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The Vice President, Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has underlined the need for adopting a holistic approach for improving governance in totality so that all its segments have interface with the common man and impact on his welfare, aspirations and needs. Delivering the Presidential Address at the 50th Annual General Meeting of the Indian Institute of Public Administration, here this evening, Shri Shekhawat said that “…today the state of governance is certainly a matter of serious public concern”.
The Vice President said that “it is a sad reality that our system of administration has not shown the capacity or the flexibility to evolve and be able to cope with the changing times and emerging requirements. The ‘status quo mentality’ and lack of creativity or desire for innovations bring inertia and rigidity in the system and make administration ‘inert’ to react and change.” He wanted the Institute to perform the role of a permanent ‘reformer’ so as to keep the system of administration in a dynamic and ever regenerating mode.
Shri Shekhawat said that there was a need to redefine the present core areas of public management, the focus has to be on programmes for welfare of the common man. The Vice President said that the foremost challenge is of ‘poverty alleviation’, literacy and healthcare of 26 crore people living below the poverty line. Underlining that promoting the welfare of the poor is building the fifth pillar of democracy he expressed the conviction that ‘administration has the obligation to reach up to the poor and ensure that they also are enabled to enjoy the fundamental rights of a citizen guaranteed in our Constitution’. This, he said has to be done with a sense of urgency, otherwise these deprived sections would begin to lose faith in democracy due to its failure in providing governance that promotes their welfare.
Population stabilization and ensuring the promotion of the ‘two child family norm’ was another key area of concern, Shri Shekhawat said and emphasized the need for pro-active and enlarged scope of action by the administration in this regard. Ensuring safety and security of the ordinary citizen; need for protecting environment and ensuring sustainable development and restoring public credibility of every institution of governance were other areas of prime concern and challenge before the administration, he added.
The Vice President expressed the belief that IIPA would address the task of developing integrated and comprehensive models for better governance both at the policy making level as also at the cutting edge level. Narrating his own experiences in implementing the Antyodaya Programme as Chief Minister of Rajasthan, he underlined that the best way of ensuring integrity and efficiency in public programmes is to take decisions in the open with full transparency, and involving the people for whose welfare and benefit alone these programmes are conceived.
The Chairman of the Institute, Shri T.N. Chaturvedi and the Director, Dr. P.L. Sanjeeva Reddy also addressed the meeting.
The Vice President also honoured 12 distinguished members of the Institute for their outstanding services. He also released a few publications brought out by the Institute and gave away award to the winners of various competitions organized by the Institute from time to time.
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