Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Sept 1 : Canadian Minister & President of Treasury Board Tony Clement today called on Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Space and Atomic Energy, at his North Block Office.
This was the first visit to India by any Canadian Federal Minister after the taking over of the Narendra Modi Government. The two Ministers announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two countries and sharing of experience in Personnel Management through Information Technology and Data Collection.
Dr Jitendra Singh informed the visiting Minister, how during the last three months, different initiatives had been taken to accomplish Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment for good governance. He particularly referred to the attempts to strengthen the federal structure of the Indian Union through decision to wind up Planning Commission and replace it with another appropriate body.
Referring to another major achievement in the last two weeks in Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Dr Jitendra Singh said, “proposal processing time” in Department of Personnel Management (DoPT) had been reduced to about 8 days whereas earlier it was almost one month and before the Government took over, it was more than 13 days. This would not only make governance better but also simplified and expedited, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, while the Modi Government is trying to introduce enhanced transparency and accountability in personnel management, there already exists a wide range of checks and balances in the working of the Indian governance system.
Dr Jitendra Singh referred to the current phase of private public participation in India and hoped that in the background of consistently harmonious relationship between India and Canada, the two nations will mutually benefit.
Canadian Minister and President of Treasury Board, Clement shared his Government’s inputs from “Canadian Open Data Experience” (CODE). He offered to share the same with his counter-part in India. Clement also referred to the Canadian Research Council which offered data inputs and feedback from time to time. He suggested that the Indian Government should provide its inputs and data which could help in improving the level of personnel management and governance in Canada as well.
Clement expressed his satisfaction over the decision to have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and said that the future progress in good governance collaboration between the two countries will be based primarily on electronic and information technology.
Canadian side was represented, besides the Minister and President of Treasury Board Tony Clement, by Acting High Commissioner for Canada to India Jess Dutton, Counsellor Political and Economic Theressa de Haan, Policy Advisor Rahul Bedi and Prudential Consulting, Vikram Khurana, while the Indian side was represented, besides Union Minister for Personnel Dr Jitendra Singh, by Chairman PESB, Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary ARPG N. Ravi Shankar, Secretary Department of Public Enterprises Kusumjit Sidhu and Establishment Officer B.P. Sharma.
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