Vice President urges civil servants to improve delivery of people-centric programs;
Swachh Bharat was a classic example of societal transformation: Vice President
India growing at a faster rate than other major economies despite global slowdown;
VP asks institutions like IIPA to become knowledge hubs;
Addresses 65th Annual Meeting of IIPA’s General Body
The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has urged civil servants to improve the delivery of people-centric programs like Swachh Bharat, Per drop more crop and Skill India so that the fruits of development reach the most deserving.
Addressing the 65th Annual Meeting of the General Body of the Indian Institute of Public Administration, in New Delhi today, he said that people’s involvement was vital in development activities.
Observing that Swachh Bharat was a classic example of societal transformation in which extraordinary results were made possible through active involvement of people, he said “This is the kind of approach which seems to hold great promise in most of the societal projects”.
Stating that the bottom-up approach of grass-root level transformation by active involvement of citizens was the best way to achieve inclusive growth, the Vice President said that it was the same approach proposed by the father of the nation – Mahatma Gandhi to achieve Poorna Swaraj.
Observing that Gandhi’s overarching vision of Poorna Swaraj could provide the inspiration for country’s relentless efforts to reform administration and transform governance, he said the primary objective of Gandhi Ji’s constructive programme was to ensure basic freedoms and a peaceful and good quality of life for all citizens.
The Vice President, who also happens to be the Ex-Officio President of IIPA remembered Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary and said that all of us need to introspect as to what extent we have imbibed Gandhi Ji’s teachings in our personal and professional lives.
Pointing out that India was growing at a faster rate than many other major economies of the world, despite the global slowdown, the Vice President expressed his happiness that India’s programmes to build infrastructure and connect India were going on at unprecedented pace and citizen services were improving in both reach and quality.
He said the government was keen to unleash the forces of growth and was not only making India an attractive investment destination but also making every Indian an agent of change.
He complimented the Government for focusing on human and social development and for providing better access to quality healthcare through Ayushman Bharat Programme and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY).
He also stressed the need to attach special attention on harnessing the inner talent and energy in the country to realize the demographic dividend and propel the country to move into a higher development trajectory.
Speaking on IIPA’s role, the Vice President wanted such institutions to become knowledge hubs and catalyze the transformative process. He expressed happiness that IIPA training, hitherto limited to the Central Government officers, has now expanded to the State Governments and Foreign Governments too.
The Vice President appreciated IIPA’s role in enhancing the development objectives and appreciated its various initiatives with several Ministries. He expressed hope that IIPA’s evaluations being done with scientific rigour will help the government to further improve the effectiveness and efficiency in all the programmes.
On this occasion, the Vice President also gave away prize to awardees in various categories and released various Publications.
The Chairman of IIPA, Shri T.N. Chaturvedi, the Secretary to the Vice President of India, Dr. I.V. Subba Rao, the Vice President of IIPA, Shri Shekhar Dutt, the Director of IIPA, Shri Surendra Nath Tripathi, the Registrar of IIPA, Shri Amitabh Ranjan and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
Following is the text of Vice President’s address:
“As the President of IIPA, I take immense pleasure in presiding over this 65th Annual Meeting of the General Body of the Institute. I welcome all the eminent members, various awardees and other guests.
Friends, As the entire world celebrates the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi this year, I would like all of us to remember his timeless legacy and some of his thoughts on national development. For Gandhiji, “constructive programme which is designed to build up the nation ‘from the very bottom upward’, was the truthful and non-violent way of winning Poorna Swaraj”.
Ensuring that all citizens enjoyed basic freedoms and a peaceful and good quality of life was the primary objective of Gandhiji’s constructive programme.
What goes into the constructive programme can vary with time as Gandhiji himself said.
But what is important is the vision of national development.
What is remarkable is the bottom-up approach of grass-root level transformation and active involvement of citizens in development.
This overarching vision can provide the inspiration for our country’s relentless efforts to reform administration and transform governance.
Institutions like IIPA should be knowledge hubs, exchanging information and knowledge and catalyzing this transformative process.
I am happy to note that IIPA has been making rapid progress over the years in this direction. It has done commendable work both in Capacity Building as well as in Research. The IIPA training, hitherto limited to the Central Government officers has now expanded to the State Governments and Foreign Governments too.
The Judicial Officers of the State of Uttar Pradesh are now being trained by IIPA along with officers of Indian Revenue Service and other central services. Foreign officials are also being trained by IIPA under ITEC programme of Ministry of External Affairs as also under other programmes, which is quite appreciable.
I am also happy to note that IIPA is collaborating with foreign government institutions in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France and the USA, among others. These efforts of IIPA are creating a culture of excellence and blending academic rigour with a policy orientation.
I am aware that IIPA, apart from imparting training, is working closely with various government departments and organizations in providing policy and research advisory. The faculty of IIPA are evaluating the schemes of Department of Post, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Rural Development, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and MeitY in a big way.
Similarly, the functioning of the newly created AIIMS in different states is also being evaluated by IIPA as also, the audit of Government hospitals of Delhi which is a commendable job.
I am also happy to note that Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, has started a new Centre on Tribal research. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the Ministry of Commerce are also planning similar initiatives on service standardization at IIPA. Already the Centres of IIPA-- Centre for Consumer Studies (CSS) and Centre for Urban Studies (CUS) are enhancing the development objectives of the respective ministries.
I welcome Shri S N Tripathi who has recently joined as Director IIPA. The Faculty and Officers of IIPA have been working hard and under the guidance of Shri Chaturvedi ji and the new Director, I am sure, they would be able to perform even better.
I have also learned that the financial condition of IIPA has improved in the last five years but its long term liabilities have also increased and have reached Rs.97 Crore. It is a matter of concern and we should find a way to improve the Institute’s financial situation.
Since IIPA has been engaged in the evaluation of many schemes of the Government of India, its academic circle is fully aware that the focus of the current government is on people-centric schemes which can transform the lives of each citizen in the country.
I am sure IIPA’s evaluations are being done with scientific rigour and are providing answers to key questions on the quality of programmes.
India is moving fast towards major transformation. Despite, the global slowdown, our economy is growing at a faster rate than many major economies of the world.
The programmes to build infrastructure and connect India are going on at unprecedented pace.
Citizen services are improving in reach and quality.
Government is focusing on human and social development. Access to quality health care is being considerably enhanced through the Ayushman Bharat Programme and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY).
India is establishing a skill ecosystem that equips its youth, comprising two thirds of its population, with the skills required for the 21st century through the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY).
The draft National Education Policy seeks to enrich the human resources of the country. The focus is on fully harnessing the inner talent and energy in the country to realize the demographic dividend and propel the country to move into a higher development trajectory.
Clearly, Indian government is keen to unleash the forces of growth and is not only making Indian an attractive investment destination but also making every Indian an active agent of change.
Swach Bharat is a classic example of societal transformation in which extraordinary results are made possible through active involvement of people. This is the kind of approach which seems to hold great promise in most of the societal projects.
In the case of infrastructure projects, public-private partnerships seem to be a promising modality. Digitalization and simplification of archaic procedures seems to have streamlined service delivery.
I do hope IIPA’s evaluations will help the government to further improve the effectiveness and efficiency in all these programmes.
I also wish that you should collate best practices from within the country and abroad and prepare policy briefs for fostering innovation at various levels.
Your research and evaluation studies must be shared widely and should become the basis for your training programmes.
Ultimately, it is the successful implementation that is the touchstone of effective governance.
We are painfully aware of the numerous gaps between the noble intentions of a good policy and a poorly executive programme.
That’s the moment IIPA has to step in and play a constructive role. You need to identify the gaps in implementation, the inadequacies and inefficiencies.
You must provide the requisite knowledge and skills to the personnel to bridge this gap.
IIPA has a long history of over six decades as a premier think-tank. It has played a laudable role. But we should not rest on our past laurels.
We should reposition IIPA in the light of current and emerging challenges. We have to come up with a sound strategy for institutional reforms and make IIPA a fit organization to catalyse the new wave of governance reforms.
I am glad that IIPA has a strong network of institutions at the State and local level as well as a growing number of distinguished alumni. We must build on this collective strength.
I suggest that we constitute a small group of IIPA members to examine how we can make this Institute an even better resource centre for the country. I shall look forward to having a report of this deliberation in about three months from now.
I wish to see IIPA set new ambitious goals in the next few months, benchmarking itself as one of the best institutions with similar mandate around the globe.
I wish to see IIPA becoming an active hub of knowledge-exchange, skill development, robust evaluation and policy advice.
I again wish to thank all of you present here.
Jai Hind!”
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