Friday, May 20 2005 16:54 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Concerned over frequent transfers of District heads, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (May 20, 2005) said no system could deliver if top civil servants were changed without notice and favoured a minimum security of tenure for judging their performance.

"One major issue which has arisen is security of tenure of key functionaries like District Collectors and Superintendent of Police," he said addressing the Second National Conference of District Collectors in New Delhi.

"Do recognise you are entitled to ask for this. No system in the Government could deliver if people are changed without notice. Short tenure do not produce desired results," Singh said.

Singh said the Centre on its own could not move on this issue and has to work in tandem with the State Governments.

I do propose to bring this subject in the National Development Council (NDC) as an integral part of improving the quality of administration and making it more transparent. It is necessary our civil servants should be entitled to minimum security of tenure" so that they could be judged on the basis of task assigned to them.

His comments came a day after District Magistrates of Siwan and Gopalganj in Bihar, who were in the eye of a storm for ordering externment of RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) Lok Sabha members Mohammed Shahabuddin and Anirudh Prasad Alias Sadhu Yadav, were shunted out before they completed their tenure.

Singh said the major challenges that the officers faced were to ensure equality of opportunity to people, removal of illiteracy, disease and foster economic growth. "In order to be ethically neutral in a context of inequality, you have to be partisan - partisan towards the poor, the weaker sections, minorities, women and scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and all such disadvantaged people who need support of the State," he said.

Observing that there had been aberrations in politics, he said in a democracy, politics has to be purposeful and an instrument for social changes and hoped these aberrations would give way to better areas.

"People talk about the 'power to do good'. Your job situation is so unique in that you have maximum power to do good in each of the places you work," he told the vast gathering of young officers from various parts of the Country.

The Government was in the process of finalising a focussed programme called Bharat Nirman with a target to provide 100 per cent connectivity to villages through roads, electricity and telecommunications and ensure 100 per cent coverage under safe water supply by 2009, he said. "You are the critical agents for ensuring that the new deal to rural India genuinely transforms rural lives and livelihood. I would request you to ensure that the objectives of Bharat Nirman are met," he said.