The Exchanges

Q So what's your experience been for the last 10 years working with a current prime minister?

A So the prime minister is, ah, very outcome driven. He is, ah, extremely delivery oriented. He's a big picture man, and I think he's a very big techie at heart. So, uh, I've seen him drive Uh, the digital transformation of India, and he'd once asked me to do a hundred digital melas in a hundred days, and I thought that was very difficult. And, uh, but he was very insistent. But when I look back at it, those hundred days enabled us to drive the digitization of India. Similarly, he made us do many presentations before we started the startup India movement. I think one first time, second time, third time, fourth time, but he, he looks, he breaks down silos. And he looks at a very multidisciplinary perspective. So he said, don't look at it only from your department's viewpoint. Look at it from the viewpoint of creating incubators. Look at it from the viewpoint of IITs, IIMs, engineering colleges. Look at it from the viewpoint of the rules, regulations. Look at it from the viewpoint of venture capital. All perspectives were taken into consideration before the startup India policy was announced. But once he announces the policy, then he leaves it to you and he wants you to deliver. Then he's very, very outcome oriented. Similarly, the aspirational district program, we made many presentations to him. Then he said, ah, his views were very clear that we have to transform lives of citizen…

AI assessment note: “the prime minister is, ah, very outcome driven. He is, ah, extremely delivery oriented.”

Q As a, do you think the, the role of a government officer and IS officer has changed over a period of time? For example, It's been shown in media that IS also in the last years were very restricted by whoever is the, the, the, the government in. Do the, this working style of IS officers have become more independent, more free over a period of time?

A So the, uh, content has, uh, transformed because, uh, the nature of governments have changed. India has changed. India has redefined itself. India has far more growth and prosperous country now. Ah, so the challenge when I was a district collector, I did not know whether my district has changed. However hard you work, data was not available. When I did the aspirational district program, it is possible to get data on your mobile on a real time basis now. So you can govern much better based on data. You can make districts compete on data. You can know the learning outcomes, the health outcomes, the nutritional standard. Everything can be, uh, today, uh, based on, uh, data for governance. You can make a massive difference on a real time basis. That was not possible earlier. Secondly, you are not in the, Period where you have to control. You, you have not in a period where you have to issue licenses. You are in a period where you have to bring in predictability and consistency of policy. You are in a period where you have to encourage the private sector. You are in a period where you have to assist and facilitate the private sector. We are in a period where we have to transform India at the grassroot level. We are in a period where we have to make a difference to the lives of citizens by improving learning outcomes, health outcomes, and I think that is the difference, uh, now and t…

AI assessment note: “the content has transformed because the nature of governments have changed.”

Q Yes sir. Is the government also building new institutions or are we only land on the older institutions?

A So government has done several new things. For instance, it changed the planning commission into the Neeti Ayo. It has built up a capacity building, uh, building organization under, uh, we have a new capacity skilling organization, which has done past, past breaking work. It has trained over a, uh, 10 lakh railway inspectors. It has trained all the police officials. It has trained cutting edge officials and has put on board a vast number of new skill programs on, uh, digitally so that anybody can go and access and get himself trained digitally across the board in many of these areas. And therefore, these are new institutions which have been created And which will help us look at the green hydrogen mission. These are all transformation. Look at the AI mission. Look at the quantum computing mission. These are completely new institutions which will enable India to leapfrog into the next century.

AI assessment note: “So government has done several new things. For instance, it changed the planning commission”

Q And so one of my last questions is right. You mentioned how do locational advantages differ? Like the case study between let's say Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

A So there are advantages of being a port state and port enables you to Have a quick turnaround and export. Uh, that's important. Uh, but Uttar Pradesh, uh, it's also important that it's a very, uh, fertile area. It's, uh, got adequate amount of water. Uh, we need to ensure that there is greater, better logistics, better infrastructure, better improvement in its, uh, uh, social indicators, and UP will perform very well, and then we will need to connect Uttar Pradesh with some of the ports Close by. And, uh, once you are connected to the ports, UP will do very well in terms of transformation. As, uh, several of the newer, you see many large manufacturing getting into Noida and greater Noida. All this will be transformational for the future. And Uttar Pradesh also needs to do good sustainable urbanization in the coming years.

AI assessment note: “there are advantages of being a port state and port enables you to Have a quick turnaround”

Q And so, uh, today, Jharkand and Chhattisgarh, they are the most mineral rich states as you have stated previously, right? Why they have remained poor?

A I think the other point I want to make is that quality of governance is very important. Uh, aspirational district program has shown us that it was not money. We were not providing great amount of money, but we were providing good governance. If you are able to govern better, if you are able to give better quality of governance, then you are able to transform lives of citizens. You need, uh, people or young officers for a very long time, for a period of 10 years, 12 years, we need officers Over a long period of time on the same job. If they remain there, then you are able to bring results. Uh, we need to ensure that, uh, we are able to fill up the posts of teachers, of doctors in the districts. You will see radical transformation. It's just nothing but good governance based on data.

AI assessment note: “quality of governance is very important. Uh, aspirational district program has shown us”