Jalan for making administrative system more public-oriented

Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Bimal Jalan on Sunday advocated making the administrative system more public-oriented than government-oriented.

Addressing the 202nd Founders' Day Celebration organised by Presidency University and the Presidency Alumni Association here, the former student of the institute said, there was imperative need for strengthening the administrative system.

"It (administrative system) needs to be much more public-oriented rather than government oriented, which is the situation at present," Jalan told the audience.

He said the younger generation should hold politicians accountable for their performance - not for their speeches in Parliament but their activities on the ground.

Jalan also wondered why removal of poverty could not be accomplished in all these years and rued that a large number of people are living below the poverty line and the country's ranking in the Human Development Index is still in the lower rungs.

Calling for decentralisation of government institutions which are committed to the public, Jalan cited examples of institutions like Election Commission (EC) and Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) which have set example "for their performance".