Work as a team, Modi tells bureaucrats

Exhorting bureaucrats not to work in silos but as a team and act as an agent of change for the welfare of the people, PM Narendra Modi Thursday asked them to experiment to bring in change besides increasing engagement with the people for greater results. Addressing bureaucrats on Civil Services Day, he said, “Some people work in silos. We get more results working in team than in isolation. We need to come out of silos and work together as a team for nation building.” He said the role of civil services was earlier of a regulator. Later, the role changed to that of an administrator and then controller.

He asked bureaucrats to engage with the people, so that the schemes can be better implemented on the ground. Referring to the committees of secretaries which had been formed at his initiative to look into key areas of governance, he said officials worked on these tasks voluntarily after office hours and on holidays. Mr Modi said these teams had “successfully broken silos”, and presented fresh ideas and suggestions. They had devoted 10,000 man-hours to this work. “When time further changed, you (civil servants) must have thought of acquiring managerial skills. Time is changing. Only being an administrator and controller is not enough. It is the need of the hour that everybody, at every level, has to be an agent of change,” he said.