Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Civil Services Day: What PM said, and what did those possibly mean?

Civil Services Day: PM giving an award to a civil servant
PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked civil servants to spend quality time with their family saying-- "Your life should not become a file". Speaking at the Civil Services Day function held in New Delhi, Modi gave a new slogan called “ART” and chanted a Sanskrit verse to make a point that character is the highest virtue. More about PM’s take on life, work, family and honesty:

On Life, Family
“A life full of tension cannot achieve anything, especially when you have to run the Nation”
"Your life should not become a file”
“You are very good at time management but do you spend quality time with your family. Please think about this”
Those statements coming from a hard taskmaster like Modi were quite surprising. Civil servants felt, PM turned softer on them after a large number (reportedly 18) of senior bureaucrats of the Central government have opted for premature repatriation to their cadre during the last couple of months. After all, PM knows he can’t implement new ideas, that too with a sense of urgency, unless senior bureaucrats are on board with him.
So, did PM indirectly encourage senior civil servants to play a game of golf, and spend a few hours at Gymkhana Club to bust their “tension”?

ART of Creating Slogan
“The day is not far when the world will look at m-governance or mobile governance. We need to give impetus to reforms and technology”
“There can't be good governance without ART- Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency.”
Modi, always known for creating slogans, has given one more during the Civil Services Day function. Yes, the civil servants should muster the “ART” to achieve what he called "Accountability", "Responsibility" and "Transparency".

Wooing Talents to Govt
Prime minister urged senior civil servants to spend time with the younger lot and motivate them to “aspire for”, and “join the civil services”. He emphasized the need for ensuring that the best talent was available to the government.

Chanting Sanskrit
PM said, "Sheelam Param Bhushanam". That means character is the highest virtue. Prime Minister also urged civil servants to maintain a positive outlook.
Most bureaucrats with exceptions like DPE secretary Kapil Dev Tripathi, can't understand Sanskrit forget speaking. But a few civil servants too in the past have chanted Sanskrit verses to explain their point. For example, expenditure secretary RP Watal in a function held in October last year talked about personal finance by chanting a Sanskrit verse which meant, “If one does not invest time, knowledge cannot be acquired and unless one saves, wealth cannot be built.”
Now, the PM should inspire other civil servants too to try out chanting a few Sanskrit verses!

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