Have ‘extra’ political will to carry out reforms: PM
Modi tells officers: ‘Be enablers, not regulators’
Stressing the need to “reform, perform and transform”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said political will was needed for reform, of which there was no dearth in his government. However, he added, the “perform” part of this must come from civil servants, while transformation is enabled by people’s participation.
“I do not lack it (political will), rather have an extra bit,” the PM said while addressing bureaucrats on Civil Service Day. Mr Modi said civil servants must ensure that every decision was taken while keeping the national interest in mind, and this should be their touchstone for taking a decision.
He noted that anonymity was one of the greatest strengths of the civil services. He cautioned officers that the use of social media should not lead to a decline in this strength, as social media and mobile governance are leveraged to connect people to benefits and government schemes.
Mr Modi said he banned mobile phones at his meetings as he often found officers checking social media sites in the middle of official discussions.
“I see these days that district-level officers are so busy, busy, that most of their time goes into it (social media). I have stopped the entry (of mobile phones) in my meetings as they (officers) would take them out and start (checking out social media sites),” he said.
The social media should be used for the welfare of the people and not for selfpraise, he told bureaucrats. He said conditions
Modi cautioned officers against social media use, saying he had banned phones at his meets as officers often checked social media sites during discussions
today were quite different from two decades ago, and would evolve much further over the next few years.
Elaborating on this, the PM said earlier, the government was almost wholly the sole provider of goods and services, which left a lot of scope for ignoring one’s shortcomings. However, now, very often, the people feel the private sector offers better services than the government. Mr Modi said with alternatives available in several areas, the responsibilities of government officers had increased. He added this increase was
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address BJP chief ministers and top party leaders, including Union ministers, on Sunday and is likely to ask them to focus on the agenda of “good governance and development”. BJP president Amit Shah will also speak to the leaders, who will include 13 chief ministers, five deputy chief ministers and Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj and M Venkaiah Naidu among other Union ministers. Mr Modi’s pitch will include the need for them to focus on his development agenda with an emphasis on the poor sections of the society, party sources said. —