Vice President calls for Constitutional Governance

The Foundation Day of the Indian Institute of public Administration (IIPA) was commemorated today with the 2nd Dr Rajendra Prasad Memorial Lecture delivered by the Vice President of India, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar and Special Address by the Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also the National Chairman of IIPA.

While the Vice President Shri Dhanker in his address emphasised the concept of “Constitutional Governance”, Dr Jitendra Singh called for a “Whole of Govt” approach.

The Vice President said, Constitutional Governance is about achieving the dynamic equilibrium in the healthy interplay among the three organs of the state.  He said, Governance is a dynamic concept and Public administrators have to remain in tune with the changing expectations and requirements of citizens. 

Shri Dhankhar reminded that the next 25 years are going to be crucial for the country. The civil servants who are joining today, will be the ‘Warriors of 2047’, he said.

In his address, Dr Jitendra Singh said the Union Government is driven by the concept of “Whole of Government” approach in matters of public administration. Soon after Shri Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister, one of the earliest mantras that he gave us was “Maximum Governance, Minimum Government”, he said. 

Dr Jitendra Singh said the maxim of “Maximum Governance, Minimum Government” implies this is a government which acts as a Facilitator, but not as an Intimidator. The prerequisites for this are (a) Transparency, (b) Citizen Centricity, viz participation, & (c) Accountability.

“And I am glad to say in the last nine years several such measures have been adopted to achieve some of these objectives,” he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also the Chairman of the IIPA Executive Council, said towards this end, the Central Government today is almost all online and there is e-based functioning with very little human interface. He said, all government services are online and there is a vibrant CPGRAMS portal.

“The number of grievances has jumped from 2 lakhs in 2014 to 20 lakhs annually and grievance redressal has crossed 1 lakh per month,” he said. 

Dr Jitendra Singh said PM Modi has for the first time involved the citizens as instruments of governance.

Dr Jitendra Singh noted with satisfaction that the IIPA courses have undergone changes and new areas like Atmanirbhar Bharat and Mission Karmayogi apart from other important government initiatives have been covered. He said, this makes the course more relevant and useful and it has given a good exposure to rural and urban development schemes. It has helped the officers in better understanding and appreciation of various socio-economic schemes, the Minister added.

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PK