Vice President’s Secretariat
Text of Vice-President’s address at Inauguration ceremony of the 25th National Conference of Chairpersons of State Public Service Commissions at Bengaluru (Excerpts)
Posted On: 11 JAN 2025 5:43PM by PIB Delhi
It is indeed an occasion, because this is a silver jubilee celebration, in a sense, of convergence of people who are enjoying constitutionally with a very solemn task, task of recruitment to the services that ultimately serve the public at large.
This gathering, this convergence, this group, this brainstorming session would certainly, I am sure, lead to positive results. It will foster coordinated response to our nation evolving and describe, define, and fructify its socio-economic landscape. Such a purposeful convergence, such a purposeful gathering, the nature of deliberations, would certainly focus on two aspects.
One, self-audit, self-audit is very difficult but any organisation or individual if it is kept beyond scrutiny or probe, that is the surest way to slide into ignorance. The degeneration is fast-tracked. I am sure you will all in togetherness self-audit. Also, you will devise mechanisms of way-forward advance, way-forward stance, way-forward methodology strategy. Some facets of it have been hinted by the Hon’ble Chief Minister. Undoubtedly, public servants constitute, and it was called there is some doubt about it but Sardar Patel, the first Home Minister of this country, has called it a steel-frame but I call it the spinal strength of Indian democracy.
I have no doubt that our bureaucracy is so talented it can be transformed, provided it does not suffer hiccups from other agencies. Since this is the only convenience that democracy must transform vision of the people that is sanctified on platforms like Lok Sabha and Legislatures into ground reality, this segment has to be only the very best. It cannot afford to be anything but the very best because you are the architects of administrative edifice. You are guardians and joined with the task of being the foundation of our nation’s present and future.
The constitutional framers were alive to this task, the daunting task, and therefore they created a mechanism and when the debate took place in the Constituent Assembly, Rajendra Prasad, the Chairman of the Constituent Assembly, the first President of India, he had the occasion to reflect and his vision was very clear and so clear that it has emerged at the moment as a writing on the wall.
What he said, “His vision was independent commissions free from executive influence because these would guard against jobbery, nepotism and favouritism.” Jobbery is nothing but robbery of meritocracy. Fortunately, there is emergence of an ecosystem at the moment where transparency and accountability are driven by public policies and also by technological penetration.
We are realising something that had eluded us for long, equality before law. How these twin principles of equality before law, transparency and accountability in governance, can get cutting edge only when recruitment process to the governmental jobs inspires confidence, inspires credibility.
Our nation at the moment friends, pulses with hope and possibility, but there is a huge pressure of mounting expectations. People have a larger idea of expectations. The more you deliver, the more they aspire. That being the situation, the challenge before governance at state and central level can be met positively in public interest only by having an agency, the public servants, who function 24×7 with sole purpose, serving the public at large, deeply embedded to rule of law.
This demands innovative policies and therefore we cannot afford in this country to relegate problems to the background. Staggering problems contradicts good governance. We must therefore have people who can take decisions, who are not tentative, who are farsighted, who are in touch with ground reality and are fired by the zeal to always keep the nation first.
India at the moment is rising to unprecedented heights. Our economy is fifth at global size, likely to be third in a year or so but our object is very clear, we have set a goal for Viksit Bharat at 2047. This is a daunting situation achievable, but this can be brought about only when we increase per capita income of every individual by eightfold. A challenge that can be met only with bureaucracy that has input solely premised on merit. They will have to be in mission mode with a passion to execute the agenda of governance to achieve Viksit Bharat at 2047. Public service commissions therefore in such a situation plays pivotal role. They can bring about game-changing situations because nothing is more important than having nurtured human resource that is dedicated and capable.
We are moving towards an era of harmony, unity and unanimity. That is our civilisational essence, our ethos, inclusivity, unity in diversity are hallmarks, they are positive for us. We cannot see polarisation or divisiveness in such kind of scenario. The nation created one single national tax regime. I had the occasion to reflect that on the night intervening 14th and 15th of August 1947 we had a tryst with destiny but when GST was rolled out at midnight, we had a tryst with modernity.
The nation is debating, and the debate will throw up something positive as regards elections, but my emphasis will be that we must work in a fashion rising above partisan interest when it comes to development, when it comes to national interest. We must keep interest of the nation always uppermost and from that perspective always converge in parliament and legislatures to enforce transparency and accountability of the government. My firm belief is that the parliament is not functioning, it is having disruption, disturbance. Executiveis the gainer because accountability can’t be enforced and therefore, we must revisit our thoughts.
Constituent assembly for little less than 3 years and 18 sessions worked hard to evolve a constitution. We are proud of but there are contentious issues, there are divisive issues, the issues of language, they negotiated all these tough issues against heavy wind, headwind, air pockets, difficult terrain but by taking recourse to dialogue, debate, discussion, deliberation, consensus.
I strongly advocate in national interest that our polity at the moment is too divisive, too polarised. Interaction is not taking place at the premium level in political organisations. When it comes to nation and the world is in a transformative phase, it is India’s century. That century can be fully fructified for people’s gain only when we have calm political atmosphere. We need political fire extinguishers a political divisiveness, a vitiated political climate is far more dangerous than the climate change menace we are facing.
I am sure therefore, the kind of training we have if bureaucracy gets ingratiated with the dispensation or it gets emasculated for reasons the nation pays a huge price for it. Therefore, it is the obligation of public service commissions to balance service morale with bureaucratic petitions.
Extensions in service, extensions in any form for a particular post are set back to those who are in line. It defies the logical principle of expectation. We have a doctrine of expectation. People devote decades to be in a particular groove. Extension indicates that some individual is indispensable. Indispensability is a myth, talent abound in this country, no one is indispensable. Therefore, it lies in the domain of public service commissions at the state and the central level that when they have a role in such kind of situations, they must be firm.
I have indicated on some occasions when advice is tended by public service commissions in matters of discipline, decorum and demeanour. If their advice is reversed by the executive at the central level or at the state level, you will have to brainstorm. You are an expert body, reversal of your advice is a serious matter, it must catalyse thinking at the end. Have you really gone wrong? If so, get into a correction mode. If no, make your point known because if your advice is rational, well-premised, well-meaning and then it is reversed, well there can be no sanctity to such a situation. It can be a subtle form of patronage overlooking lapses. Such a situation has a cascading impact because we are living in times where even the most well-guarded secret, a secret which people think is fully preserved is an open secret, nobody talks about it.
I strongly commend the initiative the government has taken with respect to Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill 2024. The Hon’ble Chief Minister hinted, this is a menace. You have to curb, your fairness of selection will have no meaning if paper leakage is there and paper leakage has become an industry, a commerce. People, young boys and girls used to have fear of examination. How difficult the question may be, how will we address it? Now there are having two fears.
One is fear of examination, second, fear of leakage. So, when they are giving their very best for several months and weeks to prepare for an examination and they receive a setback of leakage. If someone will quantify it, loss of human resource it will be mind boggling and therefore, commissions need to employ technology all means to ensure that such kind of recurrence does not take place.
I would urge the United Nations Public Service Commission to share its best practises in this regard in a structured manner with the State Public Service Commissions. I was greatly touched with what the Chief Minister said. We must have empathy for social justice, we must have empathy because it is a constitutional ordainment. The prescription is embedded in the constitution. The ground realisation is a cause of concern. It requires vigorous effort, I can assure you talent, merit, dedication, commitment are no longer preserve of any specific category. Widespread education has brought about a level playing field and these segments suffer historical drawbacks and therefore, in their wisdom as a visionary state,Dr. Ambedkar and other framers of the constitution had provided affirmative mechanism for them that has taken shape.
Friends, we are in an era equivalent to another industrial revolution because technologies have made indoors, disruptive technologies, artificial intelligence, internet of things, machine learning, blockchain of the kind, these are not words. They offer challenges, they offer opportunities but particularly for human resource recruitment training, capacity building these must be harnessed fully.
I find much is being talked about but government institutions and corporations must come forward to make ordinary people realise the power these technologies offer to them and that power must be unleashed in a regulated manner for welfare of all. It is with utmost restraint. I am reflecting on an aspect public service commissions the appointment cannot be given by patronage, by favouritism. There are trends that are visible, I do not wish to reflect on them but some of them are very painful, we must account ourselves to our conscience. We cannot have a Public Service Commission chairman or member wedded to a particular ideology or an individual.That will be undoing the essence and sprit of framers of the Constitution.
Post retirement recruitment is a problem, in some states it has in structure that employees never retire. Particularly those in the premium services, they get number of nomenclatures, this is not good. Everyone in the country must have due and the due is defined by law the process is set in motion by public service commissions.Any largess of this kind is antithetical to what was visualised by framers of the constitution.
I would urge the UPSC and state public service commissions to engage vigorously in capacity building, capacity building of routine nature is no longer a requirement because people can self-learn, people can enhance their capacity by themselves. Your structured mechanism of capacity building must be innovative, it has to be of a nature that we compete in a world that is changing very fast.
Long before Socrates, the Greek philosopher, there was one Heraclitus, and he said the only constant is change, a person cannot enter the same river twice because neither the person is the same nor the river is the same. Therefore, the bureaucrats are facing challenges every day, those who are in prime of their service would have never imagined of renewable energy, solar energy, digitalisation, technological penetration, they would not imagined.
I became a member of parliament in 1989, a landline connection, 50 connections to a member of parliament was within our power. Does anyone need a landline connection now? then we came with telephone booth and the minister was accoladed telephone booth is available you can talk anytime. Do we find them? In my state and maybe in your state also, no marriage was good enough if you don’t keep VCR or VCD, it has disappeared. Where have digital libraries gone? the point I am making is, we are changing too fast, we are changing every moment. We have to keep pace with it, we are on quicksand, we are on quicksand of technology and right now we are aspirational.
We feel emboldened to tell the world we are not a nation with potential we are a nation with the rise, the rise in unstoppable, it is incremental. We claim boldly and rightly that this century belongs to us but then we have to work in overdrive for it. Therefore weakening of institutions any institution, if it is weakened then damage is to entire nation. Weakening an institution is like a prick on the body, the entire body will be in pain.
I would therefore urge, we must strengthen our institutions, states and unions must work in tandem. They must be synergetic mode, they must be in sync with one another when it comes to national interest. We are a country where there is bound to be governance of different ideologies and why not, that is inclusivity manifested in our society.
I therefore, urge from this platform that all those who are in seat of governance at all levels must enhance dialogue, must believe in consensus, must always be ready for deliberation. The problems the nation is facing should not be relegated to the background. We cannot afford any longer to have problems on the back burner, these will have to be addressed at earliest. Harmony in polity is not just wishful thinking but a desirable facet, harmony is imperative if there is no harmony in polity, if the polity is polarised, deeply divisive with no communication then no channels function.
Imagine you are in an earthquake; you are lost and you have no connection with the outside world. Things will be terrible and therefore I urge senior leadership of political parties to create an ecosystem and climate that can generate dialogue, discussion, formal, informal otherwise all efforts being taken by Public Service Commission, all efforts being taken by bureaucracy, the results will be downsized, the results will be a challenge. Consensual approach and discussion is deeply rooted in our civilisation ethos.
This is a message we have to give to the world, time for us to follow this message for ourselves. Hon’ble Chief Minister, intellectuals are supposed to guide us, intellectuals are supposed to be fire-extinguisher when there is social disharmony, when there is a problem, I find intellectuals have formed into groups, they sign representations that they may not have read. They think signing a representation is a password for getting opposition, if a particular dispensation comes to power.
Look at intellectuals, former bureaucrats, former diplomats. You have earned a level of public service which others must emulate, you must be objective in making representations you cannot create a groove to subserve your interest with change of political alignments.
I appeal to them, you are think-tank of the country, you are reservoir of talent and experience. Please use it for national good.
Congratulations to all of you and wishing you a happy 2025.
Thank you so much.
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JK/RC/SM
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