BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Secretary Ratna Prabha has drawn the admiration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a conference of IAS officers at Ambedkar International Centre, in New Delhi, on Tuesday.
Addressing the officials, Modi referred to a tweet by Ratna Prabha where she recollected meeting a 27-year old constable whom she had once enrolled into a school while serving as Deputy Commissioner in Raichur. “Two days ago, I was surfing (Twitter). I found a tweet by a lady officer. It was very interesting. Now, she has become a senior officer whose name I forgot,” he said and narrated the incident described by Ratna Prabha.
According to the tweet from her handle @Ratnaprabha_IAS, described by Modi, Ratna Prabha recently met a constable who had come to her office asking whether she remembered him. When she could not, he told her that he was the boy grazing sheep near Idnapur village whom she had got admitted in a school, Modi said. Such officers, Modi said, were essential and the government should tap their skill sets. “The nation expects a lot from us,” he told the officials.
Elated by Modi’s praise, Ratna Prabha said that PM’s gesture has motivated her further to serve people. “I had tweeted about my initiative to admit a shepherd boy, Narasappa, into a school. Prime Minister Modi conveyed his appreciation. Narasappa had recently met me and I have asked him to meet me again,” Ratna Prabha said.
What Twitterati said
Replies and other posts in the thread showed that Narasappa considered Ratna Prabha as his mother because of her gesture. As one Twitter user described her as a mother to Narasappa, she replied: “Yes!! He also told me he is an orphan & was trying to meet me since years.”
To another comment by a user on how DCs just sit in the back of their cars and “don’t see around”, she replied: “We look at our mobiles! That has become the greatest bane for bureaucracy.”
Ratna Prabha’s tweet
Narsappa of Idapnur village Raichur said he was grazing sheep near a school & I was passing by as DC in my car, stopped called the school teacher & admitted him & now 27 years later he was before me as a constable.came to Thank Me!! Cant believe small actions hve lasting results.(sic)