Chinese delegates laud Delhi Govt's 'Bhagidari' scheme

New Delhi, Jan 9 (UNI) Vice-President of China's Central Party School Wang Weiguang today lauded the initiative of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in introducing 'Bhagidari' in governance, which has won her acclaim world-wide.

He said this after viewing a presentation, made by Directorate of Training (Union Territory Civil Services), on 'Bhagidari and Training'.

Prof Wang was leading a seven-member high-level Chinese delegation, which was also impressed by the strides made by the Directorate that had witnessed a growth of 103.81 per cent in 2005-06 over the past years in the number of officials trained.

While the number of training programmes has increased to 89, nine special training programmes, including one on 'project management', have been organised, for Indian Administrative Service and Delhi Andaman and Nicobar Island Civil Service officers in view of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The 'Bhagidari' scheme was initiated by the Ms Dikshit in 2000 in bringing government citizens and other stakeholders face-to-face for dialogue and collaborative problem solving exercise. Since then the programme has made people and civil society equal partners with the governance in numerous schemes and activities.

In 2005, 'Bhagidari' was conferred the 'United Nations Public Service Award' for improving transparency, accountability and responsiveness.

Former Delhi Chief Secretary S Regunathan, Indian Institute of Public Administration Director P L Sanjiv Reddy and Secretary (Training) Manoj Parida addressed the delegates.

UNI