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The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, exhorted the Chief Secretaries of States and Union Territories to provide leadership in restoring the élan of the All-India Civil Services and to help in strengthening and modernising the country’s administrative “steel frame”. The Prime Minister said it was his intention to seek “basic structural improvements to the way the Government works” in the next two years. He emphasised the need for a “national perspective” in dealing even with “local problems.” He urged senior officials to “think big and think innovatively”, to travel to villages for a better understanding of the ground reality and to “learn from facts”.
Dr Manmohan Singh urged the Chief Secretaries to focus on improving the quality of development administration at the State and district levels. The thrust areas for State administrations across the country are agriculture, irrigation, and drinking water, infrastructure, education, health and urban renewal. The Prime Minister called for innovative ways in which government can deliver better quality services in each of these areas. He sought a transparent, honest and caring civil service. The Prime Minister also emphasised the importance of the All-India Services in ensuring the unity and integrity of the country and the supremacy of the rule of law. He made a pointed reference to the internal security threats facing the country and urged civil servants to uphold the best principles of a professional civil service, working for the country without fear or favour.
The Prime Minister also called for increased professional disaster management, be it of natural calamities or civil conflict, and for improving fiscal management at the state level. He also urged Chief Secretaries to pay closer attention to agricultural development and modernisation and functioning of cooperative sector. The Prime Minister hoped the country’s political leadership would give All-India Services the respect that was their due and said that he had advised Chief Ministers to encourage professionalism among the civil services and not to indulge in arbitrary transfer of officers.
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