Adopt whole of government approach in governance: Jitendra Singh tells J-K administrative service officers

New Delhi, October 19 (ANI) Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday asked the officers of Jammu and Kasmir Administrative Services to adopt a “whole of government” approach, pointing out that the days of working in silos are over.

Addressing the 6th Capacity Building Programme for Officers of J-K Administrative Services organised by the National Centre for Good Governance in the national capital, the Union Minister asked the officers to identify the schemes having commonality and adopt an integrated approach of execution for better efficiency and result, benefitting the common man.

Noting that there is a change in the demography of central and state civil services due to the advent of technology even in the rural and remote areas and the democratisation of resources, Singh said the toppers in the central civil services are increasingly from states such as Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, owing to these twin factors.

Singh said public policy in India is currently aimed at enhanced transparency and accountability in governance, with the 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,” the minister said.

Singh also promised to implement a call centre approach in Jammu and Kashmir, currently being implemented at the Centre to personally ascertain the satisfaction level of the persons having redressed their grievances.

On the Digital India programme, the minister said it is centred on three key vision areas — digital infrastructure as a core utility to every citizen, governance and services on demand, and digital empowerment of citizens.

He said the overall goal is to ensure that digital technologies improve the life of every citizen, expand India’s digital economy, and create investment and employment opportunities while the country’s latent digital and technological capabilities.

The minister said Digital India has considerably reduced the gap between government and citizens and has also helped in delivering substantial services directly to the beneficiary in a transparent and corruption-free manner.

“In the process, India has emerged as one of the pre-eminent nations of the world to use technology to transform the lives of its citizens,” Singh said.

He said the new age competency of civil servants has to be anchored in ethics and accountability, maintaining that the Centre 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 a mandatory declaration of assets by civil servants on an annual basis, thereby focusing on preventive vigilance,” the minister added.

On the occasion, V Srinivas, secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), said the training is a platform for collective learning and sharing and working towards improving the quality of life.

He also stressed on the need for accelerated and inclusive development for resilient growth and emphasised on the importance of technology in transforming the lives of citizens.

Srinivas said the officials should create a conceptual framework to meet the needs and expectations of people and work for the holistic development in the state.

The 6th capacity building programme has been underway at NCGG since October 9 and will culminate on October 20. The event is being attended by 37 officers of the JKAS, holding the ranks of secretaries, special secretaries, additional secretaries, CEOs, directors, joint commissioners, and mission directors, among others.

During this programme, civil servants of Jammu & Kashmir interacted with domain experts on diverse topics such as communication strategies, poverty elimination, Rural Housing, skill India, Artificial Intelligence in Government, Tourism and Culture, Jal Jeevan Mission, digital India, approach to Sustainable Development Goals 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 for exposure visit to the Parliament.

The capacity building programme is scientifically tailored to equip civil servants of Jammu and Kashmir to deliver robust and seamless services to the people. (ANI)