COVID-19: Prompt measures saved India from slipping into crisis situation, says Jitendra Singh

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said prompt administrative measures to control the spread of coronavirus saved India from slipping into a crisis situation.

Addressing an event, he lauded the role of District Collectors in particular, and civil servants in checking the spread of COVID-19. "India's fight against corona proved effective because of the early lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," said Singh, Minister of State for Personnel.

He said the prompt administrative measures saved India from slipping into a crisis situation seen in several advanced countries of the world with a much smaller population.

The population size of the country and its geographical spread presented a challenge which was diligently dealt by the administration in India, a statement quoting the minister said.

Addressing the inaugural session of the 46th advanced professional programme in public administration (APPPA), through video conference, organised by Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) here, Singh appreciated the civil servants for transparent governance model.

He said with continuing evolution over the years, the iron curtain has gone and now the civil servants are called upon to build bridges with the public and deliver a citizen-centric and transparent model of governance.

"District Collectors are often holding public durbars to redress the grievances of the common man at their doorstep," the minister said. In the last five to six years, Singh recalled, a series of reforms were undertaken.

Referring to some out of box decisions since May 2014, he said the decision to do away with the time old practice of getting documents attested by a gazetted officer and replacing the same with self-attestation and amendment in the Prevention of Corruption Act are revolutionary in nature.

Dwelling on the concept of 115 aspirational districts based on 49 key indicators, Singh said based on a scientifically designed mechanism, each aspirational district was to focus on improving these key indicators and raise its rating viz-a-viz the best performing district of the state and the best performing district of the country in the given indicators.

He also complimented the aspirational districts of Goalpara and Dhubri in Assam for having achieved Ayushman Bharat coverage of nearly 100 per cent and 85 per cent respectively, the statement issued by the Personnel Ministry said.

In addition, Goalpara district had within six months, raised its rating from 68th position to 16th position in the all-India list of 150 aspirational districts, it said.

(Photo Credit: PTI)