The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that IAS officers in the beginning of their career are evidently benefiting from the early three-month Central Government stint as Assistant Secretaries, which was introduced by the Government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in 2015.
Interacting with a group of Assistant Secretaries of IAS 2017 batch, who are presently undergoing three months of assignment in the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Dr Jitendra Singh said that the initiative was introduced as an experiment, but looking back it has proved to be a win-win outcome. The young IAS officers who have undergone this initial Central stint in the last three years, are themselves acknowledging that they feel immensely benefited from the exposure received in various Ministries of the Government of India and at the same time, the familiarity they developed with colleagues and seniors in the Government of India, he said. At the same time, the various Ministries and Departments where these youngsters put in the early three months of their career have also the benefit of receiving several new inputs and ideas from these young minds, he added.
In addition to exposure at different levels, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the three months’ period of Assistant Secretaries also offers these young officers an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the flagship and priority programmes of Government of India, which they can then implement in their respective States allocated as per the cadre. At the same time, the three months’ period offers an opportunity to the young IAS officers to demonstrate before the Prime Minister of India and the senior functionaries in the Union Government, their individual talents, inherent aptitudes and capabilities, which is in itself a rare privilege that may otherwise not come in the way of a Civil Servant throughout his or her career.
To the Assistant Secretaries who called on him, Dr Jitendra Singh suggested that at the end of three months’ Central stint, in addition to making formal presentations on the subjects assigned to them, it would also be good if they informally provide inputs and suggestions from their experience during this period. This, he said, will help the Ministry of Personnel to further improve upon this practice.
Among the DoPT assigned Assistant Secretaries of IAS 2017 batch who called on the Minister were Anil Kumar of Bihar cadre hailing from Jharkhand, Sagar Setia of Punjab cadre hailing from the same State and Prandal Patil of Kerala cadre hailing from Maharashtra
