Be proactive, responsive to citizens' needs: Union Minister Jitendra Singh to young IAS officers

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Friday asked young IAS officers to be proactive as well as responsive to the citizens' needs and aspirations.

Interacting with Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers of the 2020 batch undergoing a three-month stint as Assistant Secretaries in the Central government, he said technology and innovation hold the key to addressing the gaps in delivery and implementation.

''But the basic prerequisites are dedication and commitment of the public servants with a pro-people attitude, which means being proactive as well as responsive to the citizens' needs and aspirations while remaining mindful of the concerns,'' said Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel.

He said ''we also need to build trust between the government and citizens'' as no society can prosper peacefully and attain its potential with a trust deficit between the government and citizens.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been emphasising people's participation as the essence of good governance through 'Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Viswas aur Sabka Prayas', Singh said, ''So, trust is central to governance,'' the minister said. He said that while one key to good governance is technology, the other essentially is moral standard.

''Technology fosters transparency and hence accountability, which is the basic feature of good governance, while moral standards impart legitimacy. ''These two together will usher in a new political culture preparing the ground for bringing in transformational, path-breaking reforms,'' Singh said.

The Union minister said that he was informed that this batch of 175 officers has 108 officers with an engineering background and many officers with a background in medicine, management, law and arts.

It would be admirable if they utilise their educational background to showcase how the ministries and departments can innovate, use new ideas and deliver high-quality outputs directly to citizens with complete elimination of middlemen and leakages, he stressed.

Singh also hoped that the technocrats will be able to do justice to the flagship programmes of the government in sectors like health, agriculture, sanitation, education, skills and mobility, which are technology-based and technology-driven.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)