"It gives me great pleasure to join you this morning in celebrating the beginning of the Golden Jubilee Year of the Administrative Staff College of India. I am particularly delighted to find myself amidst so many friends with whom I have had the pleasure of working in the past.

The past fifty years have seen India being transformed in a variety of ways. Institutions like yours have been an important part of that transformation process. I pay tribute to the memory of all those who have been associated with the growth and success of the Administrative Staff College of India.

I must mention, in particular, great men of vision such as Late T.T. Krishnamachari, Dr. John Mathai, Sir Chintamani Deshmukh, Shri Dharma Vira and Shri N.P. Sen, who helped build the Staff College into an institution of national excellence. I have had the pleasure of working with several former faculty members of the Staff College like Balwant Reddy, Vijay Kelkar, R K Pachauri and T L Sankar.

I am truly delighted that my friends, Shri Narasimham and Dr S K Rao are now guiding the destiny of this distinguished institution. Shri Narsimham is one of the architects of financial sector reforms in our country. Under his guidance, and the able stewardship of Dr Rao, Staff College should train our public sector managers and civil servants to prepare them for the challenges that lie ahead.

When the Staff College was set up in 1956, management education in our country was in its infancy. Even the Administrative Staff College of Great Britain at Henley-upon-Thames, on whose model this college was designed, was less than a decade old. The concept of training in-service managers was still a matter of great curiosity. Training them and sustaining their interest in such training was a precarious agenda for a fledgling institution to take on. I compliment this college for having taken up this innovative and formidable task and for having succeeded in institutionalizing the system of training working managers.

In today's globalising world, our industry faces a much more competitive and uncertain environment than when the college was established. I must compliment our managers and business leaders for the courage and enterprise they have demonstrated in facing up to the challenges of globalization and liberalization. There is a sea change in Indian business today. Even public sector firms have demonstrated resilience in dealing with change and competition. But there is much more still to be done. Institutions like yours have, therefore, their task cut out in training managers, especially in government and the public sector, to face the challenge of a more competitive and more uncertain business environment.

If we have to take full advantage of the opportunities provided by world markets, we must, therefore, improve our infrastructure, enhance our capacity to be part of global supply chains, keep our inflation and interest rates reasonably low, improve the capacity of our financial system to intermediate savings to productive investment - particularly the small business and the farm sector, work for financial stability, improve the quality of our public expenditure, and keep the animal spirits of our entrepreneurs high and alive. These are formidable tasks but they are double.

At the same time, we also need to enhance our capacity for product development and innovation. We must develop human resources for a modern economy and deliver basic services better. While our economy has shown its ability to develop new products and services, it is handicapped by low levels of R&D. India's share in scientific research worldwide is less than 1% and has been declining. The private and public sectors need to play their due role in enhancing this.

Even at current rates of growth, I find our industry is already facing a huge skills shortage. This shortage is felt not only in high-tech skills but also in basic skills - such as plumbers, electricians and nurses. These supply shortages can constrain growth. While our management institutions are producing a large number of graduates, the numbers are nowhere near what we require.

The high salaries and a high attrition rate in the private sector are a sign of supply constraints and competition for good talent. We are, therefore, opening new institutions at various levels of the knowledge pyramid, with particular emphasis on a Vocational Education Mission, to meet this skill shortage.

As the external environment changes and new challenges arise, there is a need for a continuous adaptation of skills and reorientation of outlook. Our managers must acquire the skills to cope with the increased uncertainty of the overall business environment. They need to be adequately sensitive to the imperative of preserving and protecting the ecological balance and the essential life support system of our planet. All this requires in-service training, such as the one that the Administrative Staff College offers.

We have invested a significant amount of our national resources in building up a sizeable public sector. This has got our growth process going, and our public sector has provided a base for the formation of engineering and technological skills which is now paying off. But the productivity of investment locked up in our public sector is low. We need to unlock this investment potential, if the country has to benefit from the past investments.

Our government is fully committed to unlocking this potential. We want to create a culture that rewards risk taking, innovation and product development in the public sector so that it can compete effectively on the global plane. We must work to put them on a sound financial footing, by giving them opportunities to restructure and rationalize, enter into public-private partnerships, and enable them to build on core competencies. To do this we must review the governance structures of public sector undertakings, while maintaining accountability to parliament. The fear of vigilance should not deter good managers being creative or enterprising.

Recently, we have seen a positive turnaround in the performance of Indian Railways. This has to be sustained. We have to also tone up the management of other large public sector undertakings, including the Food Corporation of India and oil PSUs. These are all areas in which the Staff College can contribute to nation-building as it has done in the past.

To realize the full growth potential of our people, and to make the growth process more inclusive, we must improve the delivery of public services - be it hospitals, schools, colleges, water and sanitation services or power supply services. The reform of municipal administration and strengthening of the capabilities of Panchayati Raj institutions and management of public utilities merit greatest attention.

It is a matter of deep concern that, in the world at large, trust in government as an institution is suffering. I do not believe that the answer to this lies only in cutting back government, though this must be done where necessary. Equally important, we must reform and reposition government so that it addresses the tasks that only it can deliver. This is critical to making the growth process more inclusive. Public-private sector partnerships can help, but the government cannot abdicate its role in providing basic services to the citizen. This calls for wise leadership and a change in the manner our civil service and public functionaries are delivering.

Our government is fully committed to simplification of government; to reform of the civil service with more emphasis on domain expertise, training, rigorous performance assessment and greater stability in tenure. We are equally committed to promote a code of conduct that better defines the relationship between the civil service and the political executive. We must also make service conditions more competitive, while cutting waste and over-manning.

All this calls for imbuing our government service with a new vision. We need a public service which attracts the right talent to deliver the services needed - teachers, doctors or policemen. We need a public service that ensures security for our women and children to go about their lives in peace and security. A public service that can deliver development and empowerment to the people.

Much of the public private partnership debate is due to an inadequate understanding of the ways and means to combine public policy with market orientation in a creative manner. Managers within and outside the government need training to enable public-private partnerships work better for the people. ASCI is ideally placed to take on this onerous task. It has been at the forefront of training public and private sector managers. The need has never been greater to train these managers jointly. ASCI can act as a bridge between the public and private sectors, to help government and business work together in the interest of faster development of our country. It can also offer us impartial assessment of the performance and impact of government programmes.

The business of governance is not something that rests on the shoulders of a chosen few. It rests on the shoulders of us all - government and citizens alike. The three organs of government need to work with a will to make government function better for our people. But we also need citizens to play an active role in exposing inefficiency, in resisting corruption in public life, and in taking forward public programmes that are of benefit to us as a nation. Too often, I fear that a mind that is indifferent to poor quality, indifferent performance, graft and inefficiency is taking hold in India. Citizens must play their due role in resisting this mindset. The Right to Information Act enables citizens to do so in creative manner. I want the citizens of this country to act and check big time corruption.

I am also pleased to learn that the Staff College is reaching out to our neighbouring countries in Asia, and other developing countries in Africa and elsewhere, building bridges of cooperation in a practical way. You must expand your capabilities and your programmes in this vital area of international cooperation. I assure you my personal support for such initiatives.

The agenda before us is vast. I believe that institutions of national importance such as yours have an important place in carrying forward such an agenda. I look forward to seeing the Staff College play an active and enlarged role in taking our country forward. On this happy occasion,

I would like to announce that the government has sanctioned a Rs.5 crore interest free loan to ASCI. I conclude with the prayer that your next fifty years will be far more productive and creative in the service of our people."