The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Call to reinvent administrative service

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Thursday, Nov 13, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Call to reinvent administrative service

Special Correspondent

Visakhapatam: R.V.Vaidyanatha Ayyar, former secretary to Government of India and Professor of Public Policy IIM, Bangalore on Wednesday said ‘if the administrative service is to be of continuing relevance in years to come, it has to reinvent itself. How it would reinvent itself could be the subject of not one but many lectures’.

He was delivering the endowment lecture of Garimella Sitaram and Mahalakshmi, on ‘Indian Administrative Service-Retrospect and Prospect, organised by the Centre for Policy Studies, Gayatri Vidya Parishad at Visakhapatnam Public Library here. Stressing the importance of the service, he recalled French Philosopher, Voltair, who said ‘if God does not exist he had to be invented, likewise administrative service should be invented’.

Dr. Ayyar in his hour-long address touched upon many aspects of administrative service including political interference, the challenge of balancing competing demands and enforcing the rule of law, comparison of IAS with the ICS, how an IAS officer should lead and how IAS officers learnt to work with different governments and manage the transition from one government to another. ‘No one can deny that along with the image of government in general, that of the IAS also has shrunk’ he said. A. Prasanna Kumar introduced Dr. Ayyar. V.Seetaramaiah presided over the meeting. Earlier, M.N. Swamy, noted environmentalist and retired professor of the Chemistry Department, AU was felicitated. B.Swami, the Chairman GVP presided.

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