Our Correspondent
KOHIMA, SEPTEMBER 8
The Nagaland Secretariat Service Association (NSSA) today held its triennial conference at the Capital Convention Centre, Kohima.
Addressing the inaugural session of the day-long conference, Chief Secretary Pankaj Kumar asserted that the state secretariat is the custodian of the government rules, laws and procedures, and the secretariat service workforce constitutes the backbone of the state secretariat functioning. As such, he said the members need to update themselves to keep pace with the fast changing times.
Kumar stated that the different cadres of the secretariat service are all part of a large bureaucracy and if this bureaucracy is immersed in itself and kept static then it will be unable to yield the necessary outcomes.
He said technologically, the pace of change is unrelenting and along with it, new challenges are brought to the fore, and consequently, old policies and procedures have to be tweaked to make way for new ones. To this, he called upon the NSSA members to update their knowledge so as to maximize output.
Pointing out that while knowledge in general changes, the top bureaucrat said there are certain aspects that do not change and instead require strengthening such as the qualities of sincerity, commitment, hard work, punctuality etc.
Kumar said a conference such as this is an opportunity to reflect on what is going on and to ponder the current and future challenges.
Citing the discontentment which the Commissioned Secretariat Assistants are currently airing, the Chief Secretary stated that each service cadre need to be reviewed once in a while. He also informed that the state government will expeditiously take decisions on the matter and further called upon all members to continue endeavouring to deliver services that support and contribute to the output of the government.
Exhorting the gathering as the guest of honour of the occasion, Principal Secretary & Finance Commissioner, Temjen Toy expressed concern over the scarcity of qualities like honesty, sincerity and hard work which used to define the Naga society in the past. He underscored the need for all to introspect on how much they are willing to salvage those qualities back into the society. “As NSS, you are a quality workforce manning the nerve centre of the state, putting procedures in place,” Toy said, urging the NSSA to strive to be “diamonds in the dust”. “Let us resolve internally to be sincere and give back to the government and to the people,” he added.
Short speeches were also delivered by representatives of Nagaland IAS Association, Nagaland Civil Services Association and the Confederation of All Nagaland State Service Employees (CANSSEA).
Earlier, Imti Longchar delivered the presidential address. The association is said to have over 600 members from five different grades.
