Be more emphatic, responsive towards women, marginalised people: VP to IAS officers

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today asked a group of young IAS officers to have a more empathetic, responsive and inclusive approach of administration that cared for women, the differently-abled and marginalised people.

Addressing them, he stressed on the need to tackle challenges in delivering basic services to the common man.

Naidu said that unless this approach became an integral part of the planning and implementation process, the programmes would not succeed.

The vice president asked the IAS officers to look upon people as active agents of transforming India, not merely as 'target groups' or 'beneficiaries'.

You belong to a civil service that was conceived of as a steel frame of our country by the great visionary unifier and the first home minister of independent India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, he said.

Stating that streamlining service delivery and effective, transparent, people-centred good governance were the need of the hour, the vice president stressed on the need to address challenges in delivering basic services to the common man, a statement issued by Personnel Ministry said.

Aim at greater efficiency and effectiveness and build a culture of evaluation and constant learning in our governance systems, Naidu said.

He asked the young officers to make good use of the opportunity and understand the role of Union government in formulation of policies and programs.

The vice president asked officers to adopt a more empathetic, responsive and inclusive approach of administration.

It should be an approach that cares for women, the differently-abled, the marginalised and those who have been left out of development process, he said.

Naidu asked officers to view every programme as a societal mission and implement them with dedication.

"There has to be a genuine commitment at all levels of administration to spread the benefits of democratic governance to all sections in society without any discrimination in the spirit of the principle 'Sab ka Saath, Sab ka Vikaas', he said.

The vice president was addressing Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers of 2016 batch posted as assistant secretaries in Government of India.

Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.

Singh said the attachment of IAS officers as assistant secretaries with the Union government was envisaged as a mechanism that blends the youth and experience.

In the last four years, most of the government programmes involved more and more citizen participation and even the flagship programmes had turned into mass campaigns, he added.

Singh cited two illustrations as heralding the dawn of good governance.

"One, the introduction of new practice of three months' of mentorship in the government for fresh IAS officers before they went to their respective cadre allocated states for further assignment and second, an overall transformation with a new format for PM excellence awards which were earlier bestowed mostly on individual performance, but, now are broad-based on targets and outcomes achieved by different districts in the public welfare and priority programmes," the statement said.

One hundred and seventy-six young IAS officers working as assistant secretaries in 58 central ministries attended the interactive session.

During their three-month central deputation they would be provided a holistic overview of the functioning of the central government at a very early stage in their career.

The posting of these IAS officers was part of a unique initiative started by the central government to groom bureaucrats at the Centre before they move out to their respective state cadres.

All IAS officers were allotted cadres, which could either be a state or group of states. The officers were supposed to start their career in their respective cadre states.

As per rules, IAS officers were eligible to come on central deputation only after completing nine years service at their respective cadres.

These 176 officers were on central deputation for 13 weeks, with effect from 2 July, 2018.