Delhi : The former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam delivered the 3rd UPSC Foundation Day Lecture on Governance and Public service in New Delhi today. Dr. Kalam lauded the role in selecting and recommended the most talented persons for appointment to various segments of our National governance system. Over the last six decades UPSC has selected nearly quarter of a million candidates, after examining over forty-six million applicants which is equivalent to the entire population of South Africa or England, he said. Dr. Kalam said that inspite of various factors affecting societal dynamics, UPSC has conducted examinations, interviews, personality tests and recommending suitable candidate for various Services under this intense competition. Dr. Kalam said, “Creative Leadership is the essence of good governance”.
Elaborating on the creative leadership, Dr. Kalam enumerated the undernoted traits/qualities:
a. a vision.
b. passion to realize the vision.
c. Leader must be able to travel into an unexplored path.
d. knowledge of how to manage a success and failure.
e. courage to take decisions.
f. nobility in management.
g. transparent in every action.
h. Leader becomes the master of the problem, defeats the problem and succeeds.
j. Leader must work with integrity and succeed with integrity.
Dr. Kalam narrated from his personal experience as well as history the situations when the political leadership and the scientific leadership in India had displayed these qualities of creative leadership in taking the country forward.
Dr. Kalam expressed confidence that with nine dimensions of creative leadership quality which will be the foundation for our talented human power, will transform India into a performing nation. Indeed UPSC is a partner in this transformation by equipping the nation in multiple fields with the best human power with the great qualities of “what can I give” and “I will work with integrity and succeed with integrity”. [Full text of Dr. Kalam’s speech is available at www.abdulkalam.com]
Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions and PMO, Shri V. Narayanasmay in his remarks said that the Commission has made a mark for itself in fulfilling the constitutional mandate. The progressive application of the merit principle in the just, fair, impartial and equitable manner by the Commission has greatly benefited the composition and complexion of Indian Civil Services.
Shri V. Narayanasmay said that there is a need to keep pace with changes in the society. The recruitment policies of the Commission need to be reviewed and revised to make recruitment faster and also to ensure induction of the civil servants with right aptitude. Reform in civil services has also been emphasized by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The Minister said that the idea of a lecture service on governance assumes contemporary relevance in the larger expectation of people for smoother and faster delivery of facilities and amenities. Public Servants must have firm moorings to moral values and principles and the system has to be made corruption free. Towards this end, the Government has recently taken several measures to tackle the menace of corruption at all levels including bureaucracy, he said.
Chairman, UPSC, Shri D.P.Agrawal in his remarks said that good governance largely depends on correct manning of the public services by the people with right attitude and ethics. Recognizing the role of the civil servants in the changed paradigm, the UPSC have been reviewing its methods and process of recruiting Civil Servants, he said. The scheme of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination has been revised from this year. Commission has constituted a high power Committee to suggest possible changes in the pattern of Civil Services (Main) Examination. I would like to make it very clear that the endeavor of the Commission is to ensure that all the candidates are judged on the basis of in-depth knowledge and understanding rather than information gathered at the last moment.
Like the changes made in the Civil Service Examination, Commission is also looking at other examinations conducted by it to bring them in tune with the present scenario of country’s development and aspiration of people. Similarly, to improve the process of induction of ‘State Civil Service’ Officers and Non-state ‘Civil Service Officers to All India Service, Commission had recommended an alternative system to the Government (Department of Personnel and Training ) which is under its active consideration.
To overcome any delay in the proposals/ cases received by UPSC, workshops were held for the Ministries and Departments to sensitize them about the manner in which proposals are to be sent and the documents that are mandatory. A single Window System has been introduced whereby all the proposals are examined across the table and only complete ones are accepted. The system has been successful and UPSC in a position to tender advice within the shortest possible time. To cite an example, the DPC proposals are now finalized in a record time of 43 days as against the normal time of 120 days and the Disciplinary cases are disposed in 2.8 months as against the normal disposal time of 6 months.
Shri Agrawal said that through the National Conference of the Chairpersons of State Public Service Commissions, of which Chairman UPSC is the National Chairman, the best practices and procedures among all the State PSCs are shared. Special care and considerations are given by the Commission to the needs of the people living in the North East region of the Country, he said.
The Chairman said that to further the idea of promoting international cooperation, UPSC had hosted the “Conference of the Chiefs of Public Service Commissions of SAARC countries, in 2010. Commission have signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Public Service Commission of Canada and with Royal Civil Service Commission of the Royal Government of Bhutan in 2011 and another with Independent Administrative Reforms and Civil Service Commission of the Government of Afghanistan is on the anvil, he said.
Ms. Shashi Uban Tripathi, Member UPSC in her welcome address said that relevance of UPSC is more than ever in the present times. Secretary, UPSC, Shri A. Bhattachrya proposed a vote of thanks.
