PrintFriendly
PM Modi Story By: Anandiben Patel
Shri Narendra Modi had always believed in the mantra of ‘Sabka Prayas.’ When he took over as Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001, one of his primary concerns was that the officials worked in silos till then.
In one of his speeches addressing the bureaucrats, he had said, “I don’t expect you to work in silos”. Shri Modi then explained that you are presently here in one department, but tomorrow you may be in another department with one of your colleagues sitting next to you. So, if you interact with the fellow colleague and understand his challenges, tomorrow you can avoid facing those same challenges when you are there in that department. Quoting his example, Shri Modi said, “I don’t work in silos and I expect the same from the officials too.”
Smt. Anandiben Patel, Governor of Uttar Pradesh recall her days in Gujarat when she served as a minister. “I remember our first 3-day Chintan Shivir in Bharuch. We were supposed to work and prepare the blueprint for coming one year. All the ministers and secretaries were present in that shivir. Earlier, we were used to leave
Normally, ministers and secretaries never really got this much time and opportunity to interact with each other, but during that time they not only interacted but also got to know a lot about each other
after the Chintan Shivir was over. But this time all the ministers were informed from the Chief Minister Office that they need to get together in the Gandhinagar Circuit House at 8 am on the following morning. All of us were supposed to carry our luggage and we had to travel together in a luxury bus and not by our personal cars. Ministers and secretaries were supposed to travel together.”
All the ministers and secretaries travelled to Bharuch together and it took them around 3-4 hours. Surprisingly, all of them felt really good. Normally, ministers and secretaries never really got this much time and opportunity to interact with each other, but during that time they not only interacted but also got to know a lot about each other.
“So, this relationship that we developed holds a significant value as we get to know about the likes and dislikes of the people we are travelling with. Due to CM Shri Modi’s idea, we got the chance to break free from protocols as we had to sit wherever we got seats in the buses,” says Smt. Anandiben Patel.