New Delhi: The National Civil Services Day is not just to celebrate the achievements of India’s ‘Steel Frame’ but also to spread their thoughts and vision for a larger cause and goal. Senior IPS officer and DGP Mizoram Devesh Shrivastava feels that the maintenance of peace and public order, development and public welfare, collection of taxation, revenue and foreign relations are the mainstay of any governance, which are being carried out with aplomb by the top civil servants of various streams and their teams since Independence.

“Rapid stride in development and various public welfare policies, deft and dynamic diplomacy, surge in revenue collection and finally a robust internal security infrastructure despite humongous challenges in terms of various kinds of threats from inimical neighbourhood and beyond,  heterogeneity of population in terms of religion, culture, ethnicity, etc., and huge socio-economic disparities, could only be made possible by the dedicated, nationalist and hardworking civil servants, who are largely men and women of virtues. Their contribution will always be of paramount importance in the governance for all time to come in all nooks and corners of the country and even beyond, Shrivastava told Navneet Anand and Rajeev Ranjan Roy of Bureaucrats India.

Dr Jitendra Gupta, senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and currently serving as Additional Secretary, Home, Nagaland, while congratulating all Civil Servants of India on the Civil Services Day, said: “I pledge to keep dedicating myself in service of the people of India, without fear of anybody, in the light of law enacted by the people’s representatives. I keep upholding the truth, come what may!”

Sagar Shrivastava, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) of 2014 batch said: “Civil Services continue to be the beacon of change and more importantly the single most powerful and effective medium of bringing about positive transformation in the lives of millions, that civil servants across the spectrum dedicate their lives to the service of this great nation and her people.”

Ashish Tiwari, an IPS officer currently serving in Uttar Pradesh, said: “Civil Services are the Steel Frame of India. Over the years, they have stayed true to the Constitution as a whole and thus have been a constant in all the change. But, with time Civil Services need to have a more startup kind of mindset and mission driven zeal. Fostering bottom-up innovation, access to top decision makers irrespective of hierarchy, functional leadership, etc., are going to be very important for delivering in the 21st century.”

“Civil Servants are playing a crucial role in ensuring good governance and effective citizen service delivery. Empathy, compassion, leadership, team spirit and public participation shall always remain tenets guiding the Civil Services in the country,” said Sonal Goel, IAS, Resident Commissioner, Tripura Bhawan, New Delhi. “Civil Services have contributed extensively to uphold the beauty of an extremely diversified, vibrant India,” added Harshika Singh, Collector Mandla, Madhya Pradesh. /BI/