India building capacities of civil servants of neighbouring countries

NEW DELHI: India is building capacities of civil servants of neighbouring countries to meet the emerging challenges in governance and assured public service delivery to improve the quality of life of people, the Personnel Ministry said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Civil Service Commission of the Maldives for capacity building of 1,000 Maldives civil servants by 2024, it said.

The agreement was signed during the state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Male on June 8, 2019.

As part of the agreement, the NCGG is the nodal institution for designing customised training modules after considering the requirements of the countries and their implementation, the statement said.

So far, more than 550 officers of Maldives Civil Service including the Permanent Secretaries of the government of the Maldives have been imparted training in India, it said.

The 18th capacity building programme started in Delhi from the 5th of December for the Secretary Generals of various atolls councils of the Maldives, the statement said.

''As a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's approach of 'neighbourhood first' policy, India is building capacities of civil servants of neighbouring countries to meet the emerging challenges in governance and assured public service delivery to improve the quality of life of people,'' it added.

In his inaugural address, NCGG Director General Bharat Lal emphasised the role of civil servants in improving the quality of life of people and underlined the need to strengthen women's role in decision-making.

He gave examples of various programmes in India wherein the indomitable spirit of women has been tapped to bring transformation.

Lal shared numerous examples of how with opportunities and an enabling environment, women have brought profound changes in the public service delivery and governance, ensuring transparency and quality in works, water, sanitation, public health and waste management in villages.

He urged the Secretary Generals of various councils of atolls to continue focussing on protecting the environment, improving sanitation and carrying out waste management in a big way, saving energy and promoting circular economy.

Lal said that Modi's mantra of 'LIFE - Lifestyle for Environment' is the way forward.

The training module includes lessons from various initiatives taken in India such as e-governance, Digital India, Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), approach to sustainable development goals, public health initiatives, water security on islands among other important areas, the statement said.

It also includes exposure visits to prominent places like the Pradhan Mantri Sanghralaya, the office of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the Parliament, etc. where participants will see the best practices in e-governance, it added.

The inaugural session commenced with a briefing on the structure of the capacity building programme by Prof Poonam Singh, the nodal officer (training) and the ways to emulate the learnings.

In addition to the civil servants of the Maldives, the programme was also attended by other senior officials of the NCGG.