Politics should never override policy: PM to IAS officers

Politics should never override policy: This was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s  message to Indian Administrative Service officers as a young batch met him in the country’s capital.

“The Prime Minister urged the officers to inculcate team spirit, and work towards breaking silos, in whatever capacity they serve,” the Prime Minister’s Office stated.

“Stating that politics should never override policy, the PM urged the officers to use two touchstones to help them in their decision-making: That the decisions should never be counter to national interest, and that the decisions should not harm the poorest of the poor,” it added.

The IAS officers of 2014 batch who have completed their three-month stint at Centre as Assistant Secretaries made eight presentations before Modi on various themes of governance such as DBT, Swachh Bharat, e-Courts, Tourism, Health and Satellite Applications in Governance.

The Prime Minister complimented the young officers, for their in-depth presentations.

He said the attachment of IAS officers as Assistant Secretaries with the Union Government had been envisaged as a mechanism that would bring the best out of the blend of youth and experience, the PMO statement said.

The results as presented today, gave him satisfaction that this vision was well on the road to realization, Modi told the young officers.

These officers started working as Assistant Secretaries in 58 central government departments from August 1, instead of starting their career from the cadre states assigned to them, after their training at the Lal Bahadur Shashtri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie.

The officers were assigned important desks related to policy and flagship programmes of the concerned ministries and departments. They were groomed by principal mentors at the level of Secretary.

This is the second batch of IAS Officers to have commenced their career with a stint in the central government.

"During their three-month posting with the central government, they were provided a holistic overview of the functioning of the central government. However, they started their office work from day one and disposed files related to their desk," according to a statement by Ministry of Personnel.

"The objective of this initiative is to provide exposure of government of India functioning to the IAS officers at a very early stage in their career," it added.

As primary implementers in the field, this exposure would also facilitate a broader macro perspective even when the officers work in the field, the statement said yesterday.