Naidu said that civil servants must co-opt citizens from all sections of society down to the last individual, as active partners in scripting India’s growth story.
New Delhi: Calling to plug the loopholes in the delivery system, Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu Tuesday said the onus is on the civil servants to ensure that governance reaches the doorstep of the poorest and most vulnerable segments of the population.
Naidu was speaking while delivering the first Dr Rajendra Prasad Annual International Memorial Lecture on the occasion of the 68th Founders’ Day of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) in New Delhi. Naidu underlined that a citizen-centric paradigm of governance hinges on efficient public service delivery systems.
He added, “Civil servants must remember the fact that there is no better touchstone of a welfare scheme and development initiative than the prosperity of its beneficiaries through efficient implementation.”
Emphasising the need for administrators to be more accessible to the needy and underprivileged, Naidu said that civil servants must co-opt citizens from all sections of society down to the last individual, as active partners in scripting India’s growth story.
Highlighting the importance of last mile delivery of public services and the key role of administrators, the Vice President praised IIPA for honing the technical and managerial skills of administrators to enhance their leadership and administrative competencies.
Naidu said civil servants must be open to upgrade their skills, adopt and scale up best practices within India and outside the country. “Only then can they come up with innovative, out-of-the-box strategies and solutions to complex challenges in governance and administration, for effective implementation of programmes and policies on the ground,” he added.
Quoting IMF’s growth projections for India, Naidu said that revival of the Indian economy after the impact of the global pandemic holds forth the promise of the inclusive development of an ‘Atma Nirbhar’ Bharat. India, today, the Vice President said, stands poised on the cusp of a transformative era in which every citizen seeks to be an empowered catalyst of socio-economic change.
Referring to the government’s various social security programmes, he asked the public administration to be more citizen-centric, predicated on the principles of justice, morality and fair play.
Underlining that unity is paramount for the country’s progress and safety, Naidu called for making an India free of poverty, illiteracy, discrimination, casteism or regionalism. “Every person must feel proud to be a Bharatiya,” he said.
