New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked young 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.
Interacting with 169 IAS officers of 2013 batch here, he said the officials should not to let "tensions and struggles" affect them but should work to integrate as many people as possible with them in their endeavours.
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 people are not affected by viral because of immunity and inherent strength to counter the virus," Modi 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 told the young officers not to have "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.
At the same time, he asked the young officers to avoid tensions and struggles, saying "No situation can't be changed through tensions and struggles. Your strength gains on the basis of number of people you integrate," he said.
The Prime Minister was interacting with the IAS officers of 2013 batch, who for the first time started their career as Assistant Secretaries from the national capital rather than their respective states allocated to them as cadres.
Noting that the young officers would be managing the country's one-fifth districts, he said, "over the next 10 years, the fate of these one-fifth districts is going to change.
You can imagine that if this team (of IAS officers) transforms one-fifth districts, then I don't thing there can be any obstacles in transforming India."
Modi told the officers that they have everything -- administration, powers to take decisions and resources -- which should be used for the betterment of the lives of common people.
"The gulf between the government and the society cannot be filled only by politicians. We will also need to change our attitudes. It is not necessary that we remain connected to the society only through an elected body. Our administration should have direct communication with the society. There should be direct communication with the citizens. You will see how much strength it gives. It helps so much that you cannot imagine," he said.
Modi also told the young bureaucrats that their "actions must be in tune" with a vision. "What we learn on the ground, through experience, is very important," the Prime Minister said encouraging them to initiate people-friendly initiatives to further ease governance.
Modi asked them to avoid "ego clash" and consult senior and experienced officials at the place of their posting to understand the problem in the area and find its solution.
"Wherever you go, you will find at least two villages under your area where there will be no electric pole. You will feel that okay these are among those 18,000 villages without electricity. Then I will think that these two villages I need to electrify and I will not delay and will first do this job. This means our action will be in tune with vision," he said.
These IAS officers have been assigned important desks related with policy and flagship programmes of the concerned ministries and departments here.
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 the desk work, the young officers have been visiting the attached offices besides undertaking field visits.
