10th Civil Service Day celebrated

SHILLONG, APR 21: The 10th Civil Services Day with the theme, Civil Service: The flag bearer of “continuity and

change” in Governance, was celebrated on Thursday at the State Convention Centre where chief minister Mukul Sangma graced the occasion as chief guest.

Addressing the civil servants from the All India Service and the State Civil Service, the chief minister said that Civil Services Day provides an opportunity to the civil servants to re-energize themselves in their humble endeavour to serve the people and the country. He also said that the civil service structure is as relevant as ever, having been able to withstand the pulls and pushes since pre-independence era and until post-independence.

“Civil Services Day presents an opportunity for us to re-align and re-strategise our approach to governance to ensure effective delivery of services to the people”, Sangma said while urging his officers to work with due diligence in tackling the various challenges of governance to realise the expectations of the people.

The chief minister also said that meeting the challenges of responding proactively to the needs, expectations and aspirations of the people is crucial for sustaining the democratic system of governance. “To be able to respond and react proactively to the needs of the people becomes crucial to governance”, he stated.

The chief minister said the occasion must enthuse the civil servants gathered to work in unison with the political leaders for the two are inseparable adding that the commitment to the shared agenda which are in sync with the aspirations of the people will ensure that the promises made to the people are effectively delivered.

Expounding on how critical each stage in the career graph of a civil servant is, Sangma urged upon the civil servants to do justice to the privilege of connecting with the grass roots and to serving people in various capacities at different stages in various places across the state of Meghalaya.

“Service to the people and the state can never end. Every day is a day of action and introspection” said the chief minister, while egging on all concerned to work in a more synchronized manner by attending to other challenges in addition to the existing ones and responding to the needs of the people, especially the youth, thereby generating hope in them to ensure a prosperous state and nation.

Earlier, while delivering the key note address, Meghalaya chief secretary KS Kropha, spoke of the need to deal with the challenges brought forth by changing times. He also said that the key to success lies in a team work of the bureaucracy and political leadership and urged all concerned to pledge to give the best they have to the government and the country.

Others who spoke at the  function were Sanjay Goyal, Secretary Finance Department, Government of Meghalaya, CP Gotmare, Director of Higher and Technical Education, Government of Meghalaya.

After the inaugural function there were three technical sessions with deliberations by BS Baswan, IAS (Retd), who spoke on the topic, “Public Policy Drivers”; CK Reddy , IPS (Retd), who spoke on the topic, “ ISIS and its impact on India with a focus on Northeast”; and Dr AK Bhattacharya, IFS (retd), who spoke on the topic “ Innovations and Best Practices for Good Governance- a view from the Indian Forest Service”.-By Our Reporter