Address by Dr. R. Balasubramanian

I think what is launched today — JSS GIFT — especially is possibly a very much needed and timely intervention, as it was explained by Dr. Nagabhushan. I was just contemplating: five years ago, when I first started at the Government of India, the mandate given to us at Mission Karmayogi — the honorable Prime Minister said we need to transform the bureaucracy. That's a very easy word “transform" — when you say it, as a word but when you actually get down to action, what do you transform them into? And it is not one or two people; it is 40 million civil servants — 4 crore civil servants across India. Betsurmath is here, a civil servant himself, and the biggest challenge that was given to me specifically was behavioral transformation. One should evolve from the mindset of being merely an employee to that of a Karma Yogi. In today's world, people feel fortunate just to have a job. But to go beyond being an employee and become a Karma Yogi is something truly exceptional. “So that itself was a major ask.

The second mandate given was how do you actually prepare them to be experts in whatever they were doing. You know it’s very Professor Nagabhushan was talking about domain knowledge — domain knowledge of public administration is very complex. When we teach it, it's very easy — we break it down into frameworks, formats. But when you actually get down to doing it, we are looking at how to identify and combine the skills required for everyone—from an Anganwadi worker and an ASHA worker to a Cabinet Secretary—and determine how to build their domain competence.

Take the government system, for example. Today, someone may be serving as the Joint Secretary or Secretary in the Agriculture Department. By Tomorrow evening, the same person could be appointed as the Health Secretary. Until today, they were guiding farmers on agricultural practices, and the next day, they are expected to oversee policies that affect doctors and healthcare systems.

In such a diverse and specialized world, our expectations of them never decrease. We continue to expect them to perform equally well in every role. However, we rarely ask whether they have been adequately prepared for such a transition.

That is precisely the challenge. Under the current system, this is simply not feasible because We run the world's largest learning management system. Everybody in India should be proud and all most All states have signed up with us, including the Government of Karnataka, and where they participate in making sure their competencies grow. Even if you are recruited into government service based on your qualifications, your skills should also be evaluated through competency assessments and skill-based tests after joining the service.

But the point is, the world of just thinking that automated seniority-based promotions will happen is gone. Delhi is very rapidly moving towards competency-based growth in civil services, and I think society itself is moving towards that direction, and if we don't change our attitudes we'll be left behind. We cannot believe that we are experts and we are no longer experts because the last mandate given to us was how do you prepare this world this country to be future-ready. If you're talking of Vikasit Bharath 2047, we don't even know what the future is going to look like. We don't even know tomorrow's future, Leave alone 2047’s future. Preparing a bureaucracy to lead India into 2047 was the biggest mandate that we have had to go through, and lifelong learning is the only way. You can never say what you need tomorrow, but we can prepare ourselves to learn what we need tomorrow. That's all we can do. You can do only do.

So I was very impressed when you said leadership. you can you have to learn. You have to lead to know how to learn and you have to learn to know how to lead. And if we can crack this, lifelong learning is a reality. So at the NITI Aayog today, our mandate is extraordinarily complex. At least the mandate given to me specifically ranges from virtually the entire social sector to looking at the nation's future skills and entrepreneurship, to looking at Labor and employment. All the challenges that we’re going to face because of AI is what I'm worried about. I should honestly confess, I'm sleepless. "Some people, seeing that I have been felicitated so grandly, may think that I have achieved something extraordinary. In a way, that responsibility is real. To be honest, it is the kind of responsibility that can keep you awake at night, "The challenges are so enormous, we are not even aware of what we are not aware of, that is a worrisome thing.

AI has become so disruptive. How do you convert a problem into an opportunity, where we can actually transform people who are going to lose millions of jobs, upskill them to occupy the next rung of the ladder? The next rung of the ladder is not going to be easy. A restless, youthful community which is stinging into a future which may not even exist for them is not easy either. So jobs are going to disappear. even medical jobs. Let’s not be there are recent experiments in Japan where they started off with 200 robotic nurses; today they're making it 20,000. So essentially, nursing itself is going to be because she can't complain. The robotic nurses working 24/7, changing a diaper, changing a urinary can to putting a what taking care of everything that a nurse does, can be programmed into it today. And which means the reality of designer drugs is all not just fiction. It’s actually happening very rapidly.

So I think this extraordinary initiative of Dr. Suresh, in bringing in something like this. So I have a request to we seek knowledge partnerships very, very seriously at NITI. We really want to know how we move this forward, because if I were to believe that I have solutions, then I can't be a bigger idiot than that. But we need your help. So we need to understand how disruptive AI is going to be, not just in the health sector but essentially across sectors.

Professor Nagabhushan, you are not retired. Your life has only started now. We have a lot of asks from you, because if we don't find quick solutions, it might be too late for India, and India's opportunity is enormous. Because of the way we are progressing, we have to keep the momentum of progress, and we live in a very complex world. in a public audience I cannot share but the pressure of growth is not just India’s ability to grow, it also depends on the external environment's ability to suppress India's growth, and we have to constantly counter it and this you know seeing some of these challenges some very close hand close quarters and firsthand, economic growth despite all this is an achievement for this country, and we have to keep the momentum going. And that momentum can happen only in the language of the honorable Prime Minister “Samaj sarkar bazar sath sath chalna chahiye,” he says we cannot believe government has all the answers. Any government, whether national government or state government, they can only create catalytic environments, facilitate processes, brining policy which can enable people — but finally it is the citizens, the people, civil society organizations and private sector that can make a difference.

I'm so glad Excelsoft is partnering with you, because we use them also for many of our courses. In from Delhi to Mysuru is a long way, and sometimes to NITI Aayog, is also challenge so planning. No state can do it alone, and between the three of us, the portfolios we have virtually cover all the modern requirements of progress for a state or a country. So I'm hoping that in this journey of progress for this nation, JSS AHER will also be a partner to us, and I will make a list of demands for you and unhesitatingly seek your expertise in helping us move on in this not just health sector. Very dynamic team that we are there.

Thank you so much. That’s a very reassuring thing, and again I thank you for inviting me all the way, for your hospitality, for your love and affection. The Vidyapeetta has always been, and Swamiji has always been, such a great supporter. I can I don’t know how many of you even know this In the entire 40 to 43 years of my public life in the Vivekananda youth movement, every time we had a crisis I would simply come and meet Swamiji, and in his own quiet, silent way we have had such extraordinary support that we could not be doing what we are doing today if it had not been for this, in every possible way I’m not saying, just financially, in every possible way and That is the large-heartedness of this institution.

So you truly bring about societal change; now you have to look at national change, and maybe global change. So my only request to the honorable Dr. Suresh is your programs should not just be for the nation. I think there is a serious gap in the Global South. As India takes on leadership of the Global South, the university also should take on leadership of JSS GIFT and EDGE for the Global South, and in whatever way I can help facilitate that, I'll be happy to support you in that venture.

So thank you again, thank you for inviting me. Namaste.