New Delhi, May 24 (IANS): Civil services provide an opportunity to serve the people of the country and take on complex problems like food security, world peace and terrorism, President Pranab Mukherjee said Saturday.
Addressing officer trainees of the Indian Foreign Service (2012 batch) from the Foreign Service Institute here at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mukherjee said: "Civil service provides an opportunity to serve people... you will face many complex problems like energy, food security, world peace and terrorism."
Speaking particularly on terrorism, the president said it had no religion and followed only one faith, that of destruction.
Mukherjee asked the trainees to keep in mind that they were representing a country which was home to an ancient civilisation and the birthplace of great religions while at the same time it had its own space programme and was partner of nuclear powered countries like the US, Russia and France.
On India's economic prowess, Mukherjee said the country was expected to play a major role in the world economy and even though its growth rate had slowed down due to global recession, it was still ahead of the developed nations.
"We have to face the adverse effects of the global slowdown but our growth rate is still ahead of the G7 nations and second highest after China," Mukherjee said.
The president cited the example of India's tremendous growth in the agriculture sector and highlighted how the country, from importing food till the 1970s, is today an exporter of food grains.
"Today, we are exporting food and 66 percent of the 1.25 billion people of the country have legal guarantee of getting food," he said, referring to the Food Security bill.