Officers should have open mind, listen to people and find solutions: Ashwini Vaishnaw at the third Indian Express Excellence in Governance Awards

During a fireside chat with Anant Goenka, Executive Director, The Indian Express Group, the minister was asked about the one thing he would want to change about Indian bureaucracy. “If there is one thing which I will request all the officers, in all services, is have an open mind, listen to the people, understand what their problems are, and instead of just commiserating with their problems, try to find a solution,” he said.

He also said that to be a good administrator in this age, a strong value system is an imperative. “If your value system is strong, if you know that you can face the man or the woman in the mirror, and say that yes, what I’m doing is right, then that’s the right choice for being a good officer,” he noted.

He emphasised that the “English bias in services should be corrected”. “We must love all our languages. I’m sure all officers know how well we learn the language of the place,” he said.

During his opening remarks, Vaishnaw — the Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting; and Electronics & Information Technology — also reminisced about his days as a civil servant, when he served in Odisha’s Balasore and Cuttack districts as DM. “The people who are coming in the services today are much smarter, far better exposed to today’s technologies. The fund flow in the districts is significantly higher compared to what it used to be in the past. So the opportunities to make a difference are much bigger,” he said.

Adding that the world today is very different, he underlined that the role of specialisation was increasing day by day. “Gone are the days when a pure generalist approach would do well. Time has come when, even in humanity related (department), that’s a ministry of social justice, the understanding of what caste is, how caste interplays in a country, how ages of discrimination have shaped people’s thinking, it requires specialised thinking,” he said.

He emphasised that the “English bias in services should be corrected”. “We must love all our languages. I’m sure all officers know how well we learn the language of the place,” he said.

On being asked if AI was replacing the role of a DM or making it tougher for people to administer in a world of AI, Vaishnaw said AI and every technology would empower DMs in performing better, improving their efficiency, and making sure communication between the citizens and the government is improving. “If we can develop that trust between the government and the citizens, that’s the biggest definition of good governance. And AI or every technology, if harnessed well, can make a very big difference,” he said.