COVID-19 offered opportunity to make virtue out of adversity: Jitendra Singh

Asserting that the effective handling of COVID-19 by India has made it a frontline country in the community of world nations, Union minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday said the pandemic has offered an opportunity to make virtue out of the adversity.

He said while addressing an 'online' convocation amid lockdown as chief guest, when the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) concluded its 45th advanced professional programme in public administration, attended by 45 senior Group 'A' officers from the all India and central services as well as those from all wings of the armed forces.

Singh said that the virus had once again vindicated the resolve of the present government for minimum government and maximum governance, according to a statement issued by the Personnel Ministry.

He said that while the effective handling of COVID-19 by India has made it a frontline country in the community of world nations, it has also reaffirmed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a world leader of top order.

Singh urged upon the IIPA to continue with its efforts and said COVID-19 offered an opportunity to learn and develop new models which could also be emulated by others.

"This is an opportunity to make virtue out of adversity," he said.

The ceremony through video conference was attended, among others, by Director IIPA Surendra Nath Tripathi, Secretary Department of Personnel and Training C Chandramouli, Registrar IIPA Amitabh Ranjan, faculty of IIPA as well as all the scholars who had successfully completed their academic course.

Singh, the minister of state for personnel, lauded the IIPA for completing on time all the requirements of the academic programme despite the constraints of lockdown and improvising different methods to meet the deadlines and timelines, which included the "online" conduct of viva voce by the candidates.

Congratulating the IIPA for its capacity building efforts, the minister commended the institution for reorienting itself to the demands of changing times.

A living and vibrating entity, he said, keeps continuously reinventing and revisiting its current ways in order to innovate, improvise and improve.

The minister congratulated the efforts of IIPA in the COVID pandemic followed by lockdown situation and said this is one such occasion when IIPA has lived up to its avowed objective in a very distinguished manner. He called upon the IIPA to continue developing new models, which could be emulated by the rest of the country.