People from inadequately represented sections joining civil services: Union Minister Jitendra Singh

Citing sudden upsurge of women power in civil services, Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said more and more candidates from inadequately represented sections of the society were making it to top government jobs.He was speaking after meeting with three toppers of civil services examination--Tina Dabi, Athar Aamir Ul Shafi Khan and Jasmeet Singh Sandhu--who had called on the Minister at his North Block office.Congratulating the three youngsters for achieving the meritorious distinction, Singh said, it is a pleasant coincidence that ever since the Modi government took over two years ago, there has been a sudden upsurge of women power in civil services, according to a press release issued by the minister's office.For example, he said, in the last year's exam, four out of six toppers were girls while in this year's exam, two out of four toppers are also girls. Besides Tina, Artika Shukla is the girl who has stood fourth, Singh said.Another notable trend in the last few years is that more and more candidates were making it to civil services from those sections of society which were hitherto not adequately represented. The profile of the three toppers of this year is also a testimony to this trend, he said."The three toppers represent the hitherto lesser represented sections of society in civil services, which is an indication that the IAS and civil services have finally moved away from being 'elite services' as they were generally described earlier."The government is committed to make civil services more and more identifiable with the aspirations of the common man," said Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.He said the present government's thrust on citizen centric governance can be achieved by such young civil servants who come from the average common man's background and can easily identify with the aspirations of the common youth of India who comprise more than 65% of the country's population today.Singh said states like Jammu and Kashmir which, till few years ago, complained of not having enough number of direct IAS officers, will also feel gratified as more and more number of candidates from J-K are now making it to the civil services and also requesting for home cadre.Wishing Tina, Athar and Jasmeet best of career, he said, they have 30 to 35 years to serve which is a long period, during which many ministers and many governments will come and go, but they would have to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining continuity in services through the transition of different time-phases.Singh said they are also lucky to enter into the services at a time when India is on the verge of becoming a world power and they would have the satisfaction of being architects of India's grand historic evolution to emerge as frontline nation of the world.