National Civil Services Day
Vinod Chandrashekhar Dixit
The government of India celebrates Civil Services Day, every year as an occasion for the civil servants to rededicate themselves to the cause of serving citizens and renew their commitments to public service and excellence in work.
The reason behind choosing this very date was to commemorate the day when the first Home Minister of Independent India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, addressed the probationers of Administrative Services Officers in 1947 at Metcalf House, Delhi. The Government of India chose April 21 as the National Civil Service Day as on this day the country’s first home minister, SardarVallabhbhai Patel addressed the newly appointed Administrative Services Officers in 1947.
Every year, on 21st April, National Civil Services Day is celebrated in India as a token of appreciation for all officers, engaged in various public departments in the country, who work tirelessly to run India’s administrative machinery.
This day also acts as a reminder for civil servants, working in various departments, of the cause to serve the citizens of the country above all else. The civil service is known as the spine of the administration of the country. The civil service in India includes Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the central Group A and Group B services in the country.
Civil Service in our country consists of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and comprehensive list of All India Services and Central Services Group A and Group B. The Day is dedicated to all those who are involved in civil service in order to commemorate their exemplary services. On this day, they also make plans for coming years. The celebration on this day motivate Civil Service officers to work more efficiently for the public.What Civil Servants do, is not just a job, but a service to the common man individually and collectively.
The first National Civil Service Day was observed on April 21, 1947. This day was inaugurated by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was the Home Member of Parliament. He gave a strong and powerful speech and in his address, he referred to the civil servants as the steel frame of India.
He gave the speech at the All India Administrative Service Training School at Metcalfe House, Delhi. It is a day to appreciate the tremendous work done by officers engaged in public administration, in various departments of the central and state governments.
Sardar Patel also laid out the golden rules and principles of good governance for the civil servants in his address. He quoted that along with discipline, you must cultivate an esprit de corps without which a Service as such has little meaning. You should regard it as a proud privilege to belong to the Service, covenants of which you will sign, and to uphold throughout your service, its dignity, integrity and incorruptibility.”
Mahatma Gandhi rightly said that “Service without humility is selfishness and egotism.” Let us pay tribute to countless civil servants who are working round the clock.
(The author is a columnist based at Jodhpur Tekra Ahmedabad)
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