New Delhi: Lamenting the slow pace of
administrative reforms in the country, Law Minister M Veerappa
Moily on Wednesday said a world class civil services is the need of
the hour to improve governance.
"We need to increase the productivity and improve
standards of gainful employment and better access to public
services, and a key to this transformation is to build a
modern, world class civil service which will improve India's
governance," Moily said.
"Several countries have changed. UK has changed, France
has changed. US has changed. Sorry to say but we are very slow
in changing....Our Prime Minister is very anxious to change.
Every time I meet (the PM), he will ask what happened to the
recommendations (of the Administrative Reforms Committee)...,"
he added.
The Law Minister was addressing a function here after
releasing a book, 'Building a World-Class Civil Service for
Twenty First Century India', written by retired IAS officer S
K Das, who was consultant with the Second Administrative
Reforms Committee of which Moily was the Chairperson.
Moily said administrative reforms are the "need of the
hour" because there is a need to build and nurture an
"internationally competitive India".
"Governance is an important aspect. We need to nurture
inclusive democracy. We want to build that kind of inclusive
democracy, better governance. We need to work on that," he
said.
Moily said that about 90 per cent of the ARC
recommendations, out of its 15 reports, have been accepted by
the GoM and also by the Committee headed by the Cabinet "but
it takes again lot of time in government fabric".
"Rapid change and fundamental changes taking place in
the political economic and technical fields, there is no
stoppage, but all these things would become possible provided
change in governance also takes place in same pace, which is
not that satisfactory.
"Every Prime Minister (Congress governments) including
our present Prime Minister wanted change. I also want. But you
find it (that) somewhere we are not in a position to change.
Unless mindset is changed nothing can change," he said.
Moily suggested that "bureaucratic civilisation" should
disappear and for this whole structure has to fall away and a
new one created.
"Even though we change fast in many other sector, I
think civil service is one sector we refuse to change
fast....change should be a mandatory thing in the best
interest of the country," Moily said.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, November 03, 2010, 22:51