Democratisation” of Civil Services and other avenues due to technology driven accessibility to preparatory material which has, of late, enabled even the aspirants from the remotest parts of India to make it to IAS and other All India Services Services

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh has said that in recent years there has been a sort of “democratisation” of Civil Services and other avenues due to technology driven accessibility to preparatory material which has, of late, enabled even the aspirants from remotest parts of India to make it to IAS and other All India Services.

This new trend will have a bearing on our future as well, said the Minister. Technology has been the biggest leveller, with mobile phone and internet penetrating the countryside and everybody gaining access to knowledge, he said.

“The demography of the entire Civil Services has changed, – you have now toppers from Punjab, Haryana, even three girls this year, all of them from North India, earlier it was confined to a handful of States,” said Dr Jitendra Singh.

The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space was addressing the IAS Probationers at the 98th Foundation Course of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), bringing together 560 Officer Trainees from 16 Civil Services of India and 3 Civil Services of Bhutan, being conducted at Kevadiya, Gujarat.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, in the last 9-10 years, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has “cautiously introduced” fundamental changes in Governance and the grooming of Civil Servants. Symbolically, “PM Modi has moved India out of Delhi” and many events are now being organised across the country, he said.

“So, this is a kind of a new dimension, and I think it’s very much in keeping with the world order today… We have to live up to the global benchmarks and the global parameters,” he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that the focus of the Government, under the leadership of PM Modi, has been on transparency, accountability and in-time delivery of services by the Government.

“PM Modi has stressed that the age of working in silos is over and today it is the ‘Whole of Government’ approach,” he said.