NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday gave some advice to newly joined IAS officers — politics should never override policy. Decisions should never affect the national interest and harm the poorest of the poor.
According to a statement by the PMO, “The Prime Minister urged the officers to inculcate team spirit, and work towards breaking silos, in whatever capacity they serve.”
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. “Stating that politics should never override policy, the Prime Minister 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.
He said the attachment of IAS officers as assistant secretaries had been envisaged as a mechanism to bring the best out of the blend of youth and experience, the statement said. Modi told young officers that the result as presented, gave him satisfaction that this vision was well on the road to realization.