On the occasion of Civil Services Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi conferred the Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on April 21.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister greeted all the ‘Karmayogis’ on the Civil Service Day. He started with suggestions for improving governance and knowledge-sharing wherein all the training academies could virtually share the process and experiences of the award winners on a weekly basis. Secondly, from the award-winning projects, one scheme could be chosen for implementation among a few districts and the experience of the same may be discussed on the next year’s Civil Service Day.
PM Modi underlined the significance of this year’s Civil Service Day celebration as it was taking place in the year of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. He asked the state and district administration to call officers who were flagbearers of administrative machinery in the past to commemorate and take benefit of advice from those who contributed significantly to the journey of Independent India. He said, “This will be an appropriate way of honoring the civil service in the year of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.”
The PM wanted the Amrit Kaal i.e. the journey from 75 to 100 years to be extraordinary. “India @100 can’t be routine. This 25-year period should be seen as a unit and we should have a vision from now onwards. This celebration should be a watershed.” Every district should move with this spirit. There should not be any let-up in the efforts and this is the time to rededicate ourselves to the pledges and directions that Sardar Patel gave on this day in 1947, the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister said that in our democratic setup, we should be committed to three goals. The first goal is to bring ease into the life of the common man by removing the struggle in their dealings with the Government. He added that taking the dreams of the common man to a level of resolve is the responsibility of the system.
We should be there to handhold at every stage in this journey of Sapna (dream) to Sankalp (resolve) to Siddhi (completion). The second goal is to keep the global context in focus while doing anything, owing to the growing stature and changing profile of India. Accordingly, our systems and models should keep on getting updated and modernized. The third goal he said is that wherever we are in the system, our prime responsibility is to uphold the unity and integrity of the country. Even local decisions should be measured on this touchstone. ‘Nation First’ should always inform our decisions, he said.
The great culture of India is not made of royal systems and royal thrones but a tradition of carrying on the strength of the common man. We have the spirit of accepting change and modernity while preserving our ancient wisdom. It is the duty of the Government system to nurture, unleash and support the capability of the society. PM Modi gave examples of innovations taking place in the start-up ecosystem and agriculture and asked the administrators to play a nurturing and supportive role.
The Prime Minister emphasized the need to live an examined life, a life of dreams and enthusiasm and purpose. “I want to live every moment so that I can serve and help others to live well”, he said. PM Modi exhorted the officers to think out-of-the-box. Reform in governance should be our natural stance. These should be experimentative and as per the needs of the time and country. We should have an attitude of abundance in governance and anticipate rather than react to the challenges. The PM emphasized that he is not of the temperament of Rajniti but of Janniiti.
He concluded by requesting the officers to adopt the key reforms in their personal lives; for example, whether cleanliness, use of GeM or UPI are there in their own life or not.
The Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration have been instituted with a view to recognizing the extraordinary and innovative work done by districts/ implementing units and Central/state organizations for the welfare of common citizens. The categories include: (i) Promoting “Jan Bhagidari” or People’s Participation in Poshan Abhiyan, (ii) Promoting excellence in sports and wellness through Khelo India scheme, (iii) Digital payments and Good Governance in PM SVANidhi Yojana, (iv) Holistic Development through One District One Product scheme, (v) Seamless, End-to-End Delivery of Services without Human Intervention.
The civil services officers were overjoyed and enthused by the PM’s address. Filled with fresh energy, they were raring to take on the governance challenges and perform beyond expectations to transform India into a global superpower.
