Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, July 17: Addressing the young 2020 batch IAS officers, undergoing three months’ stint as Assistant Secretaries in Central Government before going to their respective State cadres, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today made them aware of their “destined” link with 2047 when independent India will turn 100.
With age and active years of service on their side, they will have that opportunity and privilege to play an active role and contribute to the making of Centenary India, he said.
Dr Singh said, in order to make the Government citizen centric, it is important that we use technology, including Artificial Intelligence, to bring in meaningful exchanges and definite improvements in national governance. He said, today’s citizen aspires to have a voice in the processes of policy formulation and policy implementation, and we have no option but to allow him a fair liberty for that.
The Minister noted that the initiative of mandatory stint of Assistant Secretaries with the Central Ministries / Departments, which was a novel experiment introduced at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, has paid off extremely well to the benefit of the Government of India as well as the young officers. He said, the Assistant Secretaries are expected to give their inputs for improvement in various flagship programmes in different Ministries/Departments. This not only gives them an opportunity to demonstrate their skill and talent but also an opportunity to make a presentation before the Prime Minister, which is an opportunity that might have eluded their senior batches.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, he was informed that this batch of 175 officers has 108 officers with engineering background and many officers with background in medicine, management, law and Arts have also joined. He emphasised that it would be very much admirable if they utilise their educational background to showcase how the Ministries/Departments can innovate, use new ideas and deliver high quality outputs directly to citizen with complete elimination of middlemen and leakages. The Minister also hoped that the technocrats will be able to do justice to the flagship programmes of the Government in sectors like Health, Agriculture, Sanitation, Education, Skills and Mobility to name a few, which are technology based and technology driven.
Dr Singh exhorted the young bureaucrats to remain grounded and added that their attitude to the common citizen who comes to the doorstep of the Government is going to be one of the most important factors in shaping citizen’s satisfaction from Government Services.
He also advised the young officers to adopt a very respectful attitude towards public representatives and listen to them patiently and promptly examine their suggestions in the light of policy framework. He said, wherever feasible or desirable, we may have to seek approvals from the higher ups to serve the cause of citizens.
He said, the public representatives be it an MLA or MP or Ward Councillor or Members of Panchayat Societies are elected by people and can provide the officers a lot of insights into what citizens require and how can Government provide effective doorstep services to citizens. The Minister emphasised that young officers in charge of Districts or Tehsils or any Department must ensure that no citizen who needs your intervention or support is turned away from your office empty handed.
Singh urged the officers to examine the status of the programmes, ideas and suggestions that were initiated by the 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 batches of Assistant Secretaries and ensure that their ideas and suggestions are also taken to the logical conclusion. He said, through this programme, officers are getting an awesome opportunity to gain insight into Policy making with the senior most and most experienced officers at the beginning of the career, which is going to be very useful, relevant and enlightening for all of the officers. It will also help one to understand how policy review and analysis takes place at the highest levels and how decisions are taken before you join the field postings, the Minister concluded.
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