New Delhi, February 11 Governance is a moral contract between the state and its people, said Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday, emphasizing that transparency and the rule of law must operate alongside efficiency and empathy.
Speaking at a virtual session of the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya National Academy of Social Security (PDUNASS), Tharoor urged public institutions to rethink governance as a moral responsibility rooted in dignity, trust, and courage.
The 24th edition of Reimagining Governance: Discourse for Excellence (RGDE) marked the second anniversary of Season One of RGDE, an institutional dialogue platform of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), hosted under the aegis of the PDUNASS.
Members of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), officers from EPFO's field and zonal offices across India, and officials from the Ministry of Labour and Employment joined the commemorative session.
Tharoor described governance as "a moral contract between the state and its people", and emphasized that transparency, accountability, participation, and the rule of law must operate alongside efficiency and empathy.
He cautioned against confusing digitization with reform.
"We must not merely digitize inefficiency; we must redesign it," he said, advocating for a sustained government process, re-engineering and simplification of procedures.
Governance, he suggested, must move toward integration and seamless service delivery that spares citizens from unnecessary procedural difficulties.
Grievance redressal systems, he said, are not platforms for granting favors but instruments of democratic respect.
He also emphasized the need for a scientific approach to governance, evidence-based policy, data-driven review, and reasoned judgment, while cautioning that knowledge without ethics risks distancing institutions from the people they serve.
"When governance becomes truly just, citizens cease to feel governed; they begin to feel cared for," Tharoor said.
Launched on Good Governance Day in December 2024, RGDE was conceived as a reflective forum to examine governance beyond routine compliance.
Central Provident Fund Commissioner Ramesh Krishnamurthy reaffirmed EPFO's commitment to citizen-centric and technology-enabled service delivery.
Kumar Rohit, Director, PDUNASS, highlighted how RGDE has strengthened ethical capacity and reflective leadership within the organization.
The session concluded with an interactive exchange moderated by Uttam Prakash, Regional PF Commissioner and curator of RGDE.