New Delhi, Oct 21 (IANS): Union Minister of State for Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Jitendra Singh on Thursday felicitated and interacted with the first 20 all India toppers of the Civil Services Examination 2020 here in the North Block.

Describing the young officers as the 'Architects of New India', the Minister asked them to work hard in the next 25 years to make India a frontline nation of the world.

During the interaction he told them that it was a privilege for them to enter the services during the 75th Year of India's Independence and they had an eventful 25 years ahead of them to serve when independent India will turn 100. It will realize Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a New India that leads the rest of the world.

He said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has been on the ascendent and civil servants of this new genre have the privileged responsibility of taking it to the top league in the global arena.

Recalling some of the path breaking reforms brought in for the young probationers and IAS officers during the last seven years, the Minister mentioned the introduction of a three-month stint of mentorship in the Central government before going over to the respective State or Union Territory to join the allocated cadre.

Noting that among the 20 officers present, 11 were engineers and three medicos, Singh hoped that they will add value to the work assigned to them in carrying out various specialized schemes and programmes introduced by the Modi Government in the last six-seven years. These technocrats will be able to do justice to the flagship programmes of the government in sectors like Health, Agriculture, Sanitation, Education, Skills and Mobility to name a few, he added.

The Minister said the training modules will also undergo a sea-change at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie and other central training institutes with a renewed focus on a modern curriculum and an integrated approach. Through Mission Karmayogi, the ultimate objective of Governance is to bring "Ease of Living" for the common man.

The Minister said that in 2014 he had introduced in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) a new tradition of personally inviting the all India toppers to North Block and felicitating them and since then this tradition has continued.