Be facilitators of growth, PM Narendra Modi exhorts civil servants

Business Standard

21-04-2025

Civil servants in India must transform themselves into enablers, expanding their role from being merely the keeper of rule books to becoming facilitators of growth, said Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on Monday.
In his 40-minute pep talk to the country's top civil servants on the occasion of the National Civil Services Day at the national capital's Vigyan Bhavan, the PM said the world was changing at a rapid pace, and India's bureaucracy and policymaking could not operate on outdated frameworks.
He urged them to become tech-savvy, adapt to contemporary challenges, and, most of all, follow the mantra of 'Nagarik Devo Bhava' and be sensitive to the needs of the poor.
Modi said there was a time when the bureaucracy's role was that of a regulator, which 'controlled the speech of industrialisation and entrepreneurship'. 'But the country has moved beyond this thought process. Today, we are busy creating an environment to promote an entrepreneurial spirit in citizens and helping them cross barriers,' the PM said.
Modi pointed at the example of the MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprises) sector, which he said was the foundation of the government's 'manufacturing mission'. He said the country's young entrepreneurs and its MSMEs had a historic opportunity, given the changes taking place in the world.
'It is essential in such a scenario that we become more competitive in the global supply chain,' he said, adding, how even a small country with better 'ease of compliances' would compete strongly with India's startups.
'If the objective of Indian industry is to make globally best products then India's bureaucracy's objective should be to provide the world's best ease of compliances environment.'
Modi said this was the time for civil servants to 'reimagine reforms' and increase the 'pace and scale of reforms' across sectors.
'Infrastructure development, renewable energy, internal security … or if the objective is to reduce corruption, (the rollout of) social-welfare schemes, or Olympic sports, we need to carry out new reforms in every sector.'
The PM said the world was keen on investing in India, and it was incumbent on all to ensure this opportunity was not lost.
'We have to reduce the possibility of red tape at every level -- state, district, or block -- and only then would we be able to achieve our targets in states, districts, and blocks,' he said.
'The policies we are working on today, the decisions we are taking, are going to shape the future of the next 1,000 years,' the PM said.
In the past 10 years India has progressed from incremental change to impactful transformation, and the country's governance model is now focused on next-generation reforms, leveraging technology and innovative practices, he said.
'In the age of technology, governance is not about managing systems, it is about multiplying possibilities,' he said.
The PM highlighted rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and quantum physics, asking civil servants to prepare for this technological revolution.
But he also observed: 'No matter how technology-driven the world becomes, we should never forget the importance of human judgement.'
The PM noted this year's theme of Civil Services Day was 'Holistic Development of India', which is a commitment to ensure that no village, no family, and no citizen was left behind, adding that true progress was not about small changes but about achieving a full-scale impact.
He said quality in governance was not determined by the mere launch of schemes but by how deeply these schemes reached the people and their real impact.
Modi said food, water, and energy security remained major issues, particularly for the Global South, and underlined the need to develop localised strategies and build resilience to tackle these emerging global issues. 'Every time you prioritise integrity over convenience, innovation over inertia, or service over status, you propel the nation forward,' he said.
Since 2006, the National Civil Services Day is being every year on April 21. It was on this day in 1947, addressing the probationers of Administrative Services Officers at Delhi's Metcalf House, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel referred to civil servants as the 'steel frame of India'.