The Hindu : National : Instil confidence, PM tells civil services

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Tuesday, Apr 22, 2008
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Instil confidence, PM tells civil services

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan said here on Monday that the most important challenge before the civil services was to instil confidence in people that they were fair, honest and efficient.

“The poor and the underprivileged complain that the government is biased against them. The business class complains that the government is intrusive and slow to act. The middle class complains that the government is corrupt and unresponsive. Each section of society has its own grievance, and the civil service has its own,” he said, while inaugurating the third Civil Services Day.

Stressing that perceptions mattered a lot, Dr. Singh said the challenge now was effective public management of resources and creation of open, transparent and accountable systems of delivery.

In sectors such as education, healthcare and employment generation, the challenge was one of effective and equitable delivery of public services.

At the same time, there was need for a new paradigm of public-private partnership that would enable government to work with others in society, he said.

“Our early feedback on some of our flagship programmes like Bharat Nirman, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, National Rural Health Mission and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan are generally positive though not uniform across States.”

In areas such as food distribution, nutrition and basic health services, there was need to do more.

Complimenting the civil services for contributing positively to the functioning of the vibrant democracy, the Prime Minister said if inclusive growth was the government’s agenda, there could be no better champion for it than the civil services.

“People from Kanyakumari work to sort out issues in Kashmir and vice versa. This inclusive character of civil service reinforces our diversity, our common purpose, and our shared destiny,” he said.

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