An Indian delegation from the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India, led by Secretary DARPG and Director General, National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), Mr. V. Srinivas, paid a three day visit to Sri Lanka recently. Mr. N. B. S. Rajput, Joint Secretary DARPG, Ms. Presca Mathew, Chief Administrative Officer NCGG, Dr. Ashutosh Pal Singh, Associate Professor NCGG and Dr. Mukesh Bhandari, Research Associate NCGG were also part of the delegation. The visit mainly focused on development of an operational framework for the bilateral collaboration on capacity building of Sri Lanka civil service officers in India and potential avenues for replicating Good Governance practices of India in Sri Lanka.
The delegation called on Hon. Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Dinesh Gunawardena and Hon. State Minister of Home Affairs Ashoka Priyantha, and also held detailed meetings with Secretary to the President of Sri Lakna, Mr. E M S B Ekanayake and Secretary to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Mr. Anura Dissanayake. The delegation also met Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Mr. Pradeep Yasarathna.
The delegation visited the Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration (SLIDA), where they interacted with the faculty and management of the Institute led by Mr. Nalaka Kaluwewe, Director General, and also received positive feedback from Sri Lanka administrative officers alumni of past training programs at NCGG. Secretary DARPG delivered a special address at SLIDA on ‘Centralized Public Grievance Redressal System: A Foundation for SMART Government’ that was attended by senior officers of Government of Sri Lanka and officers, faculty and management of SLIDA.
The delegation also visited the Colombo District Secretariat and interacted with District Secretary Mr. Ginige Prasanna Janaka Kumara and other senior officials to gain insights into the mechanisms and models for services provided by respective departments of the Secretariat, such as data collection and registration, social services, disaster relief, MSME empowerment, integrated boarder management, among others.
The three day visit by the Indian delegation followed up on a visit to India in February 2024 by a high-level Sri Lankan delegation led by Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr Dissanayake, to explore further strengthening of the bilateral cooperation on capacity building of Sri Lanka civil service officers in India. To date, around 100 Sri Lankan civil service officers have undergone training as part of three short-term capacity building programs at NCGG for senior and mid-level officers from the country. The detailed interactions during the visit to Sri Lanka by the Indian delegation served to fine-tune and structure proposed long-term capacity building initiatives for Sri Lankan officers in India. In this regard, the delegation took note of avenues and sectors of specific interest to the Sri Lankan side, including centralized public grievance redressal mechanism, administrative reforms, personnel administration, pension reforms, e-office, procurement reforms, land administration, etc.