The National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), an apex autonomous institution of the Indian government, is expanding and scaling up its activities following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayaas to improve the quality of people's lives in the country and its neighbourhood.
A two-week capacity-building programme for the civil servants of Bangladesh, the Maldives and Arunachal Pradesh state was held from January 9 to 20.
Eighty-seven officers – 39 civil servants from Bangladesh (56th batch), 26 from the Maldives (20th batch) and 22 from Arunachal Pradesh (1st batch) – joined the programme.
At first, officers from Arunachal Pradesh were trained at NCGG, both at Mussoorie and New Delhi.
This is in furtherance to further improve the governance and public service delivery in northeast and border states as directed by Jitendra Singh, minister of state, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with NCGG in 2022 to train 500 officers of Arunachal Pradesh over the next five years, according to NCGG.
Upholding the spirit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Neighbourhood First" policy, NCGG in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs of India has been "helping" neighbouring countries among others, in building capacities of their civil servants.
NCGG designs and implements capacity-building programmes that focus on various aspects of good governance and transparent administration for "assured public service delivery."
For the first time, sessions were held jointly to facilitate intellectual interactions and deliberations among participants from three countries.
The two-week capacity-building programme was scientifically tailored by the NCGG team and included the exchange of vast information, knowledge, new ideas, and best practices that promote citizen-centric governance.
The sessions for each training programme were firmed up by the NCGG faculty based on the needs of the respective countries and in consultation with Indian missions.
This capacity-building programme is expected to help civil servants in putting up dedicated efforts to fill in the gaps between policies and implementation in their respective countries or states.
In this two-week programme for the civil servants of Bangladesh, the Maldives and Arunachal Pradesh, participants interacted with domain experts on diverse topics – namely, e-governance, the vision of India@2047 and the role of civil servants, decentralised municipal solid waste management, digital India, potential and challenges of the power sector in Arunachal Pradesh, approach to SDGs by 2030, health governance in India, climate change and its impact on biodiversity – policies and global practices, anti-corruption practices, LiFE, and circular economy.
The valedictory session was held on January 20 and was graced by SK Jaiswal, director of CBI. In his valedictory address, he emphasised the decisive and multi-pronged action taken against corruption in India.
He discussed how a number of preventive steps were taken by the government with the massive use of information technology and emphasis on ensuring transparency, to root out corruption with huge success.
Transparency, accountability, and centrality of citizens have become the hallmark of today's governance in India, he added.
He also congratulated Shri Bharat Lal, DG, and his team for imparting such a "meaningful programme" for the civil servants of the Maldives, Bangladesh, and Arunachal Pradesh.
As the role of government and the future of public service delivery is constantly evolving, so does the role of civil servants.
Considering all the challenges NCGG designs a capacity-building programme that further helps in improving the quality of life of people.
In his address, Bharat Lal gave actionable advice to the participants to translate their learnings by preparing a plan of action and implementing the same to improve the quality of life of their citizens.
He emphasised that the capacity-building programmes designed by the NCGG are in consonance with Narendra
Modi's Neighbourhood First policy and uphold the spirit of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam."
He urged the civil servants to create an enabling environment for citizens to help them realise their full potential and ensure that no one is left out. "In today's India, all programmes/schemes are all-inclusive and focused on improving the quality of life of people."
The needs of the poorest of the poor are addressed by the government in a transparent way and without leaving anyone.
On the last day of the session on anti-corruption strategy, Pravin Sinha, special director, Shri Anurag, joint director, of CBI and Shri P Daniel, secretary of Central Vigilance Commission, along with other officers took sessions about preventive steps, transparency and on use of technology to root out the corruption and ensure good governance.
The capacity-building programme was conducted with the efforts of the course coordinators – AP Singh (the Maldives), BS Bisht (Arunachal Pradesh) and Mukesh Bhandari (Bangladesh), and also assisted by the NCGG team.
In partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs, NCGG has imparted training to civil servants of 15 countries, so far – namely, Bangladesh, Kenya, Tanzania, Tunisia, Seychelles, Gambia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Laos, Vietnam, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Cambodia.
Known for content and delivery, the capacity-building programme is "highly sought after" and NCGG is expanding its capacity to accommodate a higher number of civil servants from various countries as well as various states or union territories of India as per their requirements.
Source: United News of Bangladesh