Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's address to the IAS Probationers 2008

"I am very happy to interact with you in this golden jubilee year of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy and what your Director has told me of the composition of this Batch of the IAS Probationers fills my heart with joy. That you have the largest number of women as part of this team, that a very large number of probationers have professional background. I think this augurs well for the future of our country. You are a very privileged Service. And when I look at the history of India, I marvel at the wisdom of great men and women who wrote the Constitution of India. They recognised that India would need an All India Service to keep India as one large common market, as a Union which would have in it model unity in diversity.

We are of course, a parliamentary democracy and peoples' representatives are the ultimate masters of policy planning, policy making and policy implementation. But we all know the various trends and tendencies in our political life. Today, our national polity faces a great threat of fragmentation. And in this background, there is more than ever before a need for a Service like the Indian Administrative Service with an All India perspective, committed to goals and ideals enshrined in the Constitution of India in the chapters on Fundamental Human Rights, in the chapter on Directive Principles of State policy and a Service which serves of course in States. And India of course lives in States. But we are a Union of States and we must never forget this all India perspective. When you go to various States, you are incharge of various departments, you look after the interests of your departments, the interests of your States but you must never lose sight of the wider perspective that there is a wider perspective of strengthening the unity and integrity of our country which must be the paramount concern of all Services in our country and foremost of a Service like the Indian Administrative Service.

During the British times, revenue collection, maintenance of law and order were the primary concerns of the administrators. But since then, our Constitution makers and our people have entrusted more and more functions to the Government and development and inclusive development which takes into account the interest of all segments of our population, an inclusive development which pays particular attention to the interests and well being of the most under privileged sections of society, the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Minorities and women and children and therefore it is your bounden duty as the servants of the people of India to pay particular attention to these concerns of development.

Development with a human touch, development which pays attention to the well being of all sections of society, a development process which is forward looking, which looks to the future of India with hope, with confidence and yet it is mindful of the pitfalls that might derail this process. And in all these, it is very important that you must pay particular attention to equipping yourself with latest trends in thinking about development, about environment and all other aspects which have a bearing on the processes of governance. Today, the world is changing at a pace which was unthinkable even a decade ago. Science and Technology have become the principle determiners of the wealth and well being of people all over the world. Human knowledge is therefore exploding and it is therefore very important that our Civil Servants should keep abreast of the latest trends in the development of human knowledge, knowledge which as I said is growing at a speed which was unthinkable even a decade ago. In all these, it is essential that our civil servants should be mindful of the concerns about what makes for balanced, equitable development. India is a country where 65% of people still live in rural areas. Therefore the development of agriculture, the development of rural areas, the well beings of all those who are connected with rural activities, is of paramount importance. We have decentralised the governance processes, we have now in most States , a three tier system of governance. You have the Central Government, you have the State Government, you have the Panchayati Raj institutions. It is therefore incumbent on the civil servants to work with all the three tiers of public administration with dedication. You would be working in the first few years of your life at the district level. Therefore you will come in contact with peoples' representatives who are represented in various Panchayati Raj institutions. You must learn to win their affection and respect. You must guide them. You must at the same time, warn them of the pitfalls that have to be avoided. And district collectors have enormous responsibilities in our system. Apart from the maintenance of law and order, sustained development through district level development agencies, district planning is an equally important part of the work of district collector. And therefore what goes in the name of economic and social planning must engage your attention all the time. And as I said, planning has to take into account of the fast changing circumstances. There is the concern about environment, that development has to be environment friendly, there are concerns arising out of the challenges that we have to face when disaster overtakes us, therefore, issues concerning management of disaster have to figure as importantly in your programme, in your training, in your understanding of development processes as processes of development.

As I said, since agriculture and rural development account for nearly 70% of our people, rural development and agricultural development and all the various elements which go to make for balanced rural and agricultural development must play a prominent role in your training, in your thinking, in your education and that is the one thing which I would impress upon you that you must never forget that you are privileged to be the servant of the people of India. Also I would urge you to take account of the challenges that we face as a nation. There are today forces which seek to destabilise our economy and our polity. There are threats of terrorism. There are threats of naxalism. We must understand the ferocity of these disturbing, disruptive elements and we must devise ways and means how we can equip our economy, polity to meet the challenges of terrorism, to meet the challenges of naxalism and simultaneously we must also recognise that communalism and religious hatred can be a very disruptive element and therefore, as public servants we must be alive to the dangers of communalism, of casteism, of regionalism. We work in States, we work in regions, the development of various States and regions is no doubt the primary responsibility of civil servants working there but you must never forget the wider entity called the Union of India. You are Secretaries to various departments, but you are first Secretaries to the Government and the Government you must view as a collective, cohesive entity. And therefore I would urge you that your thought processes preserving the unity and integrity of India must have the top most priorities along with the challenges of development.

Governance is a buzz word today. There are many areas where governance is not keeping in contact with the requirements of the situation. There is growing concern about corruption in public life. There is growing concern that civil servants are not mindful of their duties. I would therefore urge that you must be mindful of the fact that the people of India have entrusted you these responsibilities and it is your solemn obligation to serve the people with the greatest dedication. Furthermore, I would urge you to be mindful of the developments that are taking place around our neighbourhood. We are today faced with a neighbourhood which is far from peaceful. You all know about the developments in Pakistan. You all know about the developments in Nepal, you all know about the recent developments in Bangladesh, you all know about the recent developments in Sri Lanka. They all impinge on our development. South Asia is in turmoil. And therefore in planning for our own development, we have to be mindful of the environment within which we have to operate. So you have enormous opportunities but also enormous challenges and I have every reason to believe that the training that you have received at the Academy will equip you to discharge your functions with great credit to yourself, to the Academy, to your parents and to your country at large.

I have great pleasure in welcoming you to the Prime Minister's House and I wish you all Godspeed in your career."