Civil Services Day on 21 April each year, coincides with the date in 1948, on which India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel had addressed the first batch of the civil probationers at the All India Administrative Service Training School at Metcalfe House, New Delhi.

When India’s first PM Pt Jawaharlal Nehru suggested dissolving civil services as he thought these were hallmark of the British Raj,  Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel prevented it saying that the civil services were like a steel frame, you remove this and the whole structure collapses.

In his famous speech to the Constituent Assembly in October 1949, Sardar Patel had remarked ‘You will not have a united India if you do not have a good All-India Service which has independence to speak out its mind’.

The Civil Services are the permanent executive branch of the Republic of India.The Civil Services carry out the policy laid down by the ministers, who are responsible to run the administration, as the elected representatives of the people, according to the parliamentary democracy of India. All the  executive decisions of ministers are enforced by the Indian civil servants.

These Civil servants are employees of the Government of India and they serve at the pleasure of the President of India and Article 311of the constitution. Accordingly, they are  protected against vindictive action or politically motivated actions. At present, there are about 50,000 civil service officers in India.

On April 21 every year, civil servants rededicate themselves to the cause of the citizens.They also renew their commitment to public service.

On this day, the selected officers of Central and State civil services are honoured for exemplary work in public administration. The 'PM Award for Excellence in Public Administration' presented to them which has been instituted in 2006. It is given in three categories. According to this scheme, all the serving officers individually or as team or as an organization are eligible.

The award are given in the form of  a medal, scroll and a cash amount of Rs.1 lakh to individuals. For the group, the award money is Rs.5 lakh and subjected to a maximum of Rs.1 lakh per person in a group. The cash amount is Rs.5 lakh in case of a government organization.

Not only this, several books on relevant topic are  released on Civil Services Day. In 2016, books including ‘Transforming India,’ ‘Re-creating Excellence,’ and ‘The Change Makers’ were published.

The Civil Services in India are working for the good of the masses by transforming government policies into action, let's all wish them well on this Civil Services Day.