Nagaland Kenye urges civil servants to be proactive partners in governance

Minister power and parliamentary affairs KG Kenye Wednesday described civil servants as the “most prized and valued machinery” and urged them to be proactive partners in governance.
Addressing the 47th General Conference of the Nagaland Civil Service Association (NCSA), Kenye emphasised the necessity for a unified front and said civil servants and elected representatives must walk as a team. “We must complement and supplement each other because our subject is the same… Our interest is the people and the land,” he said. Kenye also urged NCS officers to move beyond their office walls. He told them to become a little more vocal and proactive instead of confining themselves within the four walls of their offices. Kenye encouraged them to mingle more with the grassroots people.
Stressing public trust in bureaucrats, Kenye said, “We are politicians, we say something today, we do another thing tomorrow, but the civil servants are the last people the public trusts. This trust gives them an opportunity to motivate, influence, and shape the outlook of the people toward sensible and practicable demands.”
Highlighting Nagaland’s unique position under Article 371A of the Constitution, Kenye said the state’s civil servants face a distinctive and challenging role.
Commissioner and Secretary Kesonyu Yhome underlined the pivotal role of NCS officers in shaping the state’s future.
“We need to reorient from a law-and-order centric role to a development-oriented role,” he said, urging officers, especially those posted in the field, to identify at least one key sector where they can drive change, whether in education, health, economy, or rural development.
He encouraged NCS officers to form working groups, carry out deeper sectoral studies, and provide practical, locally informed recommendations to the government. NCSA president S. Tainiu, in her presidential address, underscored the responsibility of civil servants in shaping a responsive and people-centric administration in Nagaland.