Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's speech at the Civil Service Day

"I am delighted to be here again at the second Civil Services Day. I am happy that officers from across the country have been invited to this event. I compliment the Cabinet Secretary and his colleagues for taking steps to raise the elan and morale of the civil services and for organising conferences of this nature for reflecting on the immediate and long term challenges which the bureaucracy has to address if it has to continue to be relevant to the process of nation-building.

I have often said that the future of India is undoubtedly bright. If we look back on the progress we have made in the last fifty years, we can take pride in the positive developments that have happened in many fields. However, the problems of chronic poverty, ignorance and disease still continue to haunt millions of our citizens. We need to work hard and work fast to ensure that we are able to eradicate these age old scourges. And the major obligation of doing so will continue to vest in the government in the coming years.

Fortunately, the economic reforms that have been ushered in over the past two decades have created the conditions for sustained and rapid economic growth - conditions which give full play to the enterprise and creativity of our citizens. At the same time, it is this economic growth that has provided governments across the country the necessary resources to tackle the problem of under-development. We are utilising this opportunity to make unprecedented advances, investments in the social sectors - investments which will ultimately empower our people to become active and effective partners in processes of development.

The world today looks in wonder at the economic transformation taking place in the country. There is a consensus across the globe that India will be among the top three or four economies of the world by 2025. The real question then is - can we do it? Can we live up to the expectations that have been raised? I am convinced that there are no binding constraints on achieving our objectives. If at all there are constraints or bottlenecks, they are all within our economy and polity. They are all domestic in nature. And it is up to all of us in government to deliver this vision of a prosperous, progressive, inclusive nation.

It is important that we recognise the continuing centraIity of government in a wide range of activities and functions. And the way governments are organised and function can be a constraint on achieving our goals. Effective and efficient institutions form the backbone of a successful development and governance process. The founding fathers had the foresight to create the necessary institutional framework which has brought us thus far. We need to think whether this framework is adequate in the years to come; whether past modes of functioning will address the demands of the future in fast changing world; whether skills and capabilities that were relevant in the past have outlived their utility? It is only by asking and answering these questions will we be able to identify institutional reforms which will meet the needs of our times.

One of the basic elements of our governance architecture is the presence of an impartial, honest, efficient and fearless civil service. Be it the All India Services or the other Civil Services. They form the permanent structure and backbone of administration. While each performs specific functions, they all have a common ethos and value system. The Civil Services in India still attract good talent. For this reason civil servants still do command respect from the public at large. The challenge before us is to change the role of civil servants in society, without diluting quality and commitment to national goals and concern for standards and retaining the regard of society.

The All India Services in particular, have to preserve their "all India" character. They need to carry grassroots experience to the Centre and a national perspective to the States. They need to play a unifying role even while serving in states. They have a duty to ensure that national goals and objectives are kept in mind while acting at the state level. India was designed by the founding fathers of our Republic to be one large common market of people and goods. Nothing should be done to erode the cohesion of our country. In an era when our polity is getting increasingly fragmented, the responsibility on the All India Services of maintaining a national outlook has definitely increased and not diminished.

At the same time, the context in which all the civil services are functioning has also been changing. Rapid economic growth has led to a manifold increase in the quantum of work. Performance expectations have increased in terms of both speed and quality. The Government is no longer seen merely as a law enforcer or a controller of national resources. It is increasingly viewed as a provider - albeit an efficient provider - of basic services and public goods. People expect the Government to facilitate growth and development. In this context, civil servants have to shift from being controllers to facilitators and from being providers to enablers. They need to equip themselves with the necessary skills and capabilities to meet these new challenges. They need to master new technologies and new styles of functioning.

Civil servants have on a number of occasions risen beyond routine expectations and beliefs. They have innovated and endeavoured to bring in change in their domain of functioning to make lives of people more comfortable or the government more responsive to the felt needs of our people. To sustain and enhance the innovative spirit, it is necessary to encourage and motivate such behaviour. I am, therefore, happy to see that one such mechanism for motivation has been introduced this year in the form of our Civil Service Awards. I congratulate the two distinguished awardees. I am delighted that the awardees have been recognised for their contribution to the welfare of our citizens. That, after all, must be and is a core function of Government in a democracy.

At the same time, I recognise that working conditions for civil servants have become perhaps more demanding. Given the challenges and the changing circumstances, we need to take steps to improve their capabilities and maintain simultaneously their morale. As far as capabilities are concerned, we are investing heavily in the continuous training of all our civil servants. A mandatory mid-term Career Training Programme has been introduced. This is essential if civil servants have to remain at the cutting edges of modern administrative practices. Police and revenue personnel in particular need to master new techniques of white collar crime and tax evasion.

On the morale front, we are trying to make it easier for the honest and motivated among you to be duly recognised and rewarded while the dishonest are punished. I must however recognise that there is a problem here and we have to devise new ways and means of sustaining the morale and providing all possible protection to all honest civil servants. We have already brought out far-reaching changes in Performance Appraisal formats for officers. We have introduced a special dispensation to improve the working conditions of officers in the North-East. The Government will also recognise and reward dedicated and committed officers serving in remote areas and among disadvantaged and backward communities. As a Government committed to appropriate affirmative action for all disadvantaged sections, we will ensure that Constitutional commitments are fulfilled and that women and minorities in particular are properly represented at all levels in Government. Civil servants should be particularly sensitive to the concerns of weaker sections, particularly scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, minorities and women and children. As more and more women join our civil services, we must pay special attention to improving work practices and administrative procedures which take into account their special problems involving twin roles as active members of the labour force as well as home makers.

This brings me to the more fundamental question. Are all these measures only a tinkering at the edges? While all these measures will improve the performance of the existing systems and institutions, they still beg the fundamental question - are existing systems themselves adequate? We need to think 20 - 30 years into the future and design systems, structures and procedures which are robust enough to deliver results far into the future. I already see the stress and strain in many areas of governance and wonder how much longer a creaking system can go on. While economic reforms abolished the License Raj, complaints of Inspector Raj persist - in fact, they may be getting louder.

It is in this context that 'reform of government' becomes relevant. 'Administrative Reforms' is a phrase that has been used widely to mean many things. It is used by some to mean change of any kind to deal with government problems of any description. Some regard 'administrative reform" merely as a means of "making the government work" better. Others in fact see 'reform' as "less government". I view the reform of government as a means of making citizens central to all government activities and concerns and reorganising government to effectively address the concerns of the common people. This requires "out of the box" thinking. It requires innovative thought backed up by a mechanism to implement new ideas. We live in a world characterised by unprecedented social, economic and technological change. An efficient management of change should be a key concern of a dynamic and well functioning system of public administration.

It is in this context that we have set up an Administrative Reforms Commission and are committed to early implementation of its recommendations. The ARC's terms of reference reveal a shift from traditional public administration concerns to more citizen centric governance concerns. A Group of Ministers has been set up to monitor their implementation and the Cabinet Secretary is monitoring steps being taken. I hope that this initiative will fetch results sooner rather than later.

Very often, the most difficult area of reform in government is process and procedural reform. No amount of investment in capabilities and technologies can improve performance and service delivery beyond a point if we continue to be prisoners of archaic procedures and processes. Often, policy reform measures do not deliver the desired outcomes because of lack of forward movement in reform of government processes. This is after all, what gives rise to the so-called Inspector Raj. This is what makes the interface of a common citizen with government a cumbersome and daunting affair. This is often the root cause of corruption as well. When I meet individuals or industrialists, it is this aspect of government which is crying out for change.

Such reform is of course time-consuming and requires sustained effort based on close interaction with all stakeholders. It is not amenable to instant solutions. We need to devise an institutionalised way of enabling such reform. We need to design ways in which we can re-engineer government processes - just as our private sector has re-engineered itself to become world class. I believe that the Cabinet Secretary has discussed this matter with Chief Secretaries and a proposal is being prepared for appointing "Agents of Change" who would catalyse process reform initiatives. These "Agents of Change" would be public oriented personnel of outstanding calibre and would be strategically located to engineer reform. They would be free from departmental baggage and work on a full time basis within the system to deliver results. I am hopeful that once this mechanism of "Agents of Change" takes shape, we will be able to see visible results in a reasonably short period of time.

Even as governmental systems undergo change, greater challenges await us as a country in the development and harnessing of the world's largest human resource pool. It is estimated that about half of our population is less than 30 years old and that situation may prevail for another 35 to 40years. This is indeed a point of significant importance for any nation. The potential of a "young nation" in a fiercely competitive world can be awesome. But the potential would remain a potential if the nation fails in realising it's true worth.

This human resource challenge of the country is multifaceted and would require imaginative policy initiatives, thorough planning, and proper implementation. These governance and human resource challenges would demand transformational changes in the machinery of government as well as in the work-style and orientation of government officials. It would require unprecedented managerial capabilities across all levels of government. Our Civil Services have to play an enlightened role in bringing about this kind of transformational change. One would have to be intuitive about the present without being constrained by the existing systems. Familiarity should act as a facilitator for change rather than of being a hindrance.

I would think that in this sixtieth year of our Independence, our Civil Service should take on this challenge of improved governance and human resource development, aimed at transforming our country's economy and polity. I am happy to note that you would be discussing and debating some of these issues during the later half of the day.

The Civil Service is a professional service and forms the backbone of our governance structure. It must remain politically neutral and professionally competent. It must also aim to maintain the highest standards of personal integrity and probity. It must remain, as I said earlier, faithful and loyal to the value system for nation building as enshrined in our Constitution and which is also part of the glorious legacy of our freedom struggle. I sincerely hope we can root out corruption in the civil service and raise the morale of our officers so that they can give their very best to our country. Senior civil servants have a special responsibility to promote a culture of excellence, probity in public conduct and concern for social equity.

With these words, I wish you all the best in your endeavours. God bless you!"