The K Srinivas, IAS, Additional Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Government of India addressed over 300 trainee civil servants, belonging to different services who are undergoing 93rd Foundation Course at Dr MCR HRD Institute of Telangana. The theme of his presentation was “Capacity Building in Government-Innovations and Challenges”.
The Srinivas said that one of the significant characteristics of Indian bureaucracy is that it is ‘top-light’ and ‘bottom-heavy’. Despite their small numbers, when compared to global norms, he said, with a sense of pride that the civil servants contributed impeccably to enriching the quality of public administration.
However, Srinivas stated that merely doing a good job is not enough. He called for a concerted effort at managing the image of civil service in a professional fashion. “Creating wider awareness about their spectacular achievements among different sections of society and reinforcing their trust in civil service is the need of the hour”, he pointed out.
“The widespread belief that private sector is a good paymaster is a myth, whereas, the reality is that the Government not only spends huge funds on the continuous development of civil servants but also provides them a vibrant platform to contribute their optimum best to the nation building initiatives”, he observed.
The Srinivas said that effective leadership styles, passion for innovation, decentralization of decision making, and commitment for proactive interventions will have a multiplier effect which would, in turn, inspire lakhs of Government employees at different rungs of public administration to contribute their best and the brightest performance.
“Being an integral part of the highly privileged and elite sections, you are under an obligation to give back to the society what it has invested in you”, he advised and added that civil servants have ample opportunities to contribute to development and welfare initiatives, irrespective of the services to which they belong.
The Srinivas stated that the DoPT has undertaken a mega campaign to impart training, including e-Learning modules, to a very large segment of employees at cutting edge levels, from across the country. “This initiative has resulted not only in enhancing their motivation but also in their efficiency to perform their jobs”, he stated and explained, in detail, the steps being taken by the Training Division of DoPT to build the capabilities of the Civil Services.
The Srinivas and the B.P. Acharya, IAS, Spl. Chief Secretary and DG of the Institute gave away certificates to trainee civil servants who successfully completed the e-Learning modules, designed by DoPT, Government of India.
