The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu today emphasized that good governance must percolate down to the lowest level.
Presiding over the 67th Annual Meeting of General Body of Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) through video conferencing, the Vice President said that the government has been making policies and designing programmes that are intended to improve the quality of life of people and make people’s life happy and comfortable by fast-tracking India’s development.
He said the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), as a premier institution dedicated to the theory and practice of public administration, must play a pivotal role in bridging the capacity gaps in the delivery system. “IIPA is a fit organization to catalyze the new wave of governance reforms in the country,” he added.
Making a mention of several initiatives by the Government such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Ayushman Bharat Infrastructure Mission, Ayushman Bharat-Digital Mission and the recently announced 100 lakh crore national infrastructure master plan, ‘Gati Shakti’, the Vice President said that India is clearly on a transformative path. “We are focusing on people, their hopes and aspirations, their needs and entitlements, their duties and responsibilities. We are making each Indian an active agent of social change,” he added.
Shri Naidu said the Government was emphasizing on technology to achieve minimum government-maximum governance; bridging the gap between the government and people, system and facilities, problems and solutions; eliminating the difficulties and increasing the convenience of the general public. “It is involving the private sector and the civil society in a big way as partners in shaping the India of tomorrow,” he added.
Appreciating the all-round efforts of various sectors, the Vice President said, “The country is grateful to innumerable civil servants who are making this vision a reality by transforming governance; to the medical professionals combating the current pandemic; to the defence forces securing our borders, to the security personnel who are ensuring our safety; to the farmers ensuring our food security and to the teaching faculty shaping young minds.” He said that they were all translating the progressive legislations enacted by the Government and Parliament to tangible outcomes touching the lives of the people.
Referring to COVID-19 pandemic, the Vice President said that despite the difficult time during the pandemic, the country showed extraordinary resilience to withstand the crisis and successfully tapped into its inner strengths and turned these challenges into opportunities. “The healthcare infrastructure has been ramped up, production of medicines and vaccines stepped up and we have achieved the milestone of 100-crore vaccination on 21st October 2021,” he added. He said that it was the result of sound, strategic, visionary leadership and competent, dedicated implementation machinery.
Lauding the performance of Indian sportspersons in Tokyo Olympics 2020 and Tokyo Paralympic 2020, the Vice President said the spirit of ‘Aatmanirbharta’ is reflecting in sports too. He said the Khelo India (National Programme for Development of Sports) of the Government of India is helping in identifying talent and the development of sporting infrastructure. “Government has planned to establish 1000 Khelo India Centres across the country and decided to establish Deen Dayal Upadhyay National Sports Welfare Fund, National Sports Development Fund for the promotion of sports and sporting talent in urban, rural, tribal and backward areas,” he added.
The Vice President said that he was glad that IIPA was repositioning itself in the light of current and emerging challenges. Referring to IIPA’s achievements in the past year, Shri Naidu mentioned that IIPA was now the leading Institution in the field of Digital Training and a very important part of Mission Karmayogi, IIPA successfully conducted 66 online training programs in 2020-21 and trained 8353 officials. He said that IIPA also completed 60 research studies and conducted 46 webinars on topics of current relevance. “It was testimony to the commitment of IIPA towards Capacity Building,” he added.
The Vice President lauded the leadership of the Union Minister and Chairman of IIPA Executive Council, Dr Jitendra Singh and said that several wide-ranging amendments were made in the IIPA Memorandum of Association and Rules in the past year to make IIPA Executive Council leaner, effective, efficient, and more representative.
Union Minister and the Chairman of IIPA Executive Council, Dr Jitendra Singh, E.C. Member, IIPA & former Governor of Chhattisgarh, Shri Shekhar Dutt, Director General, IIPA, Shri Surendra Nath Tripathi and other dignitaries attended the virtual meeting.
Following is the full text of the speech – (please see attachment)
