Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Home Affairs

24-October-2012 15:28 IST

Shri V. Naryansamy, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has said that good governance based on transparency and accountability at various levels starts and ends with stakeholders or citizens. Therefore, any system, policy or machinery would only succeed, if it is fully accountable to the stakeholders and its processes are transparent, citizens are engaged. Inaugurating the biennial International Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) Conference in New Delhi today, the Minister exhorted that the ideals of CAPAM reflect the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Nation. He stated that Commonwealth bridges all continents, embraces almost two billion people, and represents all the world’s major faiths. India’s relationship with the commonwealth countries has been primarily based on its historical relationships with these countries, values and common bonds. He also gave a glimpse of the initiatives taken by the Centre such as implementation of recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission and the the Right to Information Act and various other legislative measures such as the Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services, Redressal of their Grievances Bill, the Lok Pal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011, etc. He also said that CAPAM would play a leading role in extensive cooperation for transfer of human and financial resources, sharing of institutional knowledge and propagating information aimed at strengthening the democratic fiber. A book ‘Public Service in India - A Country Profile’ and a commemorative postal cover, were also released by the Minister on the occasion.

Shri Sanjay Kothari, Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances in his welcome address said for the first time the Conference has been integrated with the Commonwealth Ministers Forum on Public Administration. He said that efforts have been made to ensure ensure quality representation from India on Public Service Management have been enrolled to in the Conference to help, guide and steer deliberations of the Conference in a meaningful manner for the benefit of public service across the Commonwealth.

Addressing the gathering, Former Chief Election Commissioner, Dr. S. Y. Quraishi highlighted the role of bureaucracy in India in general and talked about the electoral reforms in India.

Mr. Kamlesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretary General spoke about the role of Commonwealth Secretariat in providing best fit solutions suitable for individual country needs rather than following the one size fits all approach. Mr. Paul Zahra, President, CAPAM talked about relevance of good governance expressed his happiness on co-hosting the event in the largest democracy India.

The Vote of Thanks was proposed by Mr. Arun Jha, Additional Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances. He expressed deep gratitude to the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and thanked other speakers.

The three day event is being attended by Ministers and senior officials from Commonwealth countries namely Bangladesh, Namibia, Sri Lanka, Cameroon, Gibraltar, Nigeria, Mozambique and St. Vincent & The Grenadines and will focus on the theme “ A Public Service Fit for the Future”. The thematic approach of the conference is that the faced with reality of a turbulent, unpredictable and interconnected world it is increasingly evident that models for public policy and public administration of the past will not be adequate for 21st century challenges.

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KSD/samir/PKM

Good governance based on transparency and accountability: stakeholder-centred public service reforms promoted for future-ready administration. Good governance requires administrative systems to be accountable to citizens and engage stakeholders, grounded in transparency and accountability; recent reform and legislative measures-including implementation of administrative reform recommendations, the Right to Information Act, time bound delivery and grievance redressal initiatives, and anti corruption proposals-were identified as measures to strengthen citizen rights and administrative responsiveness, while CAPAM was described as a vehicle for institutional knowledge transfer, cooperative capacity building, and adapting public administration models for contemporary challenges.