Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 7: To encourage more and more youth of the State to choose Civil Services as a career option and help them to achieve success in cracking the prestigious competitive tests, Chief Secretary Mohammad Iqbal Khanday today said that the Government is laying strong edifice for enthusiastic students to go for national level examinations after obtaining proper coaching and guidance from the experts of the State as well as other parts of the country.
Mr Khanday was addressing a gathering of students, academicians, administrators after inaugurating a one day orientation program at SKICC for aspirants of All India Services (IAS, IPS, IFS etc) organized by ASCENT GROUP, an umbrella organization for human capital development in J&K at SKICC.
The seminar-cum-workshop titled “How to Cope with the Changes in the Pattern of Civil Services (UPSC) Examination?”, saw a large number of enthusiastic boys and girls participating and interacting with academicians and experts as well as icons from J&K who have already cracked Civil Services including Civil Service Topper Dr Shah Faisal besides others.
A social enterprise, ASCENT Group, was set up by former civil servant, Mohammad Shafi Pandit, who is the first Muslim from J&K State to join IAS in 1969 followed by Chief Secretary Mohammad Iqbal Khanday who joined the service in 1978.
Appreciating the initiative Chief Secretary termed the effort put in by ASCENT Group as effective and bearing fruit. “Earlier very few students would appear as it was not looked as a career option resulting in under representation of youth from J&K at National level services”, he said, adding “today we see greater participation and selection of enthusiastic youth who are eager to join and contribute in the governance system”.
“Best Engineers, Doctors and other professionals are asset of healthy society but it is equally important that hard working youth with fertile brain should get adequate representation in civil services to look after policy formulation for the State,” he maintained.
Chief Secretary asked the students to make career choices during their school and college life and dedicate themselves in excelling in the area of their choice.
Speaking about the workshop Mohammad Shafi Pandit said that today’s program will provide an excellent opportunity to the aspirants to interact in person with experts and icons from civil services and receive proper guidance besides helping them to remove their doubts about the newly introduced changes in the pattern of UPSC examination. He said experts roped from prestigious institutions from Delhi and rest of the country will be interacting with the aspirants.
Former Vice Chancellor Islamic University Prof Sidiq Wahid also spoke during the inaugural session.
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