Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Feb 11: In a thought-provoking keynote at the 24th edition of Reimagining Governance: Discourse for Excellence (RGDE), Dr. Shashi Tharoor urged public institutions to rethink governance as a moral responsibility anchored in dignity, trust and courage.
The session marked the second anniversary and conclusion of season one of RGDE, an institutional dialogue platform of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), hosted under the aegis of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya National Academy of Social Security (PDUNASS).
Central Board of Trustees members, officers from EPFO’s field and zonal offices across India and officials from the Ministry of Labour and Employment joined the commemorative session.
Dr. Tharoor described governance as a moral contract between the State and its people, stressing that transparency, accountability, participation and rule of law must operate alongside efficiency and empathy.
He cautioned against confusing digitisation with reform.
Highlighting a paradox of modern administration, he observed that even in an age of vast digital capability, citizens are often repeatedly asked to prove identity and eligibility.
Governance, he suggested, must move toward integration and seamless service delivery that spares citizens avoidable procedural hardship.
He also emphasised the need for scientific temperament in governance, evidence-based policy, data-driven review and reasoned judgment while cautioning that knowledge without ethics risks distancing institutions from the people they serve.
Central Provident Fund Commissioner Ramesh Krishnamurthy reaffirmed EPFO’s commitment to citizen-centric and technology-enabled service delivery. Kumar Rohit, Director PDUNASS, highlighted how RGDE has strengthened ethical capacity and reflective leadership within the organisation.
The session concluded with an interactive exchange moderated by Uttam Prakash, Regional PF Commissioner and curator of RGDE.
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