemic changes and above all leadership qualities which encourages participation of people.

        On the Civil Services Day we have once again got an opportunity to introspect and discuss the common issues facing the Civil Services. The Services are part of the great institution which has contributed to the growth and progress of our country and also in the process of Nation Building. On this day let us resolve to improve the lives of the common man through a positive approach and to include him in the process of development.

        At the end I congratulate all the winners of the Prime Minister Award for excellence in Public services. I also wish all the members of the civil services the success in adopting ‘change’ and building a strong edifice of good governance.