New Delhi, Dec 10 (UNI) Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister PK Mishra on Wednesday set the tone for the National Conference on “Ensuring Everyday Essentials – Public Services and Dignity for All” at Bharat Mandapam, declaring that Human Rights Day is not a symbolic observance but an “invitation to reflect on the lived experience of dignity.”
Speaking on the theme, “Human Rights, Our Everyday Essentials,” Dr. Mishra outlined a comprehensive approach by the government, pivoting from a mere rights-based framework to one centered on saturation-level delivery and dignity in public service.
The Principal Secretary noted that human rights thinking has significantly evolved, expanding beyond traditional civil, political, social, and economic rights.
Dr Mishra said, “Human Rights Day is not merely a commemoration of a historic declaration but an invitation to reflect on the lived experience of dignity… Dignity today is shaped not only by freedoms but also by access to privacy, mobility, clean environment and digital inclusion.”
He highlighted the government’s decisive shift since 2014 from enacting “paper rights” to realizing “implemented rights” through effective delivery and digital infrastructure. This push is strongly supported by initiatives like the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra.
“Poverty alleviation is the most effective human rights intervention,” he asserted, citing the latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, which confirmed that 25 crore Indians were lifted out of poverty in the last decade.
Dr Mishra articulated the government’s strategy for ensuring everyday essentials through four interdependent pillars: dignity at home, advanced by programs improving housing, water, sanitation, electricity, and clean fuel; social protection, ensuring food security, health coverage, and benefits for informal workers; inclusive economic growth, driven by financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, and women’s empowerment; and justice for vulnerable communities, strengthened through legal reforms and humanitarian efforts like Vaccine Maitri.
