Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday addressed a group of over 150 newly-recruited IAS officers serving in various central government departments as assistant secretaries and encouraged them to be receptive towards new ideas, new concepts and perspectives.
The 169 IAS officers of the 2017 batch made presentations to the prime minister on themes ranging from transforming aspirational districts to governance solutions for transparency and faster delivery.
Their tenure as assistant secretaries in various central government departments was extended from September 27 to October 1 by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions on August 30.
Prime Minister Modi encouraged the officers to be receptive towards new ideas, new concepts and perspectives.
"One should take feedback from multiple sources, analyse them and incorporate them," Modi said in the presence of Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh, prime minister's Principal Secretary P K Mishra, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba and Secretary (DoPT) C Chandramouli.
The prime minister asked the officers to strive for continuous learning and to foster curiosity.
Interacting with the officers, Modi said maintaining service orientation is paramount for a civil servant as it will bring out neutrality.
Emphasizing on the importance of public participation, he urged the young officers to encourage collective efforts for effective implementation of government schemes.
Modi exhorted the officers to imbibe the best experiences they had during the course of being assistant secretary.
The prime minister appreciated the young officers for their presentations and wished them the best for their roles ahead.
"Your success is important for the nation. Your success can transform the lives of many people," Modi said.
Cabinet Secretary Gauba said during their career, these officers have to fulfil important responsibilities in states and the Centre, and this attachment helps them to understand the functioning of Central government flagship programmes closely.
This practice was started in 2015 and this is the 5th such batch to be attached with central ministries and departments, he said.
The posting of these IAS officers was part of a unique initiative started by the central government to groom bureaucrats at the Centre before they move out to their respective state cadres.
IAS officers are allotted cadres - which could either be a state or group of states. The officers are supposed to start their career in their respective cadre states.
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