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Nearly a 100 officer trainees of the 2004 batch of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) called on the President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at Rashtrapati Bhavan today.
The President asked the officer trainees to concentrate on rural areas also to bring about big changes there. Dr. Kalam gave the young officers an overview of the India-2020 Vision, which includes increasing the GDP growth rate to more than 10 percent per annum to lift the 26 percent of the population living below the poverty line above this line. The Vision has its focus on five areas (1) agriculture and food processing – the officer trainees can contribute to devising methods for value addition in farming, (2) education and health care – especially women’s education will lead to smaller families, (3) information and communication technology – the officer trainees can use ICT to improve the lives of the rural people through the use of tele-education and telemedicine, (4) infrastructure development and (5) self-reliance in critical technologies which includes indigenous development of biotechnology, nanotechnology and information technology. The President also said PURA (Programme for Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas) will be a major component in this vision.
Dr. Kalam said the basic qualities for a successful individual were (1) to have a dream bigger than himself and to go on a new path- for example the officer trainees could have a dream to change ten villages in their district and make them an economic success or to recharge water bodies in the villages in their districts, (2) hard work and (3) the ability to master problems.
The President administered an oath to the IAS Officer Trainees at the end of the interaction. The oath was: -
1. Wherever I am posted, I will work for 100 percent literacy in the region and I will also ensure that the child drop out ratio in schools is reduced.
2. Wherever I am posted, I will ensure that the status of women is enriched and I will work to create parity in the male-female birth rate.
3. I will ensure that no one will lead me to the temptation of corruption.
4. Wherever I am posted, I will ensure that in my district tenure one lakh trees are planted and maintained.
5. Wherever I am posted, I will work towards the execution of five PURA Projects in my district and I will work to create employment opportunities for people through the creation of rural enterprises.
RK/VSR
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