New Delhi: Union Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Dr Jitendra Singh has said that the best governance practices come from innovative ideas. Civil servants need to focus on innovative ideas having replicability and sustainability which can be used as best governance practices, he said while addressing the 2nd National Good Governance Webinar Series on Health on Friday.

The Minister said that in the run up to Civil Services Day on April 21 this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has mandated the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) to hold virtual conferences with District Collectors (DCs) and other officers over the next 12-months from April, 2022 to March, 2023. Speaking on ‘Sickle Cell Anaemia Control Programme’ among tribal populations in Gujarat, Dr Singh said that it is a genetic blood disorder for which there is a general lack of awareness in society and he called for comprehensive screening to detect it.

The Minister said that this is an example of good governance initiative of integrating the various activities among different departments of government and various NGOs for better implementation of the programme for reducing burden of Sickle Cell Anaemia, and thereby increasing productivity, longevity and quality of life through screening, early diagnosis, prompt treatment and counselling for preventing transmission of disease to next generation and minimize the morbidity and mortality.

Secretary, DARPG, V Srinivas said that 13 webinars would be conducted on different themes under the good governance initiatives that have been felicitated the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration in the past years since its inception in 2006. He said, the themes selected for the national webinars are proposed to cover multiple sectors like health, education, environment, disaster management, priority programmes, water management, and so on.

The awarded States/Districts will present their exemplary work in these national webinars, the purpose being to highlight the best practices and award-winning initiatives for replication by other States/Districts. The first webinar in the series was held on 28th April, 2022 on the theme ‘PM’s Award-Winning Initiatives in Improving Service Delivery.’

The State AR Secretaries, District Collectors, Additional Chief Secretaries/Principal Secretaries/Secretaries of Health and Family Welfare, Mission Directors of National Health Mission of States/UTs, Chief Medical and Health Officers, Principal Medical Officers/Community Health Centres of all Districts and Faculties of Indian Institute of Public Administration and its branches all over India joined the event virtually. /BI/