Underlining that Nagrikdevo Bhava (citizen is god), Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a unique gesture, has written letters to nearly one crore civil servants exhorting them to keep this principle foremost in taking decisions. He also asked them to serve the common folks with compassion.
In his letter, he stressed the point that those who in public service must themselves be the finest examples of lifelong learning. He addressed the bureaucrats as Karmayogis.
The letters, written on April 20, a day ahead of Civil Services Day, were issued in 12 languages — Hindi, English, Marathi, Odia, Gujarati, Bengali, Kannada, Punjabi, Assamese, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil — ensuring wider reach across ministries, departments, States and Union Territories.