India’s governance model, with its focus on transparency, accountability, digitisation, innovation and entrepreneurship, is the envy of the world, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Saturday.

“Empowerment and upliftment of vulnerable sections have been effected with successful schemes, ensuring that even the most marginalized citizens have access to essential services,” he said addressing senior officers and other dignitaries at the release of the book ‘Reflections on India’s Public Policies’ co-authored by 1984 batch officers of the Indian Administrative Service, in New Delhi.

He said that civil services were the backbone of governance, and have played a fundamental role in the implementation of government policies in the country.

He called on civil servants to serve the nation with PRIDE. This, he elaborated, implied public service without personal biases, the rule of law implemented at grassroots levels, Integrity in dealings with the public, devotion to duty, and efficiency in achieving policy targets.

Dhankhar also highlighted the critical role that could be played by retired civil servants as a unique valuable national human resource. “Retired Civil Servants are eminently positioned to neutralise and antidote false and anti-national narratives, from within and without, seeking to unjustifiably taint and tarnish our constitutional institutions and democratic values,” he underlined.

The Vice President recognised that democratic governance posed its own unique challenges, and exhorted the civil servants to exhibit an unwavering and steadfast commitment to the rule of law and Constitution. “Political ingratiation of officials with the ruling dispensation in some parts of the country is severely straining the sublimity of Federalism. This calls for systemic focus by all concerned,” he highlighted.

‘Reflections on India’s Public Policies’ brings together the insights and analyses of ten IAS officers of the 1984 batch, on tackling some of the most critical issues facing the country, across diverse areas of public policy. Retired as well as senior officers across several civil services were also present at the event.