Prez tells IAS officers to break silos in govt

President Ramnath Kovind on Friday called upon IAS officers to make the government work as “seamless service provider” and not as “a series of closed compartments”.

Kovind addressed a group of 176 IAS officers of 2016 batch as they called on him at Rashtrapati Bhavan. He told them that it was the mandate of the officers to “equip people and the government of India to deal with the challenges and opportunities” of the growing economy.

“This will call for enhancing the use of technology in the way they work and function. It will call for breaking out of silos and seeing government as a seamless service provider – not as a series of closed compartments. Above all, it will call for a radical overhaul of the nature of administration – and of the interface between citizen and government,” said Kovind.

The officers, who called on the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday, are currently posted in different ministries and departments of the Union Government at the rank of assistant secretary.

Kovind pointed out that many of the officers would come to the end of their careers as secretaries in the 2040s – perhaps at about the time India celebrates the 100th anniversary of Independence. “Today we are a $2.5 trillion economy. By the 2040s, our GDP will be six or seven times as large,” he said, asking the officers to prepare the nation for the challenge and opportunity provided by an economy of that size.