The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has urged civil servants to improve the delivery of people-centric programs like Swachh Bharat, Per drop more crop and Skill India so that the fruits of development reach the most deserving.Addressing the 65th Annual Meeting of the General Body of the Indian Institute of Public Administration, in New Delhi today, he said that people’s involvement was vital in development activities.Observing that Swachh Bharat was a classic example of societal transformation in which extraordinary results were made possible through active involvement of people, he said “This is the kind of approach which seems to hold great promise in most of the societal projects”.Stating that the bottom-up approach of grass-root level transformation by active involvement of citizens was the best way to achieve inclusive growth, the Vice President said that it was the same approach proposed by the father of the nation – Mahatma Gandhi to achieve Poorna Swaraj.Observing that Gandhi’s overarching vision of Poorna Swaraj could provide the inspiration for country’s relentless efforts to reform administration and transform governance, he said the primary objective of Gandhi Ji’s constructive programme was to ensure basic freedoms and a peaceful and good quality of life for all citizens.The Vice President, who also happens to be the Ex-Officio President of IIPA remembered Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary and said that all of us need to introspect as to what extent we have imbibed Gandhi Ji’s teachings in our personal and professional lives.
Pointing out that India was growing at a faster rate than many other major economies of the world, despite the global slowdown, the Vice President expressed his happiness that India’s programmes to build infrastructure and connect India were going on at unprecedented pace and citizen services were improving in both reach and quality.He said the government was keen to unleash the forces of growth and was not only making India an attractive investment destination but also making every Indian an agent of change.He complimented the Government for focusing on human and social development and for providing better access to quality healthcare through Ayushman Bharat Programme and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY).He also stressed the need to attach special attention on harnessing the inner talent and energy in the country to realize the demographic dividend and propel the country to move into a higher development trajectory.Speaking on IIPA’s role, the Vice President wanted such institutions to become knowledge hubs and catalyze the transformative process. He expressed happiness that IIPA training, hitherto limited to the Central Government officers, has now expanded to the State Governments and Foreign Governments too.The Vice President appreciated IIPA’s role in enhancing the development objectives and appreciated its various initiatives with several Ministries. He expressed hope that IIPA’s evaluations being done with scientific rigour will help the government to further improve the effectiveness and efficiency in all the programmes.On this occasion, the Vice President also gave away prize to awardees in various categories and released various Publications.The Chairman of IIPA, Shri T.N. Chaturvedi, the Secretary to the Vice President of India, Dr. I.V. Subba Rao, the Vice President of IIPA, Shri Shekhar Dutt, the Director of IIPA, Shri Surendra Nath Tripathi, the Registrar of IIPA, Shri Amitabh Ranjan and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.