Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said that funds will be allotted for a new training centre for the Kerala State Civil Service Academy, which had guided 39 candidates to success in this year's UPSC's Civil Services Examination.
Mr. Chandy, while inaugurating a function to felicitate the winners from the academy at Mascot Hotel here, praised the institution, which was set up in 2005, for helping so many candidates clear the exam.
Mohan Abraham, Director of the Centre for Continuing Education, Kerala, spoke about the problems faced by out-station students who had to stay in hostels. A new building was necessary to accommodate such students. He also demanded that out-station students be granted fare concession while travelling in city buses.
The Chief Minister said the government had assisted in the establishment of a centre in Palakkad. “Since the director said that land is available, funds will be allotted this year itself for the construction of a multi-storey building,” Mr. Chandy said.
Minister of Education Abdu Rabb, in his presidential address, said that the government would offer all help to develop the academy so as to dispel the notion that “one needs to go to Delhi to succeed in the exam.”
The steel frame
Shashi Tharoor, MP, welcomed the successful candidates into bureaucracy, labelling it as a permanent position as opposed to politicians “who come and go.” “A steel frame — that is what bureaucracy is. All the flesh and muscle may by built by politicians but the frame is what holds up the nation,” he said.
Having gone through the process himself, he advised the new entrants “not to lose sight of the larger picture.” He warned them that piles of seemingly meaningless paperwork may be dumped before them. “Even if they seem inconsequential, they must not be set aside. Always keep in mind the larger purpose.”
Mr. Tharoor then brought up the point that was later echoed by Babu Paul, the Chief Mentor Emeritus of the Academy, “It is essential to eschew the mentality that inaction is safer.” Mr. Paul advised the candidates to work independently and encouraged them to advance in bureaucracy and help take the country forward.
