While addressing the 26th regional seminar on the Union Government’s good governance and reflection and best practice organised by Dr RS Tolia Uttarakhand Administrative Academy in Nainital on Saturday, Union Minister of State for Administrative Reform and Atomic Energy Dr Jitendra Singh said that the objective of the seminar is to acquaint the administrators other than the IAS officers with the policies of the Centre meant to provide the people with responsive governance and to boost the economic development. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat was also present on the occasion. The seminar concluded on Saturday.
In the fast- changing scenario, India has entered the digital era with the public welfare service being made digital, Singh said. “Public distribution system, railway, transport, airways, Banking, pension service and grant have been digitized and it has saved people time a while bringing transparency in public service. In a nut shell, the middlemen system is going to end in near future. The people have appreciated cashless transaction. Enthused by it, our ministry is working to make the system paperless . In the coming days, bank, railway, transport and other services would be made paperless too. The states will have to work on the digitization mode to send message of good governance to the people,” he added.
He further said that the right to information act is being implemented effectively in 21 states. “As many as 20 ministries are now working to bring about their e-offices where there would be no paper work,” he said. He lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing transformation in several ministries while ensuring economic empowerment of the poor. “With the introduction of the new system, the standard of living of the common and the poor people has improved a lot,” he said.
Hailing demonetisation and GST as two major decisions of the Minister said that they have reined in corruption while bringing transparency in the economic transactions. He stressed that cashless and paperless are two new mantras of the government. “Their benefits are reaching the woman too,” he said.
laying thrust on organizing such seminars across the country, he said while the Government comes and goes, the administrative system stays intact and its accountability must increase so that the people are benefitted by the welfare schemes being churned out by the government.
CM Trivendra Singh Rawat in his address said that the parliament and the assembly being two temples of democracy, the administrators working in the Centre as well as in the states must be dedicated to provide good governance to the people. “We are here to transform the nation, not to grab power. To gain the confidence of the people, we must ensure two basic things- good governance and conforming to the time limits imposed on completion of welfare projects,” he said while asking the administrators to act according to their conscience.
During the seminar, secretary, the Union government C Vishwanath highlighted the Centre’s ongoing works while ATI director AS Nayal dwelt on the string of initiatives taken by the academy to ensure good governance.
Among others present on the concluding day of the seminar were Nainital MlA Sanjeev Arya, another MlA Bhimtal Ram Singh Kaida, DIG Kumaon Ajay Routela, DM Deependra Kumar Choudhary and joint secretary Smita Kumar.