Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Feb 16: “You are the true torch – bearers of the Narendra Modi Government’s vision of good governance”, said Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, during an interaction here today with the 2014 batch of 183 IAS probationers, including 3 from the Royal Bhutan Service.
The new IAS probationers had come to pay a customary formal call to Dr. Jitendra Singh who handles matters related to IAS services in his capacity as MoS, Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT).They were accompanied by Rajeev Kapoor, Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) Mussoorie and Deputy Directors LBSNAA Mansoor Alam and Jaspreet Talwar.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, over the years Indian Administrative Service (IAS) has, notwithstanding several pitfalls, managed to maintain its standard of excellence and even today continues to be one of the most sought after vocations for an average Indian youth. Even in the new IAS batch consisting of 183 candidates, 56 happen to be women candidates accounting for 31% which, in other words, places these services as a benchmark for gender empowerment in 21st century India.
Over the years, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the requirements and expectations from the IAS have undergone tremendous change while at the same time, the accountability and transparency have also increased manifold.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, even though IAS is considered to be a legacy of the erstwhile Indian Civil Service (ICS), he has always believed that the two services are not totally similar. For example, the job of an ICS Collector was to collect revenue for the British colonial Raj whereas the responsibility of an IAS Collector is to generate revenue for the benefit of the masses.
Soon after independence, Dr. Jitendra Singh recalled, when Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel envisaged the concept of a professional All India Services , he had possibly visualized for these functionaries a quiet, silent but a significant role in the development and growth of modern India. Often, he said, at one or the other stage, a young officer might be faced with the dilemma as to who he really works for, but as he grows through the process of evolution, he realizes that the real test of his work lies in how much it has benefitted the common people. In this regard, he also mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice to each of the IAS officers who have put in long years of service to visit their first place of posting to understand what they left behind and where the things stand now.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, in the last few months, DoPT has consciously taken several initiatives to make the service conditions more office-friendly. In this context, he referred to the amendments proposed in the Delhi Police Act and the Prevention of Corruption Act . Similarly, for officers coming from States on deputation to the union capital, DoPT is contemplating provision of comfortable transport and housing facility even for the lower level officers to whom it was not available earlier.
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