6th capacity building programme | Dr Jitendra asks JKAS officers to adopt 'whole of govt' approach

New Delhi: Union Minister of State in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh Thursday asked the officers of Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (JKAS) to adopt a “whole of government” approach in governance.

“The days of working in silos have gone,” he said, while addressing the 6th Capacity Building Programme for JKAS officers, organized by National Centre for Good Governance in New Delhi.

Dr Jitendra, who is also the Union Minister of State (independent charge) Science & Technology besides being the MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, asked the officers to identify the schemes having commonality and adopt an integrated approach of execution of schemes for better efficiency and result, benefitting the common man.

He said, “There is change in the demography of central and state civil services due to availability of technology even in the rural and remote areas and democratization of resources. He added that due to these twin factors, the toppers in the Central Civil Services were coming from states like Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.

Dr Jitendra said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had special penchant for governance reforms and soon after taking charge in May, 2014, a number of measures were taken to streamline the administration to make it more transparent, more accountable and to have citizen-centricity.

He said that the public policy in the country was currently aimed at enhanced transparency and accountability in governance with focus on fiscal federalism, transforming rural India, and improving the quality of public service delivery.

“India has improved systems of grievance redressal to make them more relevant to our times, and has tried to address any lingering sense of injustice springing from an administrative act by simplification of administrative processes and strengthening institutions. It is to this end that digital advancement has enabled citizens grievance redressal,” he said.

The Union Minister also promised to implement a Call Centre approach in J&K, currently being implemented at the Centre to personally ascertain the satisfaction level of the persons having redressed their grievances.

He said that the new age competency of civil servants had to be anchored in ethics and accountability. “Government of India has maintained a “Zero tolerance approach to corruption” bringing greater transparency to government processes, enhanced supervision and severe penalties in cases of proven misconduct. India’s Legislative and Constitutional framework to fight corruption has been greatly strengthened with mandatory declaration of assets by civil servants on an annual basis, thereby focusing on preventive vigilance,” the Minister added.

V Srinivas, secretary, DARPG said that the training was a platform for collective learning and sharing and working towards improving the quality of life. He said that there was a need for accelerated and inclusive development for resilient growth and stressed on the importance of technology in transforming the lives of citizens.

The 6th capacity building programme is being conducted from October 9 to 20, 2023 at NCGG. The programme is attended by 37officers of the JKAS working in the ranks of Secretaries, Special secretaries, Additional Secretaries, CEOs, Directors, Joint Commissioners, Mission Directors among others.

During this programme, civil servants of the Jammu & Kashmir interacted with domain experts on diverse topics, viz., communication strategies, poverty elimination, rural housing, skill India, Artificial Intelligence in government, tourism and culture, Jal Jeevan Mission, digital India, approach to SDGs by 2030, Ayushman Bharat, anti-corruption strategies, vigilance administration, circular economy, rejuvenation of rivers, innovation & entrepreneurship, etc. among other important areas. The participants will also take an exposure visit to the Indian Parliament.