IAS officer Alok Kumar discussed about the welfare initiatives taken up by him in Uttar Pradesh in ‘Chai pe Charcha’ with Arpit Gupta, Art Editor, ETGovt.com. In this online interactive session, Mr. Kumar, who is Secretary to the Chief Minister and Secretary of Vocational Education & Technical Department, also dwelt upon his long journey of 22 years as a bureaucrat.
Public Health Schemes
The officer spoke at length about the various welfare schemes undertaken by the UP government. How the government is ensuring that the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, a programme under National Health Policy to provide free health insurance to the lower income groups, is a success. He also talked about the upcoming ‘Digital Health Card System’ which, he believes, will totally change the health insurance scenario of the country.
Technical Education
Talking about the three technical institutes in UP, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University in Lucknow, Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology in Gorakhpur and Harcourt Butler Technical University in Kanpur, he said that the ‘dual system of training’ being imparted here provides employable skills to the students along with formal education.
Past Endeavours
He reminisced how as District Magistrate in Sitapur, Prayagraj and Saharanpur, he launched many health care projects like the ‘National Dialysis Project’, under which more than 20 dialysis centres were established. Also, pediatric and neonatal care units were set up in many hospitals. And as the project director of UP AIDS Society, he launched an awareness drive on blood donation and made available 250 life-support ambulances round the clock.
Message for UPSC Aspirants
His message for UPSC aspirants is: Never lose sight of your goals, come what may. Being self-assured and determined is the key to success.
Love for Photography
Revealing what he does in his leisure time, Mr. Kumar said that he likes to do bird and wildlife photography. Every individual should develop a hobby to spend some quality time with, he feels.
A multifaceted personality who can multitask with ease, getting to know Mr. Alok Kumar, the officer and the man, made for quite an interesting session!
(By Ningthoujam Rohit Kumar Singh, who is interning with us)
