Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla (File photo)
NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday hailed the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which is celebrating its centenary, as “one of the most important institutions in India’s democratic and administrative framework that has, in its hundred-year journey, embodied transparency, impartiality, confidentiality, and accountability”.Birla, while delivering the keynote address at UPSC’s two-day ‘Shatabdi Sammelan’ here, lauded the institution’s ability to adapt to changing times, citing the reforms in examination systems, promotion methods, and digital adoption as examples of its progressive spirit.Highlighting the inclusive nature of UPSC’s processes, the Speaker said, “Candidates from every region, language, and socio-economic background participate in this examination with complete faith in its fairness. That trust is the greatest testimony to UPSC’s credibility.”Junior minister for personnel Jitendra Singh, ‘guest of honour’ at the event, also hailed UPSC as the “guardian of India’s steel frame of governance”, saying it has stood tall as a pillar of integrity, fairness and transparency through the country’s pre and post-Independence era.Speaking in the presence of UPSC chairman Ajay Kumar, Singh recalled Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s description of the civil services as the “steel frame of India” and said, “it is the UPSC that has lived up to the responsibility of being the guardian of this steel frame.” Applauding UPSC’s continuous evolution, Singh drew attention to several recent initiatives that reflect the commission’s forward-looking approach. He especially commended UPSC’s ‘Pratibha Setu’ portal, which seeks to create new opportunities for candidates who have cleared all the Civil Services Examination stages but did not make it to final list of recommended candidates, by connecting them with private sector and institutional openings. He termed the move “an innovative bridge between talent and opportunity”.Singh emphasised UPSC’s larger role beyond recruitment, which covers framing and updating service rules, reviewing administrative practices, and setting ethical standards for public service. “The architects of Viksit Bharat @2047 will emerge from this very institution that has trained generations of India’s finest civil servants,” he remarked.
