SME Times News Bureau | 18 Oct, 2019
Vice President 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, Naidu 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.