**Executive Summary**
On April 21, 2026, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) inaugurated Season 2 of "Reimagining Governance Discourse for Excellence" (RGDE) to mark Civil Services Day. The session featured a keynote by historian William Dalrymple, who explored India's historical role as a civilisational connector and the relevance of this openness to future leadership. The event aimed to encourage public institutions to look beyond operational concerns and use history as a resource for contemporary policy and governance.
**Key Points / Main Content**
**India’s Civilisational and Economic History**
* India's historic strength was rooted in the movement of ideas and civilisational openness rather than territorial conquest.
* New evidence challenges the "Silk Road" narrative, placing India at the heart of ancient global exchange and as a key intermediary between the Mediterranean and Asia.
* India’s influence was both intellectual and economic, evidenced by the transmission of Buddhism, Indian thought, and mathematics, including the concept of zero.
* The nation’s capacity to absorb, adapt, and reinterpret ideas allowed Indian concepts to evolve and take root in diverse contexts.
**Reimagining Modern Governance**
* Governance is defined as a "golden road," requiring a continuous balance between institutional memory and the need for adaptation.
* Continuous learning in public institutions is essential for expanding administrative thinking beyond immediate operational tasks.
* Historical patterns serve as a resource for administrators to design context-sensitive policies and understand modern geopolitical positioning.
* The session explored the potential of Artificial Intelligence to bring objectivity to history by removing visible forms of bias.
**Session Participation and Discourse**
* The event included active participation from officers across more than 150 field offices and the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
* Discussions focused on whether civilisational influence requires "hard power" or can emerge solely through culture and knowledge.
* The RGDE platform is positioned as a unique space for institutions to engage with diverse perspectives and think critically about their future.
**Impact Analysis**
**EPFO Officers and Ministry of Labour & Employment Personnel**
**Impact**
Staff members are encouraged to broaden their administrative perspective and move beyond routine operational duties to engage with broader intellectual and historical contexts.
**Action Required**
Officers must engage in continuous learning and apply historical and context-sensitive insights when designing and implementing modern governance policies.
**Public Institutions and PDUNASS**
**Impact**
Institutions are challenged to function as thinking organisations that balance their institutional memory with modern adaptive needs.
**Action Required**
PDUNASS and related bodies must continue to provide platforms like RGDE that foster intellectual discourse and help administrators rethink the future of institutional policy.
**Policy Makers and Administrators**
**Impact**
There is a shift toward viewing history not just as a narrative, but as a practical resource for institutional and geopolitical strategy.
**Action Required**
Administrators should explore how historical openness and current technological advancements, such as AI, can be used to improve the objectivity and effectiveness of governance.
Key Entities Referenced
Reimagining Governance Discourse for Excellence (RGDE): An initiative and platform designed to bring historical and intellectual perspectives into contemporary governance and administrative thinking.
Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO): The primary organization and host of the discourse, aimed at expanding administrative perspectives within its institutional framework.
William Dalrymple: Historian and author who delivered the keynote address on India's civilisational history and its role as a template for future global leadership.
PDUNASS: The training academy (Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya National Academy of Social Security) that leads and facilitates the RGDE sessions.
Ministry of Labour & Employment
India’s civilisational openness key to future
leadership: William Dalrymple at EPFO’s RGDE
Season 2 on Civil Services Day
Posted On: 21 APR 2026 7:53PM by PIB Delhi
Marking Civil Services Day, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) inaugurated Season 2
of Reimagining Governance Discourse for Excellence (RGDE) lead by PDUNASS with a keynote by
historian and author William Dalrymple, reflecting on India’s long arc as a civilisational connector of
ideas, trade and culture.
India’s historic strength, Dalrymple argued, lay not in conquest but in the movement of ideas, an openness
that allowed it to shape civilizations across continents. Reclaiming that spirit, he suggested, may be central
to India’s future global role.
Challenging conventional narratives of the “Silk Road,” he pointed to evidence that places India at the
heart of ancient global exchange. Trade patterns, including the concentration of Roman wealth along
India’s coasts and its absence further east, indicate that India functioned as a key intermediary linking the
Mediterranean world with Asia .
But trade, he noted, was only one layer of a deeper story.India’s influence travelled through ideas, through monks, scholars and traders, shaping cultures from
Central Asia to Southeast Asia. The spread of Buddhism across Asia, the evolution of Indian thought
within other traditions, and the transmission of mathematics, including the concept of zero, reflect a
civilisational reach that was intellectual as much as economic.
What made this possible was not power in the conventional sense, but a distinctive capacity to absorb,
adapt and reinterpret. Indian ideas did not remain fixed; they evolved as they moved, taking root in new
contexts while retaining their philosophical depth.
At a time when global systems are once again in flux, Dalrymple suggested that this openness offers a
relevant template. Nations that influence the world are not only those that project strength, but those that
generate ideas and allow them to travel.
The session saw active participation from officers across more than 150 field offices and various
constituents of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, with questions that connected history to
contemporary governance.
Participants raised questions on whether civilisational influence can emerge through culture and
knowledge alone, or requires hard power, and how India’s historical openness might inform its present
geopolitical positioning.
There was also interest in how historical patterns continue to shape modern governance, and whether
administrators can draw on these continuities to design more context-sensitive policies and whether
artificial intelligence could make history more objectivity removing visible forms of bias.
These exchanges reflected a broader attempt to engage with history not merely as narrative, but as a
resource for thinking about institutions, policy, and the future.
In his opening remarks, Director, PDUNASS, Shri Kumar Rohit described governance itself as a “golden
road” , a continuous process of balancing institutional memory with the need for adaptation, particularly
relevant on Civil Services Day.
The Central Provident Fund Commissioner, Shri Ramesh Krishnamurthi, emphasised the importance of
continuous learning in public institutions, noting that such platforms expand administrative thinking
beyond immediate operational concerns.The session was moderated by Shri Uttam Prakash, RPFC-I, and underscored the value of bringing
historical perspective into contemporary governance discourse.
As RGDE enters its second season, it continues to position itself as a unique platform for engaging with
diverse intellectual perspectives, encouraging institutions not just to function, but to think.
*****
Rini Choudhury/Anjelina Alexander
(Release ID: 2254275) Visitor Counter : 238
Read this release in: Urdu , ही