Tensions, struggles don’t bring change: PM Modi to babus

Tensions and struggles do not bring change, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said as he urged young IAS officers to bring in positive change that will benefit the nation. 

“Tensions and struggles don’t bring change. It is about how many people to integrate,” Modi said during his interaction with 169 IAS officers of 2013 batch. Noting that they are the people going to manage several districts across India, he said: “The positive change you bring will be beneficial for the nation.”

“Our actions must be in tune with our vision. What we learn on the ground is very important,” the Prime Minister said, encouraging the young bureaucrats to initiate people-friendly initiatives to further ease governance.

Modi also asked the IAS officers to develop immunity against the “viral” of corruption and act as agents of change to improve the lives of common people as the country needs to seize the “golden opportunity” to attain new heights.

Giving a pep talk to the young officers, Modi said they can bring about a “big change” through hard work and sincerity as he noted that they would be working in one-fifth of the country’s districts over the next 10 years. 

“Sometimes, we find that some people are down with viral fever. But at the same time, we find that some are not affected by viral because of immunity and inherent strength to counter the virus,” the PM said.

“Wherever we go, there may be the viral of laziness, viral of despondency or viral of corruption. But if one goes with strength, then even after getting affected with viral, the disease can be cured with just one tablet. An energetic person can change that viral-filled situation. If one tablet can bring such a change, then why can’t humans do it. Just cribbing will not do,” he said.

The Prime Minister asked the young officers to shun “ego” and build teams wherever they work. He also advised them to take advise from those who have worked in a particular area or field for decades and have since retired.

Asking the officers to act as agents of change, he said the positive work done by the IAS officers in villages and districts will help India achieve new heights.

“There is a golden opportunity for India which it cannot afford to miss. How do we use this opportunity to help the nation attain new heights? How do we take benefit of situation? And wherever we are, whatever our responsibilities are, whatever our strengths are, if we exploit them and decide that we need to take the country forward. This country will move on,” Modi said.

These IAS officers for the first time started their career as Assistant Secretaries from the national Capital, rather than their respective states allocated to them as cadres. They have been assigned important desks related with policy and flagship programmes of the concerned ministries and departments.

They are being groomed by principal mentors at the level of Secretary and divided into four clusters, namely infrastructure, social sector, regulatory, enabling or support sector and economic or commerce related, as assigned by the Cabinet Secretary.

Apart from desk work, the young officers have been visiting the attached offices besides undertaking field visits.

Six assistant secretaries made presentations on different topics including on Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), among others.

The first presentation was made by Shailesh Yadav and Vijay Kulange on PMMY; Ajeet Vasant, S Aswathi and Neilenthang Telien made the second presentation on improving government communication and Divya Mittal made the third presentation on citizen centric service monitoring.

IAS officers Parth Gupta, K Shashanka and Nawal Kishor made the fourth presentation on ‘Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat’; T Prabhushankar, Harpreet Singh Sudan and Rajendra Katara made the presentation on soil health card scheme and Himanshu Shukla gave the sixth presentation on National Mineral Exploration Policy, a press release issued by the Personnel Ministry said.