Some of my early experiences of working with him revealed clearly that Shri Modi ji is a great leader in many respects. Working in the CM’s office under Shri Narendra Modi ji between 2003 and 2006 was the best experience of my life.
It revealed to us that the Government employees do not need better salary for their motivation but they want training, guidance and clear communication. Every year there used to be an annual conference of Collectors & DDOs in which CM would give his opening remarks followed by two days of deliberations. Different departmental Ministers and Secretaries would review the work of their departments with Collectors and DDOs. Shri Modi ji watched this exercise for two years by sitting through this Collector-DDO Conference. Modi ji once suggested that an exercise of opinion poll of all Government of Gujarat employees should be done to know their views on governance as well as to measure their job satisfaction. I indeed liked that idea. The result of this survey was also an eye-opener. Based on the result of this survey, Modi ji asked us to design a training programme of soft skill for all the Government employees. This was called Karmayogi training programme. For categories of Govt employees like drivers, stenographers, typists, office assistants, it was a first-time classroom training in their entire career. Some of them had tears in their eyes while giving their feedback to CM in an open meeting. Shri Modi ji made many interventions in each department which were path-breaking. Take the case of Krishi Mahotsav. It was a unique experiment of sending the agricultural scientists to the field to transfer the latest knowledge about farm practices campaign mode, year after year. It resulted in an increasing value of agriculture production in Gujarat during his period. He made concerted efforts to improve girl literacy by introducing Kanya Kenavani Shala Praveshotsav. He tried to improve the quality of primary education by large-scale rating of schools called Gunotsav. He put his attention on areas which were hitherto not in the focus of the Government’s radar. Gujarat model became point of discussion in all fora.
He expressed his dissatisfaction about the process and converted this into a 2–3-day conclave of all top policy-makers and administrators in GOG. Thus, the first Chintan Shibir at Kevadia Colony was born in 2003. It was professionally delivered to about 2 lakh Government employees in a short period of one year. this resulted into high motivation among them.
He also suggested moving it out of Gandhinagar to a different location so that everyone is free from distraction. As a result, during this period, Gujarat started improving its rank in most parameters in the country.
One memorable experience I had was in being a part of how the “Chintan-Shibir” was initiated and organized. We conducted this poll, called “Karmayogi Sarvabhipray”, in which 3 lakh Government employees of all departments participated.
