Arunachal CM Pema Khandu urges civil service reforms under Mission Karmayogi to meet evolving citizen needs. He stresses mindset change, citizen-first governance, cultural sensitivity, and digital upskilling. The five-day training aims to create a responsive, transparent, and inclusive bureaucracy in Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Monday strongly advocated for the continuous capacity building of civil servants to align governance mechanisms with the rapidly evolving aspirations and expectations of citizens. Speaking at the inaugural session of a five-day Lead Trainers’ Workshop under Mission Karmayogi, he stressed the urgent need for a responsive, empathetic, and skilled bureaucracy to meet 21st-century governance challenges.
The event, jointly conducted for officials from Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura, is being organised by the Capacity Building Commission (CBC) of the Union Government. It marks a significant milestone, coming just weeks after Arunachal signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the CBC through its Administrative Training Institute.
“Mission Karmayogi is not just another training programme. It is a movement. A transformative journey to reorient our government employees to go beyond the routine, to act with empathy, to serve with humility, and to solve with creativity,” CM Khandu said in his address.
He underscored that the five-day workshop was not only about learning new skills but also about rethinking how governance functions. “This five-day capacity-building initiative isn’t only about acquiring new skills. It’s about shifting mindsets. It’s about doing things differently, and doing them with purpose. Because real change — the kind that lasts — doesn’t start in policy files or memos. It starts within us — in how we show up, in how we treat the people who walk through the doors of a public office,” Khandu noted.
Emphasising the human dimension of governance, the Chief Minister urged civil servants to adopt a citizen-first approach. He posed critical questions for reflection: “How welcoming is your office? How responsive are you to public concerns? Are your staff respectful and accommodating? And how effectively are issues being resolved?”
CM Khandu also outlined broader strategic reforms, including a shift from rule-based to role-based human resource management, the digital upskilling of government employees, enhanced inter-departmental training, and an increased focus on service delivery, transparency, and performance.
He described Mission Karmayogi as the world’s largest capacity-building programme and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision behind the initiative. “It is a landmark effort to modernise India’s bureaucracy, aligning it with democratic values, cultural sensitivity, and performance metrics,” he said.
During his speech, the Chief Minister also stressed the importance of preserving cultural identity in parallel with development. “If development erodes our cultural values, that’s a tragedy. But if in the name of preserving culture, we reject development, that’s equally tragic,” he warned, adding that development must lead to increased citizen happiness.
“Development must make people happier. If governance improves but the happiness index declines, we’ve missed the point,” Khandu asserted.
In reiterating the state’s commitment to inclusive development, especially for marginalised and underserved communities, CM Khandu highlighted that Mission Karmayogi would help in “reaching the last person in the queue.”
He set a two-month deadline till September for the completion of all Mission Karmayogi training modules across the state and called upon the lead trainers to return to their districts and serve as mentors for the next wave of master-trainers.
Also present at the event were Chief Secretary Manish Kumar Gupta, R. Balasubramanium, Member (Human Resources) of CBC, Shyama Prasad Roy, CBC Joint Secretary, consultants from CBC, and lead trainers from both Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura.
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The workshop is expected to empower trainers with the tools, frameworks, and values necessary to instill a future-ready mindset across government departments, making governance more agile, accountable, and citizen-centric in the process.
