The Vice President of India, Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu has noted with concern the issues restricting the potential of the civil services in the country and called for reforms to enable promotion of meritocracy in bureaucracy so as to meet the emerging challenges and complexities in changing times. He spoke at length on a range of issues impacting civil services while addressing Trainee Officers at Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy Human Resource Development Institute, Hyderabad on the occasion of Civil Services Day today.
Shri Naidu said that while the Indian Civil Service (ICS) was set up by the British to perpetuate the exploitative colonial rule unmindful of the concerns of the people, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) was envisaged to work for and with the people in pursuit of the welfare and development agenda of free India, guided by the broad Constitutional objectives of ensuring Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity and ensuring dignity of living of people based on certain rights and entitlements. He noted with concern that the civil services are perceived to be falling short in actualizing this vision.
Tracing India’s developmental journey since independence, Shri Naidu said there is still work to be done in eliminating poverty, illiteracy, gender and social discrimination, among other issues. Calling upon the civil servants to work harder on addressing these issues, he said the Civil Services Day offers an opportunity to introspect and understand the opportunities and challenges with the services.
Shri Naidu noted: “The civil services have played an important role in this journey of ours (since Independence) but all is not well with the services and they are in need of revamp, reawakening and reorientation to meet the challenges of the time”.
Shri Naidu called for addressing the causes so that effective decision making is enabled and service delivery is substantially improved. He elaborated on the need for incentivizing and rewarding performers and promoting meritocracy in civil services instead of mediocrity.
Shri Naidu highlighted the flawed system of incentives and penalties and performance evaluation in which the performers and shirkers are not properly differentiated. He stressed that “Continuation of the civil servants should be based on regular assessment of their contribution to formulation and execution of policies and programmes.
